Few people have enough time to do all they want to do. In order, therefore, not to become tense about it, the effective manager learns to use time with respect-to plan how to make the most of it.
A study by a New York recruiting firm back in 1984 estimated that wasted time costs business $150 billion a year. That number has more than doubled today. Employees "steal" an average four hours and twenty-two minutes a week by habitually getting to work late or leaving early, making personal telephone calls, reading, smoking, and socializing.
Time management is more than simply not wasting time, which we all do. We forget and are careless and disorganized. Further-more, it seems unnatural to expect to be 100 percent efficient, like trying to get too much into a suitcase or knapsack. It's easy to spring the lid or burst a seam that way.
A little slack time to relax may be the thing that keeps your psychological or mental seams from bursting. From that point of view, a little wasted time may be self-renewing. Time management, then, does not mean that every minute should be invested in work or study. Some guidelines are as follows:
- Think about where your time goes. Plan-in writing if possible-how to spend it.
- Since time is perishable and un-storable, make the most of what you have at the time you have it. Invest your time thoughtfully.
Much has been written about how to organize time. With staff reductions routine nowadays, most corporate managers work through lunch and still fall behind. The following tips have been accumulated over the years from workshops, observations, and reading and can be used by young or old, on or off the job.
- Allow time to think.
- Anticipate needs. For example, have on hand an adequate supply of items needed for a task before you start it.
- Avoid compulsive talkers and people who waste your time.
- Be a clock watcher. Know where your time goes.
- Concentrate on the job at hand; one thing at a time.
- Decide how to spend your time. Set daily, monthly, and even yearly goals.
- Evaluate the things that claim your time and decide how much each thing is worth. Some are not worth spending time on at all; they have merely become habits.
- Get an early start. By rising a half-hour early, you get a jump on the whole day.
- Invest your time where it counts for you.
- Learn to close out distracting sounds and sights, distracting people, and unnecessary interruptions.
- Learn to say no. Avoid pointless commitments if you can spend the time more profitably.
- Look for shortcuts and time-savers. With a little thought almost any activity can be simplified. For example, organize your workstation (office, kitchen, or garage) so that less time is lost looking for misplaced things.
- Learn to recover quickly from interruptions; they eat up time. Some are unavoidable, so when planning the day, allow 3 to 5 percent leeway in your time schedule to provide for interruptions.
- Phone calls eat up time. When phoning take notes about items to be discussed. Be pleasant, but eliminate idle chatter. When you have a long-winded caller on the phone, try using the speaker phone so you can finish what you were doing until he or she lets up.
- Police leisure time so that you enjoy it to the fullest. For example, be selective about the TV shows you watch, the books and magazines you read.
- Practice good listening. Careful listening saves time other-wise lost through checking and rereading. Get it right the first time.
- Selfishly protect yourself against continuous long hours and fatigue.
- Set priorities. Obviously some things must be done before others. Decide what must be done first.
- Improve your communication skills-writing and talking so that you do not waste time rewriting or re-explaining.
- Establish clear goals with co-workers. Sometimes cooperative goal planning takes time initially, but saves time later because it eliminates errors and the repetition of instructions.
A manager's ability to listen effectively is vital to employee morale. It is said that good listeners get ahead, but poor ones make mistakes. Hardly anything builds confidence among employees more than when they realize a supervisor really listens to them. Employees like leaders who listen; they open up to them. Not listening creates many stumbling blocks.
Listening, like writing, talking, and reading, is a skill that can be improved through study and practice. Here are some pointers.
- To learn to be a good listener, you must recognize the importance of attentive listening and study ways of improving your listening skill.
- Analyze what constitutes good listening habits and practice them. For example, ask a speaker to repeat what he or she said if you are not sure that you heard correctly. Clear up doubtful points at the time by asking questions. Of course, this assumes a one-to-one or a small group situation.
- Listening uses different skills from reading or writing because words are heard, not seen. When listening, the ears work. One hears voice pitch, pronunciation, and pauses as well as words.
- When listening, be receptive. Try to keep prejudices or anger from distorting what you hear. Listen objectively, not emotionally.
- Look for what is positive in a speaker's words-not for what is wrong with them.
- Hear the speaker out. Listen with as few interruptions as possible, even when material is introduced with which you do not agree. Guard against prematurely turning off a speaker as not being worth hearing.
- Avoid interruptions. Can your telephone calls be channeled elsewhere, for example, when you are meeting and talking with an employee?
- When listening, search for new things to learn. Retain key ideas and sort out irrelevant comments.
- When listening to someone who gets bogged down, quietly supply a word or repeat a statement just made to help the speaker.
- Encourage a speaker by looking at him/her, not at a point in the distance or out the window. Give a speaker the courtesy of undivided attention.
- In a long conversation, clarify or summarize content briefly by saying, "May I go over a few of the key points to be sure that I understand you correctly?" "Did I understand you correctly? Are you saying that...?" "In summary then, what you are saying is...."
- Effective listening takes energy and self-discipline. Teach yourself to concentrate on what is being said, not on who is saying it or how it is being said. Avoid being distracted by the speaker's clothes or mannerisms.
- When convenient, take notes. You may want to refer to them later.
- Keep your own counsel about what you have heard. Your integrity and discretion will inspire confidence.
- Recognize flattery, name dropping, and sweeping generalizations, yet hear them out, especially if they come from employees or important associates.
Listening is one aspect of good communication. Learning to effectively convey your ideas to another person is the other side of the coin. Good communication skills are essential to success, in management and in life. By beginning early, communication skills can be learned.
According to Betsy Gilbert, of the Corporate Image, the key to communication is understanding the communication style of the person to whom you are talking. You increase your chances of communicating effectively if you adapt your style to that of your listener.
Determining a person's style requires careful attention to what is said and what is communicated through body language. For example, detail-oriented people may add many facts and figures to their conversation. These people require a great deal of information before they can make a decision.
On the other hand, action-oriented people are often impatient and likely to communicate with few words. They want only enough information to understand the big picture so that they can act. To communicate with action-oriented people, you should highlight the most important features as concisely as possible.
Creative people often enjoy group discussion, which allows for interaction. They may also use you as a sounding board for new ideas. The way to communicate here is to present concepts and options, not just facts.
The words you choose are also an important element in communication. Use simple, straightforward words and a direct tone of voice to ensure that you are understood. Big words may intimidate or confuse a listener.
A good speaking voice is also important, particularly in a business situation. Your voice must have authority, but not be over-powering. Avoid mumbling or including long pauses in your conversation; they lessen your impact as a speaker.
Effective communication is a valuable tool that can benefit any new or experienced manager. Taking courses or joining organizations such as Toastmasters may be valuable in improving this aspect of your management skills.
WRITING
Effective communication also depends on the manager's ability to write well. Whether a manager is called upon to write client proposals, reports to superiors, or simply a business letter, good writing plays an important part in the manager's set of skills.
Writing techniques are fundamentally the same for all types of written documents. The first step in good writing is to define the objective of the piece being written. What do you want to do? Do you need to convey information? Must you get someone to act in a certain way? Are you trying to build goodwill? You should be able to state your writing goal before you ever put pen to paper.
In writing, as in speaking, keeping it simple is always best. Avoid using a complex word when a basic one will work just as well. Write "use" instead of "utilize," "try" instead of "endeavor," "understand" instead of "ascertain."
Simple writing also helps the writer avoid wordiness and unnecessarily complex sentences. A study of Yale undergraduates recently pointed out the effectiveness of shorter sentences in increasing comprehension. Comprehension rose from 18 percent to 93 percent when sentences with eighteen words or fewer and paragraphs of five to seven sentences were used.
Writing is an extension of yourself. A manager who writes well can do a good job more easily and will be more readily recognized by others as effective.
