After thinking about my previous blog Why Nothing Seems to Get Done i realized that I forgot about one of the most insidious violations of work-time and that is the "line outside my office". There are times when the day seems to be going really really....ok and you manage to work your way off the plant floor and up, down or over to your office and all is fine in the the world. Ok you get a phone call from a client who happens to be in distress about something...hey it happens...and then you notice someone walk into your office and this person just stands there while you have this phone conversation. Then I realize that there are two or three other people standing outside my office needing or wanting something. Don't get me wrong, this is fine if there are really pressing issues that need to be discussed but really does everything need to be discussed? Dealing with the issues that each person has can be very time consuming and many times leads me off on a completely different path than the one that I had started out on when the day began. Even if I had a list as I had described in my previous blog there is no way that I would be able to keep to that list.

So why is there a line outside my office? There might be more than one answer.

• I have not really have created an atmosphere where people feel that they can make decisions without getting my ok first.
• People feel that they can make decisions but don't want the responsiblity of doing it. With the power of decision making there is also the responisiblity for those decisions good or bad.
• People know that they can make the decision and want to make the decision but just need verification that they are making the right choice before proceeding.
• Some people just want to be workers and not be empowered to do anything beyond their task.
  

So What Is My Style?

• I have had people tell me that my leadership style is that I let people do whatever they want and that the inmates are running the prison. A bit harsh I think but ok.
• But I have also been told that I am a micro-manager that borders on being a dictator. A control freak who doesn't let anyone think for themselves. Also a bit harsh.
• I have also been told not too long ago that I "rule through fear"........ummm...Way too harsh.
• There are also people who have managed to roll all these styles into one. Which is probably somewhat more accurate in my opinion.

Resources

There is a great leadership styles quiz that I took at About.com by Kurt Lewin that asks 18 questions and gives you an idea of what your style is. Check it out here. There is also another at Computer World. These are my results and well I think it is reasonably accurate for me : ) but I truly believe that there are alot of people I work with who would disagree with it's assessment.

"Your results indicate that your leadership style is predominately: Participative"

"Participative leaders accept input from one or more group members when making decisions and solving problems, but the leader retains the final say when choices are made. Group members tend to be encouraged and motivated by this style of leadership. This style of leadership often leads to more effective and accurate decisions, since no leader can be an expert in all areas. Input from group members with specialized knowledge and expertise creates a more complete basis for decision-making."

Of course Computer World had a completely different assessment of my style. This is their quiz result.

I think that if nobody can accurately pigeon-hole you into a style then that is probably your style. Of course this really doesn't answer the question about why there is still that damn line outside my office. This is what I do about the line of people when they ask me what they should do, I ask them what do they think they should do, and then go from there.

Maybe you would handle things differently. Please comment, email me at mike@swprntrs.com or fill out my feedback form here.

Thanks

Mike

You work hard all day but nothing seems to get done. Why is that? You even had a plan! It means that you let other people take control of your schedule, your job and your entire day. Don't let this happen to you.

I find my self making lists of things that have to get done more often these days than in the past. At first I just thought it was me getting older and not being able to concentrate and stay focused on the tasks at hand but after several articles on time management I've concluded that it is actually normal to lose focus during the course of the work day. What I did may not help or even apply to you but it helped me get somewhat organized. First I sat back at the end of the day, a day which I had thought that I had lost control of time and tried to analize where it all went wrong. What were the factors that lead my day in a direction that I had not intended resulting in not much of anything getting done. I wrote those things down and found that it was other people that led my direction thoughout the day and not me.

I don't know about where  you work but here at Southwest Printers, things happen like getting calls from co-workers "hey mike can you come down here and look at this?", hey mike can you come out the loading dock we got a problem?", a line of people outside my office wanting me to handle something that they can't or don't want to take responsiblity for, calls from sales people, vendor salespeople stopping by and expecting me to just drop everything to talk with them. I don't want to dismiss these things but for one thing if a vendor has any sort of respect for you and your time they would make an appointment to see you and not just drop by unannounced.

This is what I do:

My day starts out fairly routine and some would say it is more of rut than a routine. I head to the gym at 5:45am and I'm on the gym floor by 6am. I know exactly what I am going to do that day because I have mentally planned it all out. I don't chit-chat like some at the gym so I can stay on task for exactly 1 hour and 10 minutes Tuesday through Sunday except weekends are longer.  From there I head to work arriving before 8am., and this is where the rut, I mean routine, ends and "Creative Time Management" begins. Even if I have some sort of plan laid out in my head, it disolves away almost as soon as I walk through the door.

I walk through the Plant still toting my laptop back (backpack) and motorcycle helmet, visiting every department even before getting to my office. It's from this brief, but sometimes not so brief tour that I get a feel for the things that need to be addressed on my list for the day. It's during this tour that other people and other things start taking control of any plan that may have existed before hand so I just use this as a information gathering experience.

After reaching my office, I make a written list of the the things that have to get done and a list of the things that just need to get done. Usually these things that just need to get done are things that other people can take care of and I just have to get them to do it, in which case I just make a notation to get that person to do it, a reminder and a follow-up, nothing more. In any case I try to keep the list as short as possible containing the things that I know I can get done. If something does not get done it goes on the top of the next day's list. The most important issues are at the top of the list. These are the things that have to get done. Like I said, these lists are short and most times fit on as post-it note that I carry with me thoughout the day on my clipboard and cross off things as they get done. You can use a iPad or other device but I find that a clipboard is extremely useful for me.

Dealing with constant interruptions throughout the day such as phone calls, emails, texts, and vendor salespeople waltzing in the door can be more challenging. But the bottom line is that you have to stick with your list. After all, you have to realize that your time is valuable and others have to be more respectful of that. Your time belongs to you and it is up to you to determine what is important and that is why you made a list. So go and make yourself a list and free up some time.

Please contact me if you have any questions about how I was able to free-up some of my time or if you have any suggestions as to how I can do  it better. Do you have a better way. A great resource is an article at MindTools.com by James Manktelow & Amy Carlson.

We here at Southwest Printers was given the opportunity through the Xerox Corp. to attend the "Innovation Power Panel" keynote at the Hilton Theatre. Aside from the fact that the Hilton which is now not the Hilton but sports the new and totally uninspired name of the Las Vegas Hotel, The innovation panel, made up of Ursula Burns the Chairman and CEO of Xerox Corp., Alan Mulally president and CEO of Ford Motor Co., John Stratton, President of Verizon Enterprise Solutions and hosted by CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro was for me was quite motivating.

It is always very interesting to listen to the people who were instrumental in turning around their respective companies from the brink of irrelevence to thriving, innovative and competitive entities. Ms. Burns and Mr Mulally in particular had very inspirational stories to tell, and I only wish that the time had not ended so quickly which is unusual for me since normally I find events such as this rather dull and often find myself squirming in my seat wishing I had sat closer to the door. This was not the case this time.

After exiting the theatre I found myself cought in a seamingly endless train of people all focused on getting over to the show. Once inside I wandered around looking for something that truly excited me. Keep in mind that I am a tech type guy and not much seems to amaze me when it comes to technology, so it was no wonder that I had a hard time finding anything that truly got me going. I have to admit here that I did not have all that much time and did not get to all the venues however, seeing how the Las Vegas Convention Center is the largest venue I think I got a really good sample. Having seen all the press releases and product announcements, I didn't really see anything really exciting and by new I mean NEW as in never been seen before, game changing, totally will blow you away new.

In an article on cnet by Jennifer Guevin entitled "What Mattered Most on CES Day 2" she tried to point out the most important things that mattered on that day but what she actually ended up doing in giving you the impression that there was nothing and she struggled to find anything at all to write about because there was nothing, nothing at all to talk about or write about. So what was there at CES 2012 Day 2,1 & 3 & 4 ? Well technologically speaking there was nothing really new, just the same old things repackaged, resized, 3D-ified, faster, wider, taller, smaller, flatter, thinner, bigger, better, have it this way, have it that way, have it your way....just anything but truly new and innovative...that thing that makes you say WOW !!!

Don't get me wrong here I loved the show and in fact one of the products I loved the most is one which is not new or changed very much at all. It is the A.R. Drone by Parrot. We at Southwest Printers and me in particular just love this thing. I want one.

In fact there were numerous products that I liked even if they were not game changers and one of those that is or will be influencial is the LG Cimema 3D OLED which is basically just a piece of glass and almost no frame to speak of and is only about 1/4" thick and a bezel width of about 1mm and was the CNET best of show award winner for 2012.

It's possible that I am being just a bit too synical and maybe next year there will be some magical product that just knocks your socks off and says "Here I Am !!". So are we just going to be followers and evolutionaries or are we still innovators and creators of the new and the WOW ! ?

Special thanks to Jeff at Xerox for making this possible for me.

Over the past two or three months I have received no less than two dozen emails from my local gas utility telling me that I could help save the environment and help stop global warming by discontinuing paper statements in favor of having my statements emailed. At first, I ignored these annoying emails but after giving it some thought I decided that I should do something to try to set the record straight on this topic. So I composed an email stating a few facts, which I also printed out and mailed (after hunting down a stamp).

The point of my  letter was simply to inform them that it is a rather difficult stretch of the imagination to try to make the case that printed material will somehow harm the environment when in fact just the opposite is true. It is actually fairly easy, armed with just a few facts to make the case that printed material is good for the environment and therefore the use of paper products should be ecouraged not discouraged.

Facts such as:

1. Print is recycleable - roughly 64% of paper in the us is recycled.
2. Waste makes paper - According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "one third of fiber used in paper comes from wood-chip and sawmill scrap and another third from recycled paper.
3. Forests are Replenished - There is financial incentive to replenish forests rather than sell it for redevelopment or convert it for other uses. So in fact when you use paper you actually help to grow more trees. More info.
4. 56% of U.S. forest land is privately owned and these private land owners plant 4 million trees every day which is 3-4 times more than is harvested. There is an excellent Wall Street Journal article by Chuck Leavell which may be downloaded here.

As of yet I have not recevied any response from my gas utility.

Mike