Building on the foundation we poured in the last article, here are a few more throwbacks from my corporate days that you can add to your toolkit.
Review, Review, Review
Built into our processes were reviews- multiple reviews.
And we had formal processes in place to ensure the reviews happened.
Each level of review had a specific objective – one was a technical review, one ensured grammatical accuracy, another checked for reasonableness, and a client hat review.
2% extra effort on the front end will easily save you 20% on the back end. Save what exactly? Time. Energy. Attention. Trust. Peace of mind.
Errors, re-dos, fixes, etc., still drive me batty, even to this day, because 90% of them can be avoided – all just by slowing down and applying conscious thought.
The one that deserves special mention is the client hat review.
Client Hat Review
Ahhhhh, the client hat review. This was the game-changer.
The work is done. Internal documentation is complete. Now, it’s time to send it off to the client, right? Nope, not so fast.
Now it’s time to put on your client hat and think like the client.
Time to ask some questions:
-Does this make sense?
-Is this what the client asked for?
-If I were the client, what questions would I have?
-What extra value did I bring to the table?
-Would they be surprised by anything?
-What results/projections does the client already have in their hands, and are these results consistent with that? If not, to what do we attribute any deviations?
-Based on this project, would the client choose to work with me again?
Pay Attention to the Details
Details matter. It’s pretty easy for high-achievers to get 90-95% of the way there relatively easily. I mean, they’re smart, they’re ambitious, so producing work at that level comes naturally. Paying attention to details will elevate you from really good to excellent.
Go the extra mile and pay attention to details. Consistently. Not just sometimes. That’s easy to do – going the extra mile when you feel like it. Going the extra mile even when nobody else is willing to.
Getting to the 98-99% level requires an additional push, and that will differentiate you.
In our next article, I’m going to tell you about three more powerful ideas to incorporate.