June 14, 2024
OUTCOME OBSESSED
Goal-oriented, determined, decisive and no-nonsense, Producers are driven to succeed.
Every company needs a Producer, because they are functional and effective in getting things done.
OUTCOME OBSESSED
written by Paul Childs
This post is about Producers or Drivers.
Years ago there was a CEO named Al Dunlap. They called him chainsaw Al because he became known for turning around troubled companies by laying off workers and closing factories.
He had a myopic obsession with his companies' financials at the expense of absolutely everything else. Especially the people that worked for him.
Ruthless, task oriented and driven by results, he presided over nearly a dozen corporations, including a disposable-cup company, ketchup bottle manufacturer and toilet-paper giant, and grew profits while firing thousands of employees in the name of efficiency and cutting costs.
Eventually he tipped over the edge and destroyed his last company, Sunbeam, because he inflated profits and committed fraud. He would later settle the case in return for a $500,000 fine but he was banned for life from serving as a company director.
Al is an extreme example of the Producer. They aren’t all bad or as obsessed as Al, but they do exhibit signs of obsessing about tasks and goals above all else. Especially over people.
Goal-oriented, determined, decisive and no-nonsense, Producers are driven to succeed.
Every company needs a Producer, because they are functional and effective in getting things done.
Some people are very knowledgeable, but they don’t Produce results.
They can give you a beautiful report, they know the technology inside and out, but they lack what the psychologists call “achievement motivation”. This is the urge to get in and do it.
This is the desire to see the finalization of a task, like a salesman who won't stop selling until he has the final signature on the dotted line.
A Producer is a knowledgeable achiever.
They can’t organize, coordinate or delegate. They are not Administrators.
They don’t come up with new ideas, they are not creative, and they dislike taking risks. They aren’t Entrepreneurs.
They are not sensitive to interpersonal relations. They don’t worry about group dynamics or individuals' feelings. They don’t relate well to people. They are not Integrators.
They are too busy Producing to build a team or develop the capabilities of others.
In fact, a Producer measures their success and their value to the organization by how hard they work. When you them, “How are you doing?” their typical answer might be, “I've been working every night until midnight.”
Just as an alcoholic is never far away from a bottle, Producers are never far away from work. They are workaholics. They are always working, and if they are not working on something, they become anxious.
That's why their desk is always piled with work and papers. This makes them feel needed.
They have only a short-term attention span. They jump quickly from one thing to another. If they lose interest, they go on to the next thing.
In fact, they are always rushing from task to task, from crisis to crisis. The more running around they do, the “better” they think they are working.
The Producer does not understand nuance. They take things literally. "Yes" means yes, and "no" means no, even if that's not what other people really mean. They hate “maybe”.
If a Producer is focused on producing a piece of technology, they can become obsolete very quickly if the technology is no longer relevant.
Producers constantly complain that they don’t have enough time to get everything done.
Actually, this isn’t really a complaint. It’s bragging. A Producer will worry if he’s not worrying about something.
THEY ARE PROBLEM SOLVERS
They are extroverted and task oriented and are driven by solving problems.
At work they are the ones who move fast, hate meetings and don’t listen.
Their key emotion is anger because everything seems to be moving too slow for them. Eternally restless and impatient, they rarely have time to train anyone when they hire them. As a result they complain they have a hard time finding “good people”.
While they are forward thinking and love a challenge, under stress they can be demanding, argumentative and opinionated. Their standards are so high, no one can meet them, even themselves. Hence disappointment is one of their underlying emotions.
They are not warm and fuzzy since they lack tact and diplomacy. They also take on too much, too soon and too fast.
They communicate by focusing on goals and objectives. They always focus on "what's next." Their pace is to move at warp speed. They always have a sense of urgency.
To make decisions they need to have control. Everything has to run through them. It's a challenge for them to trust others to get things done in the way they would do them.
Their standards are high. They never seem to be able to find enough good people. They become impatient when people give them too many details.
Their mantra is "If its meant to be, it's up to me." Or "I could tell you what to do, but it's easier just to do it myself."
They never seem to have enough time in the day to get everything done.
Their greatest gift is they can get things done.
Their deepest wound is the fear of being taken advantage of.
Their challenge in working with a team is their lack of trust. They feel like they can never find good people. Their standards are very high. So high, that no one may be able to meet them.
IF YOU ARE A PRODUCER:
To be more productive take a breath. Pause before reaction and response. Slow down. Learn how to prioritize.
Not all things are equally important. Lead and influence people instead of pushing and pulling them.
The keys to personal growth is not to take on too much, too soon and too fast. More is not better.
Your impatience may be driven by fear. The sense that you might disappoint either yourself or others.
Producers tend to be reactive instead of proactive. They wait for a crisis to develop before they deal with it.
Some well known Producers are Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, and Mark Cuban.
Who in your organization is like this? If you don’t have this style, you cannot generate revenue or make things happen.
#Innovation, #Entrepreneurship, #Leadership, #Management, #Peeradvisory, #Smbgrowth, #Motivation, #Personaldevelopment, #Fundraising
If you want to learn more sign up for my weekly newsletter