How Can “Bottleneck” Executives Improve Their Personal Workflow_ _ MNC Consulting Group

8/12/2019 How Can Bottleneck Executives Improve Their Personal Workflow_ _ MNC Consulting Group

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8/10/2014 How Can Bottleneck Executives Improve Their Personal Workflow? | M NC Consulting Group

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How Can Bottleneck Executives ImproveTheir PersonalWorkflow?

Have you ever worked for a boss that seemed to be the black hole of the organization?You know the oneIm talking about: documents that went into that office, but nevercame out, preventing you from doing your job. If youre that boss, listen up. There is away to improve your personal workflow.

What I have found in working with executives and others is that there are typically threeareas where wasted time can impede workflow. These areas include lack of planning,lack of self-management, and lack of control over the work environment. Let me tell youhow to take control of each.

1. Lack of planning. Planning your workday is key to improving your workflow.However, you need to follow through on your plan to be successful. If you dontplan, you are wasting time and you end up dealing with things during the day asthey arise. This is not an effective way to work. Heres how to plan your day:

A. Set both long-range and short-term goals and objectives. These should beboth personal and professional goals that contribute to your and yourorganizations success.

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B. Set daily priorities. These should alignwith your goals and objectives. Use apriority matrix to help you identify tasksand the tasks long-range importanceand short-range urgency. This will helpyou determine its overall priority foryour day.

C. Dont treat everything that comesacross your desk as urgent. Urgent

means that it must be done now andits typically a life and death type ofsituation. Determine if the so-calledurgent task is important. If the task isnot important, then its not worth doing.

D. Dont allow interruptions to shift yourpriorities.

E. Choose wisely. If you attempt to do toomuch, you are failing to choose andthis becomes a huge timewaster.

Again, determine which tasks

contribute to your overall goals and dothose first.

F. Use realistic time estimates. If youveever promised to complete a task by aspecific time and missed yourdeadline, guess what? Youre notalone. I suggest that you build in arealistic time cushion to your estimatesby adding 20 to 50 percent to youroriginal estimate (depending on thecomplexity of the task). This way,youll never miss another deadline.

2. Lack of self-management. I have found thatthis is the main area where many busyexecutives have difficulty. Here are thingsyou can do to help you better manage yourtime.

A. Discipline yourself to get work donecan be accomplished by settingpriorities and sticking with thosepriorities. Use project control chartsand mark off each task when its done,or progress reports, or challengeyourself to stick with deadlines.Reward yourself each time you achievea milestone but dont reward yourself just because youre close toreaching the milestone.

B. Get organized in the first place and schedule organizing time into each andevery day. Yes, its a lot of work. And, yes, its worth it for success.

C. Clear the clutter from your office. If this is an area that affects you, then youneed to work with an organizational expert who can help you unclutter youroffice and set up systems to keep organized. If you feel you dont need anorganizational expert to unclutter, then why has clutter become an issue foryou in the first place?

D. Work smarter by using the Only Handle It Once (OHIO) method to get your


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paperwork done. On average, 80 percent of paperwork can be disposed ofon the first handling. Yet the average person only disposes of 20 percent.

E. Stop procrastinating. Studies show that fear of failure is one big reason forprocrastinating. Winston Churchill said that he would rather fail many timesattempting the truly important than succeed at the trivial.

F. Delegate. You may find this hard to believe, but you arent the only one whocan do a task well. If youre an executive, trust your subordinates andchallenge them to take on more responsibilities. This will free you up to

invest your time in more creative work.3. Lack of control over the work environment. This can also impact productivity

and create bottlenecks. Here is how to manage your work environment.A. Control the telephone by scheduling time in your day to receive and return

telephone calls. Voice mail is an effective screening tool that helps youdetermine priority calls when youre ready.

B. If visitors drop in, try standing up for the conversation. Youll be pleasantlysurprised at how much shorter the visit is when this occurs. Alternatively,tell the visitor that you have to leave within ten minutes, or schedule a timeto meet the visitor in their office later. If possible, avoid drop-in visits byclosing your door.

C. Attending disorganized meetings results in wasted time. Attend meetingsonly where you are absolutely needed, but consider delegating attendanceto one of your subordinates who can report back to you after the meeting. Ifyou are running the meeting, use proper meeting techniques to stay on timeand on track.

D. Untrained staff can create inefficiencies. Ensure that all of your staff isadequately trained to handle their roles.

E. Confused responsibility or authority for tasks creates redundancies andwasted time and effort. Ensure that instructions for tasks are clear andindicate who has responsibility and authority.

Now that you know how wasting time may be a factor in your being a bottleneck

in your organization, make a list of your timewasters and identify the top three.Focus on improving those timewasters for about three months before moving on tothe next three on your list. Replacing old habits with new habits is difficult, butessential. It is only by unlearning old habits that you will be able to improve yourtime management skills and be a more efficient and productive executive. Treattime as your precious resource and youll accomplish more in less time, and stillhave time at the end of the day to do the things you really love.

How Can “Bottleneck” Executives Improve Their Personal Workflow_ _ MNC Consulting Group

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