Time Management Issues: Are you plagued by this?

Last week I met with a client who had a time management issue “popping into her life” after her entire career never feeling as though this was an issue.  She shared that as a result, she felt unproductive and overwhelmed. 

How did this issue show up in her life? She felt as though she was spending too much time on specific tasks and not accomplishing what needed to get done.  As we continued our conversation and dug deeper, the issue of not taking a break once she started working on a task came up as a real blocker for her.  She would sit at her desk with a fear of stopping because she wanted to complete her task, project etc. This obviously was not serving her well.  Maybe she needed that break in between.  It was her perception that a break would ruin her concentration and focus so she continued.

Ironically enough, I was reading through a discussion in one of my LinkedIn Groups that addressed this same topic. “What do you do when you feel overwhelmed by the need to complete a task?” Some great ideas were shared; one in particular which I thought was quite interesting is called The Pomodoro Technique which is a Time Management Method.  As explained in Wikipedia, developed by Francesco Cirillo in 1980 the method uses a timer (of some sort) to “break down periods of work into 25-minute intervals called ‘Pomodoros’ - from the Italian word for tomatoes - separated by breaks.” The method is based on the idea that mental agility can be enhanced by breaks.  

Further explained, there are five basic steps in order to implement the technique:

1. decide on the task to be done
2. set the pomodoro (timer) to 25 minutes
3. work on the task until the timer rings; record with an x
4. take a short break (5 minutes)
5. every four "pomodoros" take a longer break (15–20 minutes)

It’s been a week since my client has tried this method.  Her one main comment is that the break gives her time to re-group.  She is further researching the method in order to become an expert in the technique.  We’ll see how it continues to work for her.  In any case, she is taking action; if this isn’t successful, there are many other methods, ones you can even design on your own, to address this very common issue.

Do you think the Pomodoro Technique is for you?  If not, let us know what your technique is for those time management issues that “pop into your life.”

Culture is Key

My daughter is graduating from college in a couple of weeks. She has started the job hunt and is preparing for some upcoming interviews. In assisting her with the resume, cover letters and applications it has been clear to me that her number one criteria in looking for a place to work is the culture of the organization. She has made it clear that she is looking for an environment that will not only be fun and full of energy but also interested in her growth and development. She understands that her degree in Psychology and Digital Communications has given her a great foundation but that there is so much more to learn.

Given what we do here at SoundBoard, that really should not surprise me, yet it did.  I don't recall wondering or thinking about my personal growth until after I had 10+/- years work experience under my belt.  I applaud her for understanding at this stage of the game that it is a lifelong journey of continued learning and constant improvement.  I believe this is more important to this generation than most business leaders realize.

In business, culture (or climate) relates to the attitudes, values, goals and practices of that organization. It is something that needs to be clearly defined and communicated.  In essence it is the lifeline of the company and has great impact on success.

In preparing her list of questions for an interview, my daughter plans on asking "what one word best describes what it is like to work at your company?" She is hopeful this will open the door to an enlightening dialogue.

What answer would you give her?  Please share!

Small Shift Tip: Clearly define your success criteria

What is important to you? 

What 3-5 things will you celebrate when you achieve them?  

What are the success criteria of your key people?  

Are they in alignment with your definition?  

Are they synergistic?  

What support is needed to achieve success based on these criteria?  

What needs to be delegated?  

Who needs to be told what your success criteria are and how they can positively impact them?

It is easy to make assumptions about what success looks like; e.g. "we want to grow."  It is the deeper questions behind that assumption that will result in greater profitability.  

In what areas of the business do we want to grow?  

Which areas are most profitable?  

What margins must we achieve?  

Where is the "low hanging fruit" - those opportunities that are right in front of us? 

Make the small shift and right down those top success criteria, ask your key people to do the same and then compare notes.

A Leap Year Challenge!

As we all know, 2012 is a leap year and that means we have 366 days instead of 365 - an additional 24 hours built in to our year!  

An additional 24 hours over the course of 1 year is an extra 2 hours per month. What could you do in those 2 hours that would have a lasting impact on yourself, your family, or your business?

Instead of considering this extra time to be just like any other, it is a fantastic opportunity to build on a New Year's resolution that you have "been meaning to get around to..."

Now I don't know about you, but I really don't want January 1, 2013 to come along and not have anything to show for my extra day so I am going to be very deliberate about it and I challenge you to do the same.  As you are reading this blog, what is that resolution or goal that you have let slip away OR what is the small shift that has been floating around in your mind that needs you to take action? Grab it, schedule it and do it...wether you take one whole day or break it down into several hours a month, you have an extra 24 hours this year, there are no excuses!

How do you plan to spend your extra day this year, please share and inspire others!

Considering Different Perspectives

Many times clients come into a coaching session with a lot of assessments and are very rigid about their perspective of a situation that they need to address. It is my role as their coach to question their assumptions, open their mind up to different interpretations and uncover different approaches to moving through a situation. It is not my role to validate or give them the solution.  As a result, greater commitment and ownership by the individual is eventually established.

In a recent coaching session, my client was very sure that she knew what was keeping her direct report from performing up to the standards set for her.  She believed that it was a lack of knowledge. Her partner did not believe this to be the case; she felt that it was a lack of training and communication.  My client was very sure that her assessment was correct and as a result limited the communication with the direct report so as to avoid the frustration related to the lack of performance.  This became a vicious cycle and led to the report’s overall decrease in performance.

We spoke about the cycle of avoidance that was being created by the lack of dialogue. We talked through what the missing conversation looked like in order to close the gap between her perception and what was truly keeping her direct report from performing her job properly. My client was still very hesitant to believe there was any other perspective. After more probing what was discovered was that the direct report was not given the direction needed to complete her tasks - as much as my client thought she was giving it. My client was now open to the idea that maybe her partner had a valid point; maybe the training and communication was lacking.

My client made a commitment to speak to her employee. The direct report expressed that sometimes she felt very unsupported and that communication between the two was mediocre at best. The conversation was enlightening and my client felt that there were many shifts they could make together to move towards the right path and improve the situation between them and the performance of her direct report.

What do you think prevents us from opening up our minds to different perspectives?