An often repeated statement made by many managers this year has been that they do not have enough time or people to accomplish their stated goals, so in other words, they face time constraints. These time constraints are causing delayed improvements in processes, which negatively affect every aspect of business. Many are so caught up in their day-to-day struggle to keep themselves ahead of the ever-increasing demands that they fail to understand how they got where they are in the first place. So we should take a moment and heed the advice of a known expert in time management, Stephen Covey, who is the author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Two easy-to-understand suggestions from Stephen’s book are to be “proactive” and “take the time to sharpen the saw.”
Take a look at the four quadrants of time matrix by Stephen. The two rows of “Important” and “Not Important” define if a task is truly needed or just a time waster, whereas the “Urgent” and “Not Urgent” vertical columns refer to the urgency of the activities. Let us ignore the bottom row that is defined as personal work habits. Stephen’s hypothesis is that if you have not spent enough time doing the proactive tasks of the (2) “Important/Not Urgent” section, then your company will increasingly be burdened by reactive tasks that are defined as (1) “Important/Urgent” when you do not “take the time to sharpen the saw.” Quadrant two contains traits that enhance productivity and consistency, whereas quadrant one is all panic and reactive traits that decrease productivity and consistency. A simple example of this concept is creating a project resource schedule for any department.
Common examples of problem areas that are (1) important and urgent for any company:
- Not enough skilled employees to staff different areas.
- Scheduling and set procedures are nonexistent for the design group.
- Scheduling and measuring of production efficiencies are ineffective.
- Quality and/or productivity are lagging in any given area.
Scheduling example: why do so few design departments have a displayed and shared schedule of the projects to be completed? Would it not be helpful to the sales team to see when any project will be completed? Why do so many rely on phone calls and emails that interrupt two or more people’s activities to answer the simple question, “When are we going to get this done?” By eliminating this problem, more designing and sales could be accomplished. Of course, the answer would be yes, a schedule of project design resources is extremely helpful and, quite frankly, a necessity. However, most design managers do not take the time to create a proper design group schedule because of two simple reasons: First, it was never done before, and therefore they mistakenly think that it is not required. Second, they do not know how to create one that would be useful and not too time consuming. The fact is it is very easy and straightforward to create a reliable schedule for the design department that shows the list of projects, the time needed to complete each request, and the expected dates of completion.
Take more time to be proactive, and your company’s problem areas will certainly be lessened, which will allow sales and net profit to grow even more. As a matter of fact, why reinvent the wheel when others have done it already, and it can be adopted by your organization? A friendly note is that professional knowledge and training by TDC is far less expensive, easier and quicker than trial and error methods. Proven changes showing real cost savings and net profit gains that usually take companies months and years can be accomplished in weeks and months with TDC.
Website: www.todd-drummond.com – Phone (USA): 603-763-8857
E-mail: todd@todd-drummond.com Copyright © 2016