100 50 TOPEXECUTIVECOACHES
David Allen
Coaching for Workflow
E
very leader faces the same critical problem each day: how do I stay fo-
cused on the big stuff without losing my grip on everything else? Most
people try to resolve that conf lict by increasing the time and attention they
spend on significant issues. The better answer is to free up more time and at-
tention by handling both the big AND little things through a systematic or-
ganization of workf low.
My personal productivity coaching deals with this problem by creating
customized implementation systems for organizing, managing, and negotiat-
ing the totality of people’s commitments more objectively and effectively. In
that sense, our coaching moves from the bottom up. Whereas most coaches
start with vision, mission, and strategy before moving on to objectives and
work, we start with what’s in people’s heads and piled on their desks, and
overf lowing from their in-boxes. Between the reason why a person is alive on
the planet, and the 300 unopened e-mails in their Outlook program, there
are many levels of importance to what gets our attention during the course of
the day. By starting with what has our attention, often the more mundane
and pressing tasks, we free people to move steadily up in level until they have
the time and ability to take care of what matters most.
Although focused on the individual, workf low coaching has a great impact
within organizations as well. If all employees manage their workf low, the or-
ganization gets to move on to bigger problems sooner. If workf low manage-
ment is in bad shape generally, then it’s likely that few people are really
taking care of the bullet point they inherited when they walked out of the
last meeting. Add that up across the board, and you have an organization
with a lot of wind spilling out of its sails.Dav id Allen is an international author, lecturer, and
founder and President of the David Allen Company, a
management consulting, coaching, and training company.
In the last 20 years he has developed and implemented
productivity improvement programs for over a half million
professionals in hundreds of organizations worldwide, in-
cluding many Fortune 500 corporations and U.S. Govern-
ment agencies. He is the author of the best-selling book,
Getting Things Done: the Ar t of Stress-Free Productivity,
and numerous articles in professional journals and periodicals. He can be
reached by phone at (805) 646-8432, by e-mail at [email protected], or via the
Internet at http://www.davidco.com.