Get More Done by Using Leverage with Eric Jorgenson

Managers should be multipliers for their teams. Yet, how can you unlock their productivity and unblock them on time wasters? That’s what leverage is all about.

Eric Jorgenson, author of the Almanack of Naval Ravikant, has thought about leverage so much he’s built a whole course and blog dedicated to it. We have him on the Creating High Performing Teams podcast today to talk about how managers like you can apply leverage to your work day and unleash your team to focus on the highest value things they can do. 

Listen to our episode on leverage on:

• ​​​​Spotify​​
• ​​Apple Podcasts​​
• ​​Google Podcasts​​
• ​​Stitcher​​

Show Notes on Building Leverage as a Leader:

• Being a manager is about being a multiplier. Leverage is how you find was to multiple you and your team’s efforts. 
• Book recommendation: Shape Up by Ryan Singer
• Start with finding just one thing you can outsource. Be okay with it being 70-80% as good as you would do it…then reflect on how valuable it was to get that time back 
• Other tactics and examples of leverage:
  • Write out your key decisions in a Decision Journal and reflect on the results after the fact
    • Include the details of the decision so it’s easier to understand all the date you had then
  • ConvertKit records a podcast for every new employee so people can get to know them at a time they choose at scale
  • Founder Shane Mac gives every employee on his team a budget to have an Executive Assistant to save time and offload any tedious/repetitive tasks.
  • Remember in Episode 4 with Wes Kao, they have a #repetitive channel that people can post when they’re doing the same thing again and again. 
• What you can do as a manager:
  • Do the math on the value / cost of you and each employee’s time. Teach them to outsource or, where possible, do not do low value tasks.
    • Buying tools are high leverage; compare the monthly cost of the tool to your employee's hours cost to do it themselves.  
  • “If you repeat yourself, record yourself” to create leverage, whether a template, instructions, or something else.
    • And on the flip side ask, “What can I uniquely only do?” then focus on this things.
  • Ask your team members in their 1 on 1s questions like:
    • What are you spending time on every day or week?
    • What do you spend a lot of your time doing? What’s repetitive?

Key actions for you to take today from the interview:

1. Study the idea yourself to really understand it
   1. Revisit Andy Grove’s legendary leadership book, “High Output Management” 
   2. Remember: There are no points for difficulty, so look for opportunities to get leverage with low effort on your part. 
   3. It starts with one, so just find one place, and then build momentum from there.
2. What can you do right now with your team to make a difference?
   1. Teach your team to prioritize high-impact projects
   2. Reward good outcomes, not inputs or effort with your team
      • Avoid theater. Appearances aren't valuable compared to results.
      • Give more headcount or support profit center teams better
3. Your First Actions today:
   1. Ask your team in their 1 on 1s how they could have more leverage:
      • What are you spending time on every day or week?
      • What do you spend a lot of your time doing? What’s repetitive?
   2. Do the calculation of your costs for your time and that of your team.
      • Use that as a measure of how much ROI various tools and other investments have to have to justify the spend.  

Where to find and follow Eric Jorgenson:

• Subscribe to Eric’s free newsletter at https://www.ejorgenson.com/newsletter 
• And you can read his blog posts on leverage here: 
  https://www.ejorgenson.com/blog?category=Leverage