Work Smarter Not Harder

Great at Work by Morten Hansen

Based on data from 5,000 individuals studied, Hansen found seven practices of top performers. Four practices that impact individual work and three that impact collaboration.

For Individual Work:

1. “Do less, then obsess” – focus on the most important and go deep
2. “What do others inside my organization need from me” – focus on how you can contribute to benefit others inside you organization.
3. “Learn and Grow” – To go deeper see Carol Dweck’s book – “Mindset”
4. “What can I provide that others need” – This is about finding what is motivating for you to provide others vs. following your passion for your self-interests.

 For Collaborative Work:

1. “Advocate and inspire others if you want support for your ideas.” Be proactive to advocate for others you support and admire. They will likely support you as you have developed a mutually beneficial relationship.
2. “Fight and Unite” – openly and respectfully debate the issue not the individuals, understanding in the end there will be one team on the same page for the benefit of the team. To go deeper see Kim Scott’s book Radical Candor.

“Disciplined Collaboration” – Collaboration is time consuming. What is worth spending the time on to collaborate? Be disciplined in what you collaborate on.