Chapter 21

Time Management for Business Owners and Executives

Corporate executives and business owners are two of the most stressed-out and time-shorted categories of workers in the business world. A number of circumstances heighten the time pressures on these folks: Company leaders are charged with creating strategic plans and carrying them out. Entrepreneurs in the start-up stages are taxed with nurturing a fledgling business until it can fly on its own. And both feel the burden of bottom-line pressures: Is the company hitting the revenue goals? Are you making a profit? Are you growing the way you should? Are you in the black? What new products and services can I bring to the marketplace that will create a profit?

Here's another observation about these business leaders: Even after they've succeeded in launching and maintaining a viable and thriving enterprise, they can't seem to get off that fast track, gotta-do-everything-myself, 24/7 treadmill. Even when the business stabilizes and matures, these executives and owners struggle against pulling back, balancing their lives, and transitioning away from their insane work schedules. They seemingly become addicted to time deprivation.

If you suspect you're addicted to work stress, read on. In this chapter, I walk you through a successful withdrawal process to help you grow your business, empower your employees, and take a look at the big picture. It's painless, I promise. And I'm with you every step of the way.

Stepping Back and Observing Your Time Investment

Owners and executives may believe that a million things a day eat away their time. But in his book The E-Myth (HarperCollins), entrepreneur Michael E. Gerber claims that all the time spent falls into one of three big categories — and your business success depends on your ability to align these three realms in your schedule so you achieve the right balance:

To get your time under control, you have to be able to identify how you're spending it. The process is just like following a household budget: Before you can successfully manage your paycheck, you log your expenditures to determine where it's going.

Time-tracking is important for everyone, but executives and business owners can especially benefit from this self-knowledge. I use the chart in Figure 21-1 to help my clients monitor their time usage daily in each of the three time categories: growth, in, and on work.

What I've discovered over the years is that after tracking their time for a few weeks, most executives discover that they spend more than 80 percent of their time on working in the business. They typically spend less than 15 percent in growth activities and less than 5 percent working on the business. I've also found out that this is not the best time-mix formula for a successful business.

Owners and executives should invest 40 percent minimum in growth, no more than 25 percent in working in their business, and at least 15 percent of their time working on the business. I'm not a dilettante about the percentages — they vary upon your circumstances. You have some wiggle room to increase growth and on activities and even reduce the in, but this formula offers an excellent guideline. (And the best way to stick to the guideline is through the application of a time-blocked schedule. Turn to Chapter 5 for more on that.)

After tracking your time daily, use the T-chart in Figure 21-2 for an entire week, compartmentalizing your week in the three areas of growth, in, and on. It'll give you a road map so you can determine what to delegate and to whom you should delegate the lower-value in activities. You need only write an action or activity down once. At the end of the week, walk through the actions and determine how to delegate the low-value ones to another person or remove those activities. If you have to keep those activities, try to figure out where you may put these actions in the schedule so you can do them more efficiently or at a time when your energy is lower.

Increasing Time on Growth Activities

When identifying growth activities, look for things that offer long-term returns on investment. In the world of sales, for instance, direct income-producing activities (DIPA) are always considered growth activities (turn to Chapter 20 for more on DIPA). Here are some examples of growth areas:

Such growth activities demand a higher focus and energy level than the in and on work categories. That's why it's wise to schedule these efforts first rather than last. Use a time-blocking system (see Chapter 5) to schedule your growth activities, and tackle them when your energy level is at its peak — before the day's troubles and surprises start sabotaging your schedule.

The amount of time you devote to growth depends on your work. If your business is sales, I recommend dedicating no less than 50 percent of your day to growth, whether you're actively selling or leading a sales team. If you're leading a team in an area other than sales, I recommend spending at least 40 percent of your time in growth. Whether you should set aside time on a daily or weekly basis depends on your job, but it's likely to be a daily activity.

Track the percentage of your overall time spent on growth: Do a back-end analysis to verify that you're putting in the necessary amount of effort. You may have a day spent putting out fires, but evaluating your growth activity regularly allows you to allot the needed catch-up time before the week is out.

Your success in allocating the proper amount of time to growth activities requires a commitment. Start by setting a goal to spend a specific number of hours on a daily or weekly basis. Write it down and post it where you can see it each day. Put a sticky note on your computer monitor or put an index card on your bulletin board or even on your mirror at home. This visual reminder reinforces your good intentions and helps you discipline yourself to stay focused on growth.

Sticking with activities that don't bring an immediate return takes discipline, and growth activities are definitely a long-term investment. If necessary, share your growth commitment goals with others: a colleague, your administrative assistant, or another executive.

Responsive Tasks: Decreasing Your “In” Time

Here's an astute observation from British scholar C. Northcote Parkinson that has become universally embraced as Parkinson's Law: “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” It's no more apt than when describing the activities of the in-the-business category — you know, all the administration and management stuff.

Awareness is the first step toward reducing the in time investment in your business. Identify the in activities and how much time you're spending on them, and you're soon on your way to whittling them down. I have one simple measure for recognizing in activities: In most cases, they're responsive tasks: efforts generated by some external trigger. This trigger can be a staff person who has asked for direction or a customer who has a question about your product. These activities aren't necessarily one-time incidents; the same external triggers can create fixed routines that end up on your desk. Consumer inquiries, for example, lead to a standard response process that involves sending out an information packet. Or the need for your employees to keep you in the loop results in a weekly staff meeting. These triggers — all part of doing business — often turn into processes and procedures that demand your attention and keep you working in the business.

The reports, the ordering, the return phone calls, the administration and filling orders, and keeping order and all the routine details that must be done — it's easy to let them consume all your time because they all need to be done. And frequently, they're activities that take little thought or effort — or even time. Problem is, in total they derail all the effort and energy you ought to be putting into growth and working-on-the-business activities. This section tells you how to cut in activities down to size.

Solidifying your organizational chart

The hierarchical structure you follow can have an impact on the effective time management for you and all the employees within that structure. Unfortunately, especially with a young company, when a business grows too fast or changes too drastically, it's easy to end up with an organizational chart that's stunted or entangled with limbs that just get in the way. When this happens, you can count on more of the workload shifting to the executive and leadership branches of the company.

Businesses that rely on a build-as-you-go organization chart typically end up with the same structure. And it looks something like Figure 21-3.

The owner or key executive is the hub of the wheel, and all the areas, departments, or segments of the business connect to the hub. All decisions, employees, customers, and problems end up on the center desk. Under this structure, the employees are rarely empowered to make decisions at a level that makes operations efficient. In fact, this type of structure results in constant involvement from the hub, which means regular interruptions, low productivity, high frustration levels, and more work hours. Hub leaders find themselves staying late and working weekends, not because business is booming but because they're too busy juggling all the hats to get three, four, or more jobs done by the end of the workday.

Business leaders, be warned! Without a clearly established hierarchy that distributes decision-making and empowers employees, you — the executive or owner — get stuck as the hub, impaled by a circle of spokes.

What's most important for an effective organizational structure is a hierarchy with a solid foundation. And the traditional pyramid organizational chart, shown in Figure 21-4, is most widely used for good reason. It allows for the logical distribution of responsibility and decision-making — and level-appropriate weights — to a larger base. It relies on a chain of command in which the responsibility levels are clearly defined. This structure fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility at all levels. The upshot? Employees who have a clearly defined organizational chart to follow with a strong set of job tasks or job descriptions feel the highest sense of ownership, and what gets owned gets done!

Crafting clear job descriptions

Hiring capable people allows you to spend fewer hours in your business, and the first step to getting the right folks in the right seats is to have a clear set of job descriptions. You need to know precisely what you want the candidate to do.

However, good job descriptions are just as essential for your current employees. After all, the best way to keep yourself from hovering over the desks of your employees is to give everyone a clear idea of what's expected of them and then let them do their jobs. If all your employees are armed with a clear understanding of their responsibilities, you're bound to spend more time making progress and waste less time stepping on or over each other — and your pyramid organizational structure (see the preceding section) is much more likely to stand the test of time.

Be sure a detailed, clear job description exists for each person on your staff or in your company — including you. You should be as familiar with a job description as the employee in that position is. A good job description should

Think specifics: Sure, your sales reps are supposed to sell your product, but that's not enough for a job description. What, exactly, do they sell? How do they sell? What must they do in order to sell — make phone calls? Set face-to-face appointments. Go door-to-door? How often? Monthly? Weekly? Daily? Hourly? And there's more. Does their job require certain skills? What's their top priority? Second priority? Third? Do they have to know how to use a computer? Certain software programs? What decisions do they have authority to make? Who, within the company, must they interface with?

Putting together a solid job description is more science than art, and it often requires someone with a human resources sensibility. In an existing company, check with the HR department first — you may discover that job descriptions exist for the positions you need to define. Or maybe you can start with an existing description as a template to develop new descriptions.

Creating room for growth with supplemental task lists

A supplemental task list — to complement a job description — provides employees room for growth and advancement. It also strengthens the base of your organizational pyramid, allowing you to delegate more tasks and lighten your own load. The supplemental list includes the tasks you want to transfer to employees from either yourself or someone else in your department. For instance, a task list for an administrative assistant may look something like this:

And here's a sample task list for a salesperson:

Devising a management plan

One step toward managing the in work is to develop and use an effective management plan. You don't need a manual the size of the New York City phone book; a management plan is simply a set of key guidelines and procedures that you and your staff can follow for greater productivity and focus on the goals. Here are some tips:

As these components come together to form the management plan, you're bound to discover you still have some gaps in data. To gather that information, answer questions such as the following:

With the answers to these questions, you're well-equipped to draw up a manifesto of the overall functioning of your area — establishing how much of the in work is to be performed and by whom. The goal of this process is to pinpoint the in work that can be removed from your plate and placed in the most appropriate spot.

Empowering your staff

When all decisions, both major and minor, need to be run through the executive, you end up with a tremendous waste of time. That setup does not motivate the employee and bogs down the executive. The solution is to empower employees to identify problems and come up with solutions — in other words, let them do their jobs.

In empowering others to make decisions, you have to accept that mistakes will happen. Give employees the freedom to make decisions and mistakes without fear of recrimination. If there are some areas so critical that you can't risk an error, then identify yourself as the final okay for those issues. (And hope that you aren't the one who makes the mistake!)

Some people claim they can do an activity faster than it'd take them to train someone, so it's not worth it. Sure, you may save time on this occasion if you just do the job yourself, but this outlook is only for the short term. I call this the incandescent blind spot: Compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs may cost twice as much as traditional incandescent bulbs today, but adding up the energy savings and a lifetime at least twice as long, there's no doubt that the CFL bulbs are the big cost-saver. Likewise, when you train your staff to take on some of the in activities that hijack your time, you save in the long run. Now that's a bright idea!

Encouragement can go a long way. Almost 20 years ago, I introduced a policy in my company that has dramatically reduced my in work. I call it the No Problems, Only Solutions Policy, and it works like this: Employees aren't permitted to come to me with a problem — unless they have at least two solutions. Everyone from the frontline administrative assistant to the senior executive is held to this rule. Prior to this, I realized that I employed smart people but didn't encourage them to use their problem-solving abilities. After I established the No Problems policy, I discovered it gave me more freedom, more time, and numerous teaching and coaching moments. I gained insight into how my employees thought. It also gave me a moment to encourage and further empower them.

Organizing Daily Priorities

In any entity (but more so in small businesses), daily productivity can make or break a company. Your ability to set priorities and execute them impacts your customers, employees, and bottom line.

The most effective executives have a system by which they organize and prioritize their day. This section looks at a simple but effective prioritization system that identifies what's most important, what to delegate, and what to eliminate.

Establishing your daily priorities can help you make each day a 10. The system that I created a few years ago, known as the Daily Priority tool, enables you to get maximum value from your time. Turn to Chapter 5 to learn how to have a more organized day.

Planning Ahead: Balancing Your “On” Time

On time is planning time — and it's the most often overlooked process in business. That planning should have its roots in your company's vision and values, which are at the core of your business success. Make sure you establish those visions and values with careful thought, communicate them to everyone on the staff, and continue to convey and instill them through ongoing coaching and accountability among all employees. Here are the major ideas you need to outline:

Your core purpose and values serve as the foundation of your on responsibilities: your strategy, tactics, timing, people resources, and finances. They sit at the heart of every action, thought, hiring, firing, strategy, tactic, and expenditure. Aligning your big-picture view with your mission and values is a process that successful companies engage in regularly, investing at least 15 percent of their efforts in on activities.

Because planning time is so important to your success, you want to be sure that on time gets attention. The best way to identify your on duties and ensure they get the necessary attention is through weekly tracking (see Figure 21-1 for the activity tracking chart).

Take a look at your on tasks — study them to determine their frequency, asking yourself questions such as the following:

All staff members should be investing some time during their day in on time. Teaching the importance of on time is the first step. If you're leading other managers who get the standard of daily and weekly on time that's prescheduled, hold them accountable for it in your meetings. It'll be as hard for you to adhere to on time as it is for them, so ask them to hold you accountable to your on time as well.

Setting aside daily and monthly “on” time

On time has a tendency to be squeezed out more than the other two segments for a busy owner or executive. It gets the leftovers rather than the first fruits of your labor. But you need on time to evaluate your previous course so you can plot the adjustments you need to stay on track. Use this reflection time to set priorities, establish goals, and revise existing processes to further your efforts.

At a bare minimum, I recommend at least 30 minutes at the end of the day to review the day — you want to get insight from your day so you can improve tomorrow. Ask questions like the following:

These questions and others like them will finish off today and set the table for tomorrow. I also advise that you schedule review time at the end of every week and month. An hour or two may be enough for an end-of-week wrap-up; for a month, you may need a half day.

Most people have fewer than 1,000 months in their whole lives, and you likely have more than a quarter of them gone as you're reading this book. So at the end of a month, you need to look at how the past month stacked up. Are you progressing toward your goals and objectives? What are the goals and objectives for the next months? What do you need your staff to focus on for the next 30 days? Take about a half day of on time to do a thorough evaluation of your month so you can invest it in the next month.

Performing a quarterly and yearly review of “on” time

You need to schedule quarterly and yearly reviews — wonderful predetermined on time breaks — with adequate amounts of time that correspond to their length. Owners and executives frequently omit the quarterly pause of on time — it really demands a day of uninterrupted focus — but that time is well worth it. Here's what to review:

This is the time to review the business plan, staff, goals, and results. You have enough time and data to be able to make course corrections in your business or department, being confident that you're not being reactionary.

An off-site on day is the best strategy because it reduces distractions.

The end of the year is a time for the most thorough analysis and evaluation. Over the years, I've personally found the last week of the year to be my favorite. I take the whole week to replay the year and invest the whole week in the on business activities. The on time of this week can ensure that the new year is your most productive and fruitful ever.