The CELEBRATION news"E"letter

Number 15, August 2000

by Laura M. Stack, MBA

Published by Celebration Presentations

…your Personal and Professional Development Resource

The CELEBRATION news"E"letter is a monthly electronic newsletter distributed to our clients, human resource personnel, and colleagues. Celebration Presentations works with organizations that want more productive people and individuals who want to lead more fulfilling lives. Our programs provide the personal productivity, communication, and professional development skills needed to improve performance on the job and create organizational growth.

____________________________________________________________

NEWS: Baby Johnny is sitting up, Meagan loves kindergarten, and John is enjoying his new job as Director of Marketing here at Celebration Presentations. Personally, I will be following a lifelong dream to teach Sunday school to 3-year-olds in September! I wonder if it will be easier than teaching adults…

____________________________________________________________

IN THIS ISSUE:

* Article: "Looking at Time Through the Lens of Leadership, Part III"

* Time Tips and Traps

* Words of Wisdom

* Featured Program: "The New TeleWork: Working Effectively From Home"

____________________________________________________________

ARTICLE: "Looking at Time Through the Lens of Leadership, Part III"

(Excerpted from a chapter I’m contributing to a new anthology written by 14 professional speakers entitled, "Motivational Leadership.")

Another primary leadership responsibility with regard to time is to determine how you can remove things that waste the time of your people, as well as things that interfere with the achievement of organizational and departmental objectives.

IBM, for example, wanted its employees to move faster, make decisions faster, and complete projects faster, to compete with the hungry startups that were knawing on the edges of its business. Employees were so used to operating in the status quo, they were unsure exactly what that looked like. So IBM established a "Speed Team," consisting of successful project managers who had a strong reputation for pushing projects forward at a blazing pace. This team educated IBMers on the characteristics of fast-moving projects and taught them how to eliminate "Speed Bumps"—things that wasted time. These included administration, unnecessary levels of bureaucracy, too much red tape, and unclear priorities.

What are your speed bumps and how can you eliminate them? For Xerox, it was the reams of paperwork required in the promotion process. For Procter & Gamble, it was product testing to the nth degree before introducing and marketing new products, which it discovered didn’t work on Internet time. For Jason Olim, CEO and President of CDNOW, it was his former entrepreneurial mantra: if you don’t do it, it won’t get done right. For Timberland, it was the reluctance to admit that the processes that you’ve worked so hard to perfect may no longer be valid.

Ensure YOU are not the speed bump—the causal factor in wasting your employees’ precious time. How are you the thorn in their sides? A common area is forcing employees to attend too many meetings, with too little relevance, that waste too much of their time. Reportedly, Robert Crandall, former CEO of American Airlines held all-day meetings with very few breaks. Was that really necessary? Were these meetings worthwhile?

In addition, consider when you hold meetings. Corporate America has trained most people to be "morning people." Our natural energy cycles cause us to be "up" or have "prime" time first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, most managers insist on holding meetings at that time. Prime time should instead be spent on difficult activities, important decisions, and complex tasks. It’s costly to have your key people tied up in routine meetings during periods of peak energy and productivity.

If unclear priorities plague your team, you must take action to resolve the confusion. Employees often complain, "I cannot get anything done during the day, because my manager is constantly interrupting me, having me chase the next fire, or reshuffling my priorities." Or conversely, YOU are unable to get anything done because your employees are constantly interrupting you with trivial matters.

For example, I talked with a manager at Coca-Cola who truly wanted to maintain an "open door" policy with his staff, but he was plagued by constant interruptions when working on key deadlines. He was torn about carving out time to complete urgent tasks, while at the same time creating an environment that welcomed and was receptive to employee questions and concerns. So he devised a plan to use a signal with his staff...a red baseball cap. At the next staff meeting, he explained his dilemma and plan. When he would prefer to not be interrupted, he would put on a red baseball cap. If an employee noticed the cap, the person should determine if their issue was truly an emergency or if it could wait until later. He also encouraged his staff to interrupt him one time for five issues, rather than five times for one issue. The manager reported that the number of interruptions decreased by simply pointing out the difficulty he was having, and the red cap worked beautifully.

• Only schedule morning meetings if they involve brainstorming or complex problem solving. Hold staff meetings or project updates in the afternoon. Or, try not to meet at all. Come up with alternative ways to share or distribute information. If the meeting does not require problem solving, brainstorming or input from employees, and is simply informational in nature, why do you have to meet face-to-face? Could you send out a group voice mail, an email, or a memo? Or ask your staff to submit their updates and project status in writing one week prior to a conference call. Then simply include the relevant information from the responsible employee right in the agenda. Ask if there aren’t any questions, then move to the next item. Keep meetings focused, tangent-free, and moving.

1. Create a "Communication Log" for each subordinate, on which you record tasks and information updates as you think of them. Have a five-minute "stand up" meeting with each person once (or twice, if necessary) a day to delegate new work, prioritize, update, and refocus. Get up and meet in your employee’s office, because you can leave more easily. It’s often difficult to remove someone from your office chair once the person is comfortable and in talking mode.
2. Agree on a "signal" with you folks to cut down on interruptions. You can use orange arm bands, police tape, a name plate turned face down, a "be back at" clock on the door, a miniature desktop flag...it doesn’t matter what the signal is, as long as everyone understands and abides by the rules of engagement. Obviously, you can’t wear your red cap 100% of the time, or people will begin to ignore your signal.

To make the best use of this chapter, identify the single most important thing that you could do—immediately—to make a difference in the way you handle time. Plan a way to implement this change or help others to reach this goal. Ultimately, the best leaders can create in others the competency and ability to manage time wisely, in accordance with established goals. Always be asking your folks, "How can I help you be more productive?"

________________________________________________________

TIME TIPS AND TRAPS

• David Allen says, "Real motivation occurs when the concept of "motivation" never occurs to you. You just DO it, because you HAVE to. Like brushing your teeth, or cleaning the kitchen, or exercising. Your internal standards create motivated behavior. Having to motivate yourself signifies the standards are not there. Will power will give way to automatic pilot every time."

• Organize a car pool with a parent who’s available early in the afternoon to drop off kids at practice or Scouts, and then volunteer for pickup.

• Great words of advice from fellow speaker/consultant Alan Weiss: "It may be imprudent to treat every day as if it may be the last, but it’s not difficult to treat each holiday or family gathering as if it’s the last. Special occasions should be joyous and forgiving. I’ve seen to many despondent people who say, "If I had only known it would be our last holiday/anniversary/birthday together…"

________________________________________________________

WORDS OF WISDOM

"Time passes at a fixed rate, and we can’t store it. You can just decide what to do with it—or not to do with it... Your inheritance is time. It is capital far more precious than any lands or houses you will ever get. Spend it foolishly, and you will bankrupt yourself and cheapen the inheritance of those who follow you. Invest it wisely, and you will bless generations to come." --- Henry B. Eyring

"Duties are not performed for duties’ sake, but because their neglect would make the man uncomfortable. A man performs but one duty---the duty of contenting his spirit, the duty of making himself agreeable to himself." ---Mark Twain

"You cannot consistently perform in a manner which is consistent with the way you see yourself." --- Zig Ziglar

____________________________________________________________

FEATURED PROGRAM: "The New TeleWork: Working Effectively from Home."

Course description: How many hours of your day are spent commuting? Do you ever wish you could go to work without having to go through the aggravation of actually getting there? Would you like to devote more time to your family? If so, telecommuting could be for you. Get out of bed, walk down the hall, and switch on the computer. Your commute to work is now over!

One of the major trends in corporate America today is telecommuting, which is an off-site work arrangement that permits employees to work in their homes for all or part of the workweek. The main focus of this program is the employee--who is best suited for telecommuting, benefits to the employee, likely psychological and work-management problems and solutions, and organizational and interpersonal challenges.

Course Objectives:

• Understand the Benefits of Telecommuting
• Determine if Your Job and Personality Are Suited for Working at Home
• Negotiate an Arrangement with Your Employer
• Design Your Office for Optimal Productivity
• Set Up Effective Organizational Systems
• Avoid Distractions and Procrastination
• Establish Personal Rules for Telecommuting
• Overcome Isolation and Challenges of Working Alone
• Set Boundaries with Family and Friends
• Avoid Burnout and the "Do-It-All" Syndrome
• Preserve Your Professional Image and Maintain Visibility

"For more information about "The New TeleWork: Working Effectively from Home," please call 303-471-7401. Mention this newsletter and receive a 20% discount on this program when brought on-site to your organization.

____________________________________________________________

CONTACT US

Visit Celebration Presentations on-line!

http://www.LauraStack.com

On-line information includes: Program Descriptions, Articles, Laura's Schedule, Live Video Demonstration, Client Testimonials, and Pricing

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to interested associates. If they would like to continue to receive it, ask them to send us their email address. Thank You!

Contact info:

Mailing address: 9948 S. Cottoncreek Drive, Highlands Ranch, CO 80130

Phone: 303-471-7401

Fax: 303-471-7402

Website: www.LauraStack.com