Time (mis)management

Written By Erlend Asker

One of the most common topics for coaching leaders at all levels is helping them to deal with the “I have no time” paradox. For those of you reading this that often have a feeling of no time then I’m going to start with the most common reasons I’ve seen that can sensibly be discussed in a blog post that leaders have for thinking they have no time:

  • FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) calls

  • Unable to focus because of interrupts from emails, messaging etc.

  • Struggling or unable to plan, prioritize and manage calendars

For very senior people:

  • Too focussed on the day-to-day activities

  • Unable to create time and head space to reflect and think about the big picture

If you are rushing off to the next event and feel you don’t have the time to read the rest of this blog then here is one top tip that will make an impact;

  • Plan 30 minutes of thinking time on Friday to decide on your most important activities/actions for the following week and schedule them.

For those of you wanting to stay the course and read this to the end you are already one step ahead of the pack!

FOMO Calls

The truth is that the larger and more complex the organisation the more calls that leaders think they have to attend. I’ve observed over the years that the smart leaders only attend the calls they need to and will either delegate, join and do their bit first and then leave, or just not attend. With the great features now available in most of the collaboration tools recording and AI summaries that are now available, so the fear that you may have about missing some crucial insight or information should no longer be the case. Even if these are not available a short email or message to the meeting organiser to apologise for not attending and asking whether they could share anything relevant to you is a good option. If you are senior then request/instruct that all meetings are summarised with minutes and actions.

I would wager that if you analysed the calls you really need to attend and just did those, you would free up 20-30% of your calendar time to focus on what’s important.

Focus on What’s Important

Great leaders focus on what’s important and by that very fact they don’t have too many urgent things to distract them. Being escalation and interrupt driven should be a sign that you are not running your organisation/business in an optimal way. For some leaders their sense of worth is wrapped up with how many fires or crises they are or were involved in rather than thinking about how to prevent these from happening in the first place.

Interrupt driven

Technology has significantly improved and increased the productivity of workers everywhere. However, used in the wrong way, the array of applications with alerting mechanisms can be destructive for leaders who cede control to the technology they might use in the workplace.

My advice is unless you work in a place where life and death situations occur and you genuinely need to be accessible then turn off all notifications across your various apps eg email, Teams, WhatsApp, messaging etc. If you are based in a busy noisy office plan time to sit in a meeting room or personal workspace to focus on important tasks uninterrupted.

Schedule the time when you will read email and look at it then. If someone genuinely needs to get hold of you then they can call you - yes actually call your mobile and speak to you!

Planning ahead

The ability to plan your time and thinking about being effective and efficient is one of the most important activities you should be doing on, I would argue, a daily basis. Yes plans can change and events can result in having to change course but understanding the direction you are headed and always keeping that in sight will ensure you are not diverted or distracted for longer than is necessary.

For senior leaders it’s so important to take time out from the day-to-day for reflection. Your time horizon should be based on thinking about where the organisation or business is heading over the next year or more and the array of strategic initiatives that will get you there. There are several tools and techniques that can help in these areas.

I use a strategic framework for coaching senior executives and one of the most consistent bits of feedback I get is the benefit they derive from talking through the various elements - reviewing where they are, where they are headed and what’s next.

Key takeaways

There are a few other management challenges that will impact your time which are not easy to handle and not suitable to discuss in a blog however, the following approaches will go a long way to helping you to manage your time more effectively:

  • Focus on what’s important

  • Plan ahead

  • Don’t cede control to the technology interrupts

  • If you are a senior executive make sure you diarize weekly time to think, reflect and horizon scan.

Acknowledgements

Thank you again Mr William Brown, previously SVP GCC at Software AG

Author Erlend Asker

Erlend Asker
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