Managing Multiple Priorities - How to juggle customers, projects, and admin – and still have a life
Managing Multiple Priorities - How to juggle customers, projects, and admin – and still have a life
Over 15 years ago, when I started my customer service speaking and training business, I was my only employee. I was doing everything: delivering speeches and seminars, strategic planning, handling suppliers, and of course taking out the trash. When writing my lengthy ‘to-do’ lists, I’d always rank customers as being my number one priority. Unfortunately, it took me five years to discover that I’d been making a huge mistake. Up until then, I hadn’t realized that the most important priority should not be the customer. As a manager, your number one priority should be working on high payoff business building projects.
Determining your top priorities
With private sector companies, your biggest priority as a manager is to maximize long-term revenues while minimizing long-term costs. Period. Managers cannot ensure the long-term viability of their organization by working on administrivia and responding to customer crises all day. That’s just treating symptoms rather than correcting underlying problems. It certainly didn’t work for me in the first five years of running my company. It wasn’t until I’d made a slight realignment to my working day that my productivity dramatically improved. I could work fewer hours and get more done. I had fewer crises and a lot less stress. And my business boomed. Best of all, I found that it was amazingly simple. If you haven’t guessed it yet, I really like this! Here it is.
The magic hour and a half
Spend the first one and a half hours of your day working on strategic projects! That’s it. Simple isn’t it? Working on strategic projects for the first hour and a half of your day gives you the remaining seven or eight hours to deal with customer issues, fight fires, deal with interruptions, work on all the administrative stuff, and even get to your e-mail. I’m not talking about a big time commitment. It’s only an hour and a half. But the payoff you’ll get from that short time investment is substantial.
This is where the 80/20 rule commonly referred to as the Pareto Principle really kicks in. In the twenty per cent of your day that you work on strategic projects, you end up getting more done than in the remaining eighty per cent.
The bonus is that these projects are completed faster and with less stress than by the alternative approach. The alternative is working on a strategic project when you can get around to it. The problem is that since these projects rarely have a deadline we simply never get around to them—until they become a crisis, that is. That’s when we start wasting resources. So, even with a mere hour-and-a-half commitment to strategic projects, our productivity is enhanced several-fold! The key is to start with the strategic projects at the beginning of your day.
The fresh start
That’s why I suggest to those managers who need to find some quiet time that rather than staying past 6:00 at night, you’d be much better off coming in at 6:00 in the morning (or working at your home office at 6:00 a.m). For most people with families and partners, your loved ones may not miss you much at 6:00 a.m. They do miss you (hopefully) if you’re still working at 6:00 p.m.
To those managers who lament that they’re not really a morning person, I have three words of advice. Get over it! The truth is that the human body is wonderfully adaptive. After twenty-one days of rising early and tackling the strategic stuff, you will find that you automatically start waking up early with more energy and focus. I’ve never considered myself to be a morning person, yet after just a few days of getting to my desk at 6:00, I’ve found that it’s eventually become second nature.
The key is to ignore your e-mail, phone messages, straightening your desk, and all the other 'urgent' stuff until after that first hour and a half of project work. If you have an intranet calendar where other people can schedule meetings for you, make sure to get there first and block off that first hour and a half of each working day.
Oh, what a feeling!
Once you develop the habit of working on strategic projects first, you will immediately notice the wonderful way it feels. You’ll gain a sense of genuine accomplishment. You’ll feel more in control. You’ll find that you give yourself permission to go home at a reasonable hour, guilt-free. You’ll identify yourself less as a clerk or even as a manager. Instead you’ll begin to get a better sense of yourself as a leader. And when you work on the right projects – your customers will view your company as being the industry Service Icon. That’s market differentiation you can take to the bank.
Managing Multiple Priorities How to juggle customers projects and admin and still have a life - To learn more about this author, visit Jeff Mowatt's Website.
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It may be a popular advertising slogan - our customers are our number one priority. As a manager however, buying into that strategy will actually reduce your effectiveness and damage your business. I learned this the hard way…
Over 15 years ago, when I started my customer service speaking and training business, I was my only employee. I was doing everything: delivering speeches and seminars, strategic planning, handling suppliers, and of course taking out the trash. When writing my lengthy ‘to-do’ lists, I’d always rank customers as being my number one priority. Unfortunately, it took me five years to discover that I’d been making a huge mistake. Up until then, I hadn’t realized that the most important priority should not be the customer. As a manager, your number one priority should be working on high payoff business building projects.
Determining your top priorities
With private sector companies, your biggest priority as a manager is to maximize long-term revenues while minimizing long-term costs. Period. Managers cannot ensure the long-term viability of their organization by working on administrivia and responding to customer crises all day. That’s just treating symptoms rather than correcting underlying problems. It certainly didn’t work for me in the first five years of running my company. It wasn’t until I’d made a slight realignment to my working day that my productivity dramatically improved. I could work fewer hours and get more done. I had fewer crises and a lot less stress. And my business boomed. Best of all, I found that it was amazingly simple. If you haven’t guessed it yet, I really like this! Here it is.
The magic hour and a half
Spend the first one and a half hours of your day working on strategic projects! That’s it. Simple isn’t it? Working on strategic projects for the first hour and a half of your day gives you the remaining seven or eight hours to deal with customer issues, fight fires, deal with interruptions, work on all the administrative stuff, and even get to your e-mail. I’m not talking about a big time commitment. It’s only an hour and a half. But the payoff you’ll get from that short time investment is substantial.
This is where the 80/20 rule commonly referred to as the Pareto Principle really kicks in. In the twenty per cent of your day that you work on strategic projects, you end up getting more done than in the remaining eighty per cent.
The bonus is that these projects are completed faster and with less stress than by the alternative approach. The alternative is working on a strategic project when you can get around to it. The problem is that since these projects rarely have a deadline we simply never get around to them—until they become a crisis, that is. That’s when we start wasting resources. So, even with a mere hour-and-a-half commitment to strategic projects, our productivity is enhanced several-fold! The key is to start with the strategic projects at the beginning of your day.
The fresh start
That’s why I suggest to those managers who need to find some quiet time that rather than staying past 6:00 at night, you’d be much better off coming in at 6:00 in the morning (or working at your home office at 6:00 a.m). For most people with families and partners, your loved ones may not miss you much at 6:00 a.m. They do miss you (hopefully) if you’re still working at 6:00 p.m.
To those managers who lament that they’re not really a morning person, I have three words of advice. Get over it! The truth is that the human body is wonderfully adaptive. After twenty-one days of rising early and tackling the strategic stuff, you will find that you automatically start waking up early with more energy and focus. I’ve never considered myself to be a morning person, yet after just a few days of getting to my desk at 6:00, I’ve found that it’s eventually become second nature.
The key is to ignore your e-mail, phone messages, straightening your desk, and all the other 'urgent' stuff until after that first hour and a half of project work. If you have an intranet calendar where other people can schedule meetings for you, make sure to get there first and block off that first hour and a half of each working day.
Oh, what a feeling!
Once you develop the habit of working on strategic projects first, you will immediately notice the wonderful way it feels. You’ll gain a sense of genuine accomplishment. You’ll feel more in control. You’ll find that you give yourself permission to go home at a reasonable hour, guilt-free. You’ll identify yourself less as a clerk or even as a manager. Instead you’ll begin to get a better sense of yourself as a leader. And when you work on the right projects – your customers will view your company as being the industry Service Icon. That’s market differentiation you can take to the bank.
Managing Multiple Priorities How to juggle customers projects and admin and still have a life - To learn more about this author, visit Jeff Mowatt's Website.
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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