section places our focus on preparing for your course, taking a long view, and making sure your priorities are in order:
Chapter 3 : Set Goals: Define the Direction: This chapter ensures your goals are in order, you have time to systematically review progress, and your organization has a predictable calendar.
See It in Action: Goal Setting Start to Finish: How an organization sets and reviews its goals.
Chapter 4 : Break Down the Goals: Create a Priority Plan: This chapter helps you boil down your Yearly Goals into a three-month path of clear actions that in turn should drive your calendar and meetings!
See It in Action: Wrist, Elbow, and Shoulder: How a leader articulates what she cares most about in her team's work.
Chapter 5 : Align Your Meetings: Make a Meeting Matrix: Because leaders spend a ton of time in meetings, this chapter is designed to test your meeting schedule against your priorities – and communicate to others accordingly.
Section 3 : Get Yourself Together
This section is designed to ensure your personal organization systems are securely Together! Even if you are already moderately Together, I recommend you spin through this section to confirm that your methods are airtight. You may also get some new ideas to tune up existing systems!
Chapter 6 : Get Macro: Design a Comprehensive Calendar: In this chapter, I will take you through the development of a macro view of your calendar to ensure it reflects the priorities developed in the previous section.
Chapter 7 : Strategic Procrastination: Design a Later List: The calendar cannot survive on its own! In this chapter, I help you capture all of the To-Dos related to your priorities – and consolidate all those other pesky To-Dos just running around!
Chapter 8 : Reconcile Your Time and To-Dos: Create Your Weekly Plan: This chapter is where I get really specific, or micro, about your plan for the week.
Chapter 9 : Keep It Together: Routines and Checklists: No tools work by themselves. They need care, love, and feeding. This chapter pushes you to set daily, weekly, and monthly rituals to keep Togetherness moving forward.
Chapter 10 : Hold That Thought: Save It for Later! This chapter helps you separate your thoughts from your To-Dos so you can refer back to those good ideas in the future.
See It in Action: What Should I Carry? How a leader stays Together during a typical week – and what to carry!
Section 4 : Get Your Team and Organization Together
This section describes the tools, systems, and routines necessary to function as a Together Team.
Chapter 11 : Keep E-mail in Its Place: Drowning in e-mail? Is your team constantly pinging each other all day long? Get clear on communications in this chapter.
Chapter 12 : Project Design, Planning, and Communication: More Than Just Spreadsheets! Some projects call for more detailed plans that you can easily share with others, or you may manage someone who leads very detailed projects. If so, you'll find help here.
Chapter 13 : Become a Dynamic Duo: Maximize Your Assistant: If you are fortunate to have some administrative or operational support, you will benefit from this chapter, which helps you make the most of this important partnership.
See It in Action: The Management Memo: Check out a Management Memo from a leader who clearly articulates expectations to his teams.
Section 5 : Put It All Together
In the final section of the book, I discuss how to synthesize all of your new tools and systems.
Chapter 14 : Keep Track of Stuff, Space, and Knowledge: The physical clutter cannot be overlooked, nor can all of those documents lie around. This chapter helps you control that chaos.
Chapter 15 : Create a Culture of Togetherness: I will share ideas about how to infuse Togetherness into your entire organization – from hiring to evaluation.
Chapter 16 : Conclusion: Keep It All Together: Now that we've tackled systems for self, team, and organization, let's keep ourselves honest as the rubber hits the road!
And peppered throughout the book are Common Challenges that I see leaders face on a daily basis, whether they're drowning in e-mail, shifting priorities, or moving to different organizations.
How Each Chapter Is Organized
Most chapters follow a predictable rhythm:
Seen and Heard. These quotes are directly from my workshop and webinar participants.
Overview and Objectives. The purpose of the tool and overview of objectives are given.
The Model. The models show the structure of each tool and share the thought process behind it.
The Examples. Each chapter includes two to three examples of actual tools from real-life leaders who use a variety of different products.
Build Your Own. These are step-by-step instructions on how to build your own tool, select the right product, and address common pitfalls.
The Routine. This section describes how to use your tool during the busy workday – and how to stay committed!
Start Strong. These are bullet points of how to quickly get started and a summary of the time commitment required.
How to Use This Book
First get your own systems up to snuff, as described in Section 1 and Section 2. After you feel super sharp, move to team systems, going slowly to accommodate your colleagues' habits, preferences, and appetites. To make the most of the resources in this book, you could also try the methods listed in the following sections.
Independently with the Reader Reflection
I recommend downloading or printing out the Reader's Reflection Guide from my
