Wiinnie-the-Pooh on Management: Doing the important things

Quote of Note

Many managers let themselves get distracted by tasks that will not make a major contribution toward achieving their objectives and then complain because they do not have enough time to do the important things.

Winnie-the-Pooh on Management

Lost time is never found again.

Take Note

Time, the ultimate equalizer. No matter how rich you are, how creative you are, or how connected you are you still only have as much time as everyone else. The use of time sets effective managers apart from average ones. Here are a few lessons from our favorite bear on time management.

Managers set priorities. Managers chart their course by the important things. “…they must force themselves to set priorities and not allow themselves to be distracted.” Priorities define the yes and no decisions a manager makes. Is this meeting hitting my priorities? Does this expenditure enable me to achieve results?

Managers spend time on the important priorities. A manager will eliminate the unimportant tasks from their schedule and focus their limited time on important tasks. What task will produce results? Do those. If you don’t know the most beneficial task ask your boss what their goals are and align around them.

Sometime the task that saves time in the future is the important task. For example, customer complaints that can be solved on the front line take much less time then complaints that reach customer service or the CEO. I work in a field where insurance companies pay many of the bills. For one complaint I turned in 100 pages of documentation which took hours to collect. Clearly, solving the customers problem early is a priority.

Managers know how they spent their time. How much time did you spend on the important things last week? How do you know how your time is spent? Do a time log to record actual activities and how log those activities take. Analise the data and reduce or eliminate tasks that don’t contribute to results. Then the manager uses the data to schedule their priorities. Schedule about 60% of your time. Put the important tasks in. Think or your calendar as a soup where the ingredients can be moved around without damaging the final product. At the end of the day make adjustments for the next day.

End Note

“A manager should always remember what he is trying to achieve and what tasks are really important in reaching his goals. Then he should concentrate on those tasks.”

Quotes and Notes from Winnie-the-Pooh on Managementby Roger E. Allen