Strategy #32A: Don’t waste people’s time

Scott Adams’ cartoon strip Dilbert is one of the most popular in America, which is a sad commentary on the attitudes that many people have about their work. But every now and then, Adams hits a bull’s-eye. I once read an interview in which he was asked for his opinion about what it takes to be a great manager. His response surprised me, because it was right on target. He said that great managers don’t waste people’s time. It’s a great point!

People know that time is their most precious resource, and they appreciate leaders who help them use that resource to best advantage, personally as well as professionally. As a manager, you will build a loyal and high performing work team to the extent that you are able to keep people focused on what is essential, and not allow them (or require them) to get distracted (or worse yet, bored) by being sucked into the quicksand of trivia.

How many people go home at the end of their workday day feeling like they’ve had a life sucked out of them by sitting in boring meetings where nothing gets done? Or feel like their day has been wasted by having to write an “urgent” report for the boss (probably under an unreasonable deadline), a report they know will sit unread on a pile of papers on the boss’s desk for who knows how long?

Some managers probably feel like their job as a manager is to make sure everyone keeps busy, but that’s not a very good loyalty-building strategy. Far more effective is to give people a meaningful challenge and to define the desired outcomes, then to get out of their way and let them go to work. And if they finish the work early, to give them the gift of time (see next strategy).

Try this:  On your own report card, give yourself a “D” for every hour that you subject people to a boring and unproductive meeting; give yourself an “A+” for every hour people are focused on dealing with real concerns that generate customer satisfaction, patient care excellence, productive and profitable organizational performance, or whatever key measures you look at. Give yourself a bonus point for every time you sent someone home early so that he or she could attend a child’s soccer game or play a round of golf. Don’t wing it; actually track your time for a month. Peter Drucker once wrote that even the most highly-placed executives were surprised at what they found when they actually tracked how they spent their time – and chances are that you will as well.

“There is an old saying in the United States Navy, “Loyalty up and loyalty down.” The same principle applies to all the steps to success, including the ability to be the master of time and not its slave. There are people who will make a point of being prompt with their bosses but keep their own assistants waiting.  But promptness with everyone, regardless of rank, and on all occasions, is a prerequisite of success.”

John Marks Templeton: The Templeton Plan

Strategy #32B: Give people the gift of time

What could be even better than not wasting peoples time? About giving them the gift of more time?

You might not have it within your authority, or within your budget even if you did have the authority, to give people a pay raise. But you probably do have it within your power to give them something that many will value even more highly – the gift of time. Everyone is struggling to find a greater sense of balance in their lives – and most of the time that means finding more time. Yep, the one and only way that people can achieve a greater sense of balance is having more time – either by doing the work that must be done more efficiently, or by simply not doing it (and as Peter Drucker famously pointed out, there is nothing more useless than doing efficiently that which should not be done at all). And you as a manager can help on both counts.

As one example, the Marriott corporation is working to change its culture of “face time,” whereby a manager’s performance was at least in part based on the number of hours that he or she physically put in on the job.  Instead, managers are now encouraging people to take time off for family and personal development, and are trying to set a personal example themselves (sometimes easier said than done). Marriott’s new message to employees is: Put in long hours when it’s needed, but take off early if your kid has a soccer game – and don’t be shy about doing so, because that’s the example we want to set for the rest of the crew.
As a result of the program, managers are working five fewer hours per week with no drop-off in customer service levels; they report less stress and burnout; and they perceive a definite change in the culture, with less attention paid to hours worked and a greater emphasis placed on tasks accomplished (Harvard Business Review, November 2001).

“Face time” turns out to not be very closely correlated with productivity.  Hotels, like every other organization, have certain things that must be done, and they are round-the-clock operations. But with the carrot of a little personal time dangling in front of them, it’s amazing how productive managers can be – and how much more willing they are to effectively delegate responsibility to others. And if you dangle that carrot in front of everyone, imagine how much faster people would move in your organization!

“Individuals committed to a vision beyond their self-interest find they have energy not available when pursuing narrower goals, as will organizations that tap this level of commitment.”

Peter Senge: The Fifth Discipline

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