by Lee Fried, on 20 Jan 2008 03:41 pm
The Journey
Time to Think Time to Reflect
Time, one of the most valuable resources many of us have. Yet, how many of us treat it like it is? For the last couple of month I have been working with our Senior Leadership team to standardize their work with a goal of freeing up time to support improvement work. One our our strategies is to create a standardized calendar for the entire organization which facilitates a cadence and sequencing to checking meeting’s, consolidates oversight meetings, reserves time for being in the Gemba as well as sets up two hours a day (first thing in the morning and lunch time) for “non-meeting zones”.
The non-meetings zones were created with the intent of reserving time each day for leadership to simply think and reflect. Variation in management practices and the pace of change had created a situation where most leaders spend 8-10 hours a day moving from one meeting to the next. Not untypical of most organizations. The only time leaders seem to have to stop, think, reflect and learn is late at night or on the weekends. This overburden has all kinds of challenges that don’t need to be explained.
As a consultant in support of this leadership team I have had similar challenges lately. With enterprise wide support for transformation we suddenly find ourselves moving at a pace far faster then we are used to. It is rare that I have a minute to spare. This weekend I had an email exchange with my Sensei about making sure we are building in time to reflect on our own processes to ensure we are learning and making improvements. In other words, I need to practice what I preach. Here I am working with leadership to standardize their work and finding time for reflection, and at the same time not taking the time to standardize my own processes and calendar. Just like them I need time to think and time to reflect. Time for adjustment….
on 24 Jan 2008 at 3:13 pm 1.Stacey Conley said …
I really like the concept of the “non-meeting zones” our culture is to rush around to meetings and then try to “connect the dots” wherever a moment is available. I think I get more creative, productive work ideas when I do have a moment to reflect.
Thank you for sharing!
on 24 Jan 2008 at 9:04 pm 2.Otto Rogers said …
Hello,
This was actually brought up in one of our morning huddles, I think it is a great plan to free up time for important tasks such as the GEMBA walks. The culture at Group Health is slowing changing for the better with the new lean practices.
Otto
on 24 Jan 2008 at 10:28 pm 3.Lee Fried said …
Hi Guys,
Thanks for reading and posting. I think it will be a big improvement once the organization makes the transition. It will be hard at first though, because we are so used to our variation.
Take care and see you in the gemba,
Lee
on 14 Mar 2008 at 3:30 pm 4.sara said …
Hi
the concept of a non-meeting zones for leadership to simply “stop, think, reflect and learn” is inspiring.
the concept of slack time as a prerequisite for innovation and creativity brings to mind an Einstein quote-
“The faster you go, the shorter you are”
thanks for thinking out loud. sara
on 16 Mar 2008 at 7:42 pm 5.Lee Fried said …
Hi Sara,
Thanks for the post. I had a chance to talk with a couple of the executives that have implemented the “no meeting zones” this last week and they all confirmed that they are more effective as leaders. If there is no time to stop and reflect in the chaos of the day there is no time for improvement.
Take care,
Lee