In this blog, we will see the third section of the book “The Get Things Done Book”, if you haven’t read the first and second blogs please do check them out.

Getting things done, always can’t do on our own you may depend on someone else, so in this section, the author gave a few tips on how to get others to do things. The tips or strategies are –

Appreciation

If you want to get people to do things, it’s smarter to thank them to apologize, Showing appreciation triggers more positive feelings in the other person. We feel better when we are made to look good than when someone else chastens themselves.

Radical transparency: How to value criticism.

Radical transparency is a philosophy to describe the operating model at the firm where a direct and honest culture is practiced in all communications. Everyone should be brutally honest so that people would be less shocked by criticism and thus learn more.

Criticism makes us defensive, it hurts and we look for reassurance that our critic is an idiot and there is nothing wrong with us. Comfort is good but does comfort improve us?

Radical transparency should be followed with these three rules

1. Ask those who you want to be radically honest, if they would like to try for a while
2. Always communicate your criticism as if to someone you care about: be understanding and helpful and never hurtful.
3. Communicate your criticism straightaway and be direct.

Sandwich feedback.

Given a scenario where you have both good and bad news. we should always deliver the good news first.

The theory of small gifts: Who should you work with?

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Regardless of what we do for a living, networks are indispensable. The problem is who should you work with? To answer this question, we should know in this context relationships can be divided into 4 categories.

1. “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”: People with this approach want an instant return on investment.
2. “I’ll do you a favor, but you owe me one.”: People in this group are no less utilitarian than those in the first group. They’re prepared to wait longer
3. “I’m investing in this relationship, and expect you to do the same”: Unlike the first 2 categories instead of keeping eye on who is contributing how much, these people enter into a relationship believing that the others do their part.
4. “I’ll invest in this relationship because it is the right thing to do”: These people don’t expect to yield anything from the relationship.

Brainstorming:

The word brainstorming is coined in 1948 in the book “Your Creative Power”, by Alex Osborn.

According to Osborn, successful teamwork is governed by 2 rules.

1. No criticism, ‘Creativity is so delicate a flower, that praise tends to make it bloom while discouragement often nips it in the bud.
2. More is More. “Forget quality; aim to get many answers. When you’re through, your sheets of paper may be so full of ridiculous nonsense that you’ll discuss. Never mind”