Timings are Critical not Flexible

"There just aren't enough hours in the day" “I don’t have enough time”, are cries I hear all too often as a business coach. It never ceases to amaze me just how unproductive, incompetent and inefficient we can be with the time we have. Let's face it each and every day we are given just 24 hours, yet we continually squander them. Let's put this into perspective, take a look at how old you are right now, assuming you live in the UK where the average life expectancy is 80.42 years old, how many summers have you got left? Well I have 34. Now thinking in those terms how many do you want to waste? I for one don't aim to waste any of them. With that focus I aim to ensure I don't waste any of my time, in fact getting more done effectively allows me to enjoy a great work life balance.

So how can I get more efficient with my time? 

As a soldier and an officer I lived by the adage that timings were critical not flexible, I had a real militant approach to timings. If I had to be somewhere at a time I always allowed a factor of time to ensure I would arrive early, the ‘fudge factor’. If we had a parade at 0800hrs, then I would expect to arrive at least 5 minutes early. You’ll have heard the adage ‘with military precision’, timings really were critical in terms of coordinating activities on a very large scale.  Placing such significance on time and timings results in everyone internalising the importance of time and holding themselves accountable. Can your organisation say the same? Could you place significance on timing to build a culture of maximising efficiency?

Here’s my top 7 tips from my military experience for your business:

1. Work Back - When working towards a deadline always establish the major milestones working back from the deadline time. This will allow you to establish all the critical timings leading up to delivery. 

2. Timetable – Have a timetable of daily, weekly, monthly and annual activities which are routine. Identify who is responsible for the activities and have been given clear direction. Have the timetable published at a central point within the organisation and clearly communicate it.

3. Clear lines of Communication – Have clear lines of communication through the tiers of the organisation, to ensure timely and detailed passage of information. Meetings can form the conduit and starting point, you must ensure there is a clear agenda and stick to it. Don’t allow the meeting to detract and remain firmly in control of the agenda. So much time is wasted through poor communication and unnecessary lengthy meetings.

4. Synchronise - Whilst this may sound odd, from time to time it will be useful to check everyone’s time is synchronised. Maybe take the time from the internet, central clock or make one team member responsible for setting time. In the military we always worked from GMT and when on operations the Artillery would be responsible for setting the organisation, ‘gunners time’.

5. Clear Direction - When setting out tasks for the team make sure there is clear direction given; simply put set out what is to be achieved, what the limitations and constraints are and when it is to be completed by. Throughout make sure the team leader monitors progress periodically, be mindful not to micro manage though.

6. Concurrent Activity – Whenever possible always be thinking what complementing tasks can be conducted concurrently. There is greater efficiency to have tasks run in unison.

7 – One third, two thirds rule. During planning always ensure you, the business owner, ensure your team have the greater proportion of the available time to complete their roles within the planning or task. Essentially take 1/3^rd of the time and give the team 2/3^rd’s.  

There is often a focus on getting efficient with our time, the focus here is regarding building a culture and relationship with time. Having a team who value time, seek to gain greater proficiency with their time and maximise productivity. Implementing these 7 steps within your business is a start to building the culture where timings are critical not flexible.