The Boss Is ‘In’

Posted on December 21, 2009

It is true that what once was old is now new again. The business buzz these days is about setting office hours.

You remember when you were in college. The professors had certain hours that they committed to being in their office and available for you to stop by. If you needed to talk to a professor, your best chance came during his office hours.

Now company execs are setting office hours for when they will be available for employees and office hours for when they are available for their customers.

The topic is hot enough that Harvard Business Review featured it in a guest blog by Bill Taylor, cofounder of Fast Company magazine.

Jason Fried, founder of Chicago productivity software firm 37 signals, is available for two hours on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. He sits in his office and takes calls from customers.

One person asked him how he handled the crush of calls. Fried replied that he took the calls as they came in and didn’t rely on call waiting.

Seems simple enough.

How old is this “new” idea?

George Goethals was one of the chief engineers on the Panama Canal, which opened in 1914. Supposedly, each Sunday Goethals would meet with anyone involved with the construction of the canal. He would sometimes see upwards of 100 people in a day.

As a footnote, the Canal was finished more than a year ahead of its target date. Let’s hear it for open communication.

client relationships, communications, expectations, from the CEO, leadership | Comments (0)

On Time–or Maybe Not

Posted on December 7, 2009

Time management is one of the top problems people tell me they struggle with. And I get it–I struggle with it, too.

But let’s look at the truth of the situation.

It’s not how you manage time. It’s about how you manage YOU.

We all have the same 24 hours a day. To my knowledge, nobody has found a way to squeeze another hour or two into a 24-hour day.

Here are some quotes from management guru Peter Drucker. I hope they get you thinking.

“Everything requires time. It is the only truly universal condition. All work takes place in time and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique, irreplaceable, and necessary resource. Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time.”

“One cannot buy, rent or hire more time. The supply of time is totally inelastic. No matter how high the demand, the supply will not go up. There is no price for it. Time is totally perishable and cannot be stored. Yesterday’s time is gone forever, and will never come back. Time is always in short supply. There is no substitute for time. Everything requires time. All work takes place in, and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique, irreplaceable and necessary resource.”

“Until we can manage TIME, we can manage nothing else.”

communications, effectiveness, efficiency, expectations, setting expectations, time management | Comments (0)