“How to be savvy…?”

nuggetsoflearning • January 25, 2016

What does savvy mean?  The dictionary definition is  “shrewdness and practical knowledge, especially in business”

In reality what does it mean to you?  – the individuals who are ahead of the game know the right people and know how to get things done and can navigate around any corporate system or process.

Savvy individuals have limitless knowledge and a good eye of the best routes to success.  They keep a close eye on their priorities and know whether they are known by whom they want to be known by.

How to be savvy…?

  1. Priorities – you must know in life – what matters most? Stephen Covey uses the prioritisation matrix with the mantra – Put first things first.  There is stuff in the world all the time, by having really good systems you won’t miss anything, according to David Allen (the author of Getting Things Done) He describes the system as “buckets”- there is one for the following:-
    • Projects
    • Annual
    • Monthly
    • Weekly
    • Daily.
  2. As individuals we need to be professionally savvy, we can understand this best, by always asking the question  “What shadow do I cast…?”.  We can also look at survey by Harvey Coleman on promotional success criteria. The criteria is
    • Visibility – what do they know about you before they meet you?
    • Image – what do they see? not just you/your office & desk etc…
    • Job – what do you do?
  3. Harvey To be savvy in business we need to be wide awake and aware of what is happening in our organisation and beyond.
  • Contextually savvy = alert to external factors and macro trends
  • Organisationally savvy = understanding of the culture internally
  • Business savvy = how do we make money? – commercial health

Please do contact Bev Wilkinson if you would your team to experience a workshop on “Being Savvy”

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