Getting It Done: How to Lead When You're Not in Charge

by Roger Fisher, Alan Sharp

Let's face it. In this chaotic world of teams, matrix management, and horizontal organizations, it's tougher than ever to get things done. How do you lead when you're not the one in charge? How can you be effective when joint action is needed? You need an edge in order to reach solutions and effectively work with others. Getting It DONE is your edge. Cowritten by Roger Fisher, an acknowledged authority on negotiation, Getting It DONE is the book to help you make things happen when you're not the boss. Fisher is the man who redefined the way the world negotiates with his megabestseller Getting to YES. Now he has teamed up with management consultant Alan Sharp to move beyond negotiation and give us the definitive book on collaboration. Introducing the technique of lateral leadership, Fisher and Sharp take collaboration to the next level and offer surefire ways to help anyone get better results from coworkers. Gleaned from their decades of experience as negotiators, mediators, and consultants to organizations, Getting It DONE gives you the practical tools you need to influence your peers and bosses and get the results you seek. Getting It DONE explains how you can best help a group formulate a clear vision of the results they want, suggest a course of action that you can all implement, and learn from past experiences. It describes how to ask questions effectively, offer ideas that will be heard, and influence the actions of others through your own behavior. The invaluable skills of lateral leadership enable you to achieve the ultimate goal--successful

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Management, Audiobook, Self Help, Communication

240 pages, Hardcover

First published June 3, 1997

About the author

Roger D. Fisher was Samuel Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and director of the Harvard Negotiation Project.

Reviews

[Kent White · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. It has some great advice. However, I kept wondering if this was an abridgement as I was listening to it since it was so disjointed, but no, it was not abridged. The ideas are fine, but forgettable. I read it because it is one of Charlie Munger's favorite books, but it reads a lot like Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. A thought here, a thought there, and no systematic approach to implementing it. You will find some good ideas, but this is one to speed-read.

[Barack Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

114-Getting it done-Roger Fisher-Management-1998
Barack
2017/04/01
2020/05/05

- not a leader, how to bring people to succeed? 1. Set goals based on the results you want to achieve. (Purpose) Second, think methodically, from data, to analysis, to direction, and then to specific actions. (Thinking) Third, learn from experience, learn at any time, and summarize at any time. (Learning) Fourth, by accepting challenging tasks, fully engage in work. (Engagement) 5. Provide and seek feedback on work methods that should be adhered to and work methods that need to be improved. (Feedback)

"Horizontal Leadership" ( Getting It Done ), first published in the United States in 1998 . Management books. It explores how an employee can lead a team to achieve goals without being a supervisor.

Roger Fisher ( Roger Fisher ), in 1922 was born in Illinois warm Nitka, in 2012 died in. He received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Harvard University. Representative works: "Horizontal Leadership", "Negotiating Power", "Communication Power", etc.

Part of the catalog
1. Is it difficult to cooperate? You haven't found a way
2. Horizontal leadership: how to skillfully influence others
3. Goal management technique: twist the team into a rope
4. Thinking and finishing: quickly find a solution to the problem
5. Plan revision technique: constantly revise the plan to make it perfect
6. Incentive management techniques: Let team members stay focused
7. The art of feedback: continuously improve team work efficiency
8. Comprehensive application of five skills
9. If you are a leader, what else can you do
10. People who dare to stand up are leaders

" Railways have a brand new diesel car out of it down, no matter how engineers do, they can not let the locomotive. They brought in an expert. Experts situation conditions were studied, then gently with a hammer to knock a bit locomotive , the train started out of the experts - Qian dollar bills railroad company asked him for the bill. make explanation, experts reply is: with a hammer locomotive: 10 Meiyuan know beating the site: 990 Meiyuan. "

" When people work together, time is often wasted in friction: assigned to tasks that are not commensurate with their own abilities, or conflicting due to some difference. Everyone has participated in meetings that lasted for several hours, but the results were not enough. . Sometimes the time we spend building a team even far exceeds the time it takes to complete the substantive work. The frustration of completing a job with others is too great, and most people would rather spend more time independent To complete the task, he is unwilling to form a team with others to complete a certain task together. "

Although we recognize that cooperation may be difficult, and as the number of people working together increases, cooperation itself will become more difficult. But the more significant if we participate in the project, the cooperation , the more collaborators involved , it will also need to know how to work with others .

"If a person wants to improve team performance, they must first solve these three problems. Personal skills are limited . Most of us are not efficiency experts, even when we work independently, and our colleagues know this. If we yet lack the ability to work independently in the simplest case of this work, then how can we cooperate with others in this more complex case under make contributions to it? "

" We lack a clear understanding of good cooperation . Please consider the following questions. Assuming that our teamwork is very efficient, what kind of performance should we have at this time? Suppose you or other employees want to lead the team to achieve good cooperation. So what is your goal? How? I don’t know, right? This is the second reason why your cooperation with others cannot be improved. You don’t know what you want to achieve. Some people think that cooperation is the key in in to share the "friendly ', to be polite, good with people, obey the ideas of others. It is certainly right to maintain a friendly attitude, but some very "friendly" colleagues in the office are very inefficient. (Of course, some annoying colleagues are also very inefficient.) "

" We don't know how to influence the behavior of others . Even if you are comfortable with your work and have a clear understanding of the form of cooperation you want to see, there may still be other problems . It is impossible to let others improve their behavior. we have seen some leadership, they have enough authority, but they rarely do things successfully. bad habit is to develop long-term, the word leadership alone is of no avail to do the. leadership issued orders not to let any People gain new abilities. Most supervisors know that even if people are explicitly prohibited from "competing for sphere of influence," they will continue to fight for authority. They do so for a reason. If an employee unilaterally stops protecting his sphere of influence, His sphere of influence will become smaller and smaller. "

" We will find that some people are indeed extraordinary. We all know that some people are not leaders and have no power to give orders, but they can restore order to a messy situation. If there is such a team in the team People, there won’t be many disputes, people will work more together, more motivated, more coordinated, and performance will rise. Maybe this person is a semi-retired old supervisor, and sometimes this role is played by the secretary. How do they rely How can personal power do this? If you want to be such a person, what should you do? "

" Improve personal skills, for the team to make a greater contribution to you, your own actions is the easiest to change. To get other people to play a greater force King, you have to play a greater The energy. If your working methods are organized, you can better help others work. First, you have to improve your personal skills. "

" Goals (Chapter 3 ) If you don't know what you want to do, it's difficult to get things done. Some goals are encouraging and motivated, and you can evaluate progress and help you make decisions. Some goals do not have such an effect. Those who have the opportunity to participate in goal setting will work harder to achieve this goal. Thinking ( Chapter 4 ) All of us are easy to fall into aimless daydreams. A few simple The skills can allow you to think more attentively, help you generate new ideas and put them into practice. When people work together, these thinking skills can transform everyone’s wisdom into valuable wealth. Learning (Chapter 5 ) Utopian and Cannot solve the problem. You need to practice to test your thinking. Your team can develop some good study habits, which can help improve your work performance.

Focus (Chapter 6 ) People can work enthusiastically or they can work casually. The goals you set for yourself affect your level of focus, and so does a team. In the face of relatively low requirements, you can redistribute tasks or change the way tasks are allocated to stimulate people's fighting spirit. Feedback ( Chapter 7 ) One way to learn is to experiment in the real world and observe the results to test your ideas. Another method is to share the observations of colleagues and accept their suggestions. By making suggestions and accepting suggestions from others, you can achieve self-improvement. You can also tell colleagues about these tips. Your team should be in line with the purpose of seeking mutual support and provide feedback, and non-mutual competition, defeating each other. "

In other words, if we are in a team, each of them does not have more authority or a significant advantage than others. That is, in a situation where there is no leading group. So what can we do? First, we can try to assist the group in setting a team goal. Next, we can use some simple techniques to make the team’s discussion process more effective, rather than just expressing opinions and digressing. Then in the process of trying to practice our ideas, we need to have the ability to learn to optimize our way of doing things. In addition, we should also help the team to increase the enthusiasm of everyone in the process of fighting for the goal , so that the personal production efficiency is higher. Finally, when the team has phased results, we can get some feedback from external or internal to see if we need to adjust the team 's working methods, and then start the next phase of work.

" There are three simple ways for people to adopt a better way of working: ask a question, let people think about a collaborative problem and find a solution. Say your own ideas, and invite people to accept, apply, or modify them . Put your ideas into action as a basis for further improvement. "

" We always like to blame others when we encounter problems, and when we achieve achievements, we like to take honor as our own. This is a common human problem. Under normal circumstances, you tend to think that other people’s behavior is difficult to change is their problem, not you. the issue Since human beings are biased, you should be skeptical attitude towards self-centered interpretation. you have a reason to find a cause to them. All the errors attributed to colleagues to solve problems in the matter does not help. If your colleagues are not good enough, then you can do is to leave the current environment, or quit his job and find another job. If at least part of the problem lies in you, the situation is very different. at this point you just need to correct its own problems , Can make a big difference in the situation. The greater your responsibility for the current unfavorable situation, the greater your ability to reverse the situation. When looking for your responsibility for the problem , don’t feel guilty. You should pay attention to your actions, and Don’t blame others, because it can make you stronger. ”

" When you instruct others on how to work, people may think that your implication is; "You have a problem, let me solve your problem. "They think that if something needs to be improved, then it must be a problem; if one thing there is a problem, it must be someone's responsibility therefore,. " Maybe we can do better " would be interpreted as" a mess case It’s all your problem.” When you instruct others to improve the way of cooperation, it is easy to cause others to have this emotion . Even if you speak with kindness, others will think that you are criticizing him. When people think that someone is attacking them , They will fight back; some people deny that there is a problem, because then no one will be blamed. They will say: "Oh, stop making trouble, it's not that bad. Don't be so nervous. " Some people will attack your suggestion, lest someone criticize them for not doing it earlier. They will say: "It won't work. "Others might attack the person who made the suggestion, and they would say: "Do you need to teach me how to work?" " "

Horizontal leadership and vertical leadership have their own priorities, and they deal with different situations. The former is in a situation without a clear hierarchical relationship. If you want to take up part of the leadership work, you are often overlooked or even hostile by others . But the good thing is that the responsibility and pressure on oneself are not that great. In the latter case, there are administrative powers given by clear social laws or company rules. The status of superiors is clear, and subordinates are generally willing to accept guidance from superiors. But the problem is that it is easy , due to the different levels of each other, is likely not only to bear the internal and external pressures , but also need to pay attention because between himself and subordinate work differences misunderstanding arising.

" If you often fail to get cooperation when assigning tasks to others, what should you do? In essence, the horizontal leadership method is to ask colleagues to solve problems with you. It is difficult to reverse the situation with your own strength. . Don’t try to solve all problems in one way, you should try to improve the process of team work together. First, you have to make your team develop a habit, everyone should work hard to improve the way of cooperation. If you can do this, the whole group will produce a steady stream of endogenous power, we will work together to do a good job. simply put, you did not need to study how to solve the problem, the key is to improve solve problems process. to affect the behavior of colleagues, you can not Putting on a superior posture, you must present your information, analysis, thoughts, and suggestions as equals. You are informally "negotiations" about future cooperation. Since it is a negotiation, your suggestions must be accepted Everyone’s inspection. There is a huge difference between telling others what to do and inviting others to participate in decision-making. What you say cannot be an order, a command, a request, nor a clear judgment of right or wrong. In addition, what you propose Questions and suggestions should be very specific to facilitate clear and easy-to-operate practices to arouse everyone’s interest. "

" If someone wants to improve the way the team works together, you should support him. Don't try to overshadow him or focus on other issues, you will get opportunities in the future. Meetings composed of professional mediators and professional coordinators are the worst. Because people will vie to prove that they know how to improve the way the team works together. To be a good leader, you must know when to be a qualified follower. "

" If assigning tasks directly to others doesn't work, you still have three methods that are not easy to be offended by others: ask questions , provide ideas, and set an example. " Expressing your opinions in a suggested way is always better than a straightforward and tough way. Better. People don't like being denied. The harder your attitude, the greater the resistance you will encounter.

" Your actions can affect the behavior of others in two ways. Actions are sometimes the best way to explain your thoughts. Merely talking about the way we work together can feel abstract and difficult to understand. To make things clear, you may take a long time, but people still puzzled and frustrated both sides. most of us are not used to talk about the problem, the effect may be better than a picture in words Wanyu. in addition, some People do not command the authority of others, but they can also lead everyone to complete a certain task. No matter what you do, as long as you demonstrate, you can send a strong signal to people that we are working together. "

[Karthik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good minimal nonsense book on how to lead , both when not in charge and when in charge. The approach is to have a long term purpose/vision and a medium term, typically more quantifiable, purpose with daily mesures of progress or short term purpose. Then think systematically in terms of Data, Diagnosis, Direction, Do next. Learn in short cycles and revise approach based on learning. Be fully engaged with others and give and receive feedback. The main tips for influencing others are: Ask nudging questions or offer nudging suggestions rather than directly tell or advice. Make the questions/suggestions about the problem rather than the person. On the other hand, make compliments about the person rather than the action. Finally, lead/nudge by example.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good tips and advice but very very circular. It folded in and back on itself multiple times until it became a bit mind-numbing.

[Tara Callahan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great ideas but it’s dated and boring.

[Zahwil Dossa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because its subtitle intrigued me. I transitioned from a leadership role to an advisor role within my organization and have struggled at times to influence colleagues who don’t report to me, and to stay engaged and helpful from the sidelines.

Even when I had formal authority, I found it a blunt tool to get things done. People are likelier to follow those whom they respect and admire than those who merely play their boss card.

In today’s world intangible assets have come to dominate as the main store of value in the economy. Things that knowledge workers create or embody like research and development, a pipeline of innovation, brand value, and ecosystems of relationships. Every company claims their people are their most important asset. But once talent is brought in, what investments are made to ensure that people relate well to another, utilize each other’s strengths, and achieve the organization’s goals?

The above convinced me there is a need for a book like this one. My so-so rating reflects my impression that the ideas are not fleshed out well enough to make them easy to use.

The chapters are organized around the premise that to do something effectively in a group setting you must first master the skill as an individual.

I liked the idea that you must formulate a vision, 5 or 10 years out, for yourself in concrete terms. Too many visions are too abstract to be meaningful. Another problem is that visions are created, posted on a wall, or shelved, and promptly forgotten.

The authors contend that you must create 3 sets of goals: the long-range vision, a set of medium terms goals, and a short-term plan. The 3 sets must be aligned. In this way, you build a bridge to the achievement of your long-range vision and have some signposts along the way to mark progress.

The authors go on to apply the same skill in an organizational setting. You help your colleagues with establishing a vision, while ensuring each of them has a hand in formulating at least one tier of goals.

Another tool the authors present is a 4-quadrant model to guide thinking. You work your way from data (observations or symptoms) to diagnosis (possible causes) to direction (possible approaches) to ‘do next’ (next steps). This process clarifies thinking and prevents people from jumping all over the place, which is very common experience in meetings.

The rest of the book included good one-off ideas but lacked substance behind them. Ideas around learning (balancing doing and reflecting), giving and receiving feedback, developing engagement, and making oneself helpful.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

200 page book could be boiled down to a 20 page high lights, basic premise, question, learn, do, be nice to people and look at what you can do instead of what others are doing wrong. There is a fair bit of recommended self deprecation within the book, i.e. minimising your role to not offend people, which does not appeal to me. All in all this book was a slog and is very very very repetitive. It would probably be better as a white paper and then a detailed list of experiences and why these are good practices, actually mix up the phases of learn, do and repeat and give good anecdotal evidence across the range as why this is a good model given these examples.

[Gabriel Pinkus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most useful book I have found in how to best help move your group forward when you are in a corporate setting and not "in charge". This book can help one act more like an adult when it is sometimes quite easy to instead act like a child ("That is not my job", "They are not fixing it for me", "That plan will not work, but there is nothing I can do about it" etc.).

I particularly am in sync with Roger's recommendations of not master-planning things, but instead to be tinkering, testing, adjusting course, etc.

"This book is must reading for those seeking to maximize their contribution to the constructive work of the world." - Charles T. Munger

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a perfectly adequate leadership book. It doesn't present any new ideas, but it does explain old ideas with clarity and concision.

If you're new to this genre, you'll learn a great deal of good stuff by reading this book. If you're an old hand at this type of thing, you'll still get a solid review of important leadership principles.

In other words, you could do worse.

[Mrsculpepper · Rating 5 out of 5]

advice that is applicable to all jobs. especially great for tips on communication up, down, and across the chain of command.

[Peter Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about taking initiative and influencing others via lateral leadership.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains many useful frameworks of improving the skills needed for better collaboration.
However the writing style is pretty dry and more like a “manual”.

[Yutong Cai · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book could be condensed to a 20 minute podcast.

[Alex Xu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good productivity book.

[Hom Sack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even more useful the second time around.

[Kashmira · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few good gems and observations related to collaboration. I enjoyed the first few pages the book the most and the points summarised towards the end of the book .. a light read to be picked up when traveling for work.

[Nicole Smith]

Favorite quotes:

"It would be a lucky break for you if at least part of the problem were the result of your behavior. Then you could improve the situation by improving your contribution. . . . The more you contribute to a bad situation, the more power you have to change it." p16

". . . solutions are not the answer. The answer is a better process for finding solutions." p21

". . . unless what you do today is related to where you want to end up, you will never get there." p42

". . . the time we have is finite, but the work we could do is infinite." p44

"Perseverance is a virtue - when the goal has been well chosen. The goal of planning, however, is not high-quality plans, but high-quality work. And that will not be achieved by endless planning." p115

"It seems easier to follow a set path than to stop and chart a new course. And perhaps it is, for the moment." p116

"Too often we fail to learn in the famous 'school of trial and error' in time to apply its lessons to the task in which we are engaged." p117

"You can't undo the past. You can learn from it." p117

"You cannot produce feelings on command. You can do things that in turn will affect your feelings." p139

"One of the best ways to improve your own skills is to help others improve theirs." p141

"What we are able to achieve depends on how well we use the resources available to us." p158

"Far from being a sign of weakness, seeking advice shows a drive to improve and the wisdom to seek new ideas." p180

[Lawrence Winkler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book multiple times. Invaluable content. I think I first read the book in the mid 1990's, on a flight from Tampa. Needing something to read, the Tampa airport bookstore happened to have it in its shelf and its author Roger Fisher of Getting To Yes caught my eye.

This book is one from Harvard's Negotiation Project. There are many worthwhile books from this project and most should be mandatory reading, including this one.

The theme of this book is lateral leadership. Lateral leadership is hard. For one, many people simply just want to be told what to do (then bitch anyway). Second, many see an open discussion suggesting everyone contribute as a void into which they want to insert their alphaness.

What about the content? Well, the authors "eat their own dog food." The book is not an easy flow narrative but is structured exactly as they recommend decision making meetings should be structured: data, diagnosis, direction, do next. The book reads formula-istic, but it's practical, as is much of the material from the Negotiation Project.

[Andy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overall, this is a disappointing sequel to Getting to Yes. There is nothing new. The essence of the practical advice is to focus on your circle of influence and quit if you have a bad boss. Duh.
Beyond that, there is much silly advice about persuading your boss to be a better leader by trying to teach him/her what it says in every blessed management book in existence. Good bosses don't need this because they are already soliciting suggestions and trying to improve their leadership skills. Bad bosses will just give you additional grief for questioning their authority. Is there a middle ground of mediocre bosses where this advice could be useful? Maybe, but I don't think so. Someone who never though to ask subordinates for suggestions or to learn anything about management is probably not going to be fixable using these techniques.

[Jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why is it 2013 and I am being asked reading a book about leadership written in 1999? Many things about this particular course do not make sense, but here we are. I opened this book and did some glancing, but I would not say I read it. Out & out grad school rebellion. I can't wait to return this to the library.

[Tisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly I was disappointed because I thought this book would tell me how to lead when I wasn't the one with authority. It was really a re-hash of a bunch of famous books without any of the charisma of any of them. I didn't need to hear anything about setting goals of different lengths, for example.

[Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

Getting It Done is a good read for anyone new to business; just everything said in the book is good and helpful advice, but if you've already done your basic business reading, you won't find anything new here. Not bad, but not great.

[Tim Dugan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too short

Lots of advise jammed in a small place

No info about where the advise comes from or how you know it will work

The subtitle says “when you are not in charge” but that topic ideas missing in the book (as best I recall)

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lateral leadership techniques for to get things done when your not the one in charge. Have a purpose or mission know what direction you want to lead people

[Mary C. Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a great book. In the back, instead of an index, it has an easy-to-use outline. When you want apply the principles from the book, this makes it simple to review them.

[Val]

Very enlightening if you work in groups of any size.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't say I was very moved after reading this. Overall good tips, but nothing earth shattering.

[Yudhit · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally finish it..... uh uh... as I said before,I am not very good in reading serious stuff like this one. Hopefully, some of it get into my head :P.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good advice though I though it could have been distilled into a couple of worksheets or into a workbook format.

[Kim Kanofsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great leadership book! I highly recommend the tips and tactics, especially the sine-wave chart and the circle chart. I use those all the time now.