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Time Management

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“Free-will” Doesn’t Exist

by Ron Potter

This was a statement recently posted by Benjamin Hardy.

I didn’t agree. I believe in free-will, not predestination. People who take a very dependent approach to life don’t believe in free-will. They don’t believe their efforts can make a difference. They feel helpless because others will overrule them. They live a very sad life. Exercise your free-will. You’ll be happier!

But, as I read further I began to see what he was saying.   There is a price to pay for the choices you make. That I agree with. There is always a price to pay. Even when you choose not to choose, there is a price to pay.

Time to Pay the Piper

Often the price to pay is some pain and suffering. If you’ve read many of my posts you’ve noticed my reference to Dr. Scott Peck’s book The Road Less Traveled. He explains that the root of mental illness is the avoidance of pain and suffering. Choosing not to pay the price at the moment (pain and suffering) will lead to some form of mental illness. The word that comes to mind most often is dysfunctional. We have a very dysfunctional team, company, environment… fill in the blank.

Dysfunction Junction

Why is it dysfunctional? Did someone decide there should be a dysfunctional team? Was that the desire, to work in a dysfunctional environment? Not consciously, but somewhere, the decision was made not to deal with a difficult issue. Therefore, with the decision made to avoid the pain and suffering in the moment, the consequence is a dysfunctional environment.

Time is a big cost issue when it comes to decisions.

Do I decide to help my employee learn a new process or take less time and do it myself?
Consequence: You will always need to do it yourself.

Do I decide to get the team on board before moving ahead or let them know the direction we will take?
Consequence: No buy-in. No engagement. Failed decision.

Do I decide to take the time for good deliberation or make a quick decision?
Consequence: People don’t believe in the decision and will continuing to support other directions.

Developing employees, getting buy-in, facing the dilemma of decisions all take time. Not paying the cost of time in the moment causes negative results. But those negative results may not become evident immediately. Later there is no visible cause and effect. People will say “It’s just dysfunctional.” No, that was the consequence of a decision you made.

There is no free-will. Every choice has a cost. And a consequence.

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BlogCulture

Three words that struck fear in the heart of many corporate denizens

by Ron Potter

Zero Based Budgeting

The trend

This approach to annual budgeting has swept through many industries over the last few years. The old way of doing annual budgeting was to start with what your budget had been last year and then explain how much your budget was going to increase this year (it seldom went down) and explain the reasons for the increase with all kinds of documentation to justify the increase.

The new approach isn’t much different except for the starting point. Now, instead of starting with last year’s budget, you’re starting point is zero. Zero Based Budgeting. Now the justification includes everything and everyone from the ground up. If fact, the really disciplined versions start with the purpose of your group, department or project itself. Every expense from paperclips to the senior vice president must be justified.

Meeting madness

I think the verdict is still out on how this idea will fare over time but for now, it’s certainly in vogue. But there’s one aspect of corporate life that I haven’t yet seen this applied where I think it would be particularly useful: Meetings!

The average corporate life these days seems to be; arrive at the office, grab your coffee and get to the first meeting of the day, followed by back-to-back meetings for six, seven and often eight straight hours or more. People are burnt out and suffering. Ah, but there’s more, they still need to get their work done. When does that happen? Early mornings when the office is quiet or at the coffee shop before you hit the office or get in an hour before the rest of the family wakes up. Staying late, get home when you can see the kids off to bed, get in a few more hours before you collapse. Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, vacations! All because meetings are taking up the entire work day.

The proposal

But what if meetings were required to take the approach of Zero Based Budgeting? Start by justifying the purpose of the meeting itself. Then justify the resources you need; materials, equipment, people and time. Why do we need 12 people in the room when three of them will make the decision? Why do we need to sit through one or two hours when the only piece we needed to be there for happened in the first or last ten minutes? Why do we schedule in full hour increments? Why not 17-minute meetings? All meetings fill whatever time is allocated to them.

A client of mine put together one slide that explained the Vision and Mission of the company followed by the three key initiatives that needed to be accomplished that year for them to be successful. All meetings were required to start with that particular slide along with an explanation (justification) of how that particular meeting contributed to one or more of the key initiatives. If the meeting couldn’t be justified on those terms, the meeting was not allowed to be scheduled. Zero Based Meetings! That approach provided two great benefits. One, the purpose and goals of meetings became abundantly clear and two, they eliminated about 40% of the meetings from the calendar. Zero Based Meetings!

Zero-based budgeting for meetings.

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BlogCulture

Time

by Ron Potter
Photo credit: Nic McPhee, Creative Commons

Photo credit: Nic McPhee, Creative Commons

My dad was friends with the local watch shop owner in our small town. When I graduated from high school, he bought me one of the early electric quartz watches. That may have started my early relationship with time.

Later, my engineering degree was in project management with a strong emphasis on schedule control. And through the years I worked with and mentored many corporate executives on their time management skills.

Time. It doesn’t change in quantity or pace. And yet different people seem to have very different relationships and reactions to time.

In the end, how we relate to time somehow becomes related to an expression of respect from those around us.

We’ve all known and worked with that person who is perpetually late or tardy for every meeting. At first it becomes a running joke, but in the end, a great deal of resentment grows and people begin to feel used and disrespected. Now, consider when late Larry is not just someone we work with, but someone we work for. Oh, there’s always a legitimate excuse or a logical reason with they’re late, or worse they assume it doesn’t make that much difference, you will still be in the room waiting for him and you’ll get down to business as soon as he arrives. But the reactions of feeling used and disrespected don’t go away just because late Larry is the boss. In fact, it’s actually worse. What kind of leader can late Larry be when the people he’s trying to lead feel disrespected and begin to disrespect Larry as well? Not much. The proper use of time is important. Pay attention.

There’s also a caution for efficient Edith as well. Efficient Edith is always on time, often in place even before the team arrives. Efficient Edith always seems to be on top of things and most of the time seems to be out in front of the general thinking of the company. While these qualities are greatly appreciated in the corporations, Edith needs to proceed with caution as well. Because of Edith’s nature if she makes a request of her staff without specifying an expected response time, the staff always assumes she needs it ASAP. Well, just like the old kids game, crack-the-whip, by the time the request moves down through the organization to where the data and answers can be found, it comes across as “All hands on deck, drop everything you’re doing and get this answer back up to efficient Edith!” Interesting that it ends with almost the same results of people feeling used and disrespected.

Whether you’re a late Larry, efficient Edith or somewhere in between, always respect time, yours and others and set clear expectations for responses.

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BlogLeadership

Email Overload

by Ron Potter

Scott Adams, the creator of the cartoon, Dilbert recently said on CNBC’s Squawk Box,

“I’m pretty sure [email] has destroyed my soul.”

He described email as a job in itself, which no longer enhances productivity. Although still useful and productive in many ways, Scott’s point is all too obviously valid.

But here’s a trick that will quickly eliminate a substantial portion of email overload and will improve your team at the same time.

You’ve gotten to be a leader because you’ve been good at what you do. You’re a problem solver. You’re efficient. You see the issues clearly. You’ve been the go-to person. You’re the leader.

So when that email comes in, what’s your first instinct? Solve the problem! Give the answer! Clarify the issue! Do what you’ve always done to be successful! But none of that is leading. All of that is doing. You need to lead!

Image Source: BuzzFarmer, Creative Commons

Image Source: BuzzFarmer, Creative Commons

So here’s the trick that will eliminate a large percentage of email very quickly. Your first reply should be, “Why are you sending me this email?” You’ll quickly see that many emails are sent to you because people don’t want to be accountable for their actions. And they’ve discovered if they send you an email, you quickly solve the problem; Clarify the issue; direct the resources; etc.: instant solution. Problem solved. They don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting. If things go wrong, they have the email showing that you took the action. And at review time, they claim credit for the successful completion of projects.

Your first reaction to any email is to ask yourself (and them) why am I receiving this email? If you simply solve the problem by answering the question, you’ve accepted the accountability. You’ve “lost your soul” to email, as Scott says, and your people have not developed because they’re not accepting accountability. You’re a doer, not a leader.

How have you used (or stopped using) email to develop people or increase productivity? Or if you just want to vent about email, send us a comment.

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BlogFavoredTrust Me

Favored Are Those Not Full of Themselves

by Ron Potter

In a humble state, you learn better. I can’t find anything else very exciting about humility, but at least there’s that.
—John Dooner, Chairman and CEO of Interpublic, as quoted in Fast Company magazine, November 2001

The pathway to greatness as a leader begins, ironically, with a step down. We have seen this over and over. It’s not the loud, take-control, arrogant, hotshot “world beaters” who excel as leaders over the long term. No, the really great ones don’t draw that much attention to themselves. They are, well, humble.

Image Credit: S@Z, Creative Commons

Image Credit: S@Z, Creative Commons

To many people, humility seems like a vice, weakness, or disease to avoid at all costs. Isn’t a humble person a wimp or, worse, a cringing and despicable coward? Won’t a humble leader be the object of contempt and abuse, the kind of person who gets trampled by all the aggressive ladder climbers in an organization?

This perception may have seemed accurate in the past, but not any longer. Jim Collins, author of the business book megaseller Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t, has this to say:

Level 5 leaders [individuals who blend extreme personal humility with intense professional will] channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It’s not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious—but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.

Sounds a lot like humility, doesn’t it?

Humility requires leaders to shed all their prejudices and biases. Humility requires you as a leader to examine who you are and what you have become. Humility requires a completely new way to evaluate people (and yourself). Just because individuals have made it to a higher position on the corporate ladder does not make them any smarter, any more correct in their decisions, or any more valuable than others within an organization. True humility leads to openness, teachability, and flexibility.

Much of the business world still believes that the take-charge, proud hero-leader is the answer to every company’s prayers for a robust bottom line. This thinking may have made sense at one time, but no longer, as some of the world’s largest companies have stumbled in shame under leadership styles that will never be described as humble.

So, can’t an aggressive leader be effective? Of course. However, studies show when an aggressive leader (one lacking in humility) tries to force his or her own ideas on others, the rate of success is not as high as when the leader is open to new ideas and willing to listen, bend, change, and seek commitment from his or her people.

Pride focuses the attention of leaders onto themselves; humility focuses the attention of leaders onto others. The proud leader wants success that brings him perks. The humble leader wants success that brings enduring health to others and the organization. Which leader would you want to work for? Which one would you trust?

Humble leaders may not lead cheers for themselves, but neither are they retiring and shy people. These men and women stand firmly for their core beliefs and values. When you watch them work, their performance is graceful and smooth. They are a joy to talk to because they give no indication that they are an ounce more important than you are. Oh, and one more critical detail: These humble leaders produce incredible results.

Of course, there is more to being a trusted leader than having a humble attitude. There’s a bad-news/good-news aspect to the quality of humility. The bad news is that, to be honest, I have encountered only a few truly humble leaders. If they were an animal species, they would definitely be on the endangered list. The good news is that, if you will learn how to humble yourself, the upside for you and your organization will be substantial. There isn’t that much competition.

The path to greatness begins with a step down to humility.

I’m sure you have worked for both type of leaders. Tell us how you react to each in terms of your trust and your productivity/engagement.

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BlogTeam

Patience – Project Management

by Ron Potter
Image Source: Amy, Creative Commons

Image Source: Amy, Creative Commons

A while back (June of 2010 actually) I wrote my first blog on Patience. Good patience is one of those elements that can help build great teams or more importantly, lack of good patience can quickly break down a team. In that first blog on patience, I referred to a client who would lose his patience when he didn’t see sufficient progress as critical deadlines approached. I’m convinced there is one key part of that statement that must not be overlooked – “As critical deadlines approached.”

Coming out of engineering school, I spent the first decade of my career immersed in project management for several large projects. That decade left me with a couple of very deeply held beliefs:
1. You can only make up about 10% of a remaining schedule.
2. Projects schedules are lost at the beginning, not at the end of the schedule.

I do not consider these belief’s as hard and fast rules but more solid “rule-of-thumb” concepts. After closely tracking many major projects from engineering to construction to software design and development, I became convinced that you could only make up about 10% of the remainder of any schedule. In other words, if you are tackling a project that will take about four weeks of effort (20 working days) you will run into difficulties if you let the first two days slip by without accomplishing the first stages of the project. It seems so innocent, “The project is not due until next month and it won’t make much difference if I don’t get started until the end of the week or first thing next week.” Wrong! While it’s likely that you will in fact complete the project on time, you’ll not fully appreciate how much those first lost days will add to the stress, overworked, overwhelming feeling of not having enough time to accomplish everything as the weeks move along and all of your other projects get layered on top of these “delayed” projects.

Which leads me to my second belief: projects schedules are lost at the beginning, not at the end of the schedule. It’s not what you accomplish or don’t accomplish during that last week of a four week schedule that makes the difference between success and failure (or stress vs an orderly pace), it’s what you did or didn’t do during that first week of the four week schedule that makes the difference. Unfortunately, we’ve forgotten all about what we put off during that first week and therefore don’t associate with that feeling of being overwhelmed and overworked during the last week of the project.

Patience doesn’t happen by reacting calmly to missed deadlines. Patience is induced by setting aggressive early checkpoints on projects so that they experience an orderly pace as the deadline approaches.

Patience:
• Don’t forget your own learning curve (from the first blog). Leaders must work harder than they expect to help people understand new expectations, learn new processes, and have a vision of the new normal.
• Patience is improved and put to better use when there is more discipline at the beginning of a project instead of trying to handle the pressure better at the end of a project.

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