Advanced Time Management.pdf - UNC Charlotte Army ROTC

Personal Development TrackSection6ADVANCEDTIME MANAGEMENTKey Points1 How to Set Priorities2 Running Productive Meetings3 Common Time DistracterseThe key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule,but to schedule your priorities.Stephen R. CoveyFrom S. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Advanced Time Management n 127IntroductionProductivity. That’s the primary goal of any organization—in government, business, oreducation. But poor time management will prevent you and your team from reachingyour full productivity potential. Remember that everyone has the same amount oftime; the challenge is using yours wisely and effectively. Your job as an Army leaderwill require you to efficiently balance the many demands on your time.Not only will you have to manage your own time—you must manage the timeof the organization you lead. In the previous section, you learned about setting groupgoals and improving the group’s time management. Many of these time-managementprinciples apply equally to the individual and the group.To learn how to manage time—your most precious asset—you need tounderstand how to prioritize, hold productive meetings, and recognize and eliminatetime distracters. Once you’ve learned these techniques, you can apply them in anyleadership situation you’ll encounter in life—in college, in the Army, or in civilian life.The following vignette tells of a corporate manager who finds himself caughtin a not-uncommon time trap.Acme Manufacturing CompanyWhen Steve Arnold, a production manager at Acme Manufacturing Company,drove into the parking lot Tuesday morning at 8:45, he was already 45 minuteslate for work. Steve had overslept that morning because he was up late the nightbefore finishing the monthly production report for his department. He parked hiscar and entered the rear of the plant building. Passing through the shipping area,Steve spotted his friend George Summers and stopped to ask how work wasprogressing on the new addition to George’s house.Entering the office at 9:05, Steve greeted his secretary, Ruth Sweeney, and askedwhether anything urgent needed his immediate attention. Ruth reminded himof the staff meeting at 9:30 with Steve’s boss—Frank Jones, the vice president forProduction—and the other production managers. Steve thanked Ruth for remindinghim (he had forgotten about the meeting) and continued on to his adjoining inneroffice. He went to his desk and began looking through the piles of papers to findthe memo announcing the meeting. He vaguely remembered getting the memolast week, but had not had time to read it or look at the attached materials.The phone rang and it was Sue Bradley, the Sales vice president, who wasinquiring about the status of a rush order for one of the company’s importantclients. Steve promised to look into the matter and get back to her later in theday with an answer. Steve had delegated the rush order last week to Lucy Adams,one of his production supervisors, and he had not thought about it since then.Stepping back into the outer office, Steve asked Ruth if she had seen Lucy today.Ruth reminded him that Lucy was out of town at a training workshop and wouldbe difficult to reach. Steve asked Ruth to leave a message for Lucy to call himduring a break in the training.

128 n SECTION 6Going back into his office, Steve resumed his search for the memo about themeeting with his boss and the other production managers. After 10 minutes offrantic searching, he finally found it. The purpose of the meeting was to discussa proposed change in quality control procedures. By now it was 9:25, and therewas no time to read the proposal. He hurried out to get to the meeting on time.During the meeting, the other production managers participated in the discussionand made helpful comments or suggestions. Steve was not prepared for themeeting and did not contribute much except to say that he did not anticipateany problems with the proposed changes.The meeting ended at 10:30, and Steve returned to his office, where he foundPaul Chen, one of his production supervisors, waiting for him. Paul wanted todiscuss a problem caused in the production schedules by a major equipmentbreakdown. Steve called Glenda Brown, his assistant manager, on the telephoneand asked her to join them to help rearrange the production schedules for thenext few days. Glenda came in shortly and the three of them worked on theproduction schedules. At 11:25, Ruth came in to announce that a Mr. Ferris waswaiting and he claimed to have an appointment with Steve at 11:30. Steve lookedat his calendar but could not find any entry for the appointment. Steve askedRuth to tell Mr. Ferris that he would be ready shortly.The schedules were completed around 11:40. Since it was nearly noon, Steveinvited Mr. Ferris to join him for lunch at a nearby restaurant. During lunchSteve learned that Mr. Ferris was from one of the firms that provided materialsused in the production process at Acme, and the purpose of the meeting wasto inquire about some changes in material specifications the company hadrequested. As Mr. Ferris talked, Steve realized that he would not be able to answersome of the technical questions. When they returned to the plant at 1:15, Steveintroduced Mr. Ferris to an engineer who could answer his questions.Steve walked back to his office, where his secretary informed him that Lucy hadreturned his call while he was out to lunch. Just then, Steve’s boss (Frank Jones)stopped in to ask about the quality figures he had asked Steve to assemble for himlast week. Steve explained that he had given top priority to finishing the monthlyproduction report the last few days and would do the quality information next.Frank was irritated, because he needed the quality data to finalize his proposalfor new procedures, and he had made it clear to Steve that this task was moreurgent than the production report. He told Steve to get the quality data to himas soon as possible and left. Steve immediately called Glenda Brown and askedher to bring the quality data to his office. The task of reviewing the data andpreparing a short summary was not difficult, but it took longer than heanticipated. It was 2:40 by the time Steve completed the report and attachedit to an e-mail to his boss.

Advanced Time Management n 129Looking at his calendar, Steve noticed that he was already late for a 2:30meeting of the plant safety committee. The committee meets weekly to reviewsafety problems, and each department sends a representative. Steve rushed outto the meeting, which was held in another part of the plant. The meeting wasdull this week, without any important issues or problems to discuss.The meeting ended at 3:30, and as Steve walked back through his sectionof the plant, he stopped to talk to his assistant manager. Glenda wanted someadvice on how to resolve a problem in the production assignments for the nextday. They discussed the problem for about a half-hour. When Steve returnedto his office at 4:05, his secretary was just leaving. She reported that Lucy hadcalled again at 4:00 before leaving to fly home from the conference.Steve was feeling tired and decided it was time for him to go home also. As hedrove out of the parking lot, Steve reflected that he was getting further behindin his work. He wondered what he could do to get better control over his job.Gary Yukl, Leadership in OrganizationsCritical ThinkingeWhat priorities could Steve set in his schedule to help him gain control of his job?Explain how Steve’s current priorities affect his leadership at work.eEstablishing priorities is important for the organization;organizational leaders must also practice it personally.In fact, a highly developed system of time managementmay be the only way for organizational leaders tohandle all the demands upon them. There’s rarelyenough time to do everything, yet they must make thetime to assess and synthesize information and maketimely decisions.

130 n SECTION 6prioritythe rank of importancegiven to a task, issue,idea, or goal that placesit high in significanceand need for completionor attentionHow to Set PrioritiesYou base your priorities on your values (for example: achievement, intimacy, personalsatisfaction, independence, caretaking). Priorities are meaningful because they establisha guideline for how you spend your time and energy each day. Have you ever experienceda day or week where everything you needed to accomplish felt equally important—eventuallyyou become overwhelmed. The “balancing act” in your everyday life requires you to orderthe importance of your ideas, tasks, issues, or goals—family, friends, coworkers, promotions,and entertainment cannot all be equally important.Keep in mind that circumstances change. You may have accomplished some goals,while others become less or more important for a variety of reasons. Similar to settingpersonal and team goals, setting priorities is a continuous process. Every so often, take aninventory of your values and reassess how you spend your time. Ask yourself, how aremy priorities, and what I value, affecting my goals for work, school, and relationships?Do I need to change my priorities—or my goals?When you prioritize your goals, review the steps or milestones. Make sure events arein a logical order and that you have allotted enough time for each one. For team goals,ask for input from your subordinates. Getting input not only acts as a check on your plan—you may have overlooked something—but also gets your Soldiers involved. Theirinvolvement builds trust in your leadership, confidence in the goal, and the will toaccomplish a mission.Priorities and Other PeopleSince you’re a unique individual with your own values and goals, your priorities will besomewhat different from those of others. They may conflict with the priorities of those closeto you. It’s important to try to understand the reasoning behind other people’s prioritiesto avoid conflict as you work with them in a team setting.As the leader, however, you are the ultimate decision maker. Even when you compromiseon goal setting, you make a conscious decision to compromise. Use the Army Values tohelp you and your team set goals and establish priorities.Challenges to Setting PrioritiesLeadership expert Stephen R. Covey’s study of many different organizations has led himto some common findings about why people don’t prioritize. These include:• people’s inability to prioritize• their inability to organize around established priorities• their lack of discipline to execute tasks based on those priorities.Taking Covey’s findings into consideration, before you sit down to prioritize, ask yourselfabout each activity to assess where it lies in your priority list. Some key questions include:• What are the costs versus the benefits of doing it?• How well does it fit into my goals?• Is there a deadline for doing the task?• How enjoyable is the task?• Have I promised or agreed to do it?• What need(s) of mine will I satisfy by doing the task?Of course, when setting team or group priorities, you may well have to compromise withteam members on the answers.

Advanced Time Management n 131Methods of PrioritizingManagement experts have come up with many ways to prioritize tasks. Some of the mostuseful are numerical ordering, alpha-ordering, 80/20 ordering, and Yes, No, Maybe ordering.Numerical OrderingThis method can be important when you have a large number of tasks and you needflexibility. Many sports teams and the Army use it. For example, say you are a team coach,and you are allowed only 10 players, but you have 14. Whom do you cut? To decide, youestablish the ranking criteria, then rank order the players, and cut the last four. Anotherexample in which this method is useful is the Army’s National Order of Merit List for Cadetsin the competition for placement in the Army branch they have requested. Or you mayneed to cut items from your budget, and you are unsure how many you will be able to keep.Alpha OrderingIn his book Becoming a Master Student, author Dave Ellis discusses the alpha-orderingmethod, which allows you to group items, then assign priority to each group.A means you must do the item. There is little room for compromise because timemakes completing the task urgent. For example, “Get the antidote now because I wasjust bitten by a snake and have one hour to live without it” would be an A priorityitem for obvious reasons. If your car’s fuel indicator is on empty, and you’re drivingdown the freeway, getting gas is an A item.B means you should do the item or it is becoming important. It’s not an A yet, butit’s more important than a C. Perhaps you have more time to address the task later,but you just can’t put it off indefinitely. If you car’s fuel indicator shows half-full,and you know there are plenty of gas stations ahead, getting gas is a B item.C means the task is not critical. You can do it almost anytime. Or the task is somethingthat you want to do, but you can wait to fit it into your schedule later. If your car’sfuel indicator is on full and you’re not driving anywhere for the next week, gettinggas is a C item.When you only want a few categories of items to track and always want the most importantitems easily identified, the alpha-ordering system can be very helpful (Ellis, 2003).80/20 OrderingThis system is based on the “80/20 rule” of 19th-century Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto.His rule states that 80 percent of everything that happens at work is really the result of20 percent of the effort expended. For example, 80 percent of all telephone calls comefrom 20 percent of the callers, and 80 percent of meals ordered in a restaurant come from20 percent of the items on the menu.To be effective, you must concentrate on the most important items first. Therefore,proceed through the day from the most important to the least important items. Makethis a daily habit. If you have a daily To-Do list of 10 items, for example, you can generallyexpect to be 80 percent efficient by successfully completing only the two most importantitems on your list.This system is particularly useful when you may be overwhelmed or when yourteam is balancing many tasks. Be sure, however, that you track and complete the mostimportant two.

132 n SECTION 6Yes, No, Maybe OrderingThis system allows you to rank everything as a Yes, No, or Maybe. Yes means you do it.You drop the ones labeled No and you don’t come back to them later. You put the Maybeson the back burner. When you reevaluate your priorities, they may go into the Yes categoryor the No category.Use this system when you intend to prune tasks from your list. You want to keepmoving items that surface as unimportant into the No category.Overall, it doesn’t matter which system you use to prioritize, as long as it works foryou and your team. You may even need to invent a different system or customize an existingone, depending on what you are prioritizing.Prioritizing Your DayTo actually accomplish your goals, create a daily “To-Do” list. Each workday should beginwith a plan of tasks and each task’s priority. In budgeting your time, allocate part of eachday to tasks that will help you accomplish your goals. That is, block out part of your dayor week for major projects to ensure that you have time to do the important things.Before the end of each day, write the six most important tasks you have to do tomorrowon a blank piece of paper (a 3 x 5 index card will do). Number them in order ofimportance. Carry this sheet with you. In the morning, look at Item 1 and start workingon it. Pull the paper out of your pocket at intervals throughout the morning and look atItem 1 until it is finished. Tackle Item 2 in the same way, then Item 3, etc.Don’t be concerned if you only finished two or three items, or even if you finish onlyone item (Remember the 80/20 rule!). You’ll be working on the important ones and theothers can wait. Spend the last five minutes of every day making out the “must do” listfor the next day’s tasks.eGuidelines for Performing Managerial Work• Understand the reasons for demands and constraints—what others expectof you• Expand the range of choices—define the job differently if you can• Determine what you want to accomplish• Analyze how you use your time• Plan your daily and weekly activities• Avoid unnecessary activities• Conquer procrastination• Take advantage of reactive activities—turn time wasters to your advantagewhen possible• Make time for reflective planning• Identify important problems that you can solve• Look for connections among problems• Experiment with innovative solutions• Take decisive action to deal with crises.Gary Yukl

Advanced Time Management n 133Running Productive MeetingsIf you are in charge of a meeting—and you certainly will be in your Cadet training andlater in your Army career—make sure the meeting is both necessary and efficient. If youhave to attend a meeting, help the person holding the meeting make it productive. Meetings,when used and run properly, can save time and accomplish a tremendous amount.According to Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy, leaders have a responsibility to makemeetings as productive as possible. Here are some tips to help you do that:• Determine whether the meeting is necessary—is there another way to address theitem, issue, or problem?• List the meeting’s objectives—let everyone know the subject(s)• Stick to the agenda—maintain control and remember that if you make oneexception, you will have many interruptions• Provide pertinent material in advance—avoid surprises that can drag a meeting out• Make the meeting convenient—you want everyone to attend so you don’t havedisagreement later• Encourage participation—resolve questions at the meeting, not later• Keep a record—people tend to try to change agreements later or forget what thegroup decided.agendathe plan or “To-Do” listfor a meetingWhy Meetings FailMilo Frank, author of How to Run a Successful Meeting in Half the Time, has analyzed manyorganizations and believes meetings become time-wasters for a number of reasons:• No specific, clear-cut objective• No agenda• Too many or unnecessary participants• Failure to prepare properly• Lack of sound leadership or control• Improper use of visual aids• Too many digressions and interruptions• Time wasted on “why” rather than “how”• Mixed final decision (vague or confused).Avoid these pitfalls and your meetings will be time-enhancers instead of time-wasters.Common Time DistractersPrioritizing will definitely save you and your team time and effort. But you can save timeand effort in other ways—by eliminating distracters, both individually and as anorganization. Distracters fall into two main categories: external and internal. Some of theseyou can control and others you cannot.

134 n SECTION 6External Time DistractersOne of your organizational goals as an Army leader should be to eliminate externaldistracters whenever possible. Clearly, the nature of human activity means that it may beimpossible to eliminate every distracter. Your goal, however, should be to limit them asaggressively as you can. Among the top external distracters:• Telephone interruptions• Unnecessary meetings• Unplanned visitors• Socializing• Lack of information• Excessive paperwork• Communication breakdown• Lack of policies and procedures• Lack of competent personnel• Red tape.Internal Time DistractersLike external distracters, internal distracters prevent you and the team from doing yourday-to-day work, achieving your tasks, accomplishing your goals, or fulfilling your mission.Unlike external distracters, however, the most common internal distracters are usuallywithin your control:• Procrastination• Failure to delegate• Unclear objectives• Failure to set priorities• Poor crisis management• Failure to plan• Poor scheduling• Lack of self-discipline• Attempting to do too much at once• Lack of relevant skills.Procrastination often masks a fear of failure—people find excuses for delaying a task becausethey lack self-confidence. One remedy for this is to divide long tasks into smaller, shorterones to make them less intimidating. Setting reasonable deadlines can also help fightprocrastination.

Advanced Time Management n 135Critical ThinkingeThink about your own planning and scheduling this semester. What external andinternal distracters have kept you from completing your assignments or realizingyour goals? What can you do to eliminate them in the future?Critical ThinkingeIf you can control internal distracters and you can’t always control external ones,where should you start as you seek to eliminate distractions?

136 n SECTION 6eCONCLUSIONIn college, poor time management will prevent you from reaching your fullpotential. A typical school day can be long, tiring, and frustrating because of poorplanning and allowing others to control your time and work. You end up wastingtime doing things that should be done in a few moments or not at all. All of ushave the same amount of time; the challenge is using this resource effectively.The time-management skills you learn now will help you immeasurably in thefuture, whether in the Army or out of it.When you prioritize your goals, run efficient meetings, and eliminate timedistracters, you’ll gain more control of your most valuable asset—time. When youuse time wisely and efficiently, you encourage your subordinates to follow yourlead and develop their own time-management skills. That, in turn, develops trust,self-confidence, and their will to succeed—strengthening your team.Key WordspriorityagendaLearning Assessment1. Name four ways to prioritize tasks or goals.2. Name three methods of making meetings more effective.3. Name three ways in which meetings can be time distracters.4. Give specific examples of internal and external distracters.

Advanced Time Management n 137ReferencesCovey, S. (1990). The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: Simon & Schuster.Ellis, D. (2003). Becoming a Master Student. Tenth Edition. Boston: Houghton MifflinCompany.Field Manual 6-22, Army Leadership: Competent, Confident, and Agile. 12 October 2006.Frank, M. (1990). How to Run a Successful Meeting in Half the Time. New York: Simon &Schuster.Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (1999). Leadership: Enhancing the Lessonsof Experience. Third Edition. New York: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.Yukl, G. (2006). Leadership in Organizations. Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PearsonPrentice Hall.