17 Jul 2018 The Most Dangerous Career Derailers (Part 3) – Acting On The Important Versus The Daily Grind.
“How could you possibly do this?” Barked the Vice President of IT. “I told you explicitly that I do not approve adding the cost of this software tool to your project budget.”
Jane, the Project Director, was standing in front of the Project Executive Committee, feeling very humiliated by this attack on her credibility. She fumbled an apology and closed the meeting as quickly as she could. Back in her office, she looked again at the PPT she had just presented. “How could I have missed this?” She asked herself. She went carefully through the events of the last few days in an attempt to understand what had happened.
She has been incredibly busy in the last few months. She has been getting to the office before 7:00 AM every morning, running from one meeting to the next until 6:00 PM, and then doing email until 9:00 or 10:00 PM every night. Two days before the Executive Committee Meeting she asked her senior lieutenant to prepare the status report for her. In the past, she used to do it herself, but recently she started asking her Senior Manager to do it for her. There was simply not enough time to do it all. She remembered stopping by his desk on her way to the next meeting. But in her rush, she forgot to tell him to exclude the cost of that software tool from the budget slide.
It was close to midnight the night before the meeting. The last item on Jane’s To-Do List was to review the Executive Committee status report which she was to present at 8:00 AM the next morning. But she was extremely tired and fell asleep at her desk on slide #3. So she ended up presenting the report without reviewing it in detail. And that cost her dearly.
Driven By The Daily Grind
I was sitting with Jane (not her real name) two weeks ago in an informal coaching session. “I am desperate, Uri.” She said. “I used to be in control of my work. Now my work is controlling me. I am so tired all the time, and it is causing me to lose my edge. My days are filled with back-to-back 30-minute meetings, which people put on my calendar without asking me. I have no time to think, to reflect, to consider what is really important. I am running on auto-pilot from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM every day. I am always behind on my To-Do List and on my emails, and it is only a matter of time before I miss something really important. I am driven by the priorities of other people, not my own. What should I do?”
“You can change this,” I said. “But it will require a lot of willpower and self-discipline.”
“I am willing to do anything.” She said.
In the hour that followed Jane and I discussed the specific strategies that she needed to follow to get out of the mess she was in. Today I want to share these strategies with you. Hopefully, you will find value in this advice.
1. Determine your level of commitment.
The first step is to ask yourself the following question: “On a scale of 1 to 10 how painful is my current situation and how committed am I to do whatever it takes to change it?” The change you are about to embark on requires a lot of determination and self-discipline. If your answer is less than 8 then it is likely that you will not be successful in implementing it. From my experience as an Executive Coach, most people do not succeed in making this kind of change unless the situation they are facing is very painful to them.
In order to be successful in adopting radically different work habits, you must muster all the determination and self-discipline you can.
2. Start a weekly planning routine.
This is the most important step in the process. Ideally, you should develop your weekly plan every Sunday evening, when you can find a little quiet time. In addition to planning your weekly grind, think about your own priorities, the strategic issues you have to focus on, the challenges you have to face, and the “Me Time” you need in order to maintain your clarity of mind and the feeling that you are in control of your work, not the other way around. Estimate how long you will need to work on each “Me Item”. Then block time in your calendar to do this work, ideally at the time of day when you are most productive and your mind is clear and alert. Most importantly, make sure that your “Me Items” take precedence over all other items on your weekly schedule. (Well…..almost all items).
3. Follow through on your plan and avoid the temptations.
If you can work from home during your “Me Time”, you may find it more productive. Shut down your Outlook during this time. If you have an assistant, tell him/her to monitor your email during that time, and to call you if there is anything really urgent. Do not be tempted to check if you’ve received any “important emails”. Tell your team members, your boss, and others with whom you work closely, that you will not monitor your email during your “Me Time”. Tell them to call you if there is anything that requires your immediate attention.
4. Assign a trusted team member to take over.
Aim to reduce the time you spend in meetings by 20% to 40%. Be very vigilant regarding which meetings you choose to attend. Develop your own “Meeting Value Criteria”. Decline meetings that do not meet your highest “Meeting Value Criteria”. If you cannot reject certain meetings that have been imposed on you, assign one of your trusted team members to attend in your stead. Ask her/him to debrief you after the meeting. These debrief will take much less time than attending the meetings in person. Let the meeting chairperson know that you are sending your team member and that you authorize her/him to speak on your behalf.
5. Enlist an Accountability Partner
This is a very important step without which your success in habitualising the above routines will be greatly compromised.
Find a person whom you trust and respect, and who is willing and able to be your Accountability Partner. This could be your assistant (if you have one) or a close colleague. Ask this person if she/he can spend 30 minutes with you once or twice a week to review your calendar and make sure that you are following the Effectiveness Process you’ve developed. This person should be willing and able to motivate you to stick with your new routine, and “hold you to account” if you slip up or give in to your “old ways”.
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I hope that some of these ideas resonate with you. I invite you to share your comments on our blog. I’d love to hear whether you have been able to habitualise this new behavior. If you wish to have a one-on-one discussion with me on any of this, please do not hesitate to contact me at Uri@thewilltocahnge.com.
Learn More:
To read our other posts in this series go to https://www.thewilltochange.com/blog-and-tools/execu-blog/
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