Wasting Management Time

According to the Harvard Business Review, fully 90% of managers waste their time on ineffective activities. Only 10% of managers use their time both effectively and wisely.

The job of managers is to move the organization forward. The manager is paid to change the direction of the enterprise, not to maintain the status quo. The secret to achieving this is to apply focus and energy.

A large number of managers have neither focus or energy, they are what are termed the procrastinators. These managers are paralyzed by fear of failure, and therefore fail to take action. These managers are a real problem, and require special care, because otherwise, its difficult to get any useful results from them.

Another large group have energy, but no focus. They spend their time jumping from activity to activity, but this group, mistakes action for results. To handle these managers, its important to keep the number of tasks assigned to them small. Overloading these managers with more than a few tasks will lead to lots of apparent activity, but very few results.

Yet another group, has focus, but no energy. These are the disengaged. They are capable of excellent work, but have become discouraged and therefore approach their work in a half hearted fashion. These managers may have started with both energy and focus, but have been discouraged by a stifling organization culture. These managers can be rehabilitated, through a little encouragement and attention.

Purposeful managers, have both energy and focus. They don't get distracted by unimportant issues, they focus on things that count and they commit to moving things forward. These are the people that get things done and are the real source of competitive advantage in companies.

As an individual in the organization, ally yourself with purposeful managers for two reasons. First, these managers get results and being associated with them will cast a positive halo on you. The second reason, is that associating with purposeful managers helps you in turn to become purposeful, which will usually result in both attention and promotions.