Time Wasters

I was doing some 360 degree feedback sessions today and one of the participants raised the issue of time management. I sat on the train and thought about this and what Leaders can do. It is often not something that easy to do after all you have to deal with emails, office politics and meetings.

Time is extremely precious in organisational life - there is never enough of it. The following are simple CAN DO things that any manager/leader can action:

Emails - they make us reactive, are often poor or sloppy in how we communicate and maybe expedient but often are poor at conveying sensitive/urgent information.

1. Stop the cc-emailitis game - never copy anybody else in unless you absolutely have to - it often takes 3 hours to sort out the mess.
2. Be positive in all emails
3. Phone the sender of a provocative email (after having counted to 10 before picking up the phone).
4. Never give bad news by email
5. Follow simple courtesy in emails:

• Always use Dear....
• Think about the audience - how weould you react to this email if you received it
• Be friendly
• End on friendly note

Office Politics - these are often time consuming and usually about avoid taking responsibility. Most large organisations involve blame and politicing. Three simple CAN DOs are:

1. Agree expectations with your team - ask them what they expect of you.
2. Take public ownership of everything that goes wrong with your team.
3. Take no praise for successes - always push this to your team - and name names.

Meetings - There is a wealth of research that shows that managers lose a significant amount of time in unproductive meetings. For example the Guardian reports on some research that discovered two things:

1. The more meetings one has to attend, the greater the negative effects; and
2. The more time one spends in meetings, the greater the negative effects.

Two CAN DOs for improving meetings are:

1. Always set clear, defined outcomes at the start of the meeting
2. Always finish with a review of the meeting and the actions to be taken ensuring ownership is clear of the actions.

These simple approaches work.