Jim Clemmer's Leader Letter

Too many managers seem to operate on a variation of an old Groucho Marx routine; "I've got top priorities. I am going to stick to those priorities. And if you don't like those priorities...I have others." It's very hard to bring the discipline of a goal deployment system or other planning process to a team or organization if your own time management and personal organization is a joke.

• What are you so busy doing? Are you working on high leverage activities that will catapult you, your team, and your organization toward your vision? Are people "delegating up" to you and your team? Has busyness and long hours become a dangerous status symbol of importance? Are you and your team members measuring your importance by how many e-mails you get, vacations missed, or crazy hours you work?
  
  
• Know thy time. Figuring out how effective your busyness is, starts with a time log. This takes some real discipline, but the learning and personal effectiveness you'll gain is immeasurable. For a few weeks, (ideally a month), keep a log of how you spend each fifteen minute block of your day from the time you get up until the time you go to bed. Before you start, develop categories such as reading, learning, meetings, dealing with e-mails, family time, relaxation, travel, telephone calls, visiting, preparing, planning, etc. Estimate how much time you spend in each activity before you start your log. Once your log is complete compare your estimates to the way you actually use your time.
  
  
• Plan your time. Use a time organizer system, software program, or Personal Digital Assistant. Take it with you everywhere you go. Develop weekly or monthly activity lists that link to your vision, values, and purpose so you're always doing the most important things. Over the weekend or first thing Monday morning, sketch out your week. Each morning reprioritize your day's activities and plans.
  
  
• Learn how to lead effective meetings. Poorly run meetings cost you and everyone else an enormous amount of precious time. There are few excuses for not starting and finishing on time, not having clear meeting outcomes and agendas, not keeping discussions on track, not minimizing disruptions, or not handling conflict effectively. It's a skill issue. Improve yours and you'll free up time for everybody.
  
  
• Schedule regular reflection time (daily/weekly/monthly) to review progress on your goals and reset your priorities.

I'd like to get your reflections and experience on how you set personal or professional goals and priorities. Please e-mail me at [email protected].

I enjoy your improvement points but think that you are far too hard on managers and leaders. Your articles show a distinct bias for employees rather than leaders, supervisors, and managers. While you often indicate that you need a balance, I have trouble sending some of your stuff out to staff as it will just encourage them to be critical of their supervisors. You need to provide a better balance. I've been a leader, a manager, a supervisor, etc. for 26 years and you clearly have not worked in a union environment or had staff that really and truly don't like anyone in authority.

Thanks for your feedback. I always appreciate when readers or audience members voice concerns or issues that I need to look at more closely in my work. Your message has pushed me to think further about the bias issue you raise.

As you can see on our web page describing the Improvement Points service (www.clemmer.net/improvement.shtml), I have focused this service on organizational effectiveness and personal/leadership effectiveness. The most appropriate Improvement Points to pass on to staff would be those on personal/leadership effectiveness. The organizational effectiveness points are aimed at helping managers continuously improve the way they lead their organizations or teams. Many of these would not be appropriate to pass on to staff. I know many readers pass them on to other supervisors/managers and sometimes use the Improvement Point or its linked article for further management team discussion.

Like my books and workshops or presentations, these management messages are designed to stretch the recipient further. They often are critical of managers because I am pointing out mediocre or bad management practices and providing suggestions for improving those. Of course, as with any advice in our lives, we have to weigh what's being said against our growth or development goals and personal approach. If the comment irritates or causes us to flinch, that may be the grain of sand around which we can spin our own pearl of improvement. If it doesn't fit, we need to ignore the advice or hit the delete key.

I have worked extensively in union environments with my Clients for over 25 years. Many of my sessions have included active and quite vocal union leaders or been designed exclusively for them. I've certainly encountered my share of frontline people who don't like anyone in authority. The big challenge in this environment is for the manager to not fall into the classic We/They Gap and become a victim pointing fingers at "they." You can scan through a large collection of articles on taking responsibility for our choices at www.clemmer.net/excerpts/responsibility.shtml.

Thanks again for your input. This has been a valuable reflection exercise for me to re-examine the focus and intent of Improvement Points.