Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

How To Improve Your Team By Playing One Of These 4 “D.A.C.I.” Roles

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Know thy role!

My good friend Jane turned me on to a framework that she learned at Johnson & Johnson’s BabyCenter…it’s called DACI and it stands for: D = Driver, A = Approver, C = Consulted and I = Informed.

The DACI model has helped me execute numerous projects more efficiently!

Here’s how it works:

When you are trying to get something done, ask yourself: “Who can serve in the following roles?”

Driver = This is the most important role. It’s the person who drives a project from start to completion — it’s their neck on the line to get this thing done! This is typically one person but you can be two “co-drivers.”

For larger projects, I highly recommend that you pick a highly organized and detail-oriented person to be the Driver. A less-organized person works fine as the Driver on small projects involving fewer people and items to organize.

The DACI driver’s responsibilities typically include:

• Calling an initial kick-off meeting to discuss the purpose of the project
• Collecting ideas & feedback on the project from those inside and outside the company (note: those people are also known as Consultants (see below))
• Creating a detailed step-by-step plan for the project including tasks that need to get done, deadlines and how the project will be measured
• Organizing follow-up meetings to hold people accountable for their assigned tasks and measure progress
• Communicating updates on the project regularly
• Lead the completion of the project

Note: The driver doesn’t have to be the smartest person and in fact I find that the smartest person on a particular topic often doesn’t make a good Driver (they make a good Consultant)

Approver = The person who will approve the project (aka “The Boss” or a senior manager)

Consulted = These are the experts that the driver will call upon to consult him or her. This can be the largest group and it is up to the Driver to make sure to find and utilize Consultants

Informed = These are the people who need to be informed about the progress of the project. They will include all the people above — the Driver, Approver and Consulted — and possibly others who want to be updated on the project but aren’t actively involved.

So, next time you’re trying to get something done: Try using the DACI approach…and get in touch with knowing thy role!

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Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

How To Get The End Result You Want By Reversing These 5 Simple Steps

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A few of us sat down in the Palm Springs hotel suite of Harv Eker, best-selling author of Secrets of The Millionaire Mind…and he shared a powerful framework on getting results.

His philosophy is to reverse engineer the process of bottom-line results

The gist of what Harv said was:

Ok, so you want results first, right? Well, what leads to results?…that would be Action (as in taking an action).

Next step is to ask:  What leads to Action?…well, that would be having a Feeling about something (i.e. you feel strongly enough to take action).

Now, what leads to Feeling something?…that would be Thinking about something.

Finally, what leads to thinking about something?…well, that would be what Harv calls Programming (what you were taught as a child, the conditions you grew up in, etc.).

I added “Talking” to the second step…so here’s the 5-step framework:

1. Programming
2. Thinking & Talking
3. Feeling
4. Taking Action (if you need inspiration here, check out my 12 quotes on action)
5. Results

So, since we’re reverse-engineering this whole thing, the highest leverage you have to impact results is to affect the earlier steps.

For example, if the results you want are to buy an expensive car, yet you were taught (i.e. Programmed) by your Mom or Dad that possessing an expensive car was a bad thing (because it flaunted wealth), then it will be very difficult for you to end up acquiring your new car by simply Taking Action.

Your Feelings about the car may be very mixed because of your parent’s influence…you may not even be able to Talk openly to people about you wanting the new car — but you want it!

So, if you want that new car, work first on the:

• Progamming — Decide that you disagree with your parents about their thoughts on expensive cars (this may sound easy but deciding that you disagree with a value that a parent has is a BIG deal (that’s why you start here!)
• Thinking & Talking — Continue to think about the car AND talk openly about it to a close friend; Talking is just thinking out loud; but it makes it more real!
• Feeling — You will begin to feel more inspired about the car..you will literally, as they say, start to “feel it.”
• Taking Action — You will be more likely now to “kick the tires” of that car you want
• Results — You will get that new car!

Harv shares this framework and many others in Secrets of The Millionaire Mind, which I recommend.

Thanks, Harv!

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