Quint Column: Your calendar shows your priorities


  • July 4, 2018
  • /   Quint Studer
  • /   training-development,quint-studer
a busy calendar

When you’re a leader, the way you spend your day matters. You have a lot of complex responsibilities. You oversee the performance of a variety of employees. You must answer to customers, partners, board members, and other stakeholders. You must respond—and quickly—to issues that arise.

   

Even on your best day, you can’t possibly get it all done. There isn’t enough time. With emails pinging and the phone ringing, it’s easy to confuse what is urgent with what is important. Before you know it, the day has ended and you haven’t completed one single thing on your to-do list.

 

Not only is this a problem from a goal-reaching standpoint, but also it takes on great importance to those watching you. In fact, it tells everyone else in your company what matters to you—which in turn impacts the decisions they make and ultimately shapes your culture.  

 

This is why it’s so important to be aware of where and how you spend your time. And if you’re like many leaders (and most people in general), you may not realize where it’s all going. You need to get very deliberate to figure this out.

 

I just read an article in Harvard Business Review called “The Leader’s Calendar: How CEOs Manage Time.” Written by Michael E. Porter, a Harvard strategist, and colleague Nitin Nohria, it reports the results of their 12-year study of how 27 CEOs spend their time at work and at leisure. It’s a really interesting read.

 

One big takeaway is that (for reasons I’ve already noted) CEOs need to align their daily activities to their long-term goals and priorities. Porter and Nohria found that most of the CEOs they studied had a “clear and effective agenda” to help them make sense of their multiple tasks and responsibilities.

 

Most of the CEOs studied spent an average of 43 percent of their time doing things that advanced their agenda. However, some were far better than others at staying on task here. The authors noted that “time devoted to the core agenda varied widely, ranging from 14 percent to 80 percent of leaders’ work hours.”

 

Another highlight: CEOs are constantly in meetings. The study found that, on average, they attend 37 meetings a week, taking up 72 percent of their total work time. That’s a lot of meetings, and much of this time is likely not time well spent.

 

Finally, one of the most interesting points (to me, anyway) was that the CEOs were spending only 3 percent of their time with customers. The CEOs were shocked to learn this, especially given how important customer contact is to staying informed on industry trends, competitors, and, of course, how the company is doing. 

 

Now, everyone reading this column probably isn’t the CEO of a large, complex organization. You may be a leader inside a mid-sized company or an entrepreneur who has opened a restaurant or store. But I always like to relate, not compare. The results of this study are relevant to all leaders.

 

Based on my reading of the article—and on what I’ve learned about time management over the years—here are a few tips to consider.

 

Record your schedule for a month. Get one of those appointment books that breaks up the day into 15-minute increments. At the end of each day, write down how you spent your time. (If July is a big vacation month for you, you might want to wait till August to do this. You want it to be a fairly typical month.)

 

Carefully dissect the results. Are you spending your time on things that truly matter to you and your company? You might be surprised to find that what you say you stand for is not reflected in how you actually spend your time. This is very common. The good news is that now you know what needs to change.

 

Start scheduling in the things that do matter. If developing employees matters to you, get it on the calendar. If you say you value customers, but like the CEOs in the study you spend almost no time talking to them, then schedule some meetings to do so. Face to face is best, but a phone call is better than nothing. The point is, if you don’t plan for it, it won’t happen. Life gets busy, and emergencies take over, and the most meaningful and important things don’t happen.

 

Don’t forget your personal priorities. Pencil in time to exercise, sleep, and build your relationships with family and friends. If you don’t, these crucial activities can easily get shortchanged. The HBR article addresses this aspect of leadership as well. The authors write: “The CEO’s job is mentally and physically demanding. Activities that preserve elements of normal life keep CEOs grounded and better able to engage with colleagues and workers—as opposed to distant, detached, and disconnected.”

 

Figure out how to minimize time wasters. Remember all the time those CEOs in the study spent in meetings? Porter and Nohria point out that many of them admitted that quite often one-hour meetings could easily be cut in half—at least. Technology can be a big time drain as well. The HBR article touched on this issue, but you might also want to read a column I wrote last year that discusses technology and time management.

 

Here’s the bottom line: Managing your time more consciously makes you a better leader, and better leaders make for better companies. It also makes you a better partner, parent, son or daughter, and friend.

 

What you say is important to you doesn’t matter. What matters is what you actually do. Show me your calendar, and I’ll tell you your priorities.

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