Free The Rules Of Management (Pioneer Panel's Library) by Richard Templar Page A

a wrong answer would be, “I haven’t a clue.” You have to know what it is you are actually doing. Not what you are supposed to be doing. Not what you want to be doing. Not what the company thinks you are doing. But what you are actually doing. When you know that, you can work miracles because you have secret knowledge. Perhaps everyone else also knows; perhaps no one else knows. But you know and that is the important thing.
    Now have a quick look at your team and tell me what every one is actually doing. Good exercise.
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    IF YOU HAVEN’T GOT A PLAN, YOU DON’T HAVE A MAP. IF YOU DON’T HAVE A MAP, YOU’LL NEVER FIND THE TREASURE.
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Chapter 44. Value Your Time

    I once sat in a meeting, as a very junior manager, in which there was an interminable discussion going on about whether we should buy a particular piece of equipment that some people thought too pricey. I’d said what I had to say on the subject (as indeed had everyone, but some of them were saying it several times) so to pass the time I did a quick, back-of-the-envelope calculation of the combined hourly rate of everyone sitting round the table. I pretty much knew everyone’s salaries, so it would have been a fairly close estimate. The interesting thing was that the half hour we spent talking about this piece of equipment was nearly twice as costly as the thing itself.
    As a Rules manager, you need to know what your time is worth, and then keep it in the forefront of your mind all the time. The calculation is easy of course—divide your yearly salary into 52 weeks, and then each week into however many hours you’re employed for. The trickier bit—until you’re in the habit—is remembering to check if what you’re doing is a valuable use of your time.
    Remember that for many organizations, saleries are the largest single chunk of expenses. Even when it’s not, it’s still a significant figure. And it’s one that you have control over, at least when it comes to you. So you need to ensure that whatever you’re doing is a good investment of that bit of your time. If not, you need to be ruthless cutting it out.
    You know those people who waste your time? They’re also wasting your employers” money, which could be used more effectively by you doing something else. So it’s your duty to deal firmly with them (but politely of course).
    And you must be just as firm with yourself when you catch yourself procrastinating, filling in time, waiting around, doing pointless stuff, chatting with co-workers, working inefficiently, and so on. Your organization is trusting you to invest their money (that is, your salary) as profitably as possible. Don’t let them down.
    This is also a useful exercise to go through when your time is pulled in more than one direction. Should you go to this meeting, or get that report finished? Well, which is going to produce the greater return on investment? That should give you your answer.
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    YOUR ORGANIZATION IS TRUSTING YOU TO INVEST YOUR SALARY AS PROFITABLY AS POSSIBLE. DON’T LET THEM DOWN.
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Chapter 45. Be Proactive, Not Reactive

    I know, I know, it takes you all your time just to get the job done, the paperwork handled and the plants watered without having to think about the future or be a brilliant innovator. But the smart manager—that’s you again—puts aside 30 minutes a week for forward planning. Try asking yourself simple questions: “How can I generate more sales?” “What can I do more expediently?” “How could I cut staff turnover?” “How can I convert more leads to sales?” “How could I streamline the accounting procedure?” “How could I move into another sector?” “How could I get my team to work harder, faster, brighter?” “How could I get them to brainstorm more freely?” “How could I hold meetings that wouldn’t waste so much time?”
    There is an old saying, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” And