Time Does Not Change - You Have To!
1 Jan, 2009
By: Bob FurnissConquering Contact Center Time Management
52 weeks, 2080 hours, 124,800 minutes, 7,488,000 seconds – all ways to measure the time available for the typical manager (not including those nights and weekends of extra time required to do the job well). The key question for most managers is, “How will I use this time to be effective?” We all have the same amount of time in the day, yet why do some people seem to get more done? Why do some people seem more organized and seem to get to the important stuff while others reach the end of most days with that look of bewilderment, wondering how another day went by without getting everything done? The answer is organization and time management.
Time management – we have all heard the term but can we really manage time? We cannot squeeze in more minutes in an hour – so, we cannot really manage time – but we can manage how we use that time. We can become more effective by implementing a new level of focus in three key areas – mission, goals, planning. But, you are probably saying, “I have heard all of this before – and I still can’t seem to make it work.” Many people say it takes 21 days to begin a new habit so let’s explore the concepts and see if we can get a commitment to create new focus for the next 21 days - and see what happens.
Mission
A lot is said about the need for company vision and mission statements. In the place where you work, there is probably a company vision or mission statement on a plaque or in a frame in a hallway or lobby. If you can actually quote the statement in your head right now, you are one of roughly 10 percent of the people in the world who can do so. The company may have put a lot of effort into the statement, but it is sometimes hard to personalize that mission.
So, perhaps it is time to create your own statement. We first need to answer some questions in order to create the basis for the personal statement: What are your priorities? Is it to sell products? Manage resources? Collect money? Support software? Manage people? Develop people? Take some time to think about your focus. Based on the jobs required in most contact centers, hopefully developing people is at the top of your list. Here is a step-by-step process for creating your personal mission statement:
1. Choose a place away from work to do this exercise – Starbuck’s is my choice, but find a place that fits your personality.
2. Create a list of your priorities at work. (examples: develop people, meet sales objectives, meet efficiency objectives, create reports, meetings, etc.).
3. Based on your priorities, create three to four key goals for your work (examples: My goal is to build relationships my team to develop their attitudes and skills to meet personal, team and center objectives).
4. Based on the goals, create a mission statement that mentions your key goals – putting a personal spin on the statement based on your personality (example: “I will use my passion for developing people to guide the way I lead on a daily basis. I will seek to bring out the best in my team and build relationships with the call center and across the company to allow us to serve the customer.”).
5. This may take several sessions at Starbucks to complete the process – but that is OK, you can never have too many Vente, soy milk, extra shot, caramel macchiatos.
Goals
In the mission exercise we outlined the personal goals that you have at work. In this exercise we will expand on the goals to include specific time-frames. Several years ago, I had a friend pay over $10,000 to attend a well-known sales-training program in Vegas. The three-day program included some of the top speakers in the country. He came away from the meeting with a litany of ideas and concepts to implement to make him a better salesperson. He told me the sessions were great and he was anxious to implement the ideas. When I saw him about six months later, I asked how things were going and asked if he still thought the seminar was worth the money. He pulled out a wire-bound notebook and pushed it across the table. He said out of all of the ideas, the one thing that had made a difference was in the book. He said he had begun to write down his goals across fours timeframes. He had a list of goals for the year, the month, the week and a daily list. The goals had to meet three criteria. They had to be specific, measurable and have a timeline for completion. He said he had seen a 150 percent increase in his business as a result of the new habit.
I looked through the list and was struck by how detailed the goals really were. Annual goals had specific numbers tied to specific quarterly expectations. The monthly goals were also numerical and timeframe based. The daily goals in some cases moved toward a daily “to do” list with specific people to call or meet with about sales opportunities. Each goal had a measurable result with the ability to check it off as completed or not. I asked him why some goals were the same each day? He said, because no matter how focused he was, he still got distracted and sometimes had to move goals to the next day or week.
So, let’s use this as a measure for success with your goals. To complete this exercise, you will need a wire-bound notebook or a bound journal. On the inside cover write down your personal priorities and your work priorities. These lists will help keep you grounded and help you re-align your world when it gets out of alignment.
On page one write Goals 2009. These goals are long-range in nature; specific but what you hope to accomplish on the horizon. On page two write the next month on your calendar and on page three write tomorrow’s date. Looking at your priorities, goals and objectives that we completed in step one and begin to expound on the goals. Be specific – make them measurable and add a timeline.
Examples:
• Annual – “I will make coaching and development a key goal for the year. I will set specific monthly and daily goals for the number of people coach.”
• Monthly – “I will complete 45 side-by-side monitoring sessions this month. I will complete 15 one-on-one meetings with my team this month. I will develop a new routine and schedule it within my Outlook calendar to walk the floor each day for an hour.”
• Daily – more in list format: “three side-by-side monitoring sessions, two one-on-one meetings (John and Sara), one-hour MBWA session (management by walking around – see Ken Blanchard’s book One-Minute Manager).”
See how the daily goals support the monthly goals - which in-turn support the annual goals. When this becomes a habit, you will see a difference in your life. How do I know? Because I have seen it happen in mine. My “little brown journal” had become such a part of my life that my kids kid me about taking it to the bathroom (which I have never done by-the-way).
Sometimes people ask me, how do you do all you do? My answer, “My little ok. brown book.” Setting goals and managing your life will make a difference!
To Do Lists
In the previous exercise, we almost implemented this concept. The daily goals are actually a part of this program. But the To Do List is a more detailed extension. To Do Lists often are second nature for people that fall into the “driver” personality category, but it may be hard for others. My sister is so wrapped-up in The To Do list that she will actually write down something that she had already done and put a check-mark beside it because she says it makes her feel successful. My recommendation is that you try the To Do List concept for 21 days and see if it works for you – because I believe it will make a difference.
There are a couple of options for when to create these daily lists. One is at the end of the day – a time to review the previous day and validate the focus for the next day. Another option is to start your morning with this exercise. In my handy “little brown journal” I actually have items on my To Do List for the next week. Items that I know I will not get to today may be listed for tomorrow. Less-urgent, but important items my get moved to the weekend or even to the next week. But living from a list helps keep me focused.
Re-Align and De-Clutter Your Life
One last step is to de-clutter your life with things that are not necessary. There are several ways to do this. Again, it is a three-step process:
1. Learn to say no. I find this to be one of the hardest words to say. Your boss, or fellow employee, asks you to manage or help with a new project. Your “can-do” attitude says you should participate, but if you want to stay focused “mainly on the main things” as my friend Phil calls it, then you have to learn to say “no.” This is when the steps above will begin to pay-off. Now that you know what your priorities and goals are, ask yourself this question, “How does this project or additional item support my priorities and goals?” “If my day is full, what will I set-aside in order to make room for this new responsibility?” Everyone knows that there are some things that are given to you by management and there is not an option for you to just say “no.” I once worked for a boss who constantly gave me new direction and items to add to my long list of responsibilities. I finally learned to take my list with me when I met with him. I would ask him where this falls into my current list of priorities and responsibilities. This was my way of pushing back on more work and it allowed him to update his expectations based on real data. Did it solve my problem and create magic in my life? No! But it helped.
2. Confirm how the new item fits into your personal goals. Does it help you accomplish new goals? Does it align with your mission statement? If not, then see if there is a way to say no. Is there a way to delegate the opportunity or problem? Consider the decision-tree methodology outlined in the sidebar article to help you make good decisions.
3. If yes is the right answer, work the new responsibility into your monthly and daily goals and To Do List.
Even with these new habits you will find a need to constantly re-align your work expectations to your lists. Remember this is a working document. My friend said this changed his life in a lot of ways. We talked several years later and he told me his business had grown so rapidly that he had hired two new assistants. He was building a new house and loved how much he was able to accomplish each day. We have all been given the same 7,488,000 seconds of work each year – how you choose to manage yours is your decision – what will your new habit be in 2009?
