How do you manage to get so much done?

It is said that if you want something done, ask a busy person.  Why do you think that is?  Often busy people have figured out a good “formula” for getting things done.  For good or for ill, people often ask me for my tips in this regard.  So, without further ado, below are:

AJC’s Top 5 Time Management Tips

1. Calendar It.  Live and die by your Calendar: meetings, travel time, follow-up time, and work time.  Schedule all meetings and invite all mandatory and optional participants. Include the specific location (address, room, conference # with 1-touch mobile format).  When driving, ALWAYS click on the actual address in the calendar.  I have gone to the wrong coffee shop because I *thought* it was somewhere other than the actual calendar location!  Additionally, calendar travel time, follow up time (from other meetings / email catch up), and dedicated work time.  Make it a habit to proactively calendar your time and follow your plan to the extent possible.
   
2. Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize.  Write down the “List” of things you need to get done that day first thing in the morning, and number in priority order.  Then DO THAT THING FIRST.  Do the second thing second, and so on.  If you can at least get through the top two or three things that must be done THAT DAY in the morning before your prefrontal cortex is zapped, you are more likely to complete your most important work.  This has the added benefit of giving you a sense of accomplishment that can boost your mood!  Even more effective is to write your list on a white board or notebook that is visible to you and everyone else who comes to your work space all day.  Note: The most important thing is NOT NECESSARILY the most Urgent.  Refer to Stephen Covey’s 4 Quadrants of Time Management to “Put the First Things First.”
3. Moderate (don’t eliminate) Distractions.   “I need some heads down time to get things done.”  Sound familiar?  This is very common - and very true!  If there is a prioritized task which you have added to your calendar for one hour, put up the “do not disturb” notice at your office entrance, silence your phone, and close down your email in order to complete the work.  However, *forcing* yourself to never quickly check on texts or emails can be even *more* distracting sometimes, especially if you are waiting for an important message to come in.  As long as you don’t indulge in the response immediately, my advice is to allow yourself to review incoming messages when in “heads down” time, while not over-indulging in their response; it’s kind of like letting yourself have a single piece of chocolate when on a diet – enough to take off the edge, while not detracting from the overall goal.
4. Defer and Follow Up.  Say this out loud: “I’m trying to finish something important right now, is there a time that I can follow up with you later?”  Try it while driving or in the shower, while you are exercising alone, or even to a friend or spouse.  Saying it out loud will give you confidence – just like practicing for a presentation or to learn phrase in a new language.  Then when you do say this to others, it will sound natural and authentic.  Of course, be sure to actually FOLLOW UP!  You can: 1) Calendar your follow up time, or 2) Add to your daily TO-DO list to follow up with that person at the time upon which you agreed.  If you’re not done or able to have the full conversation at that time, send them a quick text or email with an updated estimate of when you will follow up.
5. Persevere with Patience.  We are all human, and we all make mistakes.  Recognize that no one is 100% perfect at time management.  There will be a calendared follow up that is not completed.  There will be an occasional response to that distraction rather than reviewing and moving back to the calendared task.  There will be a missed follow up here and there.  I tell my kids to try hard all the time knowing that if they are successful 9 times out of 10, the 1 time they need help or make a mistake, others will understand and patiently help.  All we can do is our very best, and know that we will pick ourselves up and try again when we falter.  Hopefully most people you interact with have interacted with you for 9 successes so that the 1 time you make a mistake, they will understand.   And if someone catches you in a 1-out-of-10 mistake as their first experience with you, or you do the same with someone else, hopefully you or s/he will grant the generosity of spirit to make it right.  What was that adage again?  Oh yes, “what goes around, comes around.”

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Is there a Fractional Integrator Option That is Right For Me?

Last article, we shared a story of how an Integrator Needs Assessment led to the company realizing they already had an Integrator in-house.  This lead to a very different recommendation than the obvious – specifically that we proposed something *other* than providing a Fractional Integrator to support the business.  


Having already discussed “What the Heck is a Fractional Integrator Anyway?”, it is time to describe exactly how an Integrator service provider can bring value to your organization.

Firstly, AJC maintains that an up-front Integrator Needs Assessment will help both the company and the service provider understand the current state around the Integrator role.  Our approach here is to interview one-on-one each member of the Leadership Team (and Executive Team, if applicable), as well as all managers or supervisors in the organization that have at one or two degrees of separation from the Integrator role.  We want to know how this role is perceived, what is happening already, where there are gaps, and how decisions and initiatives are being communicated and rolled out to the entire organization, and who people go to for questions or concerns.  We will also ask a subset of the interviewees to take the online Visionary and Integrator Assessments.  These are not perfect, though at least give an indication as to the “GWC” (Get it, Want it, Capacity to do it) around those two roles.     


Comments are recorded, aggregated, and analyzed for gaps and recommendations around the Integrator role.  The results and recommendations are then discussed in a Final Report that is delivered in person to the Leadership Team.  In our most recent Needs Assessment, we also added an Assumptions section that we confirmed in person with the Executive Team.  In many small-to-mid sized businesses, there are often some “non-negotiables” that the owner or CEO has in mind which will not change.  Rather than making recommendations in those areas, we would rather be realistic and articulate and validate those assumptions up front, focusing therefore on the areas where the most value can be realized for the organization.


After this, the opportunities could be one of the following:

1. Fractional Integrator at any subset of time during the week
2. Coaching an existing person to be strong or stronger in the Integrator role
3. Training the Leadership Team or organization further on EOS and/or how best to utilize an Integrator
4. Interim / temporary Integrator to buffer a period of time where there is no full-time employee Integrator
5. “Temp-to-hire” Integrator – possibly there is a need to evaluate an Integrator in the seat for a period of time before pulling the FTE hire trigger
   

Any of these options can be a way to move forward after an Integrator Needs Assessment, and each will benefit from the candid and objective results of this type of analysis.  Please ask us if you’d like to further discuss how this looks in “real life!”

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