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Study Shows How to Increase the Value Delivered by Executives
Washington, DC
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
"100 hours per WEEK, culled from the schedules of 8 senior executives. That's how much time was being devoted to work that lower level employees already on staff could have been doing" says Francie Dalton, President of Dalton Alliances, Inc.
"And these results aren't unusual", she says. Based on her business consulting career spanning over 20 years, Dalton says: "Your own organization may well have the same underperforming assets. Until this catalytic process is skillfully implemented, many functions performed by executives masquerade very effectively as being legitimate work"
Here's the three step process Dalton used to reveal the availability of these hours.
Step One: Private, confidential interviews with each executive in which the following questions were effectively posed:
- What functions do you find most aggravating or banal?
- What functions take up most of your time?
- What functions don't require your level of intellect or experience?
The purpose of these questions was to identify what functions the executives were performing well, but should not be performing. Six themes emerged from their responses.
1. Accepting incomplete work from staff whose existing competencies were sufficient to produce completed work.
2. Retaining functions when the provision of explicit instructions or templates would equip staff to perform them
3. Failure to progressively develop within competent staff the acumen prerequisite to taking on more substantive work
4. Following up with staff to learn status of previously assigned tasks
5. Attending/leading meetings where their attendance/leadership didn't add value
6. Choosing to be involved in enjoyable work that didn't require their intellectual capacity
Step Two: Determining the estimated number of hours devoted to each of the above.
The eight executives involved acknowledged that they were spending 4 to 25 hours per week engaged in work that others should and could be doing.
When pressed to explain, each had seemingly coherent rationalizations. Primary among these was having taken on the functions slowly at first, a little at a time, and becoming conditioned to doing them.
"Ultimately", says Dalton, "those who were struggling mightily under the heaviest workloads slammed brain-first into the inescapable realization that they were largely complicit in having become overwhelmed".
Step Three: Securing commitment from each executive to redeploy their time commensurate with their capabilities, which required two important actions:
- determining the outcomes that could be achieved no longer bogged down in the functions identified in Step One, and
- implementing a development program sufficient to raise the skill level of subordinates.
"Don't expect to elicit these results in a team event, or in a meeting with the CEO" warns Dalton. "Extracting such honest and substantive responses requires acumen and sensitivity.
Here are 3 of the 7 action items the executives undertook to recapture and redeploy their time more optimally.
1. Stop overlooking poor performance. Confront it; impose consequences.
2. Segment complex processes; delegate them.
3. Require staff to engage their executive only after exhausting all logical next steps.
"Just imagine the benefits to executives, their staff, and the organization of being able to redeploy 100 hours per week of executive time" suggests Dalton. "In the current business climate, CEOs can't afford NOT to tackle this exercise".
~
Francie Dalton is president of Dalton Alliances, Inc, a Maryland-based business consultancy specializing in the communication, management, and behavioral sciences. Her new book, "Versatility", published by ASAE, and more about her offerings can be found at www.daltonalliances.com. Arrange an interview by calling 410-715-0484.
"And these results aren't unusual", she says. Based on her business consulting career spanning over 20 years, Dalton says: "Your own organization may well have the same underperforming assets. Until this catalytic process is skillfully implemented, many functions performed by executives masquerade very effectively as being legitimate work"
Here's the three step process Dalton used to reveal the availability of these hours.
Step One: Private, confidential interviews with each executive in which the following questions were effectively posed:
- What functions do you find most aggravating or banal?
- What functions take up most of your time?
- What functions don't require your level of intellect or experience?
The purpose of these questions was to identify what functions the executives were performing well, but should not be performing. Six themes emerged from their responses.
1. Accepting incomplete work from staff whose existing competencies were sufficient to produce completed work.
2. Retaining functions when the provision of explicit instructions or templates would equip staff to perform them
3. Failure to progressively develop within competent staff the acumen prerequisite to taking on more substantive work
4. Following up with staff to learn status of previously assigned tasks
5. Attending/leading meetings where their attendance/leadership didn't add value
6. Choosing to be involved in enjoyable work that didn't require their intellectual capacity
Step Two: Determining the estimated number of hours devoted to each of the above.
The eight executives involved acknowledged that they were spending 4 to 25 hours per week engaged in work that others should and could be doing.
When pressed to explain, each had seemingly coherent rationalizations. Primary among these was having taken on the functions slowly at first, a little at a time, and becoming conditioned to doing them.
"Ultimately", says Dalton, "those who were struggling mightily under the heaviest workloads slammed brain-first into the inescapable realization that they were largely complicit in having become overwhelmed".
Step Three: Securing commitment from each executive to redeploy their time commensurate with their capabilities, which required two important actions:
- determining the outcomes that could be achieved no longer bogged down in the functions identified in Step One, and
- implementing a development program sufficient to raise the skill level of subordinates.
"Don't expect to elicit these results in a team event, or in a meeting with the CEO" warns Dalton. "Extracting such honest and substantive responses requires acumen and sensitivity.
Here are 3 of the 7 action items the executives undertook to recapture and redeploy their time more optimally.
1. Stop overlooking poor performance. Confront it; impose consequences.
2. Segment complex processes; delegate them.
3. Require staff to engage their executive only after exhausting all logical next steps.
"Just imagine the benefits to executives, their staff, and the organization of being able to redeploy 100 hours per week of executive time" suggests Dalton. "In the current business climate, CEOs can't afford NOT to tackle this exercise".
~
Francie Dalton is president of Dalton Alliances, Inc, a Maryland-based business consultancy specializing in the communication, management, and behavioral sciences. Her new book, "Versatility", published by ASAE, and more about her offerings can be found at www.daltonalliances.com. Arrange an interview by calling 410-715-0484.
Nicole Tesley
Public Relations
Dalton Alliances
Columbia, MD
304-279-0122
