The key to time management is life management. How you manage your time is how you manage your life. We all start out with 168 hours in the course of a week. No more – or no less. As a manager – you need to manage your time and your teams time. You need to learn how to do more with less. This is my fourth and last blog posting dedicated to giving you some valuable insights into how to manage your time and your teams time more effectively. Over the last 3 postings we’ve discussed goal setting, prioritizing, planning, scheduling, handling interruptions and meetings. This week we’ll look at concurring procrastination and ways to help you manage your teams time more effectively.

Procrastination:

We all procrastinate to some degree or another. We all have a tendency to put off doing those things that we don’t like to do – or those things that we aren’t good at doing. We put it off hoping that they’ll take care of themselves or go away and disappear all together. Working on the things that you like to do – instead of working on the things that need to be done – is procrastination dressed up in a different set of clothes but it’s procrastination none the less. You need to be disciplined enough to do what needs to be done – when it needs to be done by – or learn to delegate it and let someone else do it.

Let your priority list motivate you to tackle what needs to be done. Remember that the 45 pound monkey will turn into a 900 pound gorilla if you ignore it long enough.
Don’t wait for perfect. Nothing ever comes off exactly as planned. Some risk is unavoidable. You’re not paid to be perfect – you’re paid to get results.
There are only two rules for achieving anything – (1) Get started – and – (2) Keep going. (Any direction is a good direction as long as it is moving you forward)
Develop a “Can-Do” attitude. You can do anything that you set your mind too. The only person getting in your way – is You!
Promise yourself a reward. Grading assignments and exams is not one of my favorite things to do. (Even being a College Professor has a down side) I have a tendency to procrastinate and put it off – so I’ve learned to tackle them in small bites. I divide up the papers or assignments to be graded in small stacks of 5. I sit down – grade my 5 papers or assignments and then reward myself by getting up to get a coffee – quickly check my emails or look something up on Google. And then back to my pile to do the next 5 and so on until all of the assignments or exams have been graded.
Create a “Teachable Moment” and delegate it.
Commit yourself to take action. Set deadlines and make it an “A” item.
Tackle things in 90 minute spurts. Work on something for 90 minutes – take a 10 minute break and then get back at it for another 90 minutes, etc. until the task is complete. I used this technique to write my book – “Confessions of a Reformed Control Freak – The Top Ten Sins Most Managers Make & How to Avoid Them”. The short 10 minute break is a great way to re-energize yourself.

Team Time:

No one works in a vacuum, and no one accomplishes a great deal on their own. Managers not only have to be concerned about how they manage their time – but they also need to be concerned with how they manage their team’s time. (The productivity equation will never change. You need to minimize the input to maximize the output. You need to ensure everyone on your team is on the same page – rowing in the same direction.)

Team time management requires an entirely different approach to time management. If you aren’t organized and prepared – your team won’t be either. As the manager you set the tone – you set the pace. Good team time management requires everyone on your team to respect their time – but more importantly – respect other people’s time when working on group projects, sitting on committees or attending meetings or huddles at the beginning of their shift.

Show everyone else on your team that you respect them and their time by arriving early and being prepared.
Don’t send emails to everyone on your list. Send emails to people on a need-to-know basis. (FYI – not everyone cares) But be sure that everyone who needs to know is on your list.
Make an agenda before calling or meeting anyone.
Write down what points you want to discuss before making that phone call.
Lead by example. Develop the “On Time” and “On Budget” habit. Deliver what you promise on time. How many people are you keeping waiting?
Give people plenty of advanced notice. You shouldn’t spring something on them at the very last-minute. Don’t let your poor planning become their problem.
Take time to become a good listener. Ask questions for clarity.
Don’t wait for others to take the first step. Take initiative – assume that everything depends on you to get things going.
Take the time to give complete instructions. Be clear on what needs to be accomplished, how long it should take them to accomplish it and give people the opportunity to ask questions. Make sure they have all the “tools” they’ll need to complete the task.
Before you leave at the end of your day make sure everyone on your team has a list of tasks you’d like them to complete while you are gone. (Hint – If you come back and they have completed everything on their list – then their list wasn’t long enough.)
People have a tendency to fill up their time based on the amount of work they have to get done. (It doesn’t take much to stretch a 20 minute task into 60 if you don’t have anything else that needs to get done.)

If you’ve enjoyed this series of blogs on how to manage your time and your teams time more effectively let me know. Better yet – spread the word – and share this with at least one more person. What new habit are you going to start working on?

October 12, 2011

You Can’t Control Everything All Of The Time

Uncategorized • Tags: handling interruptions, manage your time, meetings, Time management

The key to time management is life management. How you manage your time is how you manage your life. You only have 168 hours in the course of a week – no more – or no less. Today’s manager must do more with less. (The productivity equation will never change. You need to minimize the input and maximize the output.) This is the 3rd blog posting in a series of blogs dedicated in helping you get control over your time and your team’s time. The first posting dealt with Goal Setting and Prioritizing (If You’re On Time – You’re Already Late) – the second dealt with Planning and Scheduling (On Time and On Budget – Managing Team Time). This 3rd posting deals with Interruptions and Meetings.

Interruptions – Get use to it. Interruptions are a fact of life. Experts would have us believe that you are going to be interrupted 6 times an hour – every working hour of the day – especially if you work in an open-office environment. (That’s why you need to add some flex time to your schedule. You know you’re going to be interrupted so you might as well plan for it.) Try this experiment. Keep an Interruption Log for two weeks. Every time you are interrupted by someone or something – write it down in your log. (Who interrupted you, how much time did they rob from you – and what was it about.) Is there a pattern there? Are you being interrupted for things that aren’t part of your job description or someone besides you could be doing it? (Great opportunity here to delegate) Are you being interrupted by someone who has too much time on their hands? By phone calls or text messages that can be returned later or ignored completely? Once you know where your time is going – you can put a plan together to eliminate or re-direct those interruptions.

Here are a few tips you can try to help reduce the amount of interruptions

Close your door when you are working on something that requires your full attention. Put a sign on your door letting everyone know that you don’t want to be disturbed. Once you have finished that task – open your door – but be prepared that someone is going to walk in and interrupt you. You need to have an open door policy but you get to decide when the door is opened.
When someone walks into your office – stand up and walk around to the front of your desk. (You are non-verbally telling that person not to sit down and get too comfortable because they won’t be there very long.) Better yet – remove the chairs from the front of your desk all together.
If you are going to have a meeting – have it in their office or a neutral location so you can get up and leave when you feel the meeting is over.
After the interruption don’t doodle. Get back to what you where working on before you got interrupted. Get back to that “A” item.

Meetings: Intelligence is no substitute for information; Enthusiasm is no substitute for ability; Willingness is no substitute for experience; And a meeting is no substitute for progress! Meetings are the biggest waste of time ever invented by man. Patrick Lencioni wrote a great book on the subject of meetings called “Death by Meeting” which is well worth the read. The first thing I recommend you do is go out a buy a copy of “Robert’s Rules” and teach yourself how to run an effective meeting. It’s helped elected Parliaments and Social Clubs all over the World run effective and productive meetings for centuries and it will do the same for you

Consider alternatives to “live” meetings like email or conference calls.
Invite those people who only need to be there.
Meetings are NOT social gatherings. Have an agenda with time lines and stick to the agenda.
Show up on time – prepared to talk on the agenda items. If you are on time – you are already 15 minutes late.
Summarize the results of the meeting and make note of the action items and most importantly – who is responsible for following up on those items to make sure they will be completed on time and on budget.
If you haven’t been sent an agenda prior to the meeting – don’t go to the meeting.

Next weeks posting will look at Paperwork and Procrastination and give you some timely tips to help you utilize your time more effectively.