not know who is supposed to do what job, and when is it to be done, and to
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what standard of quality? And especially, who is supposed to report to
whom? Who’s in charge? Who’s the boss?
A Management Game
In my management seminars, I often invite the managers to play a game
with me. The game is called “Keep Your Job.” I explain that the rules are
quite simple.
First, each manager in the room will write down the names of the people
who report to them. They will then write next to those names the most
important job that each of those people is expected to accomplish, in what
order of priority, and why they are on the payroll.
Then I tell the managers that they will wait here in this room while we go
and interview each of their staff members. Each staff member will be asked
to answer the question, “What exactly have you been hired to do, and in
what order of priority?”
If the answers given by each staff member are identical to the answers given
by the managers, then the managers will be allowed to “Keep Your Job.” I
then ask, “Does anyone here want to play ‘Keep Your Job?’” No one ever
wants to play. In years of conducting this exercise, I have never found a
manager who is willing to stake their job on the sure knowledge that each of
their employees is clear about what they are on the payroll to accomplish.
The Manager Is Responsible
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The fact is that each manager is responsible for making absolutely sure that
each employee knows exactly what he or she is supposed to be doing. One
of the very fastest ways to increase efficiency, clear up misunderstandings
and improve communications is to take the time to sit with each person and
discuss exactly what they are supposed to do, and in what order, and to what
standard of excellence.
5. Incomplete Information
Another major time waster in business is poor or incomplete information,
which leads to erroneous assumptions and conclusions. It is amazing how
often people jump to conclusions or make false assumptions on the basis of
wrong information.
The very best managers take the time to ask questions and listen carefully to
the answers before they make a decision. If there is a key piece of
information that suggests a problem or difficulty, they double check on this
piece of information to make sure that it is accurate.
Always ask, “What proof do you have for this statement or fact?” Never
assume that something important is true without taking the time to
corroborate it for yourself.
6. Aimless or Too Frequent Meetings
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Too many meetings, or aimless meetings that proceed without an agenda,
without direction or without closure, are an enormous waste of time at work.
These are meetings that start and stop without any particular resolution. No
problems are solved, no decisions are made and no responsibilities are
assigned. No deadlines are agreed upon for action.
Since 25% to 50% of working time is spent on meetings of all kinds, your
taking the time to improve the quality of your meetings, by preparing
agendas in advance, and by bringing each question to closure, can
dramatically increase your effectiveness and your productivity.
7. Lack of Clarity Concerning One’s Job
Lack of information, or unclear communications, on important matters
affecting a person’s work, causes a lot of wasted time. In a recent survey on
employee motivation, the very best companies were defined as places where
each person felt that he was an insider, and that he or she was “in the know”
about what was going on in the company.
The worst places to work were described as those where no one was sure
about what was really going on. In this type of situation, people were unclear
about their responsibilities, unsure about their jobs, and cautious about
taking any risks. When people don’t know what is going on, it leads to
demotivation, poor performance and playing it safe.
People need to know everything that is happening in the company that
affects their particular jobs. The very best companies are those that are open
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and honest with all employees concerning those matters that affect the health
of the company. Everyone knows what is going on, and how their job fits
into the big picture. When they are unclear or unsure, an enormous amount
of time is lost as the result of conversations, discussions and gossip, which
leads to ineffective work behaviors and poor productivity.
Take Time to Communicate Clearly
In a recent study, 84% of successful executives said that their ability to
communicate effectively with others was the key reason for their success.
Almost all successful men and women today in the world of work, business,
politics and other fields are in their positions because of their ability to
communicate well with other people. Effective communicating is a key time
management skill.
Here is a rule: Never assume that the other person understands what you
have discussed until he or she has fed it back to you in his or her own words.
Never assume that you understand until you have repeated it back or
explained it in your own words and had the other person agree.
It is a truism that we only understand something to the degree to which we
can explain it to another person. The very act of articulating an assignment
or decision in words clarifies it for both the speaker and the person listening.
In interacting with others, seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Most people get this rule backwards. They are so busy trying to get other
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people to understand them that they don’t take the time to understand the
other person first.
Seek first to understand. Listen closely to the other person to be sure that
you fully understand what he is both saying and meaning. Only then should
you try to get the other person to understand you.
The key to effective communication in working with others is developing
absolute clarity about what needs to be done, and why, and when, and to
what standard. Clarity requires time, attention and patience.
The Law of Comparative Advantage
In 1805, the British economist David Ricardo announced what has become
one of the most important principles of economics, “The Law of
Comparative Advantage.” This law initially referred to trade between
countries. It demonstrated mathematically that countries should specialize in
producing those products that they made better than any other country.
Ricardo showed that, even if country A produced two products at a higher
level of quality than country B, it was still better for country A to
concentrate exclusively on producing the product that they made best, and
let country B exclusively produce the other.
The total value created by both countries for their citizens would be greater
in proportion to the resources consumed in production than if each country
tried to produce both products.
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Applying Comparative Advantage to Your Work
In business and commerce, this is an extremely important principle. It is the
base of modern wage differentials. In your work life, the Law of
Comparative Advantage says that you should assign, delegate, outsource or
have someone else do any job that can be done at a wage less than you earn,
or less than the wage you desire to earn.
In its simplest terms, if your goal is to earn $50,000 per year, and you work
2000 hours per year, your hourly rate is approximately $25 per hour. This
means that you should hire someone else to do any task that can be done at
an hourly rate less than $25, even if you can do the task better than he can.
This enables you to spend more time doing more work that pays $25 per
hour or more.
If you want to earn $100,000 per annum, your hourly rate is $50 per hour,
each hour. But you cannot earn $50 per hour during the workday if you are
getting your car washed, picking up your groceries, or dropping off your dry
cleaning. You cannot earn $25 or $50 per hour if you are chitchatting with
your coworkers, making coffee, reading the paper or surfing the Internet.
This kind of work or activity does not pay you $25 to $50 per hour. The
basic rule is this: If you want to earn $100,000 per year, you have to do $50
per hour work for eight hours every single working day.
The Key Personal Productivity Principle
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This is a key personal productivity principle. If you do not focus singlemindedly
on working at or above your desired hourly rate, you will not earn
this amount of money in the long run.
This rule applies to hiring a bookkeeper, typing, shopping, house cleaning,
washing your or any other task. The key to effective delegation, whether you
are a boss or an employee, is to continually be seeking ways to outsource
and delegate those things that pay a lower hourly rate than you earn. This is
the only way that you will have enough time to concentrate on doing the
kind of work that will pay you the kind of money that you truly desire.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are laid off from different jobs
in different industries. In almost every case, this is because their hourly
contribution to their companies has dropped below the amount of money
they are receiving in wages or salary. This may have been caused by
external circumstances, by changes in the market that render the products
and services they produce less desirable.
You Can Only Be Paid What You Contribute
In too many cases, their value has dropped is because they have not
continually upgraded their skills on the one hand, and they are wasting too
much time on the other. They are engaging in activities or performing tasks
of low value or no value, tasks that no one can pay them $25 or $50 an hour
to do. As a result, they are laid off or fired, and must make the rounds for
several months before finding new jobs that pay even lower amounts than
they were earning before.
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The focus on your hourly rate, and continually increasing the value of your
work on an hourly basis, is the key to your future. As Pat Riley, the
basketball coach said, “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.” If
you are not continually learning and upgrading your skills, you are actually
sliding backwards, and your time is becoming less and less valuable to your
employer. Don’t let this happen to you.
Delegation Is the Key to Leverage
To achieve everything you are capable of achieving, and to be able to
concentrate on those few tasks that can make the greatest contribution to
your life and work, you must become excellent at delegation. Whether you
are a boss or an employee, you must be continually seeking ways to
outsource, delegate and get other people to do things that pay you a lower
hourly rate than you desire to earn.
There are several ways that you can become more effective at delegating and
outsourcing, or hiring other people to do parts of your work so that you can
do the parts of your job that pay the most.
1. Instead of You?
Ask the question, “Who can do this job instead of you?” Remember, you
have to delegate everything possible in order to have enough time to do
those few things that are most important.
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2. Better than You?
You should ask, “Who can do this job better than me?” One of the
characteristics of effective managers and successful leaders is that they have
the ability to find people who are superior to them in specific tasks. You
should continually be looking for people who can do certain parts of your
work better than you.
3. At a Lower Cost?
Evaluate the job and ask, “Who can do this job at a lower cost than me?”
Many companies and individuals are finding that they can outsource major
parts of their operations to companies who specialize in that area.
Companies that specialize in a particular function can usually do the job
cheaper and faster than a company that does that work as part of its other
activities.
4. Can It Be Eliminated?
Ask yourself and others, “Can this activity be eliminated altogether?” What
would happen if the job were not done at all? Many of the routinized tasks
and activities in a company or business could be quite easily eliminated with
no loss of productivity and great increases of ineffectiveness.
Once upon a time, in a Fortune 500 company, a new Vice President of
Finance took over the accounting and bookkeeping for the national
organization. One of his departments consisted of 12 highly paid accountants
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and analysts who spent their time assembling the monthly reports from all
the operating divisions into a single binder, which was then distributed to all
the division heads. This department and its activities were costing the
company almost a million dollars a year.
The new Vice President was curious. He went down the hall to one of the
division heads and asked him if he had been receiving the monthly reports
from his accounting department. The division head assured him that he had
been getting the reports each month. The Vice President asked, “What do
you do with them?”
He said, “Come here and I’ll show you.” He took him down the hall and into
a storage room where the monthly reports, each of them about three inches
thick, were neatly stacked on a set of bookshelves. “We never have time to
read them, but we keep them here just in case.”
The new VP of Finance went back to his offices, called in the specialists
who produced the report and told them to discontinue their activities. They
would be reassigned to other jobs where the company needed their expertise
more than this department.
They argued vigorously against this decision. They insisted that the
company was dependent upon their monthly reports. But the new VP was
adamant. He discontinued the reports and didn’t tell anyone.
Nothing happened. Fully nine months later, the VP was at an executive
meeting and one of the division heads asked him in passing, “Whatever
