By the time you reach the upper tiers of management, you'll certainly be an expert at organizing and managing your work day—but you'll soon realize that things work a little differently at the C-Suite level. In particular, how you use your time and who you give it to undergoes significant changes. Priorities and responsibilities shift; sometimes subtly, often radically. There's much more to do, and the ante is higher: your actions impact the organization in ways undreamt of before. The modern business environment demands exceptional leadership, so you have to do whatever's necessary to enhance productivity and efficiency at all levels. Not least , you need to be able to juggle multiple projects without getting bogged down, while simultaneously balancing customer, employee, and … [Read more...]
Executive Time Management: How Time Management Changes As You Move From Middle Management To The VP/C-Suite Level
Becoming more efficient
Time management isn’t about finding more hours in the day—it’s about making the most of those you have. The best thing that you can do to manage your time is to stop hunting for spare minutes and start thinking about how to become more efficient. When facing a task that just doesn’t seem to fit into your tightly packed schedule, there are a few questions that you can ask yourself: How can I complete this task in less time? Sometimes we are so busy looking for an extra thirty minutes to complete a task that we don’t realize that it could be done in ten. Make sure you aren’t over-researching, over-analyzing, or just plain over-thinking what you’re trying to do. Some fish will grow to fit the size of their tank. Tasks will do the same thing. If you’re convinced that putting the … [Read more...]
4 Principles to Keep Your Space Neat and Tidy
There is a distinction between being “neat” and being “organized.” For example, the Denver Water Board, one of my clients, brought me to organize a “National Clean off Your Desk Day” (yes, there is such a day!) contest. This “holiday” always falls on the second Monday of January each year. We had three categories: most organized, most improved, and messiest office. I took “before” photos of each person’s office. Next, I gave a seminar on getting organized and putting systems in place. Contestants had one week to get organized. Then I took an “after” photo. We posted the “before” and “after” photos on the employee cafeteria wall, and employees voted on the “most improved.” I, however, was the sole judge of the “most organized” and “messiest office” categories. I went to the office of a … [Read more...]
Break Larger Projects into Smaller Tasks
Let’s say this is your to-do list for a Saturday: • Water plants • Pay the mortgage bill • Buy new reading group book • Return socks to Wal-Mart • Put up new border in James’ room Which of the five things will you most likely have accomplished during the day? If you’re like most people, you’ve completed everything but the last—the one you’ve had on your list for five months. Most people are inclined to knock off the little items first, rarely getting to the bottom of the list and getting the “big” things done. Why? “Put up new border in James’ room” is too big. So is “Get photo albums arranged.” So is “Get balloon down stuck in eighteen-foot high ceiling fan.” Each involves multiple steps. If you don’t break them down, you will not be able to systematically crack at them. You … [Read more...]