What professionals need to manage their time

Francis Wade, Sunday Business COLUMNIST

Recently, I joined the ranks of Jamaicans who find themselves waiting impatiently in the office of an attorney, accountant, consultant, dentist or doctor, wondering why such highly trained professionals don't manage their time better. For clients, customers and patients, it's a huge problem, but only a few of these professionals seem to be aware when they are running behind schedule. What makes things worse is that only a tiny handful actually apologises for being late, which would be a start.

If you belong to one of these professions, you may confirm what your colleagues have told me in coaching sessions. In spite of all your technical training, you were never taught how to manage the one thing that you sell to make a living: your time.

Unlike other professionals who receive a steady pay cheque, you're a "billing professional": you get paid only when you work. You live or die by the number of billable hours you generate as you trade time for money, experiencing a stress that few with steady jobs understand.

During this recession, you may have learned the limits of this model. As your clients' discretionary spending dipped, they have postponed surgeries, check-ups, litigation, and training, even choosing to do their own books. To make things worse, your active clients are suddenly unable to make timely payments.

It's been hard. How have you responded?

If you are like most billing professionals, you have responded by increasing the hours spent working, selling and marketing. This tactic has worked in the short term, but it runs counter to a commitment to lead a balanced life. You may have also tried another tactic: diversifying your business via side-ventures. Earning passive income is a great idea, but it, too, requires an initial investment of your precious time. As you pursued these tactics they may have squeezed out the time needed to do the time tracking, billing, accounting and collecting that's required to keep your business running properly.

These strategies don't work because they rely on the same time management techniques you use today. But what are your options? Fortunately, you aren't stuck with the time management system you have today. Like other professionals, you started developing these techniques during your training: in your teens or early 20s. You created a system for yourself that has helped propel you to success. Compared to others your age, you were not only smarter, but more productive.

improving productivity skills

In decades past, this self-taught method would have sustained you throughout your career. However, technology advances, information overload plus the aforementioned recessionary pressure have all added up - you need several upgrades just to keep up with the changing times. Sure, you need new electronic gadgets, but more importantly, you need new individual habits, practices and rituals. Upgrading them means increasing your capacity to make money.

However, the startling reality is that you might be like most billing professionals: you spend more time in the gym per week than you do improving your productivity skills per year. You complain about not having enough time, but do little about it. You simply put up with the consequences of having teenage practices.

The solutions are straightforward.

1. Analyse and compare your time management system using world-class standards. Forget about other, less productive people in your field - being better than them isn't enough. Instead, use best practices and global research to create new standards for yourself. Look for assessments, checklists, books and programmes that help to make this analysis easy so that you can draw a true picture of where you stand.

2. Determine where the gaps are. Take an objective look at the skills you are weak at, and identify which of your behaviours are lacking. Enumerate them, and place them in rank order. Stay away from character assessments and excuses based on your nationality or ethnic origin. Stick to observable practices that can be seen with the naked eye, or caught on a video tape.

3. Set up personal improvement plans that encourage slow, gentle growth. Trying to move too quickly leads to failure, so break down big changes into small steps that make it easier for you to get better with a minimum of effort.

4. Get support. While you may rank your personal willpower very highly when you compare yourself with your friends, it's easy to overrate its importance. Don't rely on it in this case - the research shows that it only decays over time, making it an unreliable partner for changing habits. Instead, create reminders, prompts and coaching relationships that keep you going, especially when you don't feel like it.

disciplined focus

Think of the disciplined focus that Usain Bolt brings to the disciplines that make up his chosen profession. If you are a billing professional whose income depends on selling your time, you shouldn't leave the development of this critical skill up to chance.

Francis Wade is president of Framework Consulting and author of 'Bill's IM-Perfect Time Management Adventure'. Email columns@fwconsulting.com