May 19, 2018 "Who has time for bad management?": Today I found this article by Harvey Schachter in the Globe and Mail:
There are many reasons – and solutions – for poor management. But the one factor rarely singled out is time.
It’s not the prime issue with bullies and tyrants, of course. Their abysmal management usually boils down to overpowering ego and anger. But for many of us, miscues and mismanagement come because of time pressure or are aggravated by time pressure, perceived or real.
Indeed, when we think of terrific managers we have had in our lives, often it was their ability to be fully present, all in, focused on us when they were with us, that was special. They seemed to have all the time in the world for a discussion.
Indeed, when we think of terrific managers we have had in our lives, often it was their ability to be fully present, all in, focused on us when they were with us, that was special. They seemed to have all the time in the world for a discussion.
We often use the metaphor of a treadmill for work. So the next overpowers the now. We’re in a rush to decide or to move on to the next decision or next meeting. We need to fight this tendency. It has become an excuse for mismanagement, but is not an unalterable cause.
How many times this week would even two minutes more spent in a hallway conversation with a colleague have been helpful to the issue under consideration and your relationship, let alone five minutes?
How many decisions would have been better if you took the time to explore more options or to get more information?
How many times this week would even two minutes more spent in a hallway conversation with a colleague have been helpful to the issue under consideration and your relationship, let alone five minutes?
How many decisions would have been better if you took the time to explore more options or to get more information?
Onboarding − the way we introduce new employees to the workplace − is usually terrible, when it isn’t horrific. Newbies still arrive at work the first day and find nobody has time for them. It’s their big day – yet their desk, office or computer password isn’t ready, or the boss is away for three days and they are being babysat by somebody who is clueless about the tasks ahead, or they are left alone, with nothing to do.
Result: The new hire begins to wonder about the wisdom of accepting the job. Equifax found in a study that 40 per cent of employees who left their jobs voluntarily in 2013 did so within the first six months of joining the organization. Onboarding is obviously not the sole cause, but it’s an easy one to fix. Except for the pressure of time.
It’s common for our support of subordinates to decline over time. A graph showing our fondness of new employees over time generally would show a steady decline. Of course, when the warts inevitably surface, we could help them improve.
But who has the time for coaching and mentoring when we’re all so busy and bottom-line (mis-)focused? So things get worse, as suspicion, irritation and anger build over time. Send them to a professional-development course? But that takes them away from the office or their clients, and who will handle their load when we’re all so busy? If they go, the improvements will take an investment of time and effort on their return to materialize, but instead they jump back on the treadmill and forget what they learned.
But who has the time for coaching and mentoring when we’re all so busy and bottom-line (mis-)focused? So things get worse, as suspicion, irritation and anger build over time. Send them to a professional-development course? But that takes them away from the office or their clients, and who will handle their load when we’re all so busy? If they go, the improvements will take an investment of time and effort on their return to materialize, but instead they jump back on the treadmill and forget what they learned.
Let’s switch focus: What about you? What could you improve at? What stands in the way? Many things, undoubtedly, but that probably includes time.
Consultant Wally Bock says on his blog that it’s easy to fool ourselves into thinking we’re serious about our own personal development, yet put those efforts off till tomorrow or “some day.”
He asks: Do you have a personal development plan? Do you schedule time for personal development and put it on the calendar before you schedule routine work? Do you have a budget for personal development? If you want to be a better manager, the answer to all three questions should be yes.
He asks: Do you have a personal development plan? Do you schedule time for personal development and put it on the calendar before you schedule routine work? Do you have a budget for personal development? If you want to be a better manager, the answer to all three questions should be yes.
The Eisenhower Matrix, used by former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower and popularized by bestselling author Stephen Covey, highlighted the tussle for our time between the urgent and the important. Keep that tension – and the importance of improving your management – front of mind daily, because the urgent will win otherwise.
Another tension is between patience and acting quickly and decisively. In an era where everything is rushed, patience is needed now more than ever. We need to take time to not do – even to think.
At the same time, consultant Ed Batista says on his blog that corporate leaders commonly tell him their biggest mistakes came when they waited too long – to fire people or change culture, for example. Yet, he adds that they also waited too long to schedule blocks of unstructured time in their calendar to do their best thinking. It’s a difficult tension to get right.
At the same time, consultant Ed Batista says on his blog that corporate leaders commonly tell him their biggest mistakes came when they waited too long – to fire people or change culture, for example. Yet, he adds that they also waited too long to schedule blocks of unstructured time in their calendar to do their best thinking. It’s a difficult tension to get right.
Who has time for all that I’m suggesting?
Perhaps more importantly: Who doesn’t have time for it? And the corollary question: How do you make time for it?
Cannonballs
- As I watch Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne campaign against the odds for re-election – and think about Stephen Harper going down with an obviously sinking ship in the last federal election – I think back to Andrew Brown’s 1999 book, The Six Dimensions of Leadership, which included being a victim as an important element. To ensure the continued health and survival of organizations, leaders must at times willingly or unwillingly take the blame for problems, perhaps suffering some diminution of esteem or loss of power.
- Two-career couples are commonplace. Does your organization just consider that a nuisance or has it pro-actively changed procedures – for example, in grooming high potentials – to accept the obvious and not shoot itself in the foot?
- Management guru Jim Collins says good leaders are like sheepdogs, following these three rules: First, you can bark a lot, but you don’t bite. Second, you have to be behind, not ahead, of the sheep. Third, you must know where to go and you mustn’t lose the sheep.
"Fear of being 'disconnected' a hidden tax on vacation time": Today I found this article by Greg Wells in the Globe and Mail:
Physiologist and senior scientist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, associate professor at the University of Toronto and author of Superbodies and The Ripple Effect
When were you last on a truly relaxing, restorative vacation? I’m talking downed tools and time completely away from normal life – including your electronic tether to work.
If you’re thinking that it has been a long time, you’re not alone. Project: Time Off, an initiative of the U.S. Travel Association, reports that vacation use was at an all-time low in 2016 at just 16 days.
Things have improved slightly since then with 17.2 days of vacation taken per employee in 2017 but a majority of the working population – 52 per cent – still reported having unused vacation days at the end of the year.
Things have improved slightly since then with 17.2 days of vacation taken per employee in 2017 but a majority of the working population – 52 per cent – still reported having unused vacation days at the end of the year.
But even a short vacation has been shown to improve health and well-being and can even improve cardiovascular health parameters. The challenge is that the limited amount of research that has been done on this topic suggests that the benefits are short-lived.
So you need to schedule short breaks throughout the year. If you do, you are likely to improve your work performance, that of your team and the success of your business.
So you need to schedule short breaks throughout the year. If you do, you are likely to improve your work performance, that of your team and the success of your business.
However, the thought of being “disconnected” makes many employees anxious, so they either don’t go away or they take their work with them. Our top two fears are that we will return to a mountain of work and that noone else can do the job. Plus, businesses often expect us to stay connected.
In a Harvard Business Review article, Emailing While You’re on Vacation is a Quick Way to Ruin Company Culture, Katie Dennis offers two observations that ought to make business leaders rethink their go-go attitude to work.
Sixty-nine percent of employees in companies that don’t support unplugging do not feel valued and 64 per cent do not feel cared about as a person. They are also highly likely to be looking for another job.
Trusting employees to handle the business while you’re away uncovers new capacities and talents in them and develops their skills, which improves your business.
In addition, as Srini Pillay points out in another Harvard Business Review article, Your Brain Can Only Take So Much Focus, being in work mode all the time exhausts the focus circuits in the brain, which drains mental energy and reduces self-control.
Rest and vacation relieve our minds of constant focus and lead to increased creative problem solving, better decision making and better collaboration and teamwork.
Rest and vacation relieve our minds of constant focus and lead to increased creative problem solving, better decision making and better collaboration and teamwork.
Recently, two leaders at the Bank of Montreal decided to challenge that corporate norm. Julie Barker-Merz, senior vice-president of the Southwestern Ontario division, embarked on an unplugged vacation, with the support of Sharon Slade, senior HR business partner.
“I told Sharon my plan was to take my phone, check it at the airport and then leave it in the safe at the hotel,” Ms. Barker-Merz explained. “Sharon challenged me to leave my devices at home to eliminate the temptation to check in. So I went for it. I left my phone and iPad on the kitchen counter. I had zero devices for nine days.”
Before she left, Ms. BarkerMerz sent an out-of-office message saying that no e-mails would be read, all would be deleted and anything important should be resent on the day she arrived back. After getting the sign-off from her boss, she also made it clear who should be contacted in her absence. In the end, about 800 emails were deleted – and only four were re-sent on her return.
Ms. Barker-Merz talked to the key people on her team, including Ms. Slade, before leaving.
“I said, ‘If anything comes up, just get together and make a decision. Your three heads are better than my one. If you make the wrong decision, it’s okay. I’ll stand by it.’ It highlighted a way I can coach and lift my team up, which will help them lift their own team up. It’s something many leaders struggle with, so this approach to vacation has the potential to help build trust in that way.”
Ms. Slade agreed: “One or two things did come up that needed SVP [senior vice-president] approval. So we had a few minor panic moments. It challenged us to think through what Julie would do. Before she left, Julie made it clear that she believed in us, so we just found what seemed like the best solution and carried on. We felt really empowered.”
Ms. Barker-Merz and Ms. Slade are helping to expose the myth that working more makes you more successful and valuable to your company.
Project: Time Off reported in 2016 that people who used fewer than 10 of their earned vacation days a year had a 34.6-per-cent chance of getting a raise or bonus, while those who used more than 10 vacation days had a 65.4-percent chance.
And then there’s the personal side of the ledger. Research shows that time away from work reduces stress and depression, improves heart health and sleep, and strengthens family bonds and relationship satisfaction.
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