When it gets really busy, we have to look at time management differently.

When it gets really busy, we have to look at time management differently.  

From the very start of my career, my students have always been my best teachers! When it comes to establishing priorities, one of my great leaders solidified for me that not all projects are equal in terms of priority and not all initiatives deserve equal effort. This got me thinking out loud that there could be a simple way to “grade our priorities” to improve our performance.

I once heard it said that the modern workplace can best be described as being in a state of permanent whitewater. We are constantly reacting to the rocks and eddies of market forces, customer demands, changing mandates from senior leadership, and a whole other host of internal and external forces. In such an environment, sometimes the best we can do is paddle in unison and keep each other from falling out of the raft! Sometimes we get to catch our collective breadth in the calm of the shoals, but like the river, the demands of our enterprise soon demand we get back in the current and hang on!

But what if there was a better way? What if we set a better direction and make some better decisions about where we are headed and doing? I often have conversations with students and clients that want to take more control over their work and life environment. The people I have the privilege to serve are incredibly gifted and hardworking; thus, they find themselves with more projects and initiatives that they and their team can reasonably do. Add onto that a rigorous executive MBA program, and we are now operating in a wholly new dimension of time compression. In order create some order to this process, I often share a strategy to categorize all the projects and initiatives in a way that would allow them to prioritize better. This strategy is not about time management, it is about effort or opportunity management. This strategy recognizes that there are times in our days, weeks, or months, where we have to identify what is most important and attend to that. I believe that when faced with such demands, these are actually DECISIONS we need to make about what is most important and how best to accomplish what we need to do. Therefore, when faced with a certain task or effort, we all have four OPTIONS.

Focus – This is an intense mode of operating that captures the need to engage in a period of laser like focus. Other tasks may be getting done but in essence, the vast majority of thought, energy, and effort are directed toward solving a tricky problem, completing a class or final, addressing a family matter, or creating something that will make a big impact. Focus encourages and compels us to always come back to the problem or opportunity at hand. Even when we are engaged in other tasks, our need to focus on this main priority is never far away. I see this mode of operating among graduate students especially. They still have the demands of family and work, but they learn what and when to apply direct focus.

Maintain – we are currently living in a world where it seems EVERYTHING needs to be a priority. This is not the case and living this way will eventually burn us out. Stephen R. Covey proposed the model of Q2 Time Management. Picture of 2 X 2 Matrix based upon the axis of Important and Urgent along LOW/HIGH intensity. Think about how many things in our day that vie for our attention. The trick is to discern which are truly important and which ones are not. In the options above, focus (and the most productive option) is where we are doing important work but we are also not distracted by “urgent” tasks that are not really so. Sometimes, we need to decide what tasks and relationships can we maintain so that we have the bandwidth to focus. This does not mean we take them for granted, it just means our energy needs to be conserved for certain, more focused tasks at hand.

Delay – back to the Q2 Time Management model discussed, not everything is highly important or highly urgent. When we label a task or opportunity as such, we can always come back to it when conditions allow. This does not mean something will not get done, it just means it will not get done right now! There can be some advantages to delaying action as well. When we do not immediately solve a problem for a team member, they may just take the initiative to figure it out for themselves and therefore add to their skill sets. If we do not knee-jerk a response to an irritating email or situation, it gives us the mental and emotional margin to consider a more mature and constructive response.

Defer – this is a tough decision to make or option to pursue since we often feel we cannot defer on anything! Fear of missing out follows us into adulthood! The truth is we can and sometimes should defer effort or energy on certain aspects of our lives until a more opportune time. For instance, as my students reach the end of an academic term, social and more leisure pursuits have to be deferred until this busy season is over. The most important part of this strategy is giving yourself permission to do so! I recently conducted a workshop on Emotional Intelligence and one of the hallmarks of an emotionally intelligent and mature leader is one that can delay gratification on a short-term goal for a longer-term win! The issue is that in an increasingly overwhelming social media and streaming environment, we feel we must consume everything. We do not. Trust me, most of what we defer will still be there when we find ourselves in a more amenable environment or situation.

The skill in all of this is to learn which one of these four options do you need to choose for what tasks or seasons on our lives. We simply cannot do everything, so we need to get better at determining what will provide us the greatest return on our investment of time, energy, and effort. Keep in mind also, that time frames can be very limited and are not permanent states of being. You will more than likely not need to be laser focused for very long. It is important, however, that you let others know what you need to do so. If a phone call or email does not get returned immediately, it eventually will.

Look at your calendar and what it is presenting to you this month. Is everything there of equal importance? Is there something that requires maximum effort for a few days? What is the ONE thing you should focus on this month that will yield big results? Is there anything on that calendar that can be delayed or deterred until a better time?

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I invite you to contact me.

 

Yours in leadership,

 

Bill Faulkner

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Certified DISC Profile System Consultant and Gallup Strengths Coach

Certified Designing Your Life Coach

 

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

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