Lessons from GE's Approach to Personal Productivity

Posted by Steve Prokesch on April 21, 2008 2:01 PM

If it’s accepted wisdom that businesses should revisit their strategies and organizational structures and processes on a regular basis to ensure that they are still relevant, doesn’t it make sense to periodically take stock of how you’re spending your time? Given the current economic climate, there’s no better occasion than now to step back and make sure you’re maximizing your value to your organization.

I got this idea while observing a program at General Electric’s famous management-training center in Crotonville, New York. Its purpose was to get managers better focused on pursuing innovation and growth, two of CEO Jeff Immelt’s top priorities.

I went through the program with the senior managers of the Power Generation business. With their work lives already overstretched by the old priorities, these “turbine heads” (as they are affectionately known within GE) had an epiphany: Something had to go. Then they proceeded to discuss which responsibilities they should delegate to others and which meetings could either be conducted more efficiently or killed.

Of course, you’d be an idiot not to rethink your job if you boss changes your priorities. But why wait? Drawing from the Crotonville experience, I’ve come up with some basic steps for carrying out this task:

Compare your calendar with the priorities. Label the purpose of every regular or recurring activity on your quarterly calendar and highlight those activities that are connected with your top five priorities. This simple exercise will reveal where you’re squandering your time.

Be ruthless. Instead of persuading yourself why you can’t give up the time you’ve been devoting to underperforming operations or overly demanding customers that seem important even if they aren’t connected to a strategic priority, start with the attitude that you simply cannot deal with them anymore. In some cases, you’ll realize that you’ve been treating the symptoms of the disease and should finally cure the disease. In others, you’ll discover that the task will provide a growth opportunity for someone else.

Ask your team to do the same. Then discuss together how jobs could be recast and how the group as a whole could better spend its time. Make it clear that everything can be challenged—down to the PowerPoint slides presented regularly at meetings. Do you really need 20? If you could only have, say, two, which ones would they be?

Make time for your people and yourself. When you’re rebuilding your calendar, be sure to include quality time for your team to get together to brainstorm about the strategy, the organization, and new opportunities. Last but not least, absolutely include time to pursue personal priorities that will help you grow and make you more valuable to your organization.

More on Productivity:
Beware the Busy Manager
Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time
Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform
Are You Spending Your Time the Right Way?

Comments

This is isn't anything new. I'm sure they took it straight from the Effective Executive by Peter Drucker. Over 30 years old and still the leading work in this area.

- Posted by Lincoln Rozelle
April 23, 2008 9:38 AM

Well, I am 28, so I haven't read any management books older than me, so I think this is short but sweet advice. I especially respond to the part about examining priorities and doing away with those that don't apply anymore. I wish the company I work for embraced even changing how they do some of their paperwork, but even that is a stretch for them.

- Posted by D. Hill
April 29, 2008 10:22 AM

Mr. Prokesch's article is stimulating. D. Hill's commentary smacks of reality for many in management. In my work with supervisors and middle managers, I often feel that I am encouraging them to manage and lead upward. Actually, that's exactly what I am encouraging them to do. However, without the stimulus from someone at or near the top, I encounter resistance to my suggestions aimed at helping my subjects with their issues; e.g., time wasted in unproductive meetings. The reasons are too numerous to mention. Those who have been successful getting their ideas acted upon have done one or more of the following:

1. They've identified the consequences of acting or not acting in terms of dollars. (In the case of unproductive meetings, for instance, how much money is being wasted in terms of the salaries amd benefits of those sitting in the meeting? And what about the productive work that is not getting done?)

2.They present not only a problem or dilemma, but also one or more possible solutions - and agree implement or support implementation of the best alternative.

3. They engage in creative, out-of-the-box thinking.

I chuckled at Lincoln Rozelle's post. I was reminded of Rule 4 in the "Rules of Life" from "Chicken Soup For The Soul". Rule 4 states: "A lesson will be repeated until learned." (No guarantees about the learning part, however.)

- Posted by Henry Michel
April 29, 2008 3:21 PM

Whislt we have progressed and got ourselves pre-occupied and bogged down with meetings and discussions, we should always revert back to basics and not be distracted, but remain focussed. As stated by Stephen Covey in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, first things first, we need to comprehend and differentiate between what is urgent and what is important ; usually it is beyond us when it eventually dependant on what the boss considers as priority.Unfortunately, that priority can fluctuate and we never get down to accomplishing our tasks or work. So, it boils down to whether the boss gets it right, by remaining focused and firm in his decision making process. Do what is required, be concise and precise - based on the timeline / schedule given.

- Posted by Vincent D'cruz
April 30, 2008 4:10 AM

Thanks to all of your for your comments. I love Henry's idea of putting a dollar value on acting or not acting.

I understand how it can be frustrating if you are not the leader/manager of a team -- i.e., how you can feel that you really can't control how you spend your time. But don't sit there stewing. Talk to your boss in private.

Ask why you spend time on certain things (e.g., meetings, reports). Ask how they connect with the strategic priorities, how it creates value.

At the very least, suggest (in a tactful, positive, nonthreatening manner) how your job could be recast so you could be more productive. And depending on your relationship with your boss, maybe suggest that the team collectively go through the exercise outlined above. If your boss has anything on the ball, he/she will see that he/she has everything to gain and nothing to lose.

- Posted by Steve Prokesch
April 30, 2008 9:08 AM

this just proves that even large institutions/companies can build in the flexiblity to make adjustments of priorities and time to the very core of the way they do business.

There was an old navigational approach (pre-GPS, pre-LORANS) called "Dead Reckogning" (really "Deducted Reckogning"). Throughouit the day, the navigator would take all availbale information, like average speed, current, wind direction, drift, etc, and make the best estimate of where the boat was. While any given estimation might not be correct, if done often enough, the errors would start to cancel out. So accuracy was actually pretty good. So the trick with these re-prioritizaions is to do them frquently enough to keep the ship headed in the direction you want it to go.

Jon R.

- Posted by Jon R.
April 30, 2008 1:50 PM