Systems or Seat of the Pants?
What is the impact of your personal organizational and decision methods on those you lead?
Over 20 years of executive coaching, I have run across every system for keeping up with major initiatives, commitments, tasks, and calendar obligations imaginable. They range from almost entirely free form to completely locked down—from personally controlled to fully delegated to an assistant.
What does your system for organizing calendar, tasks, communications, and priorities communicate to your peers, directs and even your boss? I am amazed at how often coaching clients are surprised when they talk with colleagues and direct reports about this. What is the impact on the organization’s performance based on each meeting you take (or do not). How available are you to directs, peers, your boss? How do you divide your time invested on near vs long term initiatives and issues?
Far more than any memo or new change program, where and how you spend your time—and where and how you do not—broadcasts volumes not only about your priorities, but about your leadership style.
Does your system allow staff and colleagues to participate—or are they left guessing about priorities and schedules? Does your calendar process invite meetings so openly that you are swamped? Or is it so locked down that no one can set a meeting with you? What does your way of organizing broadcast to the organization and clients/ customers you serve?
Here are a few questions to help assess if your organizational systems are set up to work well for you AND your organization/ stakeholders:
How well does anyone who has permissions to manage your calendar understand your priorities for meetings, travel and office time? How clear are they on when you need to be involved, and when you do not?
How clearly do you prioritize and protect your heads down/ focus time? How often do you make the inevitable exceptions?
Looking at exceptions over the last 90 days, how many of those exceptions proved to be a good call?
I have worked with leaders who are constantly reinventing how they plan their time and focus. Usually, they recently read a book or found a new piece of personal productivity software or got an idea at a conference—so they tinker. (Alas, this is my own favorite form of calendar muddling. )
Recently I reached out to one of the most well-organized executives I have ever worked with. She is the SVP at a sizable financial services company. Here is what she had to say:
“Re-examining my priorities, productivity and managerial tools, and decision systems is a good idea—but not all the time. I look at how my organizational systems, processes and tools have served me and my organization annually. I get input from my directs (especially my Assistant) and of course, the CEO. After putting a new process in place, I get 10 days to “fiddle” with it. After that, short of a major breakdown, it is in place for the year. Period.”
As we discussed her contribution, I noted how often she came back to being on the same page with her directs and her AA about how everyone uses their time. Here is another gem that came from that conversation:
“Regularly print out your recent month’s calendar. Take a few colored highlighters and color code each calendar item;
Red: Waste of time.
Yellow: Politically useful- but not high value for me.
Green: Best thing I could have been doing with this time.
That will tell you everything you need to know.”