What a great couple of terms!  To be Effective...read my book description of The Effective Executive in the Good Reads section for more on this term.  To a lot of us, the word Effective doesn't resonate with a lot of emotional intensity.  However, once understood from Peter Drucker's perspective, the term becomes gigantic in meaning as it applies to the leader's role in a business and to the success of a business.

 

Okay, now let's think about Responsiveness.  Quite simply, I think that this is the quality that determines whether people will do business with you out of desire rather than when they're forced to do so.  Do you respond quickly and readily to others? I recently saw a sarcastic T-shirt that said something like "Sure, I'll drop everything and help you..." or something like that.  The individual trying to be Effective has to worry about Responsiveness.  Does being Responsive mean that you have to be willing ot drop everything to address someone else's priorities?  No, it actually means that one must be willing to be civil enough to let the other person know that the communication/request has been received yet assertive enough to let them know when you'll be able to work on their request and when they can expect the definitive response.

 

Think about how much energy and time are wasted trying to do business with people or businesses that haven't grasped the concept of Responsiveness...Endless callbacks asking for the product or at least asking for a projected completion date, the completion date comes and goes (which no one minds too much as we all understand that delays happen) but there's not a call to let you know about the delay or the revised completion date so you're left in limbo!  Are you feeling the pain yet?  I know I am just writing about it.

 

In essence, isn't being responsive really the fundamental quality of good service?  Are you giving the same level of service to all of your clientele, whether they be your customers, your staff, your peers or your vendors?  Do others enjoy doing business with you? If so, it's probably because you're Responsive.  If you're not Responsive and they're still doing business with you, they'll probably try an alternative as soon as one presents itself.

 

There are a host of factors that help one to be more Effective.  I would argue that, in the long run, chief among these is your own Responsiveness.