The pie chart below is based on our time and motion studies of 565 different activities measured by managers since 1990. These activities are combined into 12 major categories.

The participants are managers from 38 different job types; sales managers, bank managers, vice presidents, construction supervisors and others. All of them are responsible for managing people.

These managers each tracked about 15-25 activities, corresponding with alphabet letters on our proprietary TimeCorder device. Each manager typically conducted a time and motion study of his or her own time for two weeks. The categories that appear on the pie chart each consist of a number of individual activities.

Ask managers what they do, and they will tell you that they need to be coaching, supervising, managing operations, planning for the long term, etc. These high priority activities fall into the first 7 categories clockwise (people management, strategy / analysis, planning, selling, customer administration, customer service, and operations)

Altogether, these pie segments show that only 59% of a manager’s time is spent on activities that add value. The rest are administrative, internal, travel, training (oneself) travel, personal time and miscellaneous activities. These do not directly add value to the organization.

Companies need to recognize that operating at 100% efficiency or 100% capacity is simply not feasible. Time for long term priorities and daily responsibilities is limited. Numerous “requirements” or burdensome tasks will inevitably eat up time that managers would like to allocate to their priorities.

These job “requirements” are the unwritten or administrative tasks that are a necessary part of being an employee in the organization or that must get done eventually. These include administration, training, travel, personal time and miscellaneous activities. For managers, they can account for up to 41% of the time!

Managers should maximize their productive efforts by first understanding how they allocate their efforts through a time and motion study. Then they should look to improve processes, delegate tasks, automate, and get training on how to maximize productivity.

Following are brief descriptions of the main categories:

• Planning – Activities oriented towards developing new products / services / clients, etc.
• Strategy / analysis – Reviewing business results to aid in planning
• Selling – Direct contact with prospects or customers to obtain additional business
• Customer Administration – Internal activities that support sales and service
• Service – Responding to customer requests or provision of products and services
• Administration – Required internal activities not connected with main priorities
• Internal Operations – Internal work that keeps the organization running
• Training – Personal and professional development done on work time
• Travel – Travel to customers, other offices, but not commuting
• Personal time – Lunch, breaks, calls to spouse, short medical appointments, etc.
• Miscelleneous – Activities not covered elsewhere

The classical definition of the organizational manager is one who plans, organizes, coordinates and controls. However, the reality is that there are numerous, mundane activities that take up a manager’s time – some of which actually impede his or her productivity. Many of these non-priority tasks are unavoidable; they come with the job, but are never written in the job description. Managers try to focus on their priorities, but often get bogged down in the requirements of the job.

Administrative tasks are an unavoidable reality of work. In our time and motion study consulting projects, we define administrative tasks as those that don’t necessarily advance work toward achieving its major objectives, nor directly support these activities. Instead, they are necessary requirements of the job. They might support the operations of the organization, such as filling out time sheets, reports, and paperwork. They might support the dissemination of information, through internal, non-planning meetings. Or they might support other workers, providing assistance by answering questions or filling in for others.

The irony is that since we began conducting our time studies using the TimeCorder device in 1990, technology continues to proliferate; yet there is no reduction in administrative tasks. This is because for the manager, the computer is not an automation tool; it is an information-processing tool. With the increasing number of tools, or programs available, from word processing to spreadsheet analysis and presentation software, options have also increased. Now, more scenarios can be checked, more reports can be printed, and more data needs to be inputted.

As shown in the table below, the administrative burden is massive and takes up 11.6 hours of the manager’s work week. This is 25% of his or her time. The activities in this category are also very interruptive; 43 of them occur each week lasting 16 minutes each.

Administration is also an area where managers would like to spend considerably less time than they do. Managers spend 11.6 hours in administration time, but would ideally only like to spend 7.3 hours doing these activities. No one likes doing paperwork.

Administration time increases as one moves higher in the organization (see table below). Some of the time in this category is simply staying in touch through networking, writing and responding to e-mails or communicating with head office. Nonetheless, even when communication activities are excluded (some of which are routine and some of which are people management), administration for presidents is still 11.7 hours per week or 18% of the time.

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The Useful Commute Interview with Mark Ellwood

While participants in our studies typically track their time for two weeks, our results are reported on a weekly basis. The chart below shows total work hours, including work done at the office, at clients’ locations and at home. Business travel and breaks during the day are included, though commuting time is not. Overtime is done in the morning, at night, and on the weekends.

The average for all full-time employees is 46.7 hours per week. Within this group, municipal workers generally work 42.5 hours. Many of these are unionized employees with contracts that specify their maximum number of hours. Once negotiated, they generally stick to this The other jobs that are lower than the average do not have a travel component. Employees stay at one location.

Those who are above average have greater responsibilities, more travel, and more people management as part of their  jobs.

The chart below shows work hours per week (blue bars). Those who supervise employees have longer work hours and occasions than those who do not. Independent consultants are an exception. Unlike most other employees, their income is directly related to hours worked – they have a different incentive from employees to work long hours.

The scale for the red bars is in minutes. The bars represent typical durations, showing how long each event lasts.

Both scales increase at the same time, however there is not a causal relationship between hours worked and length of duration. Rather, durations increase with added responsibilities. Inside sales reps and receptionists for instance receive a high number of short phone calls or customer visits. Hence their durations are short. Middle managers and presidents on the other hand are more involved with long term planning through meetings. Meanwhile field supervisors show a long duration because their time spent in the field is usually long.

Generally, employees work longer hours than they would like. However, salaried workers do not receive extra compensation for overtime hours. They work more hours than the norm to:

• Achieve a level of results beyond expectations in order to obtain a promotion
• Reach bonus status, whereby compensation is tied to results
• Comply with requests by senior management
• Conform with peer pressure
• Be consistent with external schedules (e.g. train schedules, car pooling, or night time courses)
• Avoid stresses elsewhere. (For some, the attraction of work occurs when work becomes like home and home is too much work)

But employees make all kinds of excuses for not delegating. They justify their inefficiency through beliefs that are unfounded. If you want to make better use of your time, you’ll get more done through delegation. Catch yourself when you say one of the following. Often, the opposite is true!

• I don’t know if I can trust her to do it.
•  I could do it better myself. He isn’t qualified to do it.
• She doesn’t want any added responsibilities.
• I don’t have the time to show anyone how to do it.
• There is no one else to delegate to.
• He already has enough to do.
• I like doing this task, or I’m the only person who knows how to do it.
• She messed up last time, so I’m not giving her anything else to do.

Assume that most people want added responsibilities (don’t you?). Assume they are keen to learn. Recognizes that the short term training investment will pay off in the long term.

Look around. Even though you’re not the boss, there are people who will help you if you approach them in the right way.

 WHAT TO DELEGATE:

• Items that can be eliminated. If you shouldn’t be doing an activity, then perhaps you shouldn’t be giving the activity away to others.  Eliminate it.
• Minor decisions that can be found in policy
• Fact-finding assignments
• Preparation of rough drafts of reports
• Problem analysis and suggested actions
• Collection of data for reports
• Photocopying, printing, collating
• Data entry
• Email sorting
•  Things you are good at and do too much of
•  Things that aren’t part of your core competency. For small businesses, these include accounting, web site design, deliveries, hardware upkeep, software help, graphic design, travel arrangements, patenting, legal issues and even HR functions such as payroll.
• Tasks for which you are least qualified, that you dislike
•  Tasks that provide opportunities for employees to grow (Some things you can’t delegate: performance reviews, discipline, firing.)

PLANNING

Create a plan to delegate. Don’t give out assignments haphazardly.

Invest short term time in training to gain a long term increase in productivity.

Others may end up doing a better job than you can or finding new ways to complete a task.

Delegate, don’t abdicate. Someone else can do the task, but you’re still responsible for the completion of it, and for managing the delegation process.

Delegate to the right person. Don’t always give tasks to the strongest, most experienced or first available person.

Spread delegation around and give people new experiences as part of their training.

Obtain feedback from employees to ensure they feel they’re being treated appropriately. A simple “How’s it going with that new project?” might be all that’s needed.

Be sure to delegate the authority along with the responsibility.  Don’t make people come back to you for too many minor approvals.

Trust people to do well and don’t look over their shoulders or check up with them along the way, unless they ask.

Be prepared to trade short-term errors for long term results.

DELEGATION INSTRUCTIONS

1.  Delegate the objective, not the procedure. Outline the desired results, not the methodology. What needs to be done and when should it be finished?
2.  Make sure the standards and the outcome are clear. To what degree of quality or detail?
3.  Clarify the decision-making authority the delegate has.
4.  Outline the resources available.
5.  Ask if there is anything else they need to get started. They’ll tell you. (This can save you time spent showing them.)
6.  Ask people to provide progress reports. Set interim deadlines to see how things are going.
7.  If appropriate, let others know who is in charge of the task.
8.  Give praise and feedback at the end of the project, and additional responsibilities.

Always look for opportunities to delegate, even when there appears to be no obvious person to delegate to. There usually is. Your time is worth it.

Administrative tasks are not acknowledged in other analyses of managerial time, but are an unavoidable reality of work. In our time study consulting, we define administrative tasks as those that do not advance work toward achieving major objectives.. Instead, they are necessary requirements of the job. They might support the operations of the organization, such as filling out time sheets, reports, and paperwork. They might support the dissemination of information, through internal, non-planning meetings. Or they might support other workers, providing assistance by answering questions or filling in for others. Or they might be activities that could be delegated entirely to an assistant, to another department or to technology, with no changes to the manager’s performance.

In one of our questionnaires, managers are also asked “What things, outside of your control get in the way of your productivity?” Since we began asking the question in 1990, the issue of paperwork and administrative tasks continues to lead the responses to this question across all job categories. For managers and non-managers alike, the percentage is the same.  20% of respondents cite administration as an impediment. See Table 4 below for responses to the second open-ended question cited by more than 4% of managers.

The irony is that since 1990, computers and new software programs continue to proliferate; yet there is no reduction in administrative tasks. This is because for the manager, the computer is not an automation tool; it is an information-processing tool. With the increasing number of tools, or programs available, from word processing to spreadsheet analysis and presentation software, the options have also increased. Now, more scenarios can be checked out, more reports can be printed for review, more data needs to be inputted. It is no surprise then that the issue of paperwork and administrative tasks is seen as a huge impediment to productivity.

As shown in the table below, the administrative burden is massive and takes up 11.6 hours of the manager’s work week. This is 25% of his or her time. The activities in this category are also very interruptive; 43 of them occur each week lasting 16 minutes each.

Administration is also an area where managers would like to spend considerably less time than they do. Actual hours spent versus ideal expectations are the most dramatically different for this category compared to others. Managers spend 11.6 hours in administration time, but would ideally only like to spend 7.3 hours doing these activities. No one likes doing paperwork.

Administration time increases as one moves higher in the organization (see table below). Some of the time in this category is simply staying in touch through networking, writing and responding to e-mails or communicating with head office. Nonetheless, even when communication activities are excluded (some of which are routine and some of which are people management), administration for presidents is still 11.7 hours per week or 18% of the time.

How do you keep your administration time to a minimum? Please leave your comments and I will summarize them in another post.