Make Time for the
Work That Matters
Based on the article by Julian Birkinshaw and Jordan
Cohen, Harvard Business Review, September 2013
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More hours in the day.
What everyone wants–
but can’t get.
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The Problem
We waste a lot of time on low-value activities.
41%
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Reason #1
We all get entangled in commitments.
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Reason #2
Companies ask us to do more with less.
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Think more deliberately
about your time.
Free up one day a week.
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How One Manager
Redesigned Her Workload
Low-value activities
• Meetings
• Administrative tasks
High-value activities
• Listening in on sales calls
• One-on-one coaching
• Brainstorming improvements
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The Payoff
Increased
Sales
Increased
Productivity
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Freeing Up Time in Your Schedule
Find the 25% of activities that are
unimportant and easy to drop or delegate.
Unimportant
Easy to drop
or delegate
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Change Is Easier on a Personal Level
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A Five-Step Process
Identify
Decide
Off-load
Allocate
Commit
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Identify
low-value tasks
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IDENTIFY LOW-VALUE TASKS
How valuable is this
activity to the firm?
o It contributes significantly.
o It contributes moderately.
o It contributes in a small way.
o It has no impact.
o It has a negative impact.
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IDENTIFY LOW-VALUE TASKS
How essential is this task?
o It’s a top priority.
o I need to do it today.
o I’d like to do it today.
o I’ll get to it if time allows.
o I can drop it now.
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IDENTIFY LOW-VALUE TASKS
How much personal value
do you get from the task?
o It’s one of the best parts of my job.
o I enjoy it.
o It has good and bad points.
o I find it somewhat tiresome.
o I dislike it.
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IDENTIFY LOW-VALUE TASKS
How easily could you
outsource this activity?
o Only I (or someone senior to me) can handle it.
o It’s best done by someone with my skills.
o Structured properly, it could be handled by a
subordinate.
o It could easily be handled by a subordinate or
outsourced.
o It could be dropped altogether.
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IDENTIFY LOW-VALUE TASKS
Choose what NOT to do.
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Decide
whether to
drop, delegate,
or redesign
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DECIDE WHETHER TO DROP, DELEGATE, OR REDESIGN
Sort tasks into 3 categories.
Quick
kills
Tasks to
off-load
Activities
to redesign
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Off-load
tasks
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OFF-LOAD TASKS
Delegating
isn’t easy.
“The first week was
really stressful,
because I had to do
so much planning…”
“I had trouble
remembering to push,
prod, and chase.”
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OFF-LOAD TASKS
Time saved
OFF-LOAD THE TASKS
Custom Layout
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Allocate
freed-up time
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ALLOCATE FREED-UP TIME
What should I be doing instead?
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ALLOCATE FREED-UP TIME
Invest in important activities.
Coaching employees
Crafting strategy
Listening to customers
Spending time with family
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Commit to
your plan
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COMMIT TO YOUR PLAN
Communicate your plan to others.
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A simple path to higher productivity
No organizational redesign
No process reengineering
No business model reinvention
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Try the assessment
yourself!
Make time for the
work that matters.
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• How much time do you
estimate you can free up?
• What tasks will you stop
doing right away?
• Whom will you delegate
tasks to?
For Discussion
• What will it take to move
tasks to those people?
Who else needs to be
involved?
• What higher-value
activities will you focus
your extra time on?
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