Time Management

'I have wasted time. And now doth time waste me.' Richard II

It is a fact that we generally do not manage our time well. Why is that? Is it because you don't have time to think about it? That is a bit of an empty argument when we should be constantly reviewing and evaluating what we do so that we are more productive and successful.

I had a client who told me that he worked 12 hours every day because of his enormous workload. He said that it was putting an unbearable strain on his second marriage. I said that those hours were excessive, counterproductive and dangerous for his health. He said he had no option. I offered to shadow him on a regular business day and he agreed.

I really looked forward to this challenge because my client was pretty successful, he had plush offices, 5 well paid staff (with a high turnover of staff) and a 6 figure turnover. However, turnover was down on previous years and he wasn't sure why.

I sat in the office and watched him take routine customer calls. I attended a meeting where only he spoke (strange atmosphere). I watched him spend almost two hours booking a flight to Glasgow. I witnessed a 30 minute call to the caterers for a function he was planning. I attended an extended lunch hour with some of his friends from the local business club (none of whom were his clients). There was no shortage of laughter and goodwill, but no talk of business. We then returned to the office where he seemed to badger his staff about issues that happened 3, 6 and 9 months ago, but no talk of today, next week, next month and next year.

At the end of the day, he managed to find time to listen to my objective feedback. Here is a summary of my observations:

When he was in the office, he was getting in the way of his staff. None of them had a job description and they often spent long periods not sure of what to do because they had no delegated responsibilities. His PA asked if she could work part time because he didn't delegate enough work to her. Why was he taking routine calls? Why was he not thinking more strategically instead handling the every day minutae? Why dwell on what went wrong in the past when he should be planning for a successful future?

After some discussion, he told me that he was in a 'mental' rut. He didn't want to handover work to his staff and found it hard to listen to their concerns which accounted for the high turnover. By applying some simple job descriptions and allowing his staff to get on with their jobs, the atmosphere at the company changed. He felt that he no longer had to have his finger in every pie. He refocused on strategy and identified that some of his competitors had made large investments in new plant, methods and processes which had produced more efficient and less expensive products.

Three years later his company is doing well, he has 9 staff and works a 40 hour week. He has recently had a second honeymoon with his second wife and they have started a family. But there's no time for resting on his laurels, the recession is throwing up new challenges every few weeks.

Misappropriate use of time nearly wasted him, his business and his home life. Speak to me about time management, I can help you prioritise your goals and your work/life balance.