Poster-Time.

Vivien over at Inspirationbit challenges her fellow bloggers to post their ruminations on time management and the value of time. I have to agree that it is a luxury these days. While modern man prides himself in juggling the many demands of work, social life and family, he is faced with the poverty of allocating time for each. And most often what happens is that one concern can only be fulfilled at the expense of sacrificing the other.

Ordinary people often complain that they need 25 hours a day to complete their long list of to-dos. Yet we know that even the most successful people suffer from the deficiency of time. In fact I have this impression that the wealthier and more successful you become, the less sleep and the more worries you get. It now seems worth figuring out that modern man’s many problems (foremost among them lack of time) stems from fear. We juggle too many responsibilities because we fear going broke, losing control, and running out of, well, time. Sometimes all it takes is to pause and make sense of the situation. Time management, after all, is both an art and a science.

Again, it’s advisable to write everything down: daily schedules and reminders to a planner or mobile phone application, budgets and purchases in an Excel worksheet.. any system which makes it possible for you to access data for later or help you to remember things amid the usual grind. Driving to a wrong appointment or forgetting something just because you only had it mentally mapped out is a waste of time. Like your monthly bills and appointments, time needs to be properly budgeted and allocated according to your priorities.

Realize that there are non-negotiable variables in your Balanced Time Scorecard such as the time spent with your family or helping out a friend in need. Optionals you can dispense with are parties and other social occasions where your presence may not be felt or is necessary.

Don’t wear a watch for a change. Just follow a given schedule and stick with it.

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Coming from the raggedy world of journalism, I certainly felt like a sore thumb sticking out when I entered the corporate world six years ago. Whereas being a full-time employee in my dear newspaper meant reporting four hours a day three days a week, the new office expected me to be in 10 hours a day, with only the weekends off. That was certainly too much to ask but admittedly, I was in it for the long term because of the sense of stability it promised me. Never mind if it was a different culture altogether, a culture where the four walls had ears (and eyes!) and everyone was expected to act, and dress, formally. Goodbye maong!

Whereas my former newspaper job afforded me the chance to chase celebrities, lawmakers and other persons of prominence, being in the corporate world has let me observe different kinds of managers up close. What makes a good manager…what accounts for a lousy one? How can we make office life easier for everyone without compromising important things, like productivity? Being enrolled in an executive development seminar now and encountering different case studies, I am compelled to write this post on management. Some thoughts:

1. A good manager has the right mix of dignity and down-to-earth approachability. He acts and comports himself in a way that you can respect him but not in such a highfalutin way that you will not able to approach him. Leaders shouldn’t entrench themselves in their ivory tower at all times. They should try to talk to their subordinates (not just a select few!) and listen to them.This is not only a good motivating factor, it actually encourages staff to give genuine inputs for the good of the company.

2. Delegation is an abused word. A great leader has to know every aspect of the work and/or operation, otherwise how will he assess if his staff is doing right? But you know when somebody who has just been promoted isn’t quite ripe for the position… when they can’t piece together a paragraph or two or feel too lazy (or incompetent) to take charge , they “delegate.”

And when you order your staff to buy kalabasa and okra because you forgot to buy it in the market that morning, that’s not delegation, that’s already abuse of authority

Moral lesson: delegate with discretion and wisdom.

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