How to Manage Time and Systems Effectively
Published: October 27, 2021
Estimated reading time: 9 min
If you’re like most managers we know, it probably feels likestuffis constantly coming at you—emails, meetings, materials to review, people popping into your office (or inbox) with questions. This feeling of overwhelm is all too common—and it’s exacerbated when the world is on fire.
While much of the burnout and overwork we see in our sectors is beyond any individual person’s control (and outside the scope of this article—sorry!), wedohave control over how we manage our time and systems so that we can achieve great results, avoid unnecessary chaos, and minimize fatigue. And as managers, we have influence over how we support our staff and contribute to a culture of sustainability.
这篇文章涵盖了个人实践，可以帮助你和你的团队可持续地完成最重要的工作。这个建议是基于我们看到的许多客户的工作，但没有一个通用的方法或一些神奇的、通用的工具来保持你的工作生活井井有条(不管你有多相信你最喜欢的工作流应用程序或待办事项清单!)
As you’re reading this article, keep in mind two core concepts for equitable management:
- 偏好、传统和需求。Setting up systems that support you to accomplish what you set out to do is the requirement.How你做什么应该由你自己决定。与此同时，要认识到我们的偏好和传统并不是凭空存在的——它们是由文化和经验塑造和强化的。当我们的偏好或传统与主流文化(在我们的组织或整个社会中)发生冲突时，这可能会造成紧张或边缘化。另一方面，当我们拥有位置或文化权力时，我们的偏好和传统可能会成为我们管理的对象的默认要求。当你思考如何管理自己的时间和系统，以及如何支持你的员工管理他们的时间和系统时，请记住这一点。
- Choice points.如何分配你的时间、精力和资源是一个选择点，尤其是当你在管理或工作中跨越差异和权力线时。我们的很多建议都鼓励经理们辨别哪些是真正重要的，哪些不是。当你整理你的日历和电子邮件收件箱，重新协商会议，重新安排优先级，设置界限，检查公平的影响和有问题的模式。如果你忽略了所有来自初级员工的邮件，那么收件箱零是不值得的。
Managing priorities
1. Choose your big rocks.
A prioritization framework popularized by author Stephen Covey, “big rocks” are the things you must to accomplish to drive your work forward. Think about what parts of your job create the most impact and consider yourcomparative advantage. Also, considerEisenhower’s urgency versus importance matrix关注重要性和影响，而不是数量或紧迫性。我们建议每周或每天识别1-3块大石头。Put your big rocks somewhere (on a post-it, in your calendar, or in yourcheck-in document) you can see them and encourage your staff to do the same.
2. Distinguish between gold star vs. good enough.
弄清楚你期望的卓越程度有助于你明智地利用时间。决定哪些工作需要达到金星标准(你最努力的工作或最努力的工作)，哪些工作足够好(扎实的工作，满足必须拥有的东西，而不过分)。使用“金星”和“足够好”的语言可以帮助你的团队从完美主义转向战略和可持续性。
3. Let go.
Every task is a commitment of your time and energy. The less you start with, the less you have to manage and organize. For managers, this means you need to:
- Delegate more and make sure thatyour staff truly own their work. Make sure that you have transferred enough real responsibility to staff members so that they can make decisions and move work forward on their own. Where you truly do need to be involved, align on processes for your staff to make proposals, share updates, or get approval from you.
- Make sure that your direct reports focus on what’s most important. Support them to assess their context and capacity and renegotiate or let go of things that are relatively less important. Get into the habit of letting go by asking yourself and your staff, “What can we/you adjust, pause, or cancel to make room for what’s most important?”
Managing email
1. Check email at defined periods.
Minimize email overwhelm by limiting its ability to interrupt you. Turn off your notifications and set aside work blocks for email checking (ideally putting those work blocks on your calendar and/or communicating with your team about them).
2. Use the “4D” method of email management.
- Deletespam and unsolicited promotional emails immediately.
- Dotasks if they’ll take you under two minutes.
- Delegatetasks by forwarding emails to the relevant people.
- And finally, if you can’t do any of the above,deferit (but designate a time and place for you to revisit it).
3. Pick up the phone.
Discourage people from using email to sort through complex issues that will require lots of back and forth. Don’t be shy about saying, “Can we jump on the phone to quickly hash this out?” Ask your team to structure emails so that they’re easy to respond to by following our tips about sendingone-minute emails.
Managing calendars
Consider what’s important for you to track (e.g., deadlines, priorities, time off, etc.) and what you need to communicate to your colleagues about your priorities, deadlines, and boundaries (if it’s an organizational practice to share calendars).
1. Use work blocks.
Also called “time blocking,” this means focusing on a single priority within a set timeframe. Figure out what times you have the most focus and energy and hold those times sacred so that your best thinking can be applied to your most important work. Set aside at least 45 minutes on a task or goal and minimize all distractions during that time (turn off your email, mute your phone, and close your excess browser tabs). Encourage your staff to set work blocks—and make sure you honor them by not scheduling over them.
2. Add breathing room.
Your calendar isn’t just for scheduling meetings and tracking deadlines. It’s also a tool for maintaining balance. Schedule time off, set working hours, calendar your lunch or times to walk the dog, and mark when you won’t be available for meetings. If possible, include buffer time between meetings so that you can catch a breath, prepare, or jot down follow-up notes.
3. Audit (and declutter!) your calendar.
Periodically review your calendar and ask yourself: Do Ineed参加那个会议?我的例会还有用吗?是否有即将到来的最后期限，我没有留出时间来完成?我在会议之间有足够的休息时间吗?日历审计可以是一个月做一两次的自我反省活动。They’re also a management tool—try a calendar audit at your next check-in where you review an upcoming week with an eye toward helping your staff member prioritize and declutter.
Handling meeting overload
1. Be picky.
在你接受会议邀请之前，首先问自己，“这次会议是否能帮助我或我的团队推进我们最重要的事情，加强关系，或者协调以获得更好的结果?”然后问自己:“我是那个需要在那里的人吗?”如果答案是否定的，允许自己不参加会议(并礼貌地向会议组织者解释原因)。如果你对自己脱离这个循环感到不安，你可以在会议前提供意见和/或会后回顾笔记。(Note of caution: This doesn’t apply to check-ins with staff members, which are a key part of managing people well.)
2. Beware of unhelpful meeting traditions and defaults.
Are hour-long meetings necessary or can you condense your meeting to 45 minutes? Do all of your check-ins have to be on video? Can you switch to phone calls to combat Zoom fatigue and maybe even go for a walk and get your body moving (we call these walkie-talkies!)?
3. Capture next steps and follow up.
不能推动工作进展的会议是浪费时间的。Whether in the meeting itself or in a 30-minute block after the meeting, make time to follow up on tasks or send repeat-back emails.
Managing boundaries
Ideally, an effective organizational system helps you manage and accomplish your priorities in a sustainable way. If your to-do list, calendar, or email inbox are perpetually overstuffed, no amount of color-coding will help you feel less overwhelmed. Boundaries are the glue that hold your systems together.
For managers, supporting your staff to set and assert boundaries is one of the most important management moves you can make to increase equity, sustainability, and results. The people on our teams most likely to overextend themselves and accommodate others are those who feel they need to “earn” their place—usually our newest, most junior, and most marginalized team members. While boundary setting is an individual act, it is always easier to do in a team or organizational culture that normalizes (and even celebrates) it.
1. Share the why behind the “no.”
“To make sure I can deliver on X, I can’t do Y right now.” Or, “I’d really like to support, but XYZ is happening, and I need to focus on that.” When you’re saying no to someone you don’t work with closely or who has less positional power than you, sharing the rationale is more than a simple matter of courtesy. A task, meeting, or request may not be at the top ofyourpriority list, but it might betheirbig rock. Communicating your “no” with a rationale demonstrates respect and consideration for the other person’s time and priorities.
2. Make proposals.
For requests that need to be deferred or rescheduled, communicate your context, make a proposal, and check in. “I’m coming up on an important deadline this week that’s taking more time than I expected. I’d like to push back our meeting by two weeks. How does that sound to you?”
3. Mind the impact of your “no.”
你在组织中拥有的权力越大，了解你的行为如何影响他人就越重要。虽然我们鼓励设定界限以保护你的时间和精力，但现实是，当工作是矩阵化的、相互依赖的或协作的时候，我们的“不”会为其他人(通常是那些比我们权力小的人)创造更多的工作或障碍。The way you allocate your time and resources is achoice point, so check for patterns in who you say no to (or whom you make exceptions for).