The most critical resource that we have is time. We all have limited time on this planet. How we make use of it determines the legacy that we create. Many of us know what truly matters to us, and yet we invest time in inconsequential activities. The distraction caused by our devices and social media is a significant cause that interferes with our desire to realise our full potential.
For example, we know that we need to put in a lot of time and effort to learn an important new skill, and yet we do not find the time to do so. Instead of taking responsibility for this, we keep blaming external factors for our failures. Many of us also suffer from procrastination. We keep putting off important work and fill our day with various distractions, which will not help us move towards our goals. Excessive Internet surfing, engaging in pointless debates, gossip and politicking are examples of time wasters.
Francesco Cirillo used a technique called “pomodoro” (a tomato-shaped kitchen timer) to plan his calendar in 25-minute increments. One is required to be fully immersed in one task for 25 minutes, followed by a short break of five minutes, and then focus on the following item for the same 25 minutes. Although he used this technique for organising his studies, it became a highly effective tool for time management, enhancing both productivity and quality.
A simple recording of how we spend time and a weekly review of the same will reveal to us how we lead our lives. It is an eye-opener to many. Stephen Covey encouraged us to do this regularly by dividing activities into two parts: urgent and vital. When we look at the results in four parts: urgent and important, urgent but not essential, important but not urgent and not urgent and not important, we can gain valuable insights on how we could better organise and plan our time. He urged us to reduce the amount of time we invest in urgent matters by taking the time for meaningful and non-urgent issues today. He reminded us that failure on our part to do so would cause more time to be wasted in the future.
David Allen’s well-known method “Get Things Done” (GTD) has the following steps:
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Capture: Collect everything that has your attention (tasks, ideas, emails, commitments) into an external system (notebook, app, inbox).
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Goal:Empty your mind.
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Clarify:Process what each item means. Is it actionable? If yes, define the next action. If no, trash it, file it as reference, or keep it for “someday/maybe”.
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Organise: Put actions into the right place, such as a projects list – anything requiring more than one action and a next actions list – specific tasks to do.
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Calendar:Time-bound commitments.
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Waiting For:Tasks delegated or pending from others.
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Reflect:Review your system regularly (usually weekly) to keep it current and aligned. Ask: Am I on track? Are priorities right?
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Engage:Choose what to work on based on – context (where am I, what tools do I have?); time available; energy available; assign priority.
Planning also involves visualising all the steps needed to execute our plans. This is especially important when we are working on an improvement plan or transformation agenda. Here are some valuable questions that are important for us to reflect on:
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What are we trying to do, and why?
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What kind of resources do we have and can mobilise?
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What kind of capability do we have, and can we acquire?
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What help do we need from whom, and when?
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How will we know that we are successful?
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How often should we review progress, and with whom?
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How should we celebrate success?
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What could go wrong?
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What are the countermeasures that we need to think of to handle such contingencies?
I have had the privilege of working with leaders and organisations in different parts of the world. I have been deeply impacted by the planning process and skills of Japanese leaders and organisations. Their focus on “shunbun” – assigning time boxes for tasks – and “hansei”, or self-reflection at the end of the day to study how time was spent, are well-known approaches. They tend to invest a lot of time in planning and ensuring that every step is visualised and planned for. On the contrary, I notice that many of us in India do not invest enough time in planning and frequently adjust the plan as the implementation happens, often leading to delays in projects. This holds both in organisational settings and personal life.
The School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL) Institute of Management has partnered with Dr Tomo Noda, the amazing founder of Shizenkan University, and his colleagues in Japan. It’s inspiring to see how much thought and planning are done by our friends in Japan to launch an initiative, almost a year in advance.
Every plan requires that we define our tasks clearly in terms of what, when, where, who and how. Clarifying expectations and roles of all people involved is a critical step. Designing simple processes that enable inputs to be converted into the desired output requires careful thought. As we carry on our work, we encounter problems. Once we find solutions, they need to be incorporated into our systems to avoid reinventing the wheel when similar issues arise in the future. Many years ago, I visited Toshiba in Japan and found that every process in the company had a life and was worthy of study to improve it. They called it “process renovation” and later referred to it as PLM – Process Lifecycle Management.
Other Japanese methods, such as 5S, kaizen, Lean and TPM, and the global Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Excellence (BE) Movement, have been adopted by organisations all over the world to improve the way we operate with the spirit of continuous improvement. TVS Group in India, Eicher Group, Tata Steel and many others were pioneers in introducing these practices in their companies.
Eicher Consultancy Services Limited, the company that some of us founded, worked with several leading firms such as Larsen and Toubro, Crompton Greaves, Wipro and Indian Aluminium Company (now part of Aditya Birla) to improve quality, productivity and employee engagement.
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda often says, “I believe that there is no best – only better”. Their methods, such as “genchi genbutsu” (learn from the actual workplace and observe how work is being done), “obeya” (big room) meetings for interaction with large teams with cross-functional people and “hansei” (reflection) are all legendary and emulated by people all over the world.
Many of us have learnt from this and have also applied these practices to our homes and communities with simple steps like “a place for everything and everything in its place”. This is also referred to as 5S. The acronym explains what it stands for – Cleanliness, Arrangement, Neatness, (Self) Discipline and Orderliness. The Japanese 5S system – Seiri (Sort), Seiton (Set in Order), Seiso (Shine), Seiketsu (Standardise), and Shitsuke (Sustain) – has a widely used English acronym called CANDO: Cleanliness, Arrange, Neatness, Discipline, and Orderliness. While “Orderliness” overlaps most directly with Seiton (Set in Order), it also incorporates elements of Seiketsu (Standardise), because true orderliness is maintained through consistent standards and visual control.
Excerpted with permission fromThe Inspired Leader: Seven Practices to Unlock Your Leadership Potential, Anil Sachdev, Penguin India.
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