Page 51 - Make Work Great

It Starts with You

Quick Video: Say No Without Saying No

Visit www.MakeWorkGreat.com for a short video segment about
how to construct and use a verbalized summary outputs list (VSO) as a
statement of your workplace purpose. Note that the video employs the
term “verbalized summary objectives” instead of “verbalized summary
outputs,” but both the acronym and the intent are exactly the same.
This is an easy bit of information to share if you’re trying to describe
the contents of this chapter to a trusted friend or colleague.

to be producing, whether directly or through others. Both capture the
elements of the writer’s workplace purpose in order of priority and his
or her division of resources in appropriate terms. Finally, both have
a level of detail that allows them to be meaningful to, memorable to,
and easily verbalized by the owner.
That’s why in the example no mention is made of revenue or
fi nancial return. Summary outputs lists are written in the terms most
meaningful to the one doing the work, not to the company. Financial
fi gures are appropriate in lists owned by those at the executive level
and by salespeople at all levels, because in those cases fi nancial results
are the measure of their output. In most other areas of responsibility it
is far preferable to avoid fi nancial fi gures altogether and instead focus
upon the real measurable outcomes that ultimately lead to them.
Notice also what is absent. First, neither list contains any information
about how the work gets done. There is no mention of time spent talking
on the phone, checking e-mail, or traveling. The focus is only on what
output is needed. Second, both lists omit some of what their owners do.
In reality, an endless supply of “additional tasks” lands in everyone’s lap.
These tangential, potentially distracting jobs are purposely left out to
keep the focus on the critical few. Finally, notice that neither list wastes
words with contingencies for “if things change.” To be sure, things will

change. When they do, the lists change to reflect them, and the before-

40