Wisdom is the Power to…

…put our Time and our Knowledge to the Proper Use.

Time Management is one of the more important and popular leadership topics I am asked to speak about in my seminars. Knowledge, as a function of effective decision-making and communications, is integrated into nearly every workshop I facilitate. It occurs to me addressing both in the context of the quote by Thomas, J. Watson, former Chairman and CEO of IBM made sense in today’s time and knowledge strained business environment.

We’ve all heard the expression “Time is Money”. We know money is either spent or invested. When we invest money we expect a return on our investment. When we spend money, we consume what we buy as a one-time event. Time is no different in the sense that it, like money is either spent or invested. When we spend time, we never get it back as it is a one-time event. When we invest time, we have an expectation of some level of return for the time invested. The difference between spending time and investing time is the presence of goals. When time is used towards accomplishing our goals, we are making an investment in our personal and professional future. When we do not have goals, time used is spent on one-and-done events, which literally do little to advance our future.

We live in a world that is information-rich and knowledge-poor. We can get content from anywhere through the wonders of modern technology and the plethora of data sources available to us in real time. However, it takes a level of understanding and time to put the content into a context resulting in sustainable leadership decisions. It is knowledge which helps leaders know when and where to effectively leverage their leadership skills. When leaders rely only on information, as far too many do in my experience, their decisions have limited effectiveness for their organization. True knowledge-based decisions and communications provide deeper meaning and understanding for all in the organization.

The implication to today’s leader is clear. They are increasingly challenged where they invest time and deal with volumes more information to convert to knowledge than existed in the days of Thomas J. Watson. However, the need to properly invest time and knowledge has never been more important. The key element to both is having clear, written goals that align to the leader’s purpose and vision in a very specific, measurable and time-bound manner. In this way, time is invested towards goal achievement and only relevant information becomes knowledge to achieve desired results.

It is wisdom that forms the foundation of sustainable leadership. Wisdom based on the effective investment of time and the efficient use of knowledge to become life-long leaders. How are your goals taking you down the road to Wisdom?

Lead Well!

Workers Distracted by Email and Phone Calls suffer a fall in IQ…

…More than Twice that found in Marijuana Smokers!

These are the conclusions of a 2005 study funded by Hewlett Packard and conducted by the University of London Institute of Psychiatry. It also sets the stage for this month’s topic on multitasking. Many leaders today pride themselves in being able to multitask, in some cases the more multi- the better. They also expect their teams to be able to multitask falsely believing it to be a sign of efficiency. In fact, it is quite the opposite of the truth. (click here to continue reading)

While it is true the brain can simultaneously manage multiple tasks like controlling your heartbeat while you listen to music, leaders are most focused on is the ability to pay attention to multiple tasks and do them well. In this scenario the brain is working in a sequential fashion. No matter it appears someone is doing multiple activities at one time, the brain is really task-switching one after the other very fast. In truth, the more we ask the brain to do at any given time the less our ability to pay attention any of those activities. The most visible examples of this phenomenon are driving and performing other activities at the same time (talking on the phone, texting, applying make-up etc.) drawing attention to the serious safety issues.

But what of workplace productivity? Is it such a big deal that we try to do many things simultaneously? In a practical sense, when we interrupt what we are currently focused on to take a call on our smart-phone or respond to an email on our computer, the brain has to shift gears to provide new focus on a new topic. This means quickly shifting our subconscious rule sets for to determine how we handle this new task. When we are finished answering/responding to the interruption, we shift again and once more re-establish focus on the original activity (how often do we say “Where was I?”) Unless you have well-established working memory, this can result in a complete restart of the original task. A University of California study found it took office workers 25 minutes on average to return to their original tasks after being interrupted by phone calls and emails. How many times are you interrupted in a day? Do you set aside blocks of time during your most productive time of the day to work on your high priority work? What happens to productivity when you lose nearly a half hour every time you are interrupted? In 2007 it was estimated extreme multitasking and information overload annually costs the U.S. economy $650 Billion in lost productivity.

Another important question for leaders is how many times a day are they the interruption? Leaders espouse the benefits of productivity and efficiency, but are they aware of how many times they are interrupting their teams and staffs for low priority reasons? Are they creating a climate of poor productivity due to their own challenges with time management and productivity? In my experience, the best way to answer these questions is to take two weeks and track what you and your staff are doing with their time. If you notice they are doing something different every 15 minutes it is a sure sign they are trying to multitask and may be struggling to focus on more important things. How are the most productive staff members managing their time? In every opportunity I had to conduct these time-use studies with my teams we created improvement programs that more than paid for themselves in increased productivity!

The idea behind this topic is not that we don’t have the ability to do multiple things at one time (Millennials will debate they can do this all day long!). It is whether we can produce desired results by doing multiple things at one time. To achieve your desired results, are you relying on employees who are less productive than marijuana smokers?

Lead Well!

Does anybody really know...

-what time it is? Does anybody really care?

Many of you might recall these lyrics from the band Chicago from their hit song by the same name. As we work our way into the last few months of 2009 we and those in our organizations might be asking "Where did the time go?" or saying "2009 went by so fast!".

As leaders, time management is a crucial element of our success, especially at the rate of change in today's business environment. Many of us rely on a myriad of technology to keep us organized. Smart phones that sync to our email systems and integrate with our web or PC-based calendar systems are the norm these days. In spite of this technology as many as 75% of people do not have an effective system to manage their time. Technology, like any tool is only as effective as the people who use them. Success lies in how we think about our time as none of these tools actually manage our time. We manage our own time and it is our attitude toward time management that ultimately determines our success in doing so.

Consider, for example, a situation we all run into as leaders - meeting obligations and commitments. When we give our word to another person, we create the potential to succeed. When we keep our word to that person, we increase our own personal power as someone who is reliable and can be trusted on his or her word. This combination of potential and personal power leads to being a highly effective leader using the same 24 hours in a day that everyone else around them has available to them. Also consider what commitments and obligations your organization is making to your customers, suppliers and strategic partners. Is everyone in your organization realizing their personal power whenever they commit your organization? Does your organizational alignment promote that personal power by creating an accountable culture that respects the value of time? What are the most common excuses and how tolerant is your culture to being late for meetings or deadlines? How respectful are your sales teams for customers, suppliers and/or company time?

So what is the difference between these highly effective leaders and those who are not? Successful leaders do not manage their time for the sake of filling out their day. Successful leaders understand that time management is really goal management and they invest their time in the pursuit of achieving their goals. Without goals we end up using time, or in the more common vernacular, wasting time because the time we have has no immediate purpose. With goals we have a mechanism to prioritize our time and to ensure the right resources are doing the right tasks during a given amount of time. Time management is goal management and effective goal management gets to the heart of what makes a leader successful - setting goals and achieving desired results!

What time is it in your organization?

Lead Well

Rick Lochner