5 Minute Daily Check In
Rosa argues that giving one employee 5 minutes of attention each day is a vital habit for managers. “Very briefly, the D5M is a simple habit. Each day, without fail, managers are to give five minutes of no-agenda time to at least one of their employees. Your time is one of the most precious resources you have, and to give it as a gift to someone in the form of the Daily Five Minutes® just may be one of the best work-expressions of unconditional aloha there is.” She outlines 12 benefits of doing the D5M with employees … and if you don’t have employees … think clients, project team members, family members, etc.

Feedback Against Objective Measures
Art talks about using a structured process for getting objective feedback on your performance, individually and for your wider organization. He suggests the power of using some of the free resources from the Malcolm Baldridge program to do so. “While you may assume that the Baldridge program is focused on quality (that’s part of the story), it is also heavily focused on performance and on the integration of all of the systems and processes that interact to create sustained, outstanding performance …. According to the site, the intent of the program is to: help organizations enhance their competitiveness by focusing on two goals: delivering ever improving value to customers and improving overall organizational performance.“

Cultivating Trust
Trust is earned when a person meets the commitments they have made. “It’s all about all the things that go with communicating and telling the truth and keeping promises. You do that every day and all of a sudden, trust is there. You don’t “build” trust, either. Trust is not like a building. It’s more like a tree. A tree is a living thing. So is trust. In the beginning both are fragile and require conscious care. Later they grow strong and can weather storms that would have destroyed them earlier.“

Focus on the 3 MITs
Jason recommends three ways to focus on the most important things in your life and work: (1) turn off your computer and work on a key project for 15 minutes, (2) plan 3 specific projects you want to work on tomorrow, and (3) ask someone to watch you work for an hour and then tell you what they observed. “At the end, ask them to tell you what they saw. How did you stay focused, and where did you lose focus? Having someone watch me work gives an insight into HOW I am getting things done; not simply what I do during any 8, 10, 15 hour time period.“