Management Styles

Formal Planner from Franklin Covey

Recently, a friend on Face book said she was going to start using a system to keep track of all the things she has to do. This morning, the paper had an article on how families manage money. Both are worth a look and a discussion.

If you purchase the Franklin Covey planner, the system advocated there is a start. In some ways it is a little more complicated than I advocate for a novice planner but at least it starts you off in the direction of looking at the big picture. Why plan for today if you aren't moving towards your life goals? The alignment of where you want to be in the long run with the goals of today helps reduce the dissonance in your life. I think that when your time is limited, at least understanding the priority of what you have to do is a real start. For me it was a matter of scheduling my must do and at least listing the things I should do and even down to the things I will do. I would take the daily calendar and put down any required meetings or events. I would block in the things I must do and should do and have the remaining list attached for times I had a moment.

One of the most important things I did each day was to set down at the end of the day and plan tomorrow. After the office would clear out, I would take the required 10 to 15 minutes and plan the next day. I would also scan the in-box for new assignments and hot items that turned up. With the e-mail coming alive in our business, I would also see if there were any priority tasks there. Folks, don't fly your in box moment to moment. It is like spending your time logged into Face book and waiting for someone to send you something. It will keep you busy but let you accomplish absolutely nothing worthwhile.

One job that I had was the Military Personnel Officer. The guy ahead of me was a control freak and wanted to see every piece of paper that went through the office. I literally found myself with a foot of paper each morning and I was spending time sending it out to the branch leaders. My secretary would have time to buff her nails and bother me with conversations about her life. I soon had a meeting with the section leaders and asked them why I was sorting their mail. "Because the other guy did it." I asked them why they didn't (or he didn't) feel they could do their job? They all agreed that they were perfectly capable of doing the day to day stuff and bringing me the problems that needed a Colonel's authority. We discussed that if it was a normal straight up, by the book issue, they all could say yes. If it was controversial and or might cause someone to say something I needed to be informed. If it was a "no" answer, I signed the letter. You can't imagine how the work flow settled out. I got back to the job of managing work flow and Leadership with the people doing the work.

In the paper the article about managing money they said there are three common ways couples manage. First there is the age old way in which one person sticks his head in the sand and lets the other person manage. If that person is a good manager, great. If not, this is one way to have big explosions from time too time instead of discussions. The second way is for the couple to divide the bills and each person takes responsibility for part of them and then they maintain a separate set of books with their money. So long as each person takes care of their part, this is somewhat OK. The final way is the simple work by committee that means that once a week or bi weekly, the couple talk about their goals, amount of money on hand and where they are having problems. One person can maintain the checkbook (works best for us) and the other person carries mostly cash.

No matter what way you manage your life and your money, I find that meetings, car trips and discussions after the check book is reconciled are times to discuss money. Start with the future and discuss where you plan to be in the real long term (20 years), long term(5-10 years) near term (3 years) and finish with where you are today. Focus on the process of achieving your goals and not on the failures. (This is a heck of a lot easier after you have some money saved)

What ever you do, remember to take some time to laugh and smile with the person you are with. We can all be replaced but at least make it for a darned good reason.

MUD