Blog — Page 62

Time and Priority Management

Every manager struggles with the amount that s/he has to accomplish in the very limited amount of time each week. By employing a few simple techniques, managers can gain greater control over their work lives, and enhance their productivity.

Why time and priority management techniques often fail:

Normally people attempt to be more efficient with their time when they should be assessing their effectiveness
You will be more effective when you do less, as opposed to trying to cram more into your day

The 5 Keys to improved time and priority management:

Being aware of ‘time wasters’ that affect us daily
Setting a limited number of achievable goals, and learning when and how to say “No”
Planning time around higher level goals
Overcoming procrastination
Decrease the number, and improve the quality of the meetings you attend

Ten things you can do right now to improve time management:

Forward the phone when necessary for short periods of time
Turn off the email chime, and only tend to your email two or three times per day. Do not respond to emails in real time if you can avoid it
Keep focused on the ‘end product’ at all times. If you cannot see a clear line of site between a particular activity and a high level goal, then that activity should be questioned
Learn and follow your rhythm – Assign tasks to the appropriate time of the day or week. If you are a morning person, schedule tasks requiring concentration and effort early in the day
Carry tasks to completion. Do not allow tasks to linger
Avoid picking-up and putting-down – get small irritations off your desk now
Arrange set times for recurring tasks
Set specific times not to be disturbed. An open door policy is a good idea, but there’s nothing wrong with closing that door for one hour per day
Learn to say “No” by clearly articulating your goals. If a task or activity does not clearly relate to one of your goals you should push back at whether you should be involved in that task
Develop an ‘unexpected visitor’ strategy. Regularly scheduled one with one meetings with direct reports can pre-empt multiple interruptions during a week because those employees will save their issues for the appropriate time.

Finally, be aware of the 80-20 rule and how it applies to you. Managers who make it look easy clearly understand that 80% of their results come from 20% of their effort, and they focus relentlessly on that 20%. Less effective managers try to please all people all the time, and end up frustrating those around them and themselves in the process.

Get the Complete ‘Time and Priority Management’ Topic Bundle

The Time and Priority Management topic bundle includes:

Time and Priority Management Cheat Sheet (pdf)
Time and Priority Management Booklet (pdf) containing:
- In-Depth Topic Overview
- The 5 Keys to Time and Priority Management
- 10 Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve Time Management
- Time and Priority Management Audit Tool
- One on One Meeting Tracking Form
- 10 Points to More Effective Meetings
- Structured To-Do List
- How to Value Your Time According to the 80-20 Rule
- Weekly Planning Tool
- Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about Time and Priority Management

Easy-print versions of the tools contained in the Time and Priority Management Booklet (pdf)
Time and Priority Management Podcast (mp3)
Time and Priority Management Podcast Slides (Powerpoint)

Handling Emotional Behavior

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Nothing changes your day so quickly as unexpected emotional behaviour. It is primal in its delivery, and a manager’s response is also often primal. By identifying it for what it is, and developing coping strategies in advance, a leader is less likely to blindsided by emotional behavior, and can salvage the situation at hand.

When you are confronted by emotional behavior there are 3 things to manage simultaneously:

The behavior itself
The content or root cause of the behavior which may be a serious issue requiring attention
The impact the negative behavior is having on you

Different types of emotional behavior require different responses, but here are some universal rules to help cope with highly emotive situations:

Determine if the conversation can proceed in a constructive way. In cases where emotions are running extremely high, the very best course of action, may be to adjourn the conversation until cooler heads prevail.

Be aware of the impact the behavior is having on you. It is important to quickly analyze your own state of mind before reacting. If you find yourself extremely agitated or otherwise emotionally compromised, you need to quickly determine how that will impact the quality and outcome of the conversation.

Articulate to the other person how you are being affected by the behavior. Often people become angry or otherwise emotional, and do not realize the impact they are having upon others. Many times the situation can be partially diffused by describing the impact of the behavior. For example, “I have to be honest and let you know that this conversation is making me feel quite defensive, and I don’t like feeling that way.” Note that you should not say, “YOU are making me defensive”, but rather focus on the situation.

Ensure the other person knows s/he has been heard. It is not necessary to agree with the other person, but it is important to let them know that you have heard and understand their message. Again, just by acknowledging their viewpoint, the situation may be largely defused.

Propose a path to resolution. It is important to redirect the energy of the emotional behavior into some form of resolution. If the other person is just venting, then you need to decide to what degree you will indulge this before terminating the conversation. Otherwise, you should engage the other person in determining a path forward and moving towards resolution of their issue.

Dealing with emotional behavior is something every manager will face at one point or other. It is never easy, but by keeping in mind the things above, a tense situation can be made easier.

Difficult Conversations – You Smell and People Don’t Like You

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Unless you’ve been living alone in a cave most of your life, you will have had to conduct a difficult conversation with someone. If you’re a leader of people, tough talks are a job requirement. You can avoid them, but it will be at your own peril. Sooner or later you’ll need to address that difficult situation.

How to conduct a Difficult Conversation:

Step 1 – Prepare and Anticipate

Prepare in advance – anticipate responses. Make sure you are dealing with complete information
Explain but don’t defend
Make sure any issue you are dealing with does not have legal ramifications (termination, harassment, violence in the workplace etc.)
Don’t think it’s not going to be uncomfortable. Mentally prepare for the discomfort the situation may cause you.

Step 2 – Focus on Facts and Observable Behaviors

Focus on observable behaviors and facts, not the person. “People don’t like you”, is much different than “People don’t like it when talk loud on the phone.”
Focus on the issue at hand – don’t get dragged into irrelevant parallel issues.

Step 3 – Showtime: Manage the Confrontation

Get to the point – eliminate the small talk, and move to your point quickly. Often the best course of action is to make it clear in your first sentence what the other person should expect.
Do not engage in any tough talk if you are emotionally compromised at the moment. Adjourning the conversation is a legitimate course of action if either party is excessively emotional, but keep in mind that by deferring the conversation you are prolonging an unpleasant event.
Stick to your guns unless emergent facts cause you to want to reconsider. If the recipient is feeling badly, that does not count as an emergent fact.
If there are specific behaviors required of the other person, ensure those are well understood.

The Skip-Level Meeting

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A Skip-Level Meeting is a meeting between managers and team members who are one or more levels below them. The purpose of a skip-level meeting is for managers to get to know their team members, build trust with them, and understand their problems. Skip-level meetings can never take the place of direct communications within teams, but it can be a powerful adjunct to these efforts.

Skip Level Meeting Key Concepts:

Group round-table meetings are more efficient than one-on-one meetings for skip-level meetings.
Leading organizations plan a skip-level meeting with every team or workgroup at least once per year.
Don’t wait for your boss or the HR department to arrange skip-level meetings for your direct reports.
There are five key steps to conducting an effective skip-level meeting:

Plan the skip level meeting
Conduct the skip level meeting and record the feedback
Analyze the information collected at the skip level meeting
Create an action plan based on the feedback
Follow up and report progress

Skip Level Meeting Planning Questions:

When is the last time a skip-level meeting was conducted with this group?
Has the feedback from last skip level meeting been acted upon?
Have skip-level meetings been conducted in parallel business areas?
Will the skip level meeting be used to ‘build a file’ for disciplinary action on the leader of the group?
Have I followed the five-point planning process for skip-level meetings?
Do I need to improve my skills in any of the related areas, for which information is available?

Skip Level Meeting Potential Pitfalls:

Do not use skip-level meetings to ‘build a file’ on a leader you want to fire.
Tell all managers what you are doing and why.
Don’t include the manager in the skip level meeting if your goal is to get back honest feedback.
Don’t ask about topics about which you are unable or unwilling to do anything.
Provide some level of feedback to the manager about the feedback received from his/her direct reports during the skip level meeting.
It is more damaging to do a skip-level meeting poorly than it is to not do it at all.

Get the Complete ‘Skip-Level Meeting’ Topic Bundle

The Skip Level Meeting topic bundle includes:

Skip Level Meeting Cheat Sheet (pdf)
Skip Level Meeting Booklet (pdf) containing:
- In-Depth Topic Overview
- Skip-Level Meeting Readiness Self-Assessment
- Skip-Level Meeting Communication Timeline
- Sample Skip-Level Meeting Invitation Letter
- Sample Skip-Level Meeting Follow-up Letters
- Skip-Level Meeting Discussion Guide
- Suggested Skip-Level Meeting Questions
- Skip Level Meeting Action Planner
- Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about skip-level meetings

Easy-print versions of the tools contained in the Skip Level Meeting Booklet (pdf)
Skip Level Meeting Podcast (mp3)
Skip Level Meeting Podcast slides (Powerpoint)

How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert

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Coaching has become a very popular business trend in the past several years. As organizations get flatter and as you progress in your career to take on roles of increasing responsibility you will more often find yourself in a leadership or coaching role where you are not the ‘expert’.

How Coaching Conversations are Different:

There is an articulated focus and purpose for coaching conversations
Accountability mechanisms are built in to the coaching conversation
Feedback and reinforcement are part of the conversation structure

A Brief Introduction to the Wily Manager Five Step Coaching Model:

Step 1 – Context: Decide what is to be worked on, and why it is important. Also identify the conditions and constraints.

Step 2 – Clarify: Articulate the desired outcomes and goals of the coaching. Contrast these against the current reality.

Step 3 – Create: The coach and a team member now explore potential avenues forward, taking into account what has been learned in the first two steps. Decide upon a preferred path.

Step 4 – Commit: Agree upon specific action plans to reach the desired destination. Write down and agree upon ‘who does what by when’. Where possible, include measures of success as well.

Step 5 – Close: Ensure all commitments are understood and the desired behaviours are reinforced. Periodically, debrief the coaching session at this point.

Get the Complete ‘How to Coach When You’re Not The Expert’ Topic Bundle

The ‘How to Coach When You’re Not The Expert’ Topic Bundle includes:

‘How to Coach When You’re Not The Expert’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
‘How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert’ Booklet (pdf) containing:
- In-Depth Topic Overview
- Benefits of Coaching
- How Coaching Conversations are Different
- The Coaching Process
- Wily Manager’s 5-Step Coaching Model
- Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about Coaching

Easy-print versions of the tools contained in the ‘How to Coach When You’re Not The Expert’ Booklet (pdf)
‘The Wily Manager Coaching Model’ Podcast (mp3)
‘The Wily Manager Coaching Model’ Podcast Slides (Powerpoint)

Conducting Effective Meetings

How much time do you waste…I mean spend…in meetings every week? Meeting effectiveness is a critical leadership issue that needs improvement in just about all organizations.

Effective meetings look like this:

Have a defined purpose and clear objectives with a written agenda
Members have prepared in advance and are engaged
Balance of discipline, flexibility, diplomacy and determination
Members have defined roles and respect established ground rules
Efficient, result focused, and ultimately save time and effort
Result in a series of tangible action items
Capture insights and enthusiasm
Motivate people to specific action
Efficient and result focused
Are documented and summarized with commitments well understood

On the other hand, ineffective meetings look like this:

Lack participation
Dominating leader or member, unbalanced involvement
People don’t listen to each other
Stays off track too long
Inefficient, results unclear
Ideas and different views are criticized or squelched
Action assignments and outcomes are not clear

There are four steps you need to follow to make sure that your next meeting is effective. Here’s a brief introduction to the four steps:

Step 1 – Prepare

Ensure the purpose of the meeting is well understood. Ask what would happen if this meeting did not take place.
Prepare the agenda in advance.
Ensure that the desired outcomes of the meeting are articulated in advance.
Make sure all the participants are prepared in advance.

Step 2 – Communicate

Inform all participants well in advance of the details of the meeting; the purpose and outcomes; and, preparation required.
Circulate agenda in advance, as well as any other reading material

Step 3 – Control

Start on time
Review ground rules and assign roles
Use a “Parking Lot” to keep on the agenda

Step 4 – Document and Follow-up

Record main discussion points and decisions for future reference. This list becomes your meeting minutes.
Clarify actions and assign names and deadlines to them.

Time and Priority Management

Get the Complete ‘Time and Priority Management’ Topic Bundle

Handling Emotional Behavior

Difficult Conversations – You Smell and People Don’t Like You

The Skip-Level Meeting

Get the Complete ‘Skip-Level Meeting’ Topic Bundle

How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert

Get the Complete ‘How to Coach When You’re Not The Expert’ Topic Bundle

Conducting Effective Meetings

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