Jason shares five ideas for helping an agency to stand out as “productive” in the crowd:

“As a leader in your field, you have your share of stories about who you trust to do a great job, and who you know you’ll never work with again. What makes the difference? Often, it comes down to the basic level of productivity; do people do what they say they’ll do, in the time they promised? Follow these five rules of efficiency and effectiveness, and you’ll see things get better – for your team, your agency and your customers.“

The five ideas:
1. Think twice before saying yes.
2. Call what’s done … done.
3. Stop wishing things were different.
4. Capture and codify your best ideas. Now.
5. Convince staff to “ask for help.”

I really like what Jason wrote about number 3:

“At the water cooler. In the line at coffee. On the subway. Over dinner…these are the places I hear people talking about things they’re not willing to do anything about. Wishing (or worse, complaining) that things were different is perhaps the greatest sin of the worker, manager, entrepreneur or senior executive.

The Pareto Principle exists to remind us that (approximately) 80% of our results come from 20% of our assets. Study the 20% and identify what you could address that would have the biggest impact on your productivity and performance. I’ll share some ideas below; if you want a place to start, focus on the two out of 10 people in your Social Network (not your Social Media Network, that’s something different…) who are moving forward and willing to Mind Map strategies for success with you. That 20% focus, may just change 80% of how things are. That’s how you make things different.“

Read more: Reputation Matters