The organization chart was getting messy. Ted had just drawn a new circle next to himself. “I think we need to hire another department manager. I just cannot get everything done.”

“Ted, tell me, how much do you get paid, on an hourly basis?”

“I don’t know, I would have to break down my salary, but let’s say I make $30 per hour, plus, plus.”

“Fine, close enough. Ted, if you look at all of the elements in your role as a manager, how many of the tasks that you do, are $30-per-hour tasks, and how many are $12-per-hour tasks? Let’s do some quick analysis, just on yesterday.”

As Ted detailed his tasks from the prior day (and you can bet I pinned him down for all the detail) he discovered that 50% of his time was engaged in preparing paperwork, printing reports, doing data entry and reconciling inventory counts. Ted didn’t need another department manager; he needed a good strong clerical support person.

As a Manager in your organization, how much $12 per hour work are you doing? -TF

Pamela had just emerged from a generous chewing out from her boss. The incomplete item was on her list, but there was no check mark beside it. Not done, in fact, not started.

On a typical day, Pamela would work down her list, dutifully checking off items completed. It was a curious list, lots of things to do, some today, some next week, some next month. It was tattered with a little coffee cup ring across the bottom right hand corner.

We had to change her method to decide what’s next. Pamela’s current system was simple. Make the list, then do the easy stuff. It was obviously not working. At least it was obvious to her boss.

Covey’s rule of First Things First has a corollary, Second Things Never. Pamela began to work a new system using a scale of (5-1 Important) and a scale of (5-1 Urgent) to decide on the priority of each item on her list. Once the priority was established, she invoked the rule, Second Things Never.

This required one more step. Once an item was completed, Pamela had to review the list to make sure the priorities had not changed. Priorities often change, sometimes in the middle of the day. Check on your priorities. Second Things Never. -TF

I suggest two hours of uninterrupted time, each day. The pushback from the class is strong.
The discussion is about time management. I am encouraging the use of uninterrupted time.

I start by suggesting one hour of uninterrupted time per week. The group softens up. I suggest two hours uninterrupted time per week. The class is still with me, but there are raised eyebrows. I know the next suggestion of uninterrupted time each and every day will be hard to swallow. I say it anyway. I can tell Juan, sitting in the back of the class, thinks I am nuts, totally out of touch with reality.

“How many of you, in school, had a final exam to take, you remember, report to the cafeteria at 7:00am with two number 2 sharpened pencils?” Everyone raises their hand. “How many of you began studying for this exam the Monday before?” There are snickers in the classroom. I smile, because I know that nobody studied for that exam until about 8:00pm Thursday, the night before.

But then, that very night, you engaged in tactics you can employ today to get uninterrupted time at work. You unplugged the phone, turned off the tv, closed your door, went to the library, communicated with those around you to take the beer keg down to the other end of the hallway, because you had to study.

At work, you can close your door, put your phone on DND, communicate with those around you that you are in a meeting (with yourself), reposition to another office (where no one would think to look). What kind of impact could you have on your Key Result Areas if you could get just one hour of uninterrupted time every week? Two hours? Two hours a day? -TF

Question: I am interested in your opinion of the most effective Time Management techniques.

Response: There are only a handful of Time Management strategies. You have heard of them all, nothing new. Here is a quick list:

• Awareness of how time is spent – keeping a diary
• Prioritizing – keeping an ABC priority list
• Independent production – finding uninterrupted time to complete top priorities
• Goal setting – creating goals to keep the mind focused

The power of Time Management strategy is NOT in the technique itself, but in the discipline of execution.

A priority list is easy to understand, but the leverage comes from creating and reviewing the list on a routine basis. Independent production, or uninterrupted time is often overlooked by Managers. Some Managers even feel guilty about closing their door. In my mind, what good does it do to know your top priority task if you do not schedule uninterrupted time to complete it. Again, the leverage comes from the discipline of execution.

Bottom-line, discipline creates habits, habits create consistent action. Success is seldom built on occasional good luck, but more often on consistent profitable action. -TF

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In his book, the Effective Executive, Peter Drucker talks about the most basic principle of Time Management, the principle of Awareness. Knowing how you spend your time is where it all starts. In my management class, I assign each participant the exercise of tracking their working time over a one week period. When Drucker makes this assignment, he recommends hiring someone to follow you around to make more accurate notes of your wanderings during the week. The recommendation has less to do with accuracy and more to do with capturing the truth. I know full well that my class participants are not going to engage an assistant to follow them around. They laugh about the high cost of such a simple task and that no one would approve the budget item to be followed around.

So when I send my students off to make this accurate record, I know they will not heed Drucker’s advice, so my admonishment is, “Remember the 11th commandment. Thou shalt not kid thyself.”

A week later, the results are always interesting. The recordkeeping for the week fits on a single side of an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet. Down the side are the time increments, across the top are the days of the week. In each time increment (of 15 minutes), I ask them to record their activity. Activities lasting more than 15 minutes simply occupy more blocks on the page. With their weekly log in hand, at the top, I have them identify 5-6 of their important Key Result Areas and armed with highlight pens of different colors, I ask them to color code all of their activities.

The patterns of color yield a very quick analysis. A dominant color would indicate a high priority in that Key Result Area. The coaching question is, “Does the real priority of the Key Result Area match the color dominance on the weekly Time Awareness Chart?”

A missing color would indicate that one of the identified Key Result Areas was ignored during that week. The coaching question is, “Did you forget about activity in that Key Result Area, or did you omit the activity on purpose?” On purpose is actually a better response than realizing the ball got dropped through forgetfulness.

But, what about the areas where there is no color at all? The time block indicates activity, but no color seems to match the activity. First blush might indicate that time is being wasted. My contention is that most managers do NOT waste time. Most Managers I know are most always engaged in important activity. The absence of color simply indicates the important activity is not connected with any Key Result Areas of the Manager. Likely, it was connected to a Key Result Area of someone else who cleverly involved the Manager.

The first principle of Time Management is awareness. If you think this exercise might benefit you, remember, “Thou shalt not kid thyself.” —TF