CHAPTER 10Perfect Phrases to Clarify and Manage Assignments

Efficiency is doing the job right. Effectiveness is doing the right job right.

If you find yourself guessing what your manager wants, you’re probably not being effective. I occasionally receive calls from admins on their managers’ behalf and don’t understand what the managers want them to get from me. They ask me to help them figure out why the manager asked them to call me. We guess for a while, and then they go back to the manager for clarification. Sometimes it takes two or three calls before we get it figured out. Clearly, that is not an efficient use of anyone’s time. It would have been far more efficient for the manager to call me directly.

It’s nice when managers are clear up ...

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