Today i read a very interesting write-up by the great Management thinker Sumantra Ghoshal. This write-up provides tremendous insights about the criminal wastage of executive time and also suggests the solution for the same.
I suggest everyone to read it.
"NO DOUBT, executives are under incredible pressure to perform, and they have far too much to do, even when they work 12-hour days. But the fact is, very few managers use their time as effectively as they could. They think they’re attending to pressing matters, but they’re really just spinning their wheels. The awareness that unproductive busyness — what we call “active non-action” — is a hazard for managers is not new. Managers themselves bemoan the problem, and researchers have examined it. But the underlying dynamics of the behaviour are less well understood. For the past 10 years, we have studied the behaviour of busy managers in nearly a dozen large companies. Our findings suggest that fully 90% of managers squander their time in all sorts of ineffective activities. We came to the conclusion that managers who take effective action (those who make difficult — even seemingly impossible — things happen) rely on a combination of two traits: focus and energy. Think of focus as concentrated attention — the ability to zero in on a goal and see the task through to completion.
Focused managers aren’t in reactive mode; they choose not to respond immediately to every issue that comes their way or get sidetracked from their goals by distractions like e-mail, meetings, setbacks, and unforeseen demands. Because they have a clear understanding of what they want to accomplish, they carefully weigh their options before selecting a course of action."
I suggest everyone to read it.
"NO DOUBT, executives are under incredible pressure to perform, and they have far too much to do, even when they work 12-hour days. But the fact is, very few managers use their time as effectively as they could. They think they’re attending to pressing matters, but they’re really just spinning their wheels. The awareness that unproductive busyness — what we call “active non-action” — is a hazard for managers is not new. Managers themselves bemoan the problem, and researchers have examined it. But the underlying dynamics of the behaviour are less well understood. For the past 10 years, we have studied the behaviour of busy managers in nearly a dozen large companies. Our findings suggest that fully 90% of managers squander their time in all sorts of ineffective activities. We came to the conclusion that managers who take effective action (those who make difficult — even seemingly impossible — things happen) rely on a combination of two traits: focus and energy. Think of focus as concentrated attention — the ability to zero in on a goal and see the task through to completion.
Focused managers aren’t in reactive mode; they choose not to respond immediately to every issue that comes their way or get sidetracked from their goals by distractions like e-mail, meetings, setbacks, and unforeseen demands. Because they have a clear understanding of what they want to accomplish, they carefully weigh their options before selecting a course of action."
