It's no secret that many managers are starved of time. 

When stepping up to the next rung of the corporate ladder it’s generally assumed that more time needs to be sacrificed - that only by surrendering extra hours and working longer days can you finally become a leader.  

Too many of us live with the mindset that working longer hours make you more productive. However, this inevitably leads managers to take on more work than can be physically handled while, in tandem, attempting to lead their teams too.

Frankly, this is a recipe for disaster. By trying to stay on top of an ever-growing to-do list, while supporting teams who are attempting to do the same, businesses are working towards an impending burnout. 

What many managers don’t realise is that when they acquire lousy working habits, such as working 60-hour weeks, their teams often feel compelled to do the same. By getting tired and acting negatively due to their increasing stresses, they’re affecting how their teams think and behave, damaging their people and, ultimately, slowing the business down. With managers setting the tone for their businesses, it’s crucial that they act as a guiding example.  

As we enter a new year, it’s time to consider: is this really the future we want for our businesses? And do we want our teams to be dragged down by the increasing pressure to look productive rather than be productive? 

Paul Holbrook is creating a movement to take on our ongoing battle with time with his Diary Detox®.

Just another commute?

It all started with what should have been a normal Monday morning commute. 

Walking down Bishopsgate in The City of London, looking around him, Paul Holbrook realised how unhappy everyone looked; rushing around, brows furrowed, eager to get to their desks and start chipping away at their ever-growing to-do lists before being dragged from one meeting to the next for the remainder of the day.

It was then that Paul realised: he was just like them. He was miserable.

Paul had spent his career to date developing others. He realised early on that, as a manager, his job was all about making it as simple as possible for others to do theirs, by helping them to become better. But many of his peers seemed to see things differently. Instead, they appeared to treat management as a side-task, something to consider when they were not doing ‘real work’.

That morning commute changed everything. Soon after, Paul left the City and set up Diary Detox with the simple aim of removing the obliviousness of managers to the toxic effect their diaries have on their people, their companies and themselves.

Toxic habits

Paul reflected on his 20 years of corporate experience to understand the real issue: toxic habits.

Many managers spend their days busy, but busy doing what? Look through the diary of any manager and you’ll find meeting after meeting. Spend a day with any manager and you’ll witness them replying to email after email. Listen to them talk to their peers and you’ll hear them say yes to request after request.

These managers simply spend too much time in pointless meetings, being interrupted and taking on tasks that should sit with their people. In a certain light it’s understandable; they are mimicking every boss they ever had and are acting-out their own experience of being managed. Yet what many don’t appreciate is that the moment they become a manager, their job is no longer about working on tasks, but about working on their people.

As managers continue to focus their time in the weeds their new purpose is lost and their teams are left floundering in the wilderness. As companies spot these issues, they try to adapt, typically by sending their managers on leadership development courses. Those courses have the potential to be incredibly powerful, offering a path to how the manager’s role should look. But the content is often lost as their shiny new leadership handbook sits, gathering dust, in the bottom of their desk drawer.

Why? Because with everything else that’s already on their plate they simply don’t have the time to use what they’ve been shown.

So, what’s the solution?

Calendar cleansing 

The first step to getting back time is to look at your diary and take out everything that you don’t actually need. Paul recommends a colour coding method that turns your own diary into a heatmap that shows you if the activities in your diary are really worth undertaking.

“By attaching these colours it’s easy to see the value in everything you do. You can see how much time you spend being productive, how much time you spend on tasks that should be done by someone else and, ultimately, how much time you actually spend leading”, explains Paul.  “You also get to see how much time you spend adding no value whatsoever, and it’s quite an eye-opener!”

“It may sound obvious, but many managers don’t seem to realise what’s going on under their own nose during their working day. Instead, they go where their diary tells them, defaulting to what they have always done. This first step turns your diary into a mirror where you realise, often for the first time, the changes you need to make.”

What should you be doing?

The next step is to consider what you should be doing.

“The key is to get a healthy balance between the colours. As a manager, you’ll inevitably face curveballs every day, but it’s just not reasonable to turn down a request for your time simply on the basis that you’re too busy.” Paul continues.

“We’re all busy but by understanding the value of what’s filling your diary, you’ll be able to take a closer look at whether you need to put more effort into leading, managing or doing.”

“When it comes to taking control of your time, the most important step is to know what you’re actually doing. By acknowledging the habits that add little or no value, you’ll be able to spot the ones that you need to break. Those are the habits that will free up time for you and your team.”

Next steps

Paul adds; “the remaining steps of the Diary Detox help you plan your coming week in advance, before you leave for the weekend. Having that peace of mind helps to ensure you get the most from your downtime and return raring to go on Monday.”

“The results of the Diary Detox so far show that managers waste up to 20% of their time. That’s a day every week! When you tally that up over an entire year, and with more and more companies experimenting with the four-day-week, that’s a figure that you can no longer afford to ignore.”

“Diary Detox is a simple method that can help managers regain lost hours by focusing their time on leading their teams.”

The question therefore remains, What Are You Doing?