Leadership and Time Management

The Big Rock Theory: What Really Matters

The Big Rock Theory: What Really Matters | Dr. Will Ramey

The Big Rock Theory: What Really Matters | Dr. Will Ramey 800 600 OnTheStacks

The Big Rock Theory: What Really Matters

Research Backed Approaches to Leadership and Team Dynamics with Dr. Will Ramey, The Leadership Dr.

Applying the Big Rock Theory to how you approach leadership leads to less feeling of overwhelm, a higher sense of control, and more time being spent on what matters most. We share how to sort through the big rocks, the pebbles, and the sand at work so you can maximize your day as a leader and be the best for your team. Let’s get into it!

Where Did My Time Go?

As a team leader have you ever asked yourself “Where did my day go?” or “What on earth did I accomplish today?” After asking yourself that question the feeling of frustration or disappointment tends to wash over you. Not completing tasks or accomplishing what we set out to accomplish in our day can lead to feelings of frustration and inferiority. This feeling cues our follow-on behavior. What do leaders tend do…roll up our sleeves to work harder, which typically means longer hours, working through breaks, or taking work home.

None of these solutions are optimal. What is a team leader to do? Take a step back and breathe for a moment. Leaders should take time to look at their day, identify what is most important, and know where to place their efforts for maximum impact. How can leaders identify what is most important to least important?

The Big Rock Theory

As the story goes, a time management expert was speaking to a group of new team leaders. He stood in front of the group and pulled out a large mason-jar and set it down on the podium. He produced about a dozen rocks and placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?” Everyone in the group said, “Yes.” Then he said, “Really?”

He reached behind the podium and pulled out a bucket of pebbles. He dumped them in and shook the jar, so the pebbles worked their way into the space between the rocks. Again, he asked the group, “Is the jar full?” By this time the leaders began to understand. “I don’t think so,” one of them answered. “Good!” he replied.

He reached behind the podium for a bucket of sand and started dumping the sand in the jar. It went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the pebbles. “Is this jar full?”, He asked. “No!”, the leaders shouted. “Good.”, he said. He grabbed a pitcher of water and poured it in until the jar was filled to the brim.

He looked at the group and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?” One leader raised their hand and said, “No matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!” “No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The truth is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”

Identify Your Big Rocks, Pebbles, and Sand

1. Identify what the ‘big rocks’ are. Performance conversations? Recognition for a team member? Presentation to the CEO? Ask yourself – What absolutely must get done today that is impactful and meaningful? What does your team need from you today? Where does your team need YOU most today?

2. What are those pebbles? These are the tasks that you need to get done but are less urgent and less important than your big rocks. Think about administrative functions. Actions that are necessary to keep the team moving but aren’t necessarily making big impacts or overly time sensitive. Are these tasks that could be delegated to your team members? Or maybe they need done but it can wait until the end of the day.

3. Where is the sand? These tasks are the least important and least urgent but tend to be time detractors. Do I really need to reply to this email right now? Does this article that was just forwarded need read immediately? These are the tasks that can either be scheduled for later, delegated to someone else, or maybe even deleted from doing at all.

The hidden benefits of identifying your big rocks

1. The feeling of overwhelm will go down as you funnel down where you are spending your time.

2. Your sense of purpose will increase knowing you are prioritizing work where you have the most impact for your team.

3. You will have more time for connecting with your team as you begin to make a habit of prioritizing your tasks day to day, week to week, and month to month.

I learned this approach as a young Lieutenant in the Army leading a team of 114 Soldiers responsible for maintenance operations, both in garrison and deployed to Iraq. I needed awareness of what was going on, but everything could not be a priority for me. If everything was a priority and waited for me, it would bottleneck. Instead, I needed to understand where to spend my time and where to take risks, delegate, and schedule tasks accordingly.

I doubled down and put this method to work when I became a Senior Leader of larger teams. Time is a finite resource. As a team leader you have more demands on your time, especially as your team grows in size and responsibility. Prepare yourself to overcome the stress and challenge of time management as a team leader.

Remember to put the BIG ROCKS in first or you’ll never get them in at all. Stay focused. The next article will explain just how to prioritize tasks once you identified the big rocks and pebbles that need done.

Interested in learning how to reclaim control of your time and feel less stressed when you look at your calendar? Join my waitlist for my upcoming program: Prioritize and Execute to Focus on Meaningful Work by Dr. Will Ramey (maven.com)

Reach out to connect on LinkedIn Dr. William Ramey | LinkedIn

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Leadership and Time Management

Leadership and Time Management | Dr. Will Ramey

Leadership and Time Management | Dr. Will Ramey 800 600 OnTheStacks

Research Backed Approaches to Leadership and Team Dynamics with Dr. Will Ramey, The Leadership Dr.

Understanding and mastering time management can have big benefits such as lower stress, executing impactful work, and being able to give more of yourself to your team. I share my personal breaking point that led me to learn the research about time interpretation and how to apply it to my workday. Let’s jump in!

The Background

In 2016 I was working in one of the most demanding leadership positions I’ve ever held. It wasn’t the complexity; I enjoy challenges. It wasn’t the level of responsibility; I’ve led teams in combat being responsible for lives of Soldiers.

I had just joined the Senior Leadership Team working in the top tier of a three-tiered organizational structure and was responsible for a team of 300+ people. We were responsible for customer expectation management and production planning for $500M+ revenue generating business.

What got to me were the demands on my time. I moved up a level in the organizational hierarchy and put high performance expectations on myself. This drove me to shift how I approached managing my time.

I wanted to prove that I deserved to be leading at this level and exceed all expectations of my boss and my colleagues. I wanted to be the best leader possible for my team. Needless to say, the “40 hour” week was an illusion. Getting to work early and staying late became the norm. I gave my time to my team as best I could. I pushed off taking care of my individual responsibilities to lunch breaks, or end of shift, or the early morning hours. I’m a high achiever. I wasn’t afraid of the long hours or the complex challenges that came with the job. Then – I hit the wall!

Bad Habits Creep In

With the technology today, I found myself building some bad habits. I’d check my email right before going to sleep. This led to tossing and turning most nights. Checking my email from my smartphone in my driveway before I walked inside was another bad habit. What started as reading in the driveway inevitably led to me checking my email walking into the kitchen while greeting my family. Trying to multi-task by reading email and hearing about my kids’ day at school was a failure. It was sending out so many horrible signals de-prioritizing my family.

After standing in my kitchen for 10 minutes and reading my emails one night I was asked “Are you home yet?”. Feeling frustrated and oblivious I snapped, “I’ve been home for at least 10 minutes.” To which I was met with a unanimous, “Have you though?!” It hit like a ton of bricks. The phone got put inside the drawer so it wouldn’t be a distraction anymore that night. I got the message loud and clear. Work was creeping into my home and NOT in a good way. I was not getting restful sleep. I was carrying a work-mode mindset into my home life and couldn’t shut it off. Boundaries needed set quickly.

What example was I setting for the junior leaders in my team?  I tell my team all the time, family comes first. Prioritize time with friends and family. I needed to change, and it started with learning more about time at work. I needed to reclaim control of my time at work.

The Science of Time Interpretation

There is science behind the objective and subjective interpretation of time at work. Researcher Dr. Abbie Shipp focuses on the psychological experience of time at work. One of the concepts she brings to light is how the objective and subjective interpretation of time is intertwined. Team leaders, especially new leaders want to be efficient.

We use our calendars to drive our day. Meetings are set in 30- or 60-minute increments. Deadlines at placed at the end of the week or the month. The workday starts at 8am and ends at 5pm. Our lunch break is 30 minutes at noon. We move from task to task to task. The subjective interpretation teaches us to look at the meaning of how we spend time and to be event focused. This is the secret… knowing the difference between subjective and objective measures of time.

Reclaiming Control of your Time

1. I took a step back to view not just what I needed to complete during my day but what was important to me about it. What did a successful day/week/month look like and feel like. I developed an opening and closing routine for my day to set boundaries and feel the start and end of a successful day.

2. I took a deep dive into deadlines so that I can meet the expectations and feel synchronized with my team. This also allowed me the opportunity to give my team members more autonomy and opportunity to own tasks.

3. I made my workload visible to see what was in process and what was accomplished to celebrate the wins with my team.

4. I took intentional time to refresh when it felt right vs when the clock said I should be breaking.

BREAKTHROUGH!!

I felt better about what I was accomplishing and… had more time to spend with my team. I was refreshed and capable of crushing it without the feeling of being rundown by the end of the day or week. Best of all, because I understood the importance of where my time was going and what I was accomplishing I could shut off and leave work at work.

There is much more to the story on how I did this. In my upcoming articles I will share with you three approaches proven to help you reclaim your time and shed the stress of stepping into that team leader position.

Interested in learning how to reclaim control of your time and feel less stressed when you look at your calendar? Check out my course: Prioritize and Execute to Focus on Meaningful Work by Dr. Will Ramey (maven.com)

Reach out to connect on LinkedIn Dr. William Ramey | LinkedIn

If you find value and enjoy our content, smash that YouTube Subscribe button here:

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Want to see more OnTheStacks Content?

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