When Busyness Trumps Business

Recently I met with a corporate Executive VP in New York City. I'll call him Phil. Phil said his division was struggling. But instead of leading the charge to turn things around, he was being called into meetings regularly to make lengthy, detailed, Powerpoint presentations explaining what was wrong. He was too busy doing business to be doing the business. Interestingly, one of his recommendations was for the company to get out of some of its operations because they were draining money and other resources. He explained that his people were spending too much time on things that no longer yielded the kind of margins the company desired.

Does any of this sound remotely familiar to you? I realized while he was talking to me that I had gotten up at 5 a.m. to deal with emails from a European client; spent time on the cell phone in transit with a non-profit, pro bono client who needed to talk; and allowed myself to be sidetracked by hallway conversations with managers from the client group who I hadn't seen in a while. A similar schedule unraveled today.

What is there to learn?

1. If you do business globally in the electronic age, the expectation is that you are available on "their" time...or you should be. So choose carefully--you can't afford to be awake 24 hours a day.

2. Time management isn't really just about time. It's about clear priorities. Which means...

3. It's important to say "no." In fact, I think "no" is the solution to a lot of this craziness.

4. If you are in Phil's position, at some point you need to tell those above you that the very act of "over-reporting" is exacerbating the problem. Do it respectfully. Share the impact and consequences on your business and let them take responsibility for whether or not it makes sense to continue the external demands on your time.

How are you handling this in your life?

 

Comments

[Brian Oates]

Depending on the number of groups involved, sometimes you can roll multiple reports into one. Someone like a lead or PM can chair a meeting, take notes, and then produce 1 report for those who are looking for the updates.
But I think you covered a lot with points 2 and 4. Explaining to your management chain where things are and where your spending your time will allow them to find ways to support you.

[Daniel Rose]

I think you are spot on. It's really difficult to say no sometimes, but it has to be done.

[Josh F]

I absolutely agree. As a medical student, I find my day filled with obligations, many of which are not necessarily related to my course work. Often I wind up hardly having any time to study! It can be a bit overwhelming just trying to find solid blocks of hours to get my studying in.

[Andrzej]

It can be hard for your boss to swallow, but if putted gently and without pointing to people but to a problem - it can be done. It happens quite often, that the mechanisms that were generating some additional value (like conferences) are not that good anymore or even are disturbing.

My favorite example are reports. When I had to do begin-of-day. midday and end-of-day reports - I had significantly less time for the real work (and for some reason it had to be done manually). Was it really so important to know how much work is ready on midday? I sincerely doubt that ;)

It's important to have the possibility to say no, when you clearly see that it will not help. Of course everyone may be wrong and in some wider view it may be perfectly ok to do things that way, but if there are doubts - it's good to resolve them. It makes people feel appreciated and by that can also improve their work.

[Allison G]

Prioritizing and understanding what and who really matters is absolutely key in the world we live in. We're constantly being bombarded with a ton of information, from every angle, and I imagine this will only continue to grow as we enter an increasingly digital world.

Don't you ever wish you could objectively view your digital behavior and your interactions with your colleagues to improve efficiency? I came across this really interesting app called Digital Mirror by Cataphora. It gives you the ability to reflect on your behavior and identify what you might want to change or improve upon. Definitely check it out.

http://digitalmirrorsoftware.com/app/about.php

[Matthew Needham]

Hi Steve, you're absolutely right, you've got to understand how your time adds value and then spend the time doing the things that add the most value.

Sensible advice!

Matthew