YOUR ACHILLES’ HEEL: PERSONAL OBSTACLES TO IMPLEMENTATION

THE MAN WHO ALMOST SOLD THE EIFFEL TOWER

In 1925 a confidence man by the name of Victor Lustig invited a group of wealthy scrap-metal merchants to a chic hotel in Paris to discuss the sale and dismantling of the Eiffel Tower. Posing as a representative of the French government, he described how the tower had become a financial failure, and explained that he had been authorized to solicit bids from select companies for its purchase and removal. After a few weeks Mr. Lustig contacted the winning bidder, and invited him to another hotel to hand over the cash in exchange for the deed of ownership. But something about Mr. Lustig’s manner triggered suspicion in the prospective buyer’s mind. Why were they always meeting in hotels? Why did he work alone? Could this be a scam?

Sensing the suspicion, Mr. Lustig changed tactics. Rather than focusing on the grandiose plans of his government, he made small talk about how he was but an underpaid civil servant, and how perhaps the deal could be made a little sweeter for the buyer if just a little of the money went under the table.

The buyer was now convinced that Mr. Lustig was indeed a representative of the government. After all, in his experience, all the people he had dealt with in government had been corrupt to one degree or another, so indeed Mr. Lustig must be the genuine article. The money changed hands.

When the truth about Mr. Lustig’s identity eventually came out, and that the tower had never been for sale, the buyer was too embarrassed to step forward. Lustig and the cash disappeared.²⁵

Your desire to regain control of time will have to pass a number of tests, some of which are part of your own makeup. Victor Lustig knew that human attributes and frailties are always present, and must always be accounted for. He made a career out of that knowledge. Your knowledge of your “self,” your human self, is equally important, if your time management plans are to succeed; and therefore this chapter looks at some of the most common personality issues that present real, but not insurmountable, obstacles to successful implementation.

THE SUPERHERO SYNDROME

The superhero syndrome results when the pressures of numerous tasks and projects lead to a perception that everything must be done by you and you alone. You feel you are the only one who can do it properly. There’s nowhere else to turn. You’ve got to do it all.

As a superhero, you have some great gifts: You have energy and drive. You have far-ranging plans and expectations as well as high standards. You enjoy responsibility and accountability, and enjoy taking things on. And the common ideology is expressed in the phrase, “If you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself.”

The Cool Time approach is to invite the superhero to consider which is more important: Doing the task, or getting the task done? The solution may be not in doing all the parts yourself, but in making sure the right people are chosen to do parts for you. As Jim Collins states in his landmark book Good to Great, “it’s a matter of getting the right people on the bus.”²⁶ And that’s where delegation comes in.

INEFFECTIVE DELEGATION

Delegation doesn’t come easily to people, especially superheroes. Not only is it difficult to let go of tasks that they can easily do, they always worry that the tasks will not be done to the same level of perfection that the superheroes expect of themselves. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when a task is assigned to an unprepared candidate. The candidate makes a mess of it, and the superhero perceives that as proof that delegation doesn’t work

Delegation, though, is an exercise in effective leadership and education, and is built on investment in the capabilities and potential of an entire department. Productivity is compounded when you allow numerous people to work in parallel toward a goal.

First, delegation frees you up to do the things that mean the most. It’s the 80/20 rule again. Just because you can do all the tasks involved in a project doesn’t mean you should be doing them all. It’s essential that you focus on the top 20 percent of tasks that yield the greatest reward.

Second, delegation develops skills and loyalty in staff. Most people love to learn. A stimulating environment that provides opportunities for people to expand and further their skills can be a powerful motivator, and in some cases worth more than financial compensation when it comes to loving a job and deciding to stay. By entrusting your staff with new responsibilities, you help to ensure a vibrant and loyal support team, which sets the stage for further productivity.

Third, delegation is a hallmark of leadership. When you delegate, you are demonstrating trust, which, as Edwin Bliss says, is quite different from saying, “Do what I tell you.”²⁷

It’s essential, however, to choose and support the right person, and it’s equally essential that the person be given time to learn. Many people make the mistake of interpreting delegation as simply dumping a task upon someone. If this person is underqualified, then he will fail.

Though your immediate priority may be the quick completion of a current task, remember that proactive delegation is an exercise in education to set the stage for future time savings, thanks to a well-trained, confident, and reliable support team.

It’s a three-step process. (Remember the catapult analogy in Chapter 14—you’ve got to move backwards a little in order to move forwards a lot.)

• Step 1: Do 100 percent of the job yourself, and make sure the “apprentice” is observing and learning. This means you end up doing the work, which you would have resigned yourself to doing anyway as someone who dislikes or distrusts delegation.

When instructing your support person, assume nothing. Ask him to repeat your instructions. This is not being patronizing; it forms part of effective communication and the establishment of mutual commitment.

• Step 2: On the next round, expect to do 50 percent of the job yourself while the apprentice tries it out. Observe and provide feedback. If he performed the task correctly, then, in addition to a little praise, explore with him why he did it as he did. This sheds light on how the task was approached and helps to determine if he can perform this task consistently.

If he did not do the task correctly, it becomes an opportunity to explore what went wrong, primarily by asking questions and listening. Telling people what to do or what they did wrong develops a false assumption that the person understands. The only way you know why they were not successful is to get them to explain why they did what they did.

• Step 3: By the third round, the apprentice should be able to do 95 percent of the job, with you only coming in to finish it off to your standards. Again, review, praise, and clarification are essential.

Obviously this exercise is not a quick one, but it’s the wisest way to facilitate successful delegation.

Upon handing over the task to him, you will be free to focus your energies upon more appropriate tasks with a genuine sense of confidence.

Make sure, however, that your trained delegatee has both the necessary authority to work on your behalf, as well as access to an appropriate “answer-person” to avoid delay and hesitation brought on by indecisiveness or fear of making a mistake.

When delegating, beware of over-reliance on a star player. Often in an organization where numerous projects happen concurrently, one person emerges who is very capable of performing certain tasks or undertaking certain responsibilities. This person becomes, in the minds of all project managers, the star player without whom no project will be successful. The dangers of depending on a star player become immediately apparent the day she suddenly becomes unavailable. Preferential treatment given to these stars is also damaging to the solidarity of a team, all of which points to an additional benefit of developing and nurturing your support team through proactive delegation.

Delegation is not about palming off tasks mechanically to a subordinate who has no choice in the matter. It is more about making wise choices in terms of the allocation of your own time, the effective completion of projects and tasks, and the development of the abilities and attitudes of your support team. This combines the concepts of continual improvement, leadership, and training. A little time invested in stepping back and teaching has far greater value than the same time spent simply charging ahead as a slave to the urgency of an overstuffed schedule.

OVERCONFIDENCE

Whereas the superhero syndrome deals with the belief that you alone must do it all, overconfidence is the internal conviction that you can do it all, and that there’s nothing you can’t do. It’s not so much a pressure thing as merely confidence in your own abilities that exceeds the realities of your schedule. This may be great for the ego, but can lead to great stress.

Just like superheroes, overconfident people do best when their confidence and abilities are focused on the right tasks at the right times, identified through planning, prioritization, and delegation. A Roman administrator named Publius Syrius said it first in 42 BC, and it still rings true today: “Never promise more than you can perform.”

UNREALISTIC TIME ESTIMATES

A major source of personal schedule overload comes from underestimating how long a task will take. In thinking through the expected duration of a task, it is human nature to err on the side of optimism by allotting the amount of time that you hope it will take, rather than the amount of time it will probably take.

Such well-intentioned but ill-fated expectations can quickly push a person’s day onto the critical path. In an effort to please clients, managers, or teammates, promised delivery times are earlier than is truly possible. Sometimes these deadlines are met through much sweat, stress, and toil. Other times, the bad news has to be delivered that things are going to be late. It’s better to give the stakeholder a realistic expectation up front, one that you might be able to exceed, than it is to give them false hopes followed by disappointment.

The simplest approach to this is to take an educated estimate of a task’s duration and double it. Things seldom, if ever, take the amount of time you hope they would. By factoring in this extra time in the first place, you stand a better chance of completing the task within realistic time lines. If all goes well, and you finish early, you’ll have time left over for other tasks and you’ll look like a hero. If things take a little longer, however, it’s healthy and smart to have that extra time.

PUTTING THINGS IN CONCRETE TERMS

Modern-day project management owes a lot of its practical success from large-scale construction projects in the U.S. during the 1950s and 1960s, such as the U.S. Navy’s Polaris Missile Program and DuPont’s cement factory construction. These helped develop a philosophy of estimation known as PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique). It included a calculation for estimating job duration that went like this: P = Pessimistic: How long the project would take if almost everything had problems; O = Optimistic: How long the project would take if everything went perfectly; R = Realistic: How long the project will probably take, based on the estimates of experienced project managers.

These were then added together and averaged using a formula to calculate a result weighted more toward the pessimistic. This gave project planners the confidence and realistic backing to plan the project and explain it to the stakeholders.

THE LAST-MINUTE CLUB

There is a certain group of people for whom all of this planning stuff just doesn’t wash. They swear that their best work is done when they’re facing the deadline square on, when the chips are down, when the pressure is highest. If your creativity and brilliance comes from the high pressure of fast-looming deadlines, then that’s a strength, not a weakness.

But let’s make sure first. Let’s make sure the reasons for your pride in being a “last-minute type” aren’t tied up in the murky world of procrastination. Then we’ll be free to look at options for making your strength a super-strength.

PROCRASTINATION

When it comes down to getting tasks done, there will always be at least one that you just don’t want to do. It may hold the least appeal to you, it may be the least rewarding, or it may involve confrontation, unpleasant tasks, or drudgery. It also makes every other task on your list look instantly more appealing.

Unfortunately, in addition to weighing heavily on your schedule, procrastination fills your heart and mind with negative energy. The longer you procrastinate, the longer you live with a shadow of guilt, dread, and the pang of the inevitable. There is a constant awareness of the task that remains unstarted.

The only way to deal with procrastination is to get the task done as soon as is both possible and proper. The I-Beam Agenda and prioritization techniques discussed earlier provide the tools to step back and assess this task in relation to the others. Is it important enough and urgent enough to be done right away, even though you really don’t want to do it, or can it be legitimately scheduled for a later time? What about delegation? Could or should this task be assigned to somebody else who has the time, skills, or experience to take it off your hands?

Why are you procrastinating in the first place? The reasons vary with people and circumstances, but identifying the cause is the first step in breaking the pattern:

• Size: Is the task too large to complete in one go? Are you waiting for a large block of time to get it done completely? Then try breaking it up. Use your project planning skills to break an overly large task into sub-parts. Use carryover momentum (see Chapter 6) to work on it regularly and incrementally.

• Vagueness: The project is too big or vague to contemplate. Create a project plan on paper. Get a sense of timing and priority by lining up the component tasks backwards from the due date to the latest possible start date (the critical path), and then factor in lead times. By putting the plan down on paper, the start and end points turn into tangible, visible elements, which allows you to envision what is needed to get it completed.

• Lack of guidance: Is there no procedure or set of guidelines in place to show how to go about the task? Are you unsure of the right thing to do? Then seek help. Find a mentor, a tutor, someone who can deliver not only the how-to’s but also the wisdom of experience.

• Fear and anxiety: Are you avoiding a task because you are afraid of it or of the results? Many people avoid medical and dental checkups for this reason. This is a classic case of fear of the unknown. Confront the fear. It is better to know than not know because knowing opens the door to solutions. If fear is causing procrastination, then identify what it is you’re worried about. Write it down—get it out of your head. Then write down all the possible consequences of the fear, and next to each what the cure or resolution would be. You’ll be amazed how helpful it is to see the entire situation laid out before you. You’ll regain control.

• Perfectionism: Do you feel that if the task can’t be done completely and perfectly, then it’s not worth starting? Refer back to the Size paragraph above. Work on doing smaller parts of the project as perfectly as possible.

• Boredom: Is the task just too plain boring or unpleasant, making anything else look more appealing? Then use the productive procrastination technique. When you have a task that you don’t want to do, other tasks always look far more appealing, so do those other tasks first. You might want to consider such an outlook as a way of getting everything else done. Provided that the task being procrastinated is not vitally urgent, you might want to take advantage of productive procrastination to get some of your other chores completed. This makes positive use of your time and turns a weakness (procrastination) into a strength (achievement). Also, you will have cleared your schedule to allow space for the original procrastinated task.

There is a difference between rescheduling something and procrastination. Procrastination is an emotional act in which you avoid doing something that needs to be done because is causes discomfort. Rescheduling is a logical act in which you move tasks based on urgency and prioritization issues. Whatever it is that’s making you put off completing a task, it is usually better and healthier to get it done if you know it needs to be done now. Consider these approaches:

• Do it first. Get it over with. If it’s important enough to get done now, then do it now and let your mind and body enjoy the freedom from an unpleasant task rather than the dread of procrastination. Once the time is right to take on the task, do it. If it keeps getting put off for weeks or months, it’s time to question its relevance and/or to find someone else to do it.

• Focus on the finish. Envision the task as already completed. Picture, in your mind, the end result of the chore and the feeling it gives you to see it finished. Buy into its existence so that its completed state becomes real in your imagination. By picturing your unpleasant task in its completed state, you focus your mind, your energies, and your determination.

• Focus on the step after the finish.There’s always more sky on the other side of the mountain. If a task is particularly unpleasant, such as having to deliver bad news, then focus your involvement in the healing process that follows. Even though you may be the bearer of bad news, that shouldn’t stop you from presenting the first steps of the “next chapter,” becoming the catalyst for healing. If the task is merely undesirable, such as a dental appointment from 10:00A.M. to 11:00A.M., recognize that there is life after 11:00A.M.. You’ll be back doing other things. The pain will pass. The undesired activity is finite.

• Give yourself a deadline. Focus is a powerful thing. Give your mind a fixed duration, a finish line rather than a hazy goal, and mark off every step, every small victory along the way.

• Give yourself a reward. Perhaps this means going home early, or buying yourself something, or moving on to a different task, one that you’d rather do. A reward is a powerful incentive to counter the forces of procrastination. Like icing on the cake, the reward seems doubly pleasurable since your conscience will be clear, and the weight of the onerous task will have been lifted from your shoulders.

• Delegate it to someone. Maybe the task would best be done by someone else, maybe someone who actually enjoys it.

• Do the easiest part first. If the task has many parts, and you’re not sure where to start, then start with the easiest part. The feeling of accomplishment and momentum generated by this activity will then attune your mind and body to the rest of the task. This is particularly useful if you’re trying to write a report and you’re suffering from writer’s block. Just write whatever comes to mind in a stream-of-consciousness style. Once those first few ideas are released from short-term memory, the next batch will flow in.

• Consider the cost of putting it off. As unattractive as a task may be, what would be the consequences of procrastination? Lost business? Fines or penalties? Ruined relationships? The cost of procrastination can have long-term repercussions.

• Accept the inevitable. Some things just have to get done. The sooner you take the bull by the horns, the sooner you can get past the unpleasant task and on to the things you prefer. Time spent procrastinating is not pleasurable time. It is hard time. Life is too short to allow hours or days to be spent under the cloud of looming guilt. The value, the pleasure, the release that is felt upon completion of an unpleasant task moves you back onto a healthy track of achievement and self-determination.

THE LAST-MINUTE CLUB (CONTINUED)

OK, so you still say your preference for working to the last minute is not rooted in procrastination. You just do better work that way. Great! Use that strength to your advantage, but consider factoring these pointers in your plan:

• Move your deadline up to accommodate the unexpected. It’s great to capitalize on adrenaline-fueled creativity by working to a late deadline, but what if your printer jams or the e-mail gets returned or the courier misplaces your package? Any number of snafus can threaten an otherwise excellent piece of work, and can bring on additional stress, delay, and damage. Why let simple procedure threaten to ruin your masterpiece? Experienced last-minuters strongly suggest moving the deadline date up by a day (or some appropriate amount) as soon as you take on the project. Work to this self-imposed deadline and take advantage of your need for urgency without losing out due to unforeseen minor glitches.

• Consider the others on your team. Though you might thrive on a midnight deadline, how does it affect others who are collaborating on the project? Are they as comfortable with this pressure? Does their role start only after your piece has been completed? This is not to suggest you sideline your preferences for theirs, but perhaps a little up-front planning and communication will allow all sides to use their skills to the advantage of the project. You may be working with these people on other projects after this one, and their understanding of and attitude toward your preferred working style will be formed pretty early on. Careful nurturing of these relationships will be the ticket to future successes.

Is working to the last minute a conscience-soother? A fatalistic self-justification that says, “Hey, I did the best I could. There was no more time”? We can look back at our school years as the breeding ground for this technique when we would procrastinate in working on papers and assignments for days or weeks, only to galvanize ourselves at the last minute into harried activity, all-nighters, and requests for extensions.

The solution is in a little back-planning and project management in which wishful thinking is replaced by clear vision. If a project must get done, then it must get done properly. The principles of Kaizen, keystone time, and project planning will be your greatest allies. Remember, the pressure to perform under last-minute conditions creates stress, which affects the very areas of the mind required for creative, intelligent thought. You have the power to decide whether you work with the positive stress of self-imposed short deadlines, or the negative stress of running out of time. Long after you’ve decided, the results of your work will remain for others to judge.

THE COAST GUARD RULE

The U.S. Coast Guard has a rule for fueling boats that epitomizes the type of thinking necessary for avoiding last-minute crunches: The top third of a tank is fuel for going out. The bottom third of the tank is fuel for coming back. The middle third is for surprises along the way.

WORKAHOLISM

There comes a point in which the value of the work undertaken becomes less than the amount of time put in. We’ve observed this in the principle of negative-value time (Chapter 12). When this becomes chronic, it’s called workaholism, which is a bad thing.

There’s a definite distinction between working hard, working overtime, and workaholism. Working hard is the diligent application of our energies and talents into tasks that have been properly identified, prioritized, and scheduled with minimal distraction or disruption. This is the kind of work that Cool Time is about, since it allows for maximized productivity without upsetting a healthy work-life balance.

Working overtime means putting in a few more hours than we should once in a while. There are occasions when working overtime has its rewards—meeting a deadline on a “crunch” project, or making some extra cash for the holidays, for example. The key is that overtime remains the exception rather than the norm.

Workaholism, though, isn’t about hard work, it’s about work addiction—compulsive overwork, whereas hard workers do what is needed to get a job done. Once it’s done, they relax and allow time for family, friends, and reflection. They work long hours on a short-term basis with clear goals. But workaholics are preoccupied with work and are unable to turn it off. Most workaholics are not aware that they’ve crossed the boundary into inefficiency. Instead, they simply see themselves as relentless producers, focused on a distant goal that needs just a few more hours of work to complete.

The conditions that make workaholism possible are quite easy to see. North America’s culture is based on a work ethic: You are what you do. Portable computers, cellular phones, and Internet access make working from anywhere, around the clock, easier than ever, and taps directly into that sense of urgency we discussed back in Chapter 2. There is also a fear factor—fear of not appearing to be a team player; fear of being left out of the loop; fear of taking a vacation in case you are replaced; fear of being part of the next round of downsizing. A combination of personal, technological, and social pressures conspires to create fertile ground for workaholism to flourish.

What are the signs of a workaholic? For a start, workaholics tend to work long hours, consistently staying late and coming in on weekends and holidays (or working from home on weekends and holidays), even if they do not have any pressing deadlines. They think about work constantly, even when they are not at work. As Dr. Bryan Robinson states, the workaholic “uses work to fulfill an inner need.”²⁸ Workaholics rarely have hobbies, except those that are work-related, such as golf with colleagues. And they tend to neglect personal relationships, especially with spouses and children.

Nor are workaholics great team players, since they have trouble delegating. They may enjoy taking care of a task themselves, living out a chronic case of the superhero syndrome, discussed earlier.

In general, workaholics’ actions and priorities are inconsistent with true productivity. Workaholism is an addiction to work for work’s sake. There is a tendency to gravitate toward time-consuming tasks and to work the longest hours on the least productive or least practical tasks, since workaholism is an addiction to work, not results. Workaholics tend to focus on tasks that are immediately visible, rather than establishing priority and then focusing on the top-ranked task.

The costs of workaholism: Having a workaholic on staff should be a source of immediate concern. Though she may appear as a paragon of busy-ness, a role model for the rest of the team, in actual fact the opposite is true. A workaholic environment creates stress, burnout, and low morale among all staff, since workaholics demand excessive work from subordinates, which results in sick leave and stress-related workers’ compensation claims.

Similarly, the adrenaline that fuels much of a workaholic’s activity was never meant to be used that way. Adrenaline is intended for fast escape—the fight-or-flight reflex. It’s acidic. Over time, it destroys body cells and blood vessels.

If you think you might be a workaholic, the best thing to do is to aim for the win-win. The pleasure you derive from working hard is an asset. But it’s essential to make sure that the efforts you undertake are correctly directed, and that balance is maintained.

Ask yourself:

• Is the work I’m doing truly top priority, or do I just need to feel busy?

• Can this work be done by someone else—that is, can it be delegated?

• Who will see the payoff of this work? Does it contribute to a key project?

• What am I sacrificing? Family? Health? Exercise?

• How are my habits affecting my staff? Are they getting frustrated trying to keep up? Is there high turnover?

• How uptight would I get if I went home with all of this stuff still left to do?

Workaholism is a personality-based addiction, encouraged through the pressures and demands of business. It is not a substance addiction, but the withdrawal symptoms might be similar: intense discomfort, frustration, and stress. If you identify yourself as a workaholic, you will need to admit that fact first, and then seek a pattern of change that you can handle. This primarily consists of a tangible project plan and a written collection of “balance” items such as family, friends and hobbies, and a time line for change.

It is also a condition that is not always taken seriously in the context of the North American work ethic, at least not until the paramedics have to be called.

The bottom line: Workaholism is not productivity, it’s addiction to the sensation of work.

PRESENTEEISM

Obviously such a condition highlights the schism between what the body needs and what the work schedule demands. It is an impediment to clear thought, productivity, and communication, yet people still come to work and occupy space. Such situations send strong signals (or at least they should) that time and rest are the essential ingredients of productivity.

In a small sense, presenteeism might result in a delayed project because a staff member may not really be on the ball. In a larger sense, it may result in the running aground of an oil tanker, as happened with the Exxon Valdez in 1989, or a crew member forgetting to close the bow doors of a high-speed ferry as happened with the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987.

Your body is a strict creditor. It takes back what it needs, regardless.