Time – there is never enough of it. I get the same feedback from pretty much all my clients. And when it comes to trying to drive change, the lack of available time becomes a real blocker.
‘How can I invest time in a transformation project, when I hardly/don’t have the time to get my day job done’
Of course, that’s a great point, well made. Like matter, time cannot be created or destroyed, but transformed into one form or another….so what’s my approach – transform it into something useful. We have all come across the ‘Stop’, ‘Do less’, ‘Delegate’ approach to management of time, and this is definitely a great first step. However, this often doesn’t achieve the desired result, and often needs the commitment and support from others (from above, and around). What really helps is breaking down the actions you want to achieve to make change happen, and then taking them in bite size chunks.
Before all of this comes a strategic plan, but that isn’t covered here, you will find it in my other blog posts, such as here – The Lessons of War – Cameron Davies and here Lean: Learning to see… “Not Waving but Drowning” – Cameron Davies and here “Happy New Year!” – Cameron Davies
So once the direction is clear, it’s easy to list all the things that need to be done, to make change happen. But as everyone has no spare time, how can you make that vision a reality?
The first trick is to recognise enablers…some of the actions might not be directly moving towards the target, but enable you to get closer to doing so. If you haven’t got a lot of enablers listed, maybe brainstorm some – a classic example might be – get someone on a short term contract to take some load off, the free time that gives others, could be used to address their priority actions.
Once you’ve got a measure on the difference between an action to get to your goal, and an enabler, you can use the Ease/Benefit matrix. It’s such an incredibly simple tool, but so powerful, and often forgotten/overlooked.
By using this tool, as a team, you can prioritise the activities to achieve your goals. Having agreed on them using the matrix (easiest way to use it is to write the actions on a sticky note, and agree the relative position on the matrix in a quick team scrum) the priorities are clear, as is an understanding of what is an enabler, and what’s a true action to get to the goal.
Setting measurable targets for each action, and capturing the actions on an action log are further tools, that help the team be efficient and effective.
It sounds simple, because it is…but it’s also very effective. Approaching it as a team really does fit with ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’ and just writing stuff down makes such a difference. Stress levels can be massively relieved by writing things down. Then make sure it’s all visual, don’t hide it in a computer, post it on a wall….wonder why stress levels in the workplace are so high these days, well, part of the reason is because the modern tools don’t help us deal with challenges, they make us hide them, and we all know, life as an Ostrich can be very stressful…
If you want to know more, please get in touch, the advice is always free.