Over Committed?

Are your executives over committed? Do they have any of these symptoms:

· Chronically late to meetings?
· Drop in work quality?
· Work many hours of overtime?
· Feel tired and stressed?

In the fast pace of today’s business climate many executives suffer from these symptoms. They get caught in the whirlwind of meetings, problems, e-mails, and phone calls, and lose an awareness of how they are investing their precious time. Have you heard any of your employees say, “I did a lot today but I didn’t get anything done.”

If executives intentionally choose how to spend their time the results are greater productivity and lower stress. Unplanned events will always arise but a plan of action will ensure the unplanned events are the exception not the rule.

Here’s a simple scheduling and debriefing practice to share with an over committed executive.

1. Each day before leaving work, make a “To Do” list for the next day inclusive of a time schedule. Include all meetings, preparation, and travel time.

2. The ask the following questions:
· Is this scheduled really possible, given how often I’ll be interrupted?
· If not, what action can I take now?
· Can one of my staff take on this responsibility? Do I really need to do it myself?

3. Debrief at the end of the day with the following questions:
· What did I accomplish today that’s important for my goals?
· How can I correct tomorrow’s scheduling by what I learned today?

This practice may seem too simple to alleviate the symptoms of over commitment yet I challenge you to have your executive try it for 2 weeks. The small investment will yield a great return.