Why We Need More Coffee Breaks

A manager in a municipal government was lamenting the policy change that drastically limited the time allowed for coffee breaks. Not because he really loved coffee, or didn't want to get back to his job, but because he noticed that communication within the organization had gotten worse since the change.

In the good old days, people from different departments would get together casually over coffee, in groups, in pairs, and just chat. Inevitable, there would be a lot of talk about the Riders, but there was also be a lot of talk about what's going on in the office. "What's happening with you?" and "How's your project coming along?" were explored in a casual, relaxed setting and a lot of information was exchanged.

Now, that process is outlawed. Instead of a thirty minute coffee break with 15 minutes on football and 15 minutes about what's going on at work, they now have 15 minutes on football, followed by a 90 minute meeting to discuss what's going on at work.

When it was suggested that you could have a meeting and just make sure there was coffee, he wisely pointed out that it's not the same. A meeting with coffee is structured, formal and often unproductive. Coffee with some shop talk is unstructured, relaxed and often very productive.

Could more coffee breaks actually make your people more productive?

Training Isn't The Problem

In a time management seminar for a large organization, there were managers from 10 different departments in the classroom. As we explored their issues and frustrations, a common theme emerged: all of them were spending a significant part of their days trying to find the information they needed on the corporate network. They unanimously agreed that the network was poorly organized, and had slow, inefficient search capabilities. "I start a search in the morning and check to see if it's done in late afternoon, often it isn't!" They just couldn't find what they needed.

So, since it was very hard to find information, when they did finally find it, they would make their own copy. And, since most of these managers were below the level that were issued laptops, they would have to print out the documents so they could take them into the field or bring them to meetings. And, since most of these managers were below the level that were issued bookshelves and filing cabinets, they didn't have any place to store these printed copies. So they'd either pile it up on their desk or the floor, or throw it out.  Either way, they'd end up searching for it all over again the next time they needed it. Often, the printed paper versions would end up being out-of-date the next time they used it.

The design and usability of the company network was out of their control. The lack of access to laptops for portable access was out of their control. The capacity to file and store printed documents was out of their control. But, instead of addressing those issues, the solution that was implemented was to train these people on time management.

The system you're working in largely determines your capacity to get results. In this case, the system made it very hard for people to get the information they needed when they needed it. In situations such as this, training isn't the answer. No matter how well trained, the system would keep holding these people back.

How's Your Work-Life Balance?

With a fabulous Canada Day come and gone, the real start of summer is finally here. And, the short Saskatchewan season of Non-Winter poses a simple question that tests work life balance - "How much time are you spending with your family this summer? At the beach? On the lake? In the back yard?"

If the answer is "not enough," then you might need to rethink your approach to management.

Do you need to create sustainable systems that can function without your daily attention? Do you need to engage and trust your employees? Do you need to invite initiative and allow your employees to truly take on responsibility, which is what they want anyway?

If your family is truly precious to you, this is really the time to show it - with focused together time, relaxed recreation, and without constant interruptions from your work. Turn off your phone, don't answer emails, and really spend time with your family.

Enjoy the summer. See you in September.

When You Need to Get Hit By a Bus

A colleague recently had a family medical crisis, and was amazed at the clarity that this brought to his life. This guy is a passionate business owner and a bit of a workaholic. He confesses to always feeling a bit behind, certain that without his daily presence his "business would go to hell."

In the midst of the crisis, all the niggling details at work fell away, and he was amazed that "people just handled it." As the family pulled together to deal with the crisis, he found himself turning off his cellphone and ignoring the constant stream of emails, for hours and even days at a time. When he did check messages, he was amazed at how quickly he was able to evaluate which phone calls and issues he truly needed to handle, and which could be left for another day, another week.

In managing our time and our business, we talk about prioritizing, and planning, and doing the right thing. But sometimes, we need a crisis to drag us away, to give us time to think, to detach from the daily churn.We often worry about getting hit by the proverbial bus - the unexpected catastrophe that takes us out of the business. But sometimes, there's nothing better than getting hit by some virtual bus, some crisis that gives us clarity about what is truly important.

Do Some Homework Before You Make the Call

A salesman called the busy CEO of a midsize technology company to say "I'm going to be in your city and would like to come and see you." The salesman wouldn't say what his company did, and didn't know anything about what the technology company did.

So, the CEO clarified, "You won't tell me what you do, and you don't know anything about us, but you want to meet with me when you're in town? You should have done some homework - don't call me again" and hung up.

If this is your cold calling approach, you'd better get used to a whole lot of rejection.

The people you're calling on are busy. Do your homework, present your value proposition, and don't waste their time.

Planning Paralysis

How many projects are sitting on your desk, unstarted, because you can't find the time to make a plan?

In the ideal world of project management, you create a plan listing all the steps needed, in order, to get you where you want to go, with timelines, responsibilities and required resources all figured out down to the last nickel. (And a nickel might mean 5 cents, 5 hundred bucks, or 5 grand, depending on the size of your venture). In the real world that most managers live in, they can't find the time to make this comprehensive plan, so the project sits, unstarted, for weeks, months, years.

For some projects, like building an oil refinery in 18 months, you'd be crazy to start without a solid project plan. But for many projects that are sitting on manager's desks throughout the world, a comprehensive plan is not that important. The important thing is to start.

So, figure out the first thing you could do to make some progress on the project. Call someone, gather one piece of information, take one small step, give direction to one minion. You need a general idea of where you're going, but more importantly, you really need to start making progress.

Then, after you take that first step, you see if it's taken you closer to your objective, or if it's a little off target. Based on what you learn, you adjust your direction and take the next baby step. This simple breakdown of a journey into little cycles of Step, Adjust, Step, Adjust, Step, Adjust can take you through to completion of a project, without ever having to define an intricate, detailed, step-by-step project plan. This works surprisingly well.

So, take a look at your desk, figure out which project would make the biggest difference to you over the next weeks, months, years, and take the first step. It's time to get started.

Too Much on Your Plate?

You're a busy executive, and you want to be effective and powerful, creating positive change in your organization. But lately it seems that there's just too much to do. There aren't enough hours in the day, and you never see your family because of all the work-life balance seminars you've been attending.

Here are a few time-management morsels for you to chew on, as you struggle to bite off the daunting pile that's on your daily plate:

1. Can We Just Stop Doing It? When a problem arises, we often add additional tasks, approvals, reporting, and steps to our processes to deal with that problem. Then, when the problem goes away, we keep on doing those extra steps forever even though they're adding no value. One executive had started personally reviewing all purchase orders when his company was in financial crisis, but had continued this practice even after the crisis had long passed and the system had been dramatically improved. The reviews were cumbersome, acted as a bottleneck, and didn't add any value, but he kept on doing it. Then he stopped, freeing up hours of his time each week, and eliminating the bottleneck.
2. Can We Change How We Do It? You've prided yourself on always answering your phone quickly, to show that you're focused on your customer and on providing good service. Unfortunately, you end up constantly being interrupted, even during meetings and important matters that need your undivided attention. The loss of productivity is huge, but you've "always done it this way!" One sales executive was able to go from frantic to calm, simply by training himself to turn off his phone (yes OFF, not Vibrate) and turn off his computer (yes OFF), when he needed to focus. He was shocked at how quickly people adapted to his slightly slower responses, and at how much more he could get done in a day.
3. Can We Do It In a Different Order? One work process required an initial two-minute approval, a walk to the photocopier, then some additional work by another department, then another three-minute approval. The result was three little inboxes, with three little piles of work waiting for the next step, and three little handoffs. Some minor changes allowed the photocoying to be included in a previous step, and allowed the two approvals to be combined into one three-minute approval. This saved one little inbox, one little pile of waiting work, one little handoff, and some walking. Multiplied by a hundred repetitions a week, this saved the approving manager an estimated five hours a week.
4. Can Someone Else Do It? A small insurance company would divert a certain type of policy to a senior manager rather than moving it through their regular process, because it needed "specialized knowledge". Since the manager was busy doing management stuff, these policies would sit and wait, weigh on his mind, and then he'd do a marathon session to get through it. By teaching the "specialized knowledge" to the people who did the regular policies, they were able to process these just as effectively, and without delays. The change saved hours each week for the manager, reduced failure demand on the regular staff - customers used to phone repeatedly to check progress on these special policies. Everybody won, including the customers.

Ask a few of these questions about all the tasks that you're juggling, and see if you can't free up a bit of time.

 
Good luck with what's on your plate.

Is There Really a Top Priority?

How do you do time management in a real, messy company? In a real, messy management job?

Do you sort your tasks into A, B and C priorities, and then choose one of the A tasks and start hacking away at it? Then, when that one's done, you start hacking away at the next one. Or, more likely, you get interrupted by a crisis and get drawn back into the world of daily fire-fighting before you've made much progress on any top priority items.

One assumption that many people make is that they can somehow identify the top priority task, as if there is some universal rule that states "There will always be a single top priority." Unfortunately, that ain't the way it works.

It is very likely that there are two or four or five equally important areas you need to work on, four or five comparably-important tasks. The consequence of this is that you need a time management strategy that isn't based on finding the one top priority, but one that allows you to effectively make progress on several important priorities at the same time.

Think about it.