CEO – Time Wasters

We’re continuing our discussion about how a CEO uses his time (adapted from The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker). 

Dr. Drucker points out several “time wasters” that must be dealt with if the CEO is ever to have enough time to be effective. 

He lists the “recurrent crisis” as a time waster.  This is the crisis that reoccurs—perhaps annually, perhaps more often.  The cause of the crisis is (more often than not) the lack of system or foresight.  His point is that a recurrent crisis should always have been foreseen.  Knowing that it’s coming, one can either then prevent it or reduce it to a routine (systematize it) so that others can easily deal with it. 

Dr. Drucker mentions that he could certainly tell the difference between a well-managed industrial plant versus a poorly managed one.  He would just pause and listen.  A well-managed plant is relatively quiet because there are no “fires to put out.”  Most crises have been anticipated and dealt with in advance.  For those that do occur, systems are put in place to “make sure that never happens again.”   

This reminds me of another “Druckerism” that places 85% of the fault within any organization with management, not with the workers.  Why is that?  Managers control the resources.  Managers develop and monitor the systems. Managers train others to follow the system.  Managers hold others accountable to follow the system.  Most errors, defects, snafus, crises, etc. occur because of a poor system or a system that is not being followed. God is not the author of confusion, but of order.  As the cartoon character Pogo Possum once said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” 

Another time waster pointed out by Peter Drucker is “overstaffing.”  Certainly there is a minimum number of workers needed to get the job done—a “readiness to serve” complement of people.  However, we are all familiar with “staff creep.”  That insidious rising overhead that slowly overtakes many organizations (think about the boiling frog analogy).  The work force is too big that spends too much time “interacting” and not enough time working.  Dr.Drucker warns that if the senior people in the organization (or any manager in particular within the organization) spends more than 10% of his time on human relations’ issues (e.g., frictions, personality conflicts, lack of cooperation, etc.), then the work force is most likely too large.  People have started to get into each other’s way.  He states, “In a lean organization people have room to move without colliding into one another and can do their work without having to explain it all the time.”  His warning is that an over-skilled but underemployed employee leads to mischief within the organization. 

Imagine what solving the above issues would do for your personal (and corporate) effectiveness?

Lack of organization comes in as the #3 time waster.  An excess of meetings is a symptom of this malady.  In Dr. Drucker’s mind, one either meets or one works—one cannot do both at the same time.  He emphasizes that an executive cannot spend more than a small part of his time in meetings if he wants to be effective.  And the meetings he does attend must be goal-oriented—meetings with a purpose.  His point is that too many meetings signal the following disorders: 

·         Work that should be in one job is spread over several

·         Responsibility is too diffused

·         Information is not being provided directly to those who need it

 While we are on the subject of running effective meetings, consider the following whenever you have the responsibility to lead a meeting: 

·         Plan the agenda and goal

·         Arrange the logistics

·         Keep the discussion on track

·         Promote participation and group discussion

·         Follow Up

 Coming in the #4 spot for “time wasters” is poor information systems.  The usefulness of management information depends on four characteristics: 

·         Quality – the information is accurate and reliable

·         Completeness – there must be enough information to allow to you make a decision but not so much as to confuse the issue

·         Timeliness – information must reach managers quickly

·         Relevance – the problem today is that information systems make too much data available; managers must learn which questions to ask to get the answers they need

 Let’s assume that you’ve completed your time log and you’ve dealt with as many of the “time wasters” as you can.  What’s the next step? 

Consolidate your “Discretionary Time” 

Senior executives rarely have more than 25% of their time that they can call their own.  Keep in mind that the higher up the executive and the larger the organization, the more time that will be spent on just keeping the organization running rather than producing.  Here are some ideas from Peter Drucker regarding ways that an executive can consolidate his discretionary time:

 ·         Work at home one day a week

·         Schedule all operating work (meetings, reviews, etc.) on Monday and Friday setting aside the mornings of the remaining days for consistent, continuing work on major issues

·         Schedule a daily work period at home early in the morning

 This time battle is never truly won.  A high-performing executive perpetually keeps track of his time, pruning away the time wasters and consolidating his “effective” time.

Keith

www.daystarconsulting.com