Soon
after the rice and curry for lunch, zoom goes the siesta. This is perhaps a
very apt description of the quintessential non- performing assets that
corporate and government enterprises in India tend to accumulate and nurture. A
busy man is never short of time. Given that we Indians love to spend our time
they we want and refer to it as having spent quality time, it makes enormous
good sense to dive straight into the depth of the ocean where the problem
emanates. At Ishan
Institute of Management & Technology, one
of the top PGDM colleges in Delhi NCR, the two year program is designed for
learning time management through a system that integrates lectures, student
activities, and campus events and on campus housing. The objective is to create
a campus climate where students, academicians and staff optimize solutions to
problems with respect to time.
The Teacher Leader Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight
Eisenhower the former U.S President was a multi-tasking man. The fact that he
donned many hats at different points of tie in his life with great poise like
being the President of Columbia University, a five star general in the U.S.
Army being responsible for the execution and planning of Allied invasions in
Africa, France and Germany during the Second World War, a fine amateur golfer
and also the first Supreme commander of NATO speaks volumes for time management
capabilities that this iconic leader possessed.
Multi-tasking
ability and business leaders who possess this kind of ability are asset to a
company. First multi tasking leaders bring a portfolio of skills to the table
and hence can be a part of multiple teams. Second, when a company gets the best
of many worlds than a master of one, it saves money, time and efforts. Third,
these men optimize and save time. As such they are not the usual fire fighters
or plumbers who keep themselves engaged throughout the day at the work place
dousing one fire after another or looking for plumbing opportunities. They have
an unusually high strike rate or efficiency level when it comes to solving
problems.
The Eisenhower Matrix
When
we talk of the short run and long run in lecture sessions in B-schools, it is common
for academicians to delve into delivering well chosen homilies on the fixity of
factors of production, sub-optimization of resources in the short run and the
different nature of costs in the short run vis-à-vis those in the long run. The merit of the Eisenhower matrix lies in
the distinction between tasks that are important and those that are urgent. He
argued that tasks that were important were seldom urgent and vice versa.
What is
the Difference between Urgent and Important?
The
difference between urgency and importance in the context of task and time
management is based on the classical differences between short run and long run
in microeconomics. As in the short run, sub-optimization of resources is
asserted, urgency requires fire fighting or availing of plumbing opportunities.
On the contrary in the long run, optimization of resources is asserted and thus
importance may be ascertained by institution building.
In
the context of task management at the work place the to-do list of an
individual is the starting point of everything. So it begins with the
optimization of the to-do list by classifying tasks as urgent or important.
Tasks like responding to emails, phone calls, text messages and documenting
reports are essentially urgent because they come with a deadline or are guided
by the necessity of prompt response to keep the chain moving forward across
levels n the value chain. On the other hand, tasks like achieving targets of
sales, revenue, streamlining the system and creating value for business through
relationship building.
Q1: Urgent and Important Tasks
These
are tasks that are time bound and may create windows of opportunities that can
help us in realizing our long term goals. Examples of such activities are
answering to emails pertaining to job offers, lead generation, closing sales,
etc that require immediate action and may result in a stream of results in the
long term. Other examples shall include tax deadlines, emergency room
situations, household chores and daily team meetings.
Q2: Not Urgent but Important
Tasks
Tasks
contained in the second quadrant are those that they may not have a pressing
time parameter but are important for realization of long term goals that
matter. These tasks typically require strengthening relationships and drilling
efforts for the long haul to complete a project or progress to the next level
of the project. Completion of these tasks requires planning and time
scheduling.
Q3: Urgent and Not So Important
Tasks
These
are tasks that do not require personal attention. These are priorities on the
to-do lists of other people. Instances of such tasks come in the form of
interruption to our work. Stuff like phone calls, emails, text messages and
requests for ‘help’ on a non transactional basis are some common examples. These
tasks need to be delegated.
Q4: Not Urgent and Not
Important Tasks
These
are tasks that come as distractions. These tasks do not have any bearing on
realization of long term goals and do not have any deadlines. The best way to
deal with these kind of activities is to delete them from the to-do list all
together and make it look clean, mean and thin. Doing so allows us to reduce
our burden.
At
Ishan Institute of Management & Technology, there is a time table for
lecture sessions and the remaining part of learning in the form of
assignments, projects and group tasks are all announced spontaneously to enable
students streamline the clutter of their time table and deal with task and time
management so as to raise efficiency levels. We believe that engagement is not
efficiency. Achievement of targets is.