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The Five Levels of Professional Performance:
Where are you?

As printed in Alabama Technology Today
By Ted Gulas, Contributing Writer

While most workers have better educational and job-related skills than ever, they are sadly lacking the most vital skill of all for the information age - performance management. It's possible to classify workers - that is, white-collar knowledge workers - into one of the five distinct stages, from the least productive and least fulfilled employees at Stage One to the masters of productivity and personal balance at Stage Five.

Stage One:

Time Challenged Knowledge Workers

Their work area tells the whole story. Desks are littered with half finished projects and documents too urgent to file - reminders or action items they desperately don't want to forget. These folks probably have a pocket calendar around somewhere and when they think of it, may even jot down events like appointments and birthdays. But the truth is they keep most of their schedule in their heads because "Hey, who's got time to write anything down?"

Nonetheless, the trusted memory isn't doing much for their reputation. They miss deadlines, arrive late fore meetings or forget about them altogether and spend 30 minutes a day just looking for items on their desks.

Stage Two:

The Note Takers

For the most part, workers at this stage claim to rely on their day planner or the lined note pad or journal they lug to every meeting like Linus' blanket.

But when push comes to shove, anything goes: hieroglyphics on scraps of paper, on backs of envelopes, on phone message pads and, of course, on the veritable forest of sticky notes strewn east, west and sideways across their cubicles.

They do have more organizational experience compared to their Stage One colleagues. They've probably taken a time management course and are familiar with the principles of setting, preparing to-do lists and how to prioritize. Unfortunately, they believe since they've taken the course, they can cross that off their lists. "Been there, done that. I've graduated. Time to get down to real work"

Stage Three:

Techno Masters

Techno Masters avoid many of these problems, and we see big improvements in their planning skills. Their filing systems are much more effective, usually alphabetical. They have written, long-term goals and they do review them. They do try to plan and set priorities, although it is hard sticking to them. They spend a lot of time in meetings, a lot more than they would like. But that's the nature of the beast, or so they feel. Overall, they're working too hard and running too fast. But that doesn't bother them as much as it does their families. Even though they are good at managing their won time, they can't seem to integrate their system with the rest of the organization. That's why they are less productive than they could be.

A saving grace at this stage, in their eyes at any rate, is the way they adopt electronic technology. For the, time management is old fashioned - there must be a hi-tech way to manage appointments, to-dos and communications. This can be good - until they start RELYING on gizmos instead of on performance techniques. (You'll know this is happening when you see them spend five minutes on their electronic organizer to schedule a 20-minute meeting with you next week.)

Stage Four:

Organized Delegators

The most obvious difference we notice at Stage four is a superb ability to organize and delegate, so let's call them the Organized Delegators. They not only plan their own work, they encourage and initiate planning and business goal setting as a team. This distinguishes them form people at earlier levels, yet they can be anybody from the executive ranks right out to the front line. The golden understanding they have is that in today's flattened organization, delegation is no longer a top down activity; it's just as likely to be sideways. Being a Stage Four delegator means being a good team player, and working as a team builder. Anyone with the right self-management skills can make this happen.

Stage fours are not afraid of technology and are not dazzled by it. They7 are very systematic in their priority and time management, and routinely support their electronic tools with manual ones. They have clearly defined missions and goals, personally and professionally, and review them daily. These are people who are rarely late and never miss appointments. They are hard working and, because they are so well organized, they cover a lot of ground in a day. How? Buy using a sophisticated filing system, by opening one file at a time, by recognizing that time management is not an add-on, but a mission critical skill. Above all, despite the pride they take in being on top of things, they are still open-minded enough to embrace new and better ways whenever they come up.

Stage Five:

Highly Effective Priority Managers

They've mastered Stage Four and are going well beyond it. They work surprising few hours - 35 hours per week maximum. They believe in getting things right the first time and expect the same of their organization. Their priorities are clear and openly communicated.

They have polished verbal and written skills, and a passion for details. They have come to realize that true responsiveness and versatility are not inhibited by - but rather a result of - excellent priority management skills.

They work from a clean desk. Always. They have an effective, fully integrated process for managing the rapidly increasing volume of e-mail. Even during crisis situations, Stage Fives never lose their composure. For them, decision-making is a process, not an emotional event. Delegation comes naturally and because they are surrounded by Stage Fours, their teams work extraordinarily well.

Stage Fives also lead balanced lives. They have no trouble taking time off for holidays, family, golf, church, and community. Incidentally, they are also very well compensated, for obvious reasons. A good part of the credit lies with their total respect for time. They invest on a regular basis in time management training - for themselves and for their employees.

And that is the moral of this article. Moving form one stage up to another is not rocket science; it simply takes a commitment to mastering the right tools and techniques. The benefits will be increased productivity (and more profit), improved customer service, less stress, greater balance, heighten morale, and of course, more time.

Find out what stage of performance you are currently producing at by taking the FREE productivity challenge at www.gulasgroup.com/productivity-challenge.shtml

Ted Gulas is President and CEO of The Gulas Group. Their mission is to offer work-class training to those individuals and organization that are future focused and desire to improve their performance. Ted can be reached at www.gulasgroup.