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How often do you let your time get chewed up by others?
Now you don't consciously set out to let people waste your
time, however without realising it you are probably allowing
it to happen.
One of my clients, John, recently hired a new team member.
At his previous workplace, Barry had a boss who always had
his door open and let the staff wander in. Barry's boss
liked to have an 'open door' to show that he was accessible
to his team. That sounds very noble but the reality is,
that Barry's ex boss would get very little done for himself
as he was constantly letting others interrupt him.
Now that Barry has changed jobs, he has automatically been
doing exactly the same thing to John, constantly knocking
on his door to get his questions answered. Understandably
Barry was a new employee and therefore would have lots of
questions, however John complained to me that Barry thought
he could interrupt at any time, as that's what he had done
in his previous position.
At one point John had noted that Barry had knocked on his
door 6 times in one hour. That meant John lost his focus
and it took him 3 times longer to complete his work. In
real terms he realised he was losing 2 hours a day with
his time being worth $250 an hour that was $500. Multiply
that for 1 week and that's 10 hours a week and $2500 of
lost time.
On the other side of the story, the following could have
happened...
- Barry may not have had sufficient training in his new role
- John had made a mistake in the hiring process.
- John expectations were unrealistic...
- John hadn't communicated effectively on how he would handle staff queries or who
in the organisation to speak with if he is unavailable.
As I said to John, it was up to him to train his new employee
on how things are done in his business. As the leader he
needed to set the rules and enforce them. He also needed
to practice what he preached.
It is extremely important to invest time on training new
employees. Regardless of whether they have worked in the
same role elsewhere, every business has different ways of
working. It's also imperative to communicate effectively
to your team how you expect 'things to be done around here'.
Also make sure you turn the tables and ask them for feedback
as well.
When working with my coaching clients, we use an anonymous
feedback process called "The Productivity and Leadership
Profile". The business owner answers the questionnaire on
his own performance and his team anonymously and individually
rate the boss on how they see him/her. This is vital if
we are to hear the truth. The report in many instances is
a real eye opener for the boss. Without true feedback they
never know if they are doing a good job or not. |
