Archive for the ‘Time Management’ Category

There is no one “right” approach to manage time. Each preference offers gifts and each has blind spots. And, believe it or not, neither has anything to do with the quality of skills needed to accomplish a task, such as degrees, IQ, age or success.

Instead of going bonkers over partners, employees, clients and family members who don’t mirror your approach to time management, seek to communicate your preference for what needs to get done and then stay open to the different ways others manage time. You’ll more effectively build bridges with people who manage their time differently from you. (See Jupiter and Pluto).*

All you have to do is watch, listen or read about how people maneuver throughout their day. For example, former President Clinton’s staff members and the media defined his approach as “Clinton Time.” Translation? Usually late! President Bush responds quickly and is rarely late for press conferences. One style is not better, nor is the outcome. The issue is the assessment you hold about the tendency.

These tips will help you reach out to others.

• State specifically your request for turnaround time and why it’s important to you.

• Notice your frustrations as well as in the actions of people who prefer to manage their time differently.

• Continue to ask if your directions and responses are understood and clear.

• To interact, speak the terminology of both preferences.

• Be aware of the judgment you hold about the opposite preference.

Staying on track

To stay on track continually ask these two questions:

1. What is the best use of my time right now?

2. What one adjustment in my time management skills do I need to change to make the task at hand more…?

These two questions help to keep me on track. I have been meaning to write this article for a few years, but earning a living and writing books took precedence. I just wish someone would have told me that writing a book, getting an agent, launching the public relations, and finding a publicist would take five years! Perhaps I would have started with a vacation. Now, I am too busy and too invested in the project to take the time.

Perhaps, it’s time for me to read the two questions!

The moral of this article: There is no one “right” approach to manage time. Each preference offers gifts and each has blind spots. And, believe it or not, neither has anything to do with the quality of skills needed to accomplish a task, such as degrees, IQ, age or success.

One last note. You may have already guessed that I have a Jupiter preference. A dear friend recently sent me a dozen white roses with a card that read: “Roses! Smell them, damn it!” Whether you’re a Pluto or a Jupiter, do take time for your life. So that I might “walk my talk,” I am now going to give myself a one-minute break from writing this article and go smell the roses!

*By the way, if you suspect that Jupiter and Pluto relate to the Judging and Perceiving preferences applied in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, you’re right.

We all have our preference for time management and perceive our way of managing time as the best. While conducting a Continuing Professional Education program for finance people, I asked participants to write on a flipchart the answers to this question: What do you perceive are your greatest time management assets? Below are their answers. Can you identify and do you agree?

Jupiter folks consider their greatest assets to be:

• Neat and well organized

• Diligent about proofing all work

• Believe that accuracy is more important than speed

• Efficient and good at planning

• Dependable and predictable

• Good with follow through and follow up

• Anal retentive

• Effective at prioritizing

• Love the motto: “Just do it!”

Pluto folks consider their greatest assets to be:

• Flexibility

• Adaptable attitude: “Don’t worry; it will get done!”

• Full knowledge of what comprises all the piles

• Enthusiastic about change

• Believe that multi-tasking is the key

• More well-rounded

• Able to make transitions quickly and easily to handle a crisis

• Believe their time is well spent doing something meaningful

In two weeks I will blog about tips that you can use to reach out to your peers, family or a stranger who might prefer your opposite approach to managing time.

 

If you practice the skill of listening (the concept of two ears and one mouth), you will hear folks convey their preferred approach for time management. The problem is that most people are unaware of these two styles, so misunderstandings begin to build.

Let’s say that on a Tuesday morning a “Jupiter”- style of time management, delegates a project to a Pluto and says, “This report is due Friday at 2 p.m.” Jupiter is really saying, “Don’t be late, there’s no grace period, and give it to me early if you can since I am giving you time to start early.” The Pluto preference for time management hears, “Cool, I have plenty of time; today’s only Tuesday.” The Pluto may not start the project until late Thursday. Last-minute pressures energize them.

The problem is that for the rest of the week the Jupiter may be watching and judging the Pluto’s approach. The Jupiter muses, “How can anyone do a good job at the last minute? This person doesn’t really care!”

Conversely, if the Pluto gave the same assignment to a Jupiter, the Jupiter would reorganize his or her current to-do list and start preparing immediately. Jupiters appreciate getting the assignment early because they prefer “do-it-now” behavior and like to finish ahead of time. They want to avoid stress at all costs, even if it means staying late or working the weekend. The Pluto may be oblivious since they do not seek to control processes.

On the personal side, going on a long-awaited vacation can also paint a picture of how these two time management approaches differ. If two Jupiters are going on a vacation, they mutually and easily plan the vacation. They like to have their reservations for hotels, restaurants and transportation completed. Sure there are “flow hours,” but their peace of mind comes with knowing they have a confirmation number. Two Pluto preferences on vacation will purchase their airline tickets to fly to the destination, and maybe book a room for the first night, but after that it’s “don’t tie me down to a schedule; that’s what I have to do at work. Let me flow through the day. After all, you never know what might come our way!”

Now, picture the opposite preferences planning the desperately needed vacation. The Jupiter may feel anxious because concrete plans have not been made. If they loose the invaluable window of opportunity to purchase theater tickets or if it’s too late to make a reservation at that special restaurant they’ve looked forward to, the Jupiter may become disappointed and even angry. At that point, the Pluto will start to feel restricted and frustrated at not being able to “put things out there and see what comes back.” The scheduling of activities hinders Pluto’s ability to evolve. The breakdown in perception occurs when the Pluto feels the Jupiter needs to shepherd and direct the vacation instead of flowing, and the Jupiter perceives the Pluto as being too easygoing and lackadaisical. “After all,” says the Jupiter, “being organized is the name of the game.” The Pluto replies with, “Let the games take form!” Both time management preferences consider their approach to have the greatest benefit around the use of time.

While there is no one “right” way to approach time management to be successful, it pays to recognize your approach, communicate your preference and adjust as needed to the opposite style. The two CPAs mentioned in the July 13th blog posting who dissolved their partnership could have collaborated on their differences. Their business was profitable and growing, so they were doing something right!

If everything was equal in skills, what are the assets of the different styles of management, Pluto and Jupiter? Join me next time.

Sandra Ford Walston is known as The Courage Expert and innovator of STUCKThinking™. She is a speaker, internationally published author and bestseller of COURAGE, trainer and courage coach.

What’s your approach to time management? I call two very distinct and innate preferences for time management, Jupiter and Pluto, (the names have nothing to do with astrology; they simply represent planets that are worlds apart). Below are brief descriptors of Jupiter and Pluto. Respond as if it’s the weekend and you are relaxing, check off ? the overall tendencies that apply best to you.

Jupiter-preferred tendencies:

(  ) Strive to avoid stress

(  ) Plan and structure your activities

(  ) Keep your desk and files (paper and computer) tidy

(  ) Make to-do lists (and relish checking items off)

(  ) Schedule your time

(  ) Work first, play later

(  ) Procrastinate about leisure and play

(  ) Rely on being organized to “control time”

Pluto-preferred tendencies:

(  ) Act spontaneously

(  ) Keep your plans open-ended

(  ) See structure as restrictive

(  ) Get motivated when a crisis occurs (and get started at the last minute)

(  ) Prefer to have options

(  ) Have an internal timing mechanism

(  ) See play and work as compatible

(  ) Lose lists; love or tolerate piles

Were you able to self-identify from this check list? Could you also assess your closet colleague or family member? Most people can. Join me next time to learn how to listen for the preference clues.

I would love for you to share your courage comments by posting them below.

Sandra Ford Walston is known as The Courage Expert and innovator of STUCKThinking™. She is a speaker, internationally published author and bestseller of COURAGE, trainer and courage coach.

Diminishing misunderstandings and increasing compassion can be simple if you add self-awareness as a concrete skill. Once when I was leading a program called “Understanding Your Approach to Time Management,” a Certified Public Account participant named Tom shared a fascinating insight into what drove his business partner and him to break up their profitable accounting firm.

It seems that Tom was the type who was spontaneous, flexible, easy-going and reactive. Rather than writing down his schedule he kept it in his head. If a client called and asked him to play golf, he dropped what he was doing and went. “I knew I would get the piles of work done soon,” Tom said.

Tom’s ex-partner preferred a decisive, self-regimented, “just do it now” approach. Using the schedule he kept in his Palm Pilot as his daily guide, he followed the philosophy “work first, and if there’s time left, play.”

The partners’ perceptions of how their firm “should” be run were always colliding — as were their approaches to delegating work to employees and completing client projects. The eventual breakdown was bitter. No one could understand how two high-ability professionals could allow their successful business to shatter. Tom eventually recognized the problem: Their approaches to time management were worlds apart.

In my years of business consulting, I have observed that most employees are competent and adept at their jobs, and are essentially nice people. Yet, I have witnessed hundreds of folks be judgmental, angry, intolerable, and sabotage a team member, colleague or boss who misconstrued how they prioritized and executed their work schedule. As the misinterpretations escalated, so was the direct correlation between precious time being lost and productivity slowing. At this moment in time, everyone loses.

The “real-skill” applications here are simple: First, you need to recognize that time management is really self-management (or put another way: Don’t manage time; manage yourself). Second, you need to develop the following self-awareness tools to help you relate to others’ time-management styles. Join me to read the next blog posting to learn what time management preference applies best to you!

I would love for you to share your courage comments by posting them below.

Sandra Ford Walston is known as The Courage Expert. She is a speaker, internationally published author of COURAGE, trainer and courage coach.

Your approach to time management affects the way you work — and the way others work with you.

 

There’s one enemy hovering silently in your life. What’s that, you ask? Time! Watch people. They’re totally overwhelmed trying to control their work and personal schedules. Dominated by “Enemy Number One”, you can see them sulking and hear them huffing: “I have too much to do, and no time to do it!”

Do you live by the tick of your clock?

During a frenzied day, you may feel like reciting the punch line from one of my favorite cartoons: “I don’t have time to talk about this now. Can’t it wait until we’re dead?” Gripped in my own time management style and sighing, I quickly glance out my window at the blue skies with billowy clouds. And then, in an instant, I am back to work.

Understanding your approach to time management is one way to clarify how your time is being shuffled, misused, misunderstood, projected onto others and even under-appreciated. If you take the time to focus on what I call “real skills”, previously referred to by trainers as “soft” skills, such as communication styles, courageus leadership, reflecting or dealing with change, you can also increase your ability to discern how your peers manage their time. It can be “easy” if you listen and observe how human beings approach their work. It’s always the real skills (versus hard skills) that collide at work. People constantly say to me, “Sandra, I can do my work, but it’s the people!”

So learning to identify how your approach to time management is different from your peers usually surfaces if you review your internal judgments–how the other person doesn’t approach their work tasks in the same way you do. Learning the “real skills” are the most rewarding use of your time.

Regardless of your educational level, position in the organizational chart or personal family structure, learning how to give constructive feedback, how to communicate effectively or how to appreciate your’s (and others’) approach to time management offers an invaluable tool to diminish misunderstandings and increase compassion. In a few weeks, I will share how these time management preferences unconsciously collide at work, so set your clock.

I would love for you to share your courage comments by posting them below.

Sandra Ford Walston is known as The Courage Expert and innovator of StuckThinking™. She is a speaker, internationally published author of COURAGE, trainer and courage coach.

Tommy Lasorda, retired baseball manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers said, “In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.”  Active listening will make it happen.

A few weeks ago I talked about positive versus negative listening patterns. Were you able to practice positive listening so you could discern whether the person preferred Saturn or Neptune?

The dialect of each planet can become a second tongue to inhabitants of the other if positive listening is the translator and if there is real desire to learn the language.

Tips for establishing honest, productive communication with a Saturn include:

• Detail the specifics of the plan: who, what, when and where.
• Be factual.
• Show documentation of successful applications.
• Reduce risk factors where possible.
• Explain why the plan makes sense.
• Use concrete and precise language.
• State step-by-step information or instructions.

To communicate effectively with a Neptune:

• Focus on the purpose and end result.
• Point out future benefits.
• Keep the details to a minimum unless there is a specific request for elaboration.
• Give the global scheme or “big picture.”
• Take advantage of opportunity when it is available.
• Ask for current and long-range implications.
• Talk in general terms; bottom line.

When we begin to take responsibility for actively listening to the person from another planet, and when we develop the skills of translating what we hear so that we might truly connect with their vision, communication breakdowns rarely happen. Then, respect is established and trust ignites.

Sandra Ford Walston is known as The Courage Expert. She is a learning consultant, speaker, internationally published author of COURAGE, trainer and courage coach.

In school, we weren’t taught positive listening. It is doubtful we came home from school proudly waving a “listener of the week” award!  But, learning to develop positive listening skills is the first step to real communication. And, understanding different listening styles which I call, “Saturn and Neptune“, to reflect how far apart we can seem from each other, can be easy if you practice positive listening.

How often are we evaluated in the workplace for our “listening” rather than our “doing” (performance) skills?  Usually, we are rewarded for accomplishing rather than listening. Our goal is to “get it done” at all costs, even though we may completely overlook (misunderstand) what we have been charged to do. We aren’t hearing the “language” used by our charger. This can be called “negative” listening, as in not hearing what is really being said.

Some examples of negative listening are:

• Waiting for the other person to stop speaking so you can say what you wish.

• Providing an answer without knowing the question.

• Finishing the other person’s sentence for him/her.

• Making more statements with “I” than asking questions with “you.”

Positive listening, on the other hand, provides a translator with a bridge to connect with a person from the other planet. It expands and invites the listener. Negative listening undermines or simply terminates communication. Some examples of positive listening and responding techniques:

• Ask questions to discern another’s wants and concerns.

• Accept (and welcome!) different perspectives without forming assessments.

• Take an active role in the communication process by taking responsibility to really hear the other person.

• Ask a lot of “you” questions to display an interest and other-centeredness.

This way each dialect becomes second nature as you will see next week.

Sandra Ford Walston is known as The Courage Expert and innovator of StuckingThinking™. She is a speaker, internationally published author of COURAGE, trainer and courage coach.