– Naomi Wilson, Founding Director
Does this sound familiar to you…
You lead a team of six people who all need time from you. But so do your clients, suppliers, strategic partners and countless others.
Even though you had the best of intentions, that meeting you have scheduled with your team member, Sally, for 9am, gets bumped back due to an urgent client call. She’s had to sit and wait for 10 minutes. By the time you finish with Sally, you’re 20 minutes late for a team meeting. There is now a room of six people waiting for you. By lunch time, you are dealing with an unexpected IT issue, which means the project catch up you had booked with Jamie for the afternoon isn’t looking like it will happen.
The struggle is real. And we are just trying to make the best choice of where to spend our time at any given moment, right?
But what about the cost to others? Sally lost 10 minutes waiting on you today; the rest of your team a collective 2 hours, and Jamie has missed a project deadline, causing a 2-week delay.
When we are ineffective at carving out and holding time for our people, it is not just ourselves that it impacts. There is a domino effect which ultimately comes right back around to us, when the things they need have snowballed and now become urgent.
Early this year, I went to a conference presented by Adam Grant (amazing bloke to listen to by the way!)
In among some pretty big ideas, he said one line which stopped my thoughts in their tracks.
“As a leader, you should be a steward of your people’s time. If you are wasting it, you are disrespecting them.”
I’d never really thought about it that way, but the simple truth of it felt like a slap in the face for someone who was guilty of constantly begging forgiveness for needing to push something back, running late to a catch up, or not being able to fit something in.
What does it mean to be a ‘steward’ of other people’s time?
Stewardship is the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to your care. Think about that for a moment.
When we lead a team, those individuals (and their time) are entrusted to our care. If we are careless with that person (and their time), then we are not carrying that responsibility well. In fact, we are being disrespectful, albeit unintentionally.
Now, I certainly cannot claim to have been an angel in the time department since hearing these words of wisdom, but here are some things that I believe work to ensure that respect is both asked for, and given.
1. Start meetings on time
Even if the leader is not in the room, if the meeting is due to start, someone take the lead and kick off the agenda. A leader walking into a meeting that is clearly underway gets the clear message that their team has the motivation to get things going (awesome!) and it is uncomfortable enough that you make a mental note to avoid that happening again next time.
2. End meetings on time
So often, meetings drag past the time that was allocated in the diary. It can feel rude to tap on your watch and say, ‘Time’s up!’ But respect goes both ways. When time is allocated to something, stick to that time. If more time is needed, book it in for later. When things are allowed to drag beyond what is needed, the domino effect on the rest of your day is damaging. Being consistent with set timeframes quickly establishes a habit of sticking to the agenda and getting through what is needed.
3. Plant your feet/butt
Give permission to your people that if they have time scheduled with you, they can come into your office at that time and plant themselves opposite you, ready to start. Sometimes, it is the clear reminder we need to wrap up the call we are on, finish the email, or pause the task. If that person has made time to come and see you, respect that time.
4.Meetings must have a purpose
One of the reasons we can disrespect time is because we have meetings booked in that we feel aren’t really essential. Create a rule that meetings need to have a clear purpose/agenda.
5. Allow yourself a buffer
I have a rule in my calendar: each meeting has a half hour buffer immediately after it. That isn’t to allow it to go longer (that would be breaking rule #2). It is to allow time to capture notes, complete minor actions, or schedule in bigger actions that have come from the meeting. Without that time, we can quickly forget what we committed to and get ourselves into a state of having to play catch up at the end of the day or week.
6. Communication is King. Always.
If you realise you won’t be able to keep an appointment, communicate honestly and early. When there is a big agenda, communicate it up front and check in on the top priorities. And when you still need some leeway despite your best intentions, communicate that. The most amazing thing I’ve learnt from my team is their capacity to help each other free up time when someone puts their hand up and says they are drowning.
Do you feel like you are drowning? Enquire about our Leadership and Time Management Training.