Are you a productive leader?

Sharon@Aresko.co.uk : 07932 641313

PRODUCTIVE LEADERSHIP

DEFINITIONS achieving or producing a significant

amount, or results

A position of advantage for someone who commands or precedes a group, team, organisation, country for initiating business progress

“If I had more time, I would …” The omnipresent constraint of any leader

is time. Leaders are eternally trying to achieve things: Faster Longer Higher Quicker

If you had more time in the day, what would you spend it doing?

(your answer should reflect that on slide 5 – if it doesn’t, then you are not a leader!)

“If my boss had more time, I would like them to …”

What would your staff or stakeholders want you to do more of?

Have you even asked them? Well, here’s a time saver, without even

asking, I bet they would all say …..

“spend more time with us, talking to us, seeing how it’s really like for us”

“I would spend time talking to …” Your answer should, in EVERY case, point

to spending more INFORMAL time talking to people, whether that be: Staff Stakeholders Customers Consumers Colleagues

How will you find the time this inevitably requires?

HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR TIME?

What do you spend your time doing now, which leads to an inevitable reply of:

“I haven’t had the time I’m afraid” Are you aware of what proportion of your

time you currently spend in unproductive meetings?

Ideally, that should be zero% If its not, then you are wasting valuable

time in unproductive meetings

Meeting Management EVERY meeting you go to should be

productive, you should contribute, and both add and take away something. Otherwise you shouldn’t be there.

PE shouldn’t disappear with secondary school! Adopt the 4PE approach and meetings will be fewer and much more productive, guaranteed: Plan it Place it Participate in it Pursue it Evaluate it

Plan it – ask why are we having it Do you need to go or can you delegate it

to a more appropriate person? What point(s) are you going to make? What do you need to bring out of the

meeting? Who will be there that you need to see

for other reasons? What time does it start and finish – build

in time before and after to conduct essential “in the margin” informal conversations

Place it – ask why are we having it What format is this meeting taking?

Video conference? Telephone conference? Face to face?

What travel time will it require to turn up ahead of the start?

Where are papers coming from and have you factored in time to review them BEFORE the meeting?

Participate in it – know your role

Are you the Chair or a member? Chairing requires lots of Blue Hat thinking – covered previously

What is your role whilst there – you must know it?

What is the purpose of the meeting – is it clear or do you need to make calls beforehand to find out (and perhaps send someone else with more relevance to it)

Turn up early, talk to colleagues, help the group keep to time.

Review actions and decisions Accept responsibility for your actions

Pursue it – make an impact Follow up and follow through afterwards, by:

Ringing someone who wasn’t there but whom you thought would be – update them on decisions so that they aren’t reopened and revisited next time. When previous decisions are revisited it’s both wasteful of everyone’s time and unproductive. If it was so important to you, you should have been there! Now live with (and own) the group decision.

Undertake your actions and feedback to others the things you brought away

Outputs will be equal to the productivity of the meeting, no outputs = wasted meeting time

Evaluate it – make it better After Action Reviews – make them

routine What should have happened? What actually happened? What went well? What would you do differently next time? Which bits of it wasted time or effort?

Note that time/effort when it actually happens – we will need it later.

Meetings Matrix Know precisely where your time is

going nowTeam 121 Operation

alExecutive

External

Other

Low – FREQUENCY - High

Quarterly

MonthlyFortnigh

tly

WeeklyDaily

Emphasis in these areas will depend upon what role you are doingGo through your diary and see how many hours you spent in each area over the course of a normal month. Track back 3 months if you have to

or if your work is particularly seasonal.

Make adjustments Once you see the amount of time being

spent in one area you will easily see where it can be redistributed elsewhere

Clear space in your diary for those informal conversations by: Booking time out before and after certain must

attend meetings Booking diary time for

impromptu conversations with staff/colleagues/stakeholders – make those calls or walk that floor

Be purposeful about it and note the take away information you would otherwise have missed

Be seen as the engaged leader

Only by DOING this will it be noticed and appreciated by others

Only by DOING this will you build relationships that go the extra mile, when they need to

Only by DOING this will you learn what motivates or drives those you need to depend upon

Only by DOING this will you really open that invisible office door for others to approach you

Only by DOING this will you plant influential snippets of information into others minds

Only by DOING this will you be in touch and create the nimbleness modern workplaces require from its leadership

Making time = Demonstrating Effective Habits

You will see that in taking up 4PE of meeting management, you will be demonstrating all the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and redistributing that time into conducting informal conversations with colleagues, staff, stakeholders etc.

Informal conversations are VITAL ACTIVITY, not something which just happens, or only for those with time on their hands – MAKE THAT TIME!

We’d be Delighted to hear from you