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Where Did The Time Go?

That expression is usually rhetorical. But, do you really know where your time is going?

If you are a normal human you can identify with that question. Sometimes we check the time and are struck by how quickly it has passed.

I recommend that you conduct an audit of how you spend your time. That action is one of the most transformational activities that you can undertake.

We hold mental images of who we are and what is important to us. However, it is what we do that defines us. How we spend our time is what gives us our true identity.

This time audit will expose the real YOU.

What is involved?

The requirement is that you track how you use each 24-hour day for 30 days.

The intention is not to place an additional burden on your time. Consequently, avoid using methods that take a lot of time.

It is important that you record events and activities as close as possible to their occurrence. Do not sit at night recording what you recall about the day’s activities.

You will get an amazing bonus from recording who initiates each action. Note down who made the contact or who gave the assignment. Slip in the nature and duration of each activity.

Here is one value of identifying who is involved in your activities – especially those initiated by others:

“Interruptions” are identified as one the major challenges to be overcome by my Time & Task Management participants. In many instances, the principal culprit is a supervisor who considers herself to be super-efficient. Reduce top-down interruptions with this strategy.

Some supervisors are guilty of blurting. Here is an example of blurting in action:

Jane starts her day by going through her incoming mail and To Do List. As she goes through she takes immediate action.

Item 3 requires John to do something. Jane summons John.

Item 5 involves John. Jane contacts John. And the process continues.

While Jane is being seemingly efficient, she is making it difficult for John to manage his time effectively. Organizations suffer badly from poor TIME TEAMWORK.

We must function as teams and the focus should be on how the team uses its time and not just the individual.

The time audit is the perfect antidote to blurting.

John might not have the luxury of telling Jane that she is negatively impacting his productivity. However, he could refer to this article and its recommended time audit exercise.

He can share from the audit the frequency, duration and content of his contact with Jane. He could translate that into dollars using his rate of pay x 2.

If Jane is a worthy team leader, the information should make compelling reading. The parties could then agree to meet at specified times during the day. Any issue that arises in between meetings will be held until the next session. Jane’s blurting would have been moderated.

Of course, Jane does not have the monopoly on interruptions. John’s time audit will identify the interactions that he has on a regular basis. He can then determine if that is the most effective use of his time and make the necessary adjustment.

True You

The Time Audit adds another dimension to self-discovery. It will highlight whether your professed commitments are supported by concrete action. It points to habits good and bad that have entered into your reality.

I strongly urge that you complete this 30-day, 24-hour audit of how you spend your time. Who, what, how often and how much are all laid out for your review and decision-making.

As an added incentive for men, John can also use the audit to highlight to his wife the absence of certain activities. Wives will point to the need for more quality time together.

Access the series here: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/ Enter in search: Outlook Trevor E S Smith

The next cohort of the ICF/SHRM accredited Certified Behavioural Coach Award will be January 2016.

E-mail: info[at]swpacademy.com

Trevor E S Smith is a Behaviour Modification Coach with the Success with People Academy, Extended DISC/FinxS.

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Stop Wasting Your Time

In conducting Time & Task Management workshops for many years less than 5% of participants believe that they have enough time. Still less believe that they have control over their time.

It gets worse. To date, no one has convincingly won my 168 hour challenge. Take the challenge and see how much time you are wasting.

We have 24 x 7 = 168 hours each week. Using traditional work week figures, it means that each week we have 4 shifts plus one 8-hour day each week. The challenge is to assume that you were reporting to a strict supervisor for each shift/day. In that context, justify your effective use and performance on each of the 4 shifts plus your 8-hour part-time engagement.

A quick disclaimer: This is not about being robots and putting in mega working hours. This is about leading a holistic life that is balanced and fulfilling. Indeed, you might decide not to allocate a single hour to work.

For example, you could decide to invest your time resources in rest and relaxation (R&R). But even then could you satisfy your 5 supervisors about your performance on each shift? Would the hours spent with the TV watching you qualify as effective R&R?

The challenge is to justify your effective use of the 4 shifts plus one work day that you are given every single week.

The consistent realization is that we have hours that we can’t account for. We can’t identify where they went and we are unable to allocate them to any category other than – Miscellaneous (more correctly – Missing.)

Yet, time is our most valuable asset. STOP WASTING YOUR TIME!

Reflect for a moment on a recent well spent hour. What if you could add 8 of those each week, year after year?

My promise is that if you dedicate 8 structured hours per week to any endeavour you are going to develop very high levels of proficiency at it. You could achieve almost anything.

Recovering 1 hour per day for more effective use can transform your life. Make a commitment now to identify more effective use for 8 hours each week.

You can break it up. You could do 30 minutes in the morning or at lunch time and another 30 minutes at evening time. Others might prefer to block out chunks of 3 hours twice per week plus 2 one-hour sessions on the weekend. (This is the formal study model).

You can also target different areas and objectives. Devotion early morning, exercise late afternoon, professional development early evening and proper R&R thereafter.

I recommend 8 areas that should be addressed to achieve a balanced and fulfilled life (not in order of importance).

Family
Career
Spiritual
Social interaction
Financial stability
Health
Personal development
Leisure

Complete an exercise from my Time & Task Management workshops that invariably brings participants to a fuller appreciation of what is really important to them.

Imagine that there is consensus among doctors that you have six months to live. Get a sheet of paper. Draw a line down the middle. Shut out all distractions. Spend the next 10 minutes listing on the left “Things I will do” and on the right “Things I will not do”.

It is amazing how different those lists are from your current reality. Things that dominate your thoughts lose their importance and neglected areas come to the fore: “Will”, “God”, “Travel”, “Relationships” are constants. “Work” heads the list on the right. The truth is in reality we might have less than six months left. Take the time to make the best use of today.

STOP WATCHING YOUR TIME GO DOWN THE DRAIN!

Send your 168 hour challenge to me and complete a very private “Do/Not Do list.”

To access this entire series go to http://jamaica-gleaner.com/ Enter in search: Outlook Trevor E S Smith

Register now for the SHRM accredited 3-D Leader Certification course or the next cohort of the ICF accredited “Certified Behavioural Coach Award”. Great use of your time!

E-mail: info[at]swpacademy.com

Trevor E S Smith is a Behaviour Modification Coach with the Success with People Academy, Extended DISC/FinxS.

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How Turf Wars Frustrate Teamwork – Are You A Foot Soldier?

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How To Let Your Light Shine: A 3-Step Plan

How To Let Your Light Shine: A 3-Step Plan

Christians are ambassadors for Christ. We are required to let our influence be felt.

Matt 5: 13 -16 Salt and Light

¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Many Christians struggle with this issue of making their presence felt. Some feel that they are shy. Others have doubt about what they have to offer.

A constant challenge for some Christians is “How can we increase our influence?”

I will share a sure fire 3-step process for increasing your influence in any environment – family, work, affiliations and the wider community.

Step 1: Build Trust

If you reflect on the people who have had the most influence on your life, you will find that they had at least one thing in common – you trusted them. You believed what they shared and trusted their wisdom and judgement. But how did you get to that point?

4 sub-steps unlock that mystery and provide the key to building trust.

Why did you trust?

There was meaningful contact, often with a high level of frequency or regularity.

Strive for regular meaningful communication with those you want to influence. That is one key to your success. Christ was with His disciples all time. He went to temple and places where He would be sure to contact the people He wanted to influence.

You do not have to become a socialite. You can make a conscious effort to spend more quality time with those that are in your circle. People at work, school or in your neighbourhood.

They satisfied some need that was important to you.

Identify the needs of those you seek to influence and satisfy as many as you can. At least work towards having their needs met.

Christ fed and healed. He satisfied the needs of those who He wanted to influence.

Matt 14: ¹⁴When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

You might not be in a position to address all the physical needs of others but you can be there for them with respect to their emotional needs.

You can also be a source of wise counsel to help them solve problems and make decisions.

They reached out to you and you perceive that there was a sense of purpose related to the contact.

Make a conscious effort to reach out to those you seek to influence with shared goals in mind.

Christ was clearly focused and dedicated to His purpose.

Luke 2:49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?

Make letting your light shine an important item on your daily agenda.

They delivered on promises. This is the bedrock of trust.

Only promise what you can deliver and deliver what you promise.

Christ was sure in His pronouncements. Nothing that He said proved to be false or worthy of being doubted.

Let your word be your bond. Never allow yourself be caught in a lie or a hollow promise.

Step 2: Be Admired/Respected

Cast your thoughts to the people that you admire or respect. It is likely that the basis of your admiration or respect could be placed into 2 categories:

Their accomplishments and contributions
Their character

What does this mean for you?

Accomplishment/Contributions

You can wield more influence if you accomplish more and make a greater contribution to your community and the world at large. If you are seen as a worthy citizen you will earn more credibility and wield more influence.
That means that continuous learning and skills upgrade along with focus and commitment are essential ingredients on the path to letting your light shine brightly.
Also, take care of your surroundings and be diligent.
Take care to ensure that your accomplishments and contributions are in keeping with your role as an Ambassador for Christ.

Character

Your behaviour (life) must be in keeping with the message that you are trying to send.
In essence, you have to become a role model for the group. You have to be the living manifestation of what you want them to become. “Do as I (say ) do!”
You need to be someone that they look up to.
You need to be a source of inspiration. Walk the talk!

Step 3: Care

Why is it that most of us trusted our parents and took guidance from them? At the core, it is because we believed that they cared about us. We believe that they had our best interest at heart and would spare no effort to satisfy our needs. We never felt as though they would lead us down the wrong path or betray our trust.

That is the ultimate blueprint for increasing your influence.

Matt 15: ³²Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”

Demonstrate continuously that you care for those you seek to lead, influence or impact. Make it crystal clear that you are there to pull them up and not to push them down.

Follow this step-by-step plan for the next 60 days and witness a ground swell in your capacity to influence others.

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A 3-Step Plan To Increase Your Influence

Here is a sure fire way to increase your influence in any sphere of operation.

How To Deal With Cliques

How To Deal With Cliques: A Mathematical Formula For Great Teamwork III

We are using the BOMDAS formula to strengthen teamwork.

Under Brackets we established that Belonging is essential if the team is to achieve high levels of success – in our homes, in our workplaces, and in any group. We placed responsibility for achieving bonding and cohesiveness on the shoulders of the Team Leader.

While the brackets signify inclusion, they also indicate that some things should be kept separate. Including what should be excluded produces the wrong result!

Leaders must exclude anything that negatively impacts their teams.

Culprit #1: Cliques or Informal sub-groups

Among the greatest challenges to the smooth running of a group is the presence of a clique. The clique is a small set within the group that looks to a source other than the official leader for leadership. Cliques have the tendency to undermine the influence of the team leader — deliberately or as a by-product of their agenda.

What can a team leader do to limit the influence of cliques?

The first thing to note is that a clique should not be ignored as it could present a major challenge if allowed to grow in influence.

Note also that threats, ostracism, imposing muzzling rules and any method that relies on coercion will not produce sustained positive results. At best they drive the clique underground and set the stage for guerrilla warfare.

A clique exists because there is the perception of unmet needs – voices not being heard; unhappy with treatment or an aspiration for a greater share of power etc.

A leader’s effectiveness is enhanced by their capacity to uncover unfulfilled needs and then address them to the satisfaction or acceptance of the affected parties.

Here are some steps in your plan to address the challenge of a clique within your group:

Step 1: Review the issue of shared vision, goals and objectives.

Use information gathering techniques – surveys, focus groups, informal discussions – to glean information on the aspirations of team members.
Work to identify key areas of alignment of team member objectives with formal team objectives.
Carefully isolate factors that are not aligned and have the potential to be disruptive or distracting.

You should recognize that the quality of the information received from this exercise is directly related to the environment that has been created. Where there is low trust and a sense that leadership is not committed to the empowerment of team members, people are likely to suppress their true feelings. No matter who is responsible, as leader you must sell “I am different. This initiative is different”.

Step 2: Camp out on identified shared objectives

Place laser-focus on things held in common.

Effective leaders latch on to 2 – 3 shared objectives. They then package and sell them such that they are seen as the glue that holds the team together. If the objective is to win the Gold Medal in the relay then get the stars to run their assigned leg without fuss.

Leaders in every sphere must meet the challenge of identifying goals and objectives that can serve as the glue that holds the group together. When teams are guided into uniting around shared purpose their capacity for high performance is unlimited.

But it is not all milk and honey.

One particularly difficult clique arises when someone believes that they are better equipped to lead the group or for some reason refuses to embrace the leadership of the official leader. Ostracizing that individual and their supporters does not provide a sustained solution. Finding a mutually acceptable role for the individual in the process is a more viable solution. Reconcile rather than exile!

Leadership requires a transformed mind-set.

Our upcoming SHRM accredited “3-D Leader Certification” addresses dimensions not covered in traditional leadership training.

Trevor E S Smith is a Behaviour Modification Coach with the Success with People Academy which is recognized by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for the SHRM-CPSM or SHRM-SCPSM Certifications.

Home of the ICF-accredited “Certified Behavioral Coach Award”.

Joint venture partner Extended DISC/FinxS Caribbean.

Website: http://swpacademy.com

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Cohesiveness: How We Use Maths To Improve Teamwork

We are using the BOMDAS formula to strengthen our relationships in teams.

It is an acronym that depicts the order of operation:

We are dealing with Brackets. Brackets speak to inclusion; belonging.

Belonging is essential if the team is to achieve high levels of success – in our homes, in our workplaces, and in any group. Groups experience different levels of bonding, unity or team spirit – what I call cohesiveness.

Yet, cohesiveness plays such a critical role in the life they experience.

History is replete with records of sports teams that triumphed primarily on the basis of their cohesiveness while the loser’s column is filled with those who were caught up in on and off the field strife and disunity.

Why is cohesiveness – bonding, unity, team spirit – so important? The oft used –Together Each Achieves More applies. Group work is more effective that independent individual effort.

It is useful to examine what is a team and why they add value.

My preferred definition is:

A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals and approaches for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

What can we learn from this definition?

A. People with complementary skills.

Team work incorporating Team Cohesiveness does NOT mean that everybody has to be same. Successful teams need people to bring different talents, perspectives and ideas to the table.

One sign of a successful team is the fact that it helps its members to achieve self-fulfillment. Team leaders must empower team members.

B. People who are committed to a common purpose.

The glue that holds the team together is the commitment to the common purpose. Without the commitment to the common purpose the team loses its compass.

Without the commitment to the common purpose, members do not have any point of reference that can hold them together. It is like using rubber bands to tie a team of wild horses together.

Commitment has two distinct and critically important components:

1. There must be a clearly identified purpose that is understood in the same way by all the members of the team.

2. The second component is that all the members of a functional team commit to the same understanding of the common purpose.

One indelible sign of a dysfunctional team is the fact that some members are wavering in their commitment to the common purpose.

C. People who are committed to a set of performance goals and approaches.

Successful teams know where they are going. They also know how they are going to get there. In addition, they know if they are on track.
Successful teams are clear on the strategies and the activities that will lead them to the achievement of the common purpose.
Successful teams have guidelines and yardsticks that indicate to them whether they are on course or not.
Successful teams do not lose bearing and lose momentum because they have set performance goals that keep them on track.

In successful teams members:

Know and commit to the performance goals. They understand that the guidelines and yardsticks are tied to the attainment of the common purpose.
Understand and buy into an agreed approach that is tied to performance goals that lead to attainment of the common purpose.
Do NOT come up with their own approaches and guidelines as they deem fit. This issue of the importance of commitment to the team and its values is not widely understood and accepted. That is why there is so much conflict and lack of cohesiveness in households, in work groups, in organizations, in communities and the wider society.

D. Team members must be mutually accountable.

Without accountability things fall apart. Great teams accept the need for discipline and team members are open to receiving feedback.

LEADERSHIP has a critical role in addressing these issues. The upcomingSHRM accredited 3-D Leader Certification deals directly with those challenges among others. It deals frontally with successfully leading difficult, dominant and diverse team members.

Home of the ICF accredited “Certified Behavioural Coach Award.”

Joint venture partner Extended DISC/FinxS

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How To Use A Math Formula To Improve Teamwork

At school I learned the life-saving BOMDAS formula without which solving Algebra problems would be impossible.

The order of operation should be:

Here is an example:

Solve: 7 + (6 + 3) x 5 – 4 ÷ 2

Step 1 [Brackets]: 7+ 9 x 5 – 4 ÷ 2

Step 2 [Multiplication & Division]: 7 + 45 – 2

Step 3 [Addition]: 52 – 2

Step 4 [Subtraction]: 50

Answer = 50

I want to explore with you its application in the realm of teamwork and healthy relationships. Applying the BOMDAS rules creatively could help address some of the challenges that produce a lack of cooperation in groups at a time when effective teamwork is critical for success.

Brackets

The brackets represent both inclusion and exclusion. It indicates that the things within the brackets have something in common that sets them apart from things outside. It also dictates that the things within the brackets should be given similar treatment.

Let’s now take the leap from the abstract to the real live challenge of working cohesively with others.

The first concept is “Belonging”.

One common problem in dysfunctional teams is the failure of members to identify with the team. They don’t see themselves as being part of the whole that is bonded by common objectives and shared goals.

The brackets say – there is a bond that ties us together. The on the ground reality is that many speak of their teams in terms of they instead of we.

Other tell-tale signs that the brackets are meaningless include the fact that team successes are not celebrated as personal successes. It is like a disgruntled player coming home to report that they won the match. After investigation you realize that it is actually his team that won. From the bench he does not see himself as belonging in the team and so he refers to his team as they.

Today’s crisis of low employee engagement has some of its roots in the fact that some team members feel like bystanders rather than being actively engaged in the field of play.

Do a bit of investigative work over the next days and listen carefully to the dialogue of colleagues – your team and other groups. See how often you can detect pride in the accomplishments of the group to which the individual belongs.

In cohesive and functional teams the pride comes from just being a part of the team. Members champion the cause of the team as a whole and each member individually. Team member Jenny’s graduation is ours. In a real sense it might be because we helped so much with her research projects and proof reading her submissions!

That is the spirit that fuels high performing teams and tightly connected groups.

Meanwhile, back in dysfunctional land, Desmond has been like a zombie since he was passed over for the Team Leader role. He might not openly tear down what Martha puts forward but his lack of interest cannot be missed. It is also noticeable that people who were close to Desmond and who felt that he should have got the promotion are also not engaged. The separation is not only mental as they have now started to eat as a clique in a corner of the lunch room.

This team is on a downward spiral and the impact will soon be evident in their key performance indicators (KPIs).

Unfortunately, it is Martha’s responsibility as Team Leader to solve the problem. She may not have appointed herself but now it is her job to get the best from her team.

She needs to have a heart-to-heart talk with Desmond. She can share that she has observed that he is not the dynamic, vibrant person of three months ago and she would like to discuss the change. She needs to steer clear of even a hint of accusation with respect to his lack of support.

One strategy that might work well for Martha is for her to find some solution – a role, maybe – that helps Desmond to save face and feel better about himself. Could she identify a discrete part of her responsibility and invite him to take charge of it without weakening her authority?

That could produce the benefits of getting Desmond engaged once more while giving her the opportunity to focus on other areas. Of course, if Desmond messes up that would provide grounds for another conversation.

Leading teams is a challenging endeavor that requires a cross-section of well-developed competences. Formal ongoing professional development is essential.

Home of the ICF accredited “Certified Behavioural Coach Award.”

Joint venture partner Extended DISC/FinxS Caribbean …world leading behavioral assessment solutions.