The 80/20 Librarian: Focusing on the 20% that matters

Was just checking out Entrepreneur Magazine’s December 2017 issue. Loved the short article on communication on page 68 by Cal Henderson, co-founder and CTO of Slack. He writes as follows:

“We regularly hear from CEOs that the number one issue they’re focused on is improving communication within their organizations-helping their teams find information and identify key decision-makers, maintain alignment as an organization, and so on. It may not sound like the most exciting topic, but it’s fundamental to business and will continue to be a core focus for years to come, because the sheer volume of information flowing through companies today is incredible. A McKinsey study found that employees spend nearly 20 percent of their time looking for information or tracking down colleagues to help with specific tasks.”

Henderson argues that we ought to automate routine tasks and integrate “AI into workplace tools” with the goal being to “free us up to do more of the creative work we are uniquely suited to.” This needs to happen, but I also think more traditional one on one verbal communication can compliment these tools. The end result of being able to work on more important creative tasks is definitely where both communication methods take us when they are used effectively.

My communication approach is old-school in that I like to find out from people directly what they need to be successful and then get the required resources to them. Certainly posting/sharing available information electronically is great, but given the amount of information out there locating electronic documentation is not always easy. As a supervisor the number one area of importance thus far for me has been communication. Without it nothing can truly be successful.

My take on Henderson’s article?

People who can quickly access important information, people, or resources and get them to the right place will be in high demand in the future. These people will be masters of both electronic communication platforms and traditional verbal in-person communication styles. They embody the Networking Manager referred to in Koch’s 80/20 Manager.

I’m focusing today’s post on the Manager from the E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.

The Manager is the one that handles matters through the paradigm of what is practical and what is realistic. Theoretical constructs do not usually apply to this work perspective as they are the domain of the Entrepreneur work personality which will be the focus of another post.

Seeking order through creating organized, reliable, and predictable work flow systems is the role I envision the Manager playing under Gerber’s definition.

For clarity I will quote Gerber as follows from page 26 of E-Myth Revisited:

“The Manager creates neat, orderly rows of things. The Entrepreneur creates the things the Manager puts in rows. The Manager is the one who runs after the Entrepreneur to clean up the mess. Without the Entrepreneur there would be no mess to clean up. Without the Manager , there could be no business, no society. Without the Entrepreneur , there would be no innovation.”

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