Could A Pie Chart Change Your Life?
Discovering clarity regarding the work you're really here to do and who it's for might just change everything.
“When I say “Great Work,” I’m not talking about a standard of delivery. I’m talking about a standard of impact and meaning.” — Michael Bungay Stanier
In November 2014 I was sitting in an audience listening to Michael Bungay Stanier (aka MBS) deliver a keynote speech. About five minutes in, he shared three definitions that forever shifted my thinking about work:
Bad Work = WOMBAT — it’s a Waste Of Money, Bandwidth, And Time
GOOD WORK = Your Job Description — It’s what you good at, you enjoy it, and if you don’t do it, it doesn’t get done.
GREAT WORK = The Strategic, Life-Altering Work You’re Here to Do
At least that’s how I captured his definitions in my notes and vividly remember them to this day…they come from his book Do More Great Work.
After sharing the definitions we were invited to complete a blank pie chart defining how much of each type of work they were doing.
My results stunned me: 65% BAD, 30% GOOD, and only 5% GREAT.
Since my role at the conference was to facilitate a workshop with audience members regarding how they would use what they learned from the speech, I started pondering questions that might drive the conversation.
So many questions seemed relevant for me, perhaps these would drive some conversation with the group:
What did others discover from the exercise?
How had we let this happen?
Why did we see our work this way?
Were we being too critical, or just committing to the exercise?
What should we do now that we know?
The discussion was lively — it turns out I was not the only one who had acknowledged a lot of my work as BAD (and very little as GREAT).
We ended our 90-minute conversation with each person writing down an action step they were committed to taking within the next 48 hours.
Mine was simple — figure out why so much of my work was BAD and so little was GREAT.
On the flight home, I made a list of current clients and projects, putting them in three columns:
If I didn’t see any real impact from my efforts or felt like I was constantly fighting against things that weren’t going to change = BAD work.
If I felt the client engaged and was committed to taking action = GOOD work.
If I knew things were changing significantly for the better and I was using my gifts to help make that happen = GREAT work.
Next, I fleshed why and how I had taken on so much BAD work. More importantly, I identified what was different about the clients in the GREAT work column.
Finally, I wrote a one-page description of the GREAT work clients and decided to commit to only one thing in the year ahead: Do More Great Work.
The result?
Gaining clarity on what made a client GREAT made it easier to find them (and they started showing up). Because I said no to clients who fit the BAD work profile, I had more space for serving the people I’m here to serve. And, I was able to double my business while reducing my stress and increasing satisfaction with my work.
ACTION QUESTION: What would happen if you did the pie chart exercise and made the decision to Do More Great Work?
P.S. I’d love to hear about your experience completing the pie chart and how you plan to Do More Great Work. Please send me an email and let me know.