![\"Good](\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/06\/goodgreat-300x168.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cDon’t let perfection be the enemy of good,” was a quote I recently read in the Washington Post.\u00a0 It was said by one of the co-founders of Honest Tea beverage company as he discussed his business’ success over the years. That company has certainly had some great success.\u00a0 So it struck me as odd, why would a “good” effort be defended?\u00a0 Don’t we all want to be better than “good” in our careers?\u00a0 Don’t we need to do more than “good” work to be successful?<\/p>\n
So it definitely got me thinking. Especially since I feel that I work pretty hard at my job, and always try to do my best.\u00a0 And I like to think that my work efforts are better than “good.” But I have to say, with an ever-growing workload, I sometimes feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of new programs and services that seem to be added every year. This on top of the already full workloads we continue to have. So each year it seems harder and harder to juggle the work volume and continue to meet the increased goals.<\/p>\n
But meet the goals we must, as well as maintain quality outcomes<\/i>.\u00a0 Though this is probably the case in most work environments today.\u00a0 So, something’s gotta give.\u00a0 I think this is where “good” comes into play. And where “good” is indeed good enough, and can be great, actually.\u00a0 How do we do this?\u00a0 One way I think we do this by cutting corners on time, not on the quality of outcomes.<\/p>\n
For example, if I have to prepare for a presentation, I am spending much less time on creating the PowerPoint slides than I used to. There are fewer slides and bullet points, though when making the presentation I try to be sure all the important content is shared and discussed.\u00a0 And over the years, reports and updates to my supervisor have grown much shorter- very direct and to the point.\u00a0 (I’ve developed a relationship with her such that I know she’ll let me know if she needs additional details, which I can\/do provide.)\u00a0 And my emails to colleagues have also gotten shorter and more focused; the number of abbreviations they contain sometimes surprise me!\u00a0 Emoticons can sometimes be a blessing, if used judiciously.\u00a0 Of course, certain reports and correspondence have to adhere to standard form and guidelines. I also do more meetings and conferences via interactive video or phone, versus traveling to the meeting location, when it’s conducive to do so. And when running meetings, I always start and end on time, and usually try to finish early.\u00a0 The meeting notes capture just the most critical information and action items, with the specific tasks and timelines that the team has agreed on.<\/p>\n
For me, these are just a few examples of doing work that is “good” yet still keeps our team on track, and results in quality outcomes. Is this perfect?\u00a0 Probably not.\u00a0 But when you add up good efforts, and the time saved and used for the critical issues, they may come close.\u00a0 I’m sure you’ve developed many \u201cgood\u201d systems in your own offices throughout your careers.\u00a0 What are those?\u00a0 Can you share them with us?<\/p>\n
The one thing I feel we shouldn’t ever shortcut on, though, is the human factor.\u00a0 I don’t believe there are any shortcuts to cultivating “great” working relationships with colleagues. Relationships with the individuals within our teams need to be established and nurtured. Unless we give full time and effort on that front, there will be little support for any of our other good efforts.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure this is another topic well worth discussing!<\/p>\n
So, here’s to your good work being some of your best work!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Martha O\u2019Keefe, Associate Vice President of Workforce at Germanna Community College \u201cDon’t let perfection be the enemy of good,” was a quote I recently read in the Washington Post.\u00a0 It was said by one of the co-founders of Honest Tea beverage company as he discussed his business’ success over the years. That company has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-43888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
"Good" Work Can Still Be Impactful - Leadership Colloquium at UMW<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Good" Work Can Still Be Impactful\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Martha O\u2019Keefe, Associate Vice President of Workforce at Germanna Community College \u201cDon’t let perfection be the enemy of good,” was a quote I recently read in the Washington Post.\u00a0 It was said by one of the co-founders of Honest Tea beverage company as he discussed his business’ success over the years. That company has […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leadership Colloquium at UMW\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-02T20:41:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/06\/goodgreat-300x168.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emily\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7a248c2921907e813fd6c371fa0dffc9\"},\"headline\":\"“Good” Work Can Still Be Impactful\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-02T20:41:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":652,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/goodgreat-300x168.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Good\\\" Work Can Still Be Impactful - Leadership Colloquium at UMW\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/goodgreat-300x168.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-02T20:41:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7a248c2921907e813fd6c371fa0dffc9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/goodgreat.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/goodgreat.jpg\",\"width\":650,\"height\":365,\"caption\":\"Good Great\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/02\\\/good-work-can-still-impactful\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Good” Work Can Still Be Impactful\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/\",\"name\":\"Leadership Colloquium at UMW\",\"description\":\"University of Mary Washington\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7a248c2921907e813fd6c371fa0dffc9\",\"name\":\"Emily\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f35b14f50fcb3c878f02350edcf9f9472fce5298ee977a699c651b62d1e6e5a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f35b14f50fcb3c878f02350edcf9f9472fce5298ee977a699c651b62d1e6e5a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f35b14f50fcb3c878f02350edcf9f9472fce5298ee977a699c651b62d1e6e5a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emily\"},\"description\":\"Digital Communications Intern\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/lcpw\\\/author\\\/ebayless\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Good\" Work Can Still Be Impactful - Leadership Colloquium at UMW","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Good\" Work Can Still Be Impactful","og_description":"By Martha O\u2019Keefe, Associate Vice President of Workforce at Germanna Community College \u201cDon’t let perfection be the enemy of good,” was a quote I recently read in the Washington Post.\u00a0 It was said by one of the co-founders of Honest Tea beverage company as he discussed his business’ success over the years. That company has […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/","og_site_name":"Leadership Colloquium at UMW","article_published_time":"2016-06-02T20:41:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/06\/goodgreat-300x168.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Emily","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emily","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/"},"author":{"name":"Emily","@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/#\/schema\/person\/7a248c2921907e813fd6c371fa0dffc9"},"headline":"“Good” Work Can Still Be Impactful","datePublished":"2016-06-02T20:41:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/"},"wordCount":652,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/06\/goodgreat-300x168.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/","url":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/","name":"\"Good\" Work Can Still Be Impactful - Leadership Colloquium at UMW","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/06\/goodgreat-300x168.jpg","datePublished":"2016-06-02T20:41:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/#\/schema\/person\/7a248c2921907e813fd6c371fa0dffc9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/06\/goodgreat.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/06\/goodgreat.jpg","width":650,"height":365,"caption":"Good Great"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2016\/06\/02\/good-work-can-still-impactful\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Good” Work Can Still Be Impactful"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/","name":"Leadership Colloquium at UMW","description":"University of Mary Washington","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/#\/schema\/person\/7a248c2921907e813fd6c371fa0dffc9","name":"Emily","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f35b14f50fcb3c878f02350edcf9f9472fce5298ee977a699c651b62d1e6e5a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f35b14f50fcb3c878f02350edcf9f9472fce5298ee977a699c651b62d1e6e5a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f35b14f50fcb3c878f02350edcf9f9472fce5298ee977a699c651b62d1e6e5a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emily"},"description":"Digital Communications Intern","url":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/author\/ebayless\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Good](\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2016\/06\/goodgreat.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n