tick
tick tick tick tick (Part I)
By
Isn't it great to get to work in
the morning? All these
projects and ideas to work on and a full day available to get them done.
Do you leave in the evening
satisfied that you have completed them? If you are the typical manager, you would have
to say, "NO."
Welcome to the wonderful world of
management. Being in a management position forces you to
delicately balance the need to complete projects and the need to manage your
people.
You know that there is no shortage
of ideas. There is just a shortage of time to implement them.
Time moves at the same rate for
all people. Using the time effectively
is your goal. There are two major
schools of thought to do so. Structured and fluid.
The structured approach advocates
stringent control of your calendar. The
goal is to impose a logical order to the use of your time.
Avoid interruptions. Instruct your secretaries and telephone
receptionists that they are to act as your time protectors. They should protect you against the
villainous time robbers that roam the hallways of your company.
The structured approach's basic
teaching is to block out major segments of your day for your projects. Close
your door and demand no interruptions.
If you can't erect a shield
against the interruptions, then train yourself to ask pointed questions to
focus on the business at hand. Ask
questions such as, "What is it you need?", or "I'm a little
busy, can you cover the problem in two minutes?" This technique tends to steer your people
away from social conversation.
You can be guaranteed that they
will quickly learn to leave you alone.
Now that your techniques have
provided you with your block of time, what do you do with it? The next step in your training is to discipline
yourself to make a daily To Do
list. Once you create the list, then rank the items according to their priority.
The first cut in ranking is to
code each item with an A, B or C. "A" items are things that must be done today and are
absolutely critical. "B" items
are things that you would like to get done today, but the world won't come to
an end if they're left undone. "B" items are usually tomorrow's
"A" items.
"C" items are your wish list and are items that would be nice
to get done.
"A"
items help you accomplish your long term goals.
These goals were established because they have a direct bearing on the
success of your company. Don't avoid assigning a high priority just because the
task is difficult, takes time or is threatening. If the item takes more time than can be
accomplished in one day, you need to break the big task into more manageable
smaller ones. Normally, you should only
have 6-10 "A" items in any one day.
Now it's time to rank the A's by
number. Don't bother to prioritize B's
or C's until all the work on the "A" list is done.
Start working on the item that you
have identified as the most important item.
When you complete it, immediately move to the next item on the
list. You don't need to reread the list,
you have already prioritized it.
If you have to set a project aside
for some reason, make sure it gets added to the next day's list. It also should have a high priority on that
list.
The process keeps you on
track. You must prioritize daily. Otherwise, you will have a tendency to
gravitate to those things that are easy and/or non-threatening, such as opening
the mail, calling old Joe about a golf game, etc.
You can even design your own form
with the objective to prioritize the items and to clean all the bits of paper
off your desk. The form is divided into
three sections: One for that day's To Do list; one for appointments; and
one for phone messages. Create a
notebook with a page for each day of the month.
When you get items that must be
completed on a certain day, you simply add them to that day's To Do list and file information
directly behind the page. If the
information is too bulky, make a notation of its filing location. When it is time to complete that item, you
will quickly be able to locate the materials.
Add your phone messages in the
bottom section and throw away the slip.
If you are playing telephone tag, place an "M" on the line
item to show you left a message.
There are several types of
day-timer books on the market. I have
found with my clients that designing their own form and using it for several
months helps them understand what works best for
them. At that point, an informed choice
can be made on the preprinted day-timers.
As the structured approach teaches
us, the system is simple, logical and it works.
You just have to discipline yourself to use it daily. If your objective is to make daily progress
on your projects, you must create a systematized means of doing so.