7 TIME MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES FOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTIORS
Leaders at Disney regularly take shifts at the amusement parks “in costume” to reconnect with the guest experience. Why? They recognize that successful companies are good at making both their customers and their employees happy. There’s no need to resort to costume to connect with residents, associates, and prospective clients in senior living. You can practice Management by Wandering Around (MBWA).
The concept of MBWA was introduced by Hewlett Packard in “The HP Way,” an employee guidebook that described the company’s widely imitated open management style. The technique was then popularized by management consultants Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, who mentioned MBWA in their bestselling book “In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies,” which some consider one of the greatest business books of all time. The process, which encourages face to face interaction, is a way of “keeping
Excerpt from “The HP Way”
“You start out by being accessible and approachable, but the main thing is to realize that you're there to listen. The second is that it is vital to keep people informed about what's going on in the company, especially those things that are
important to them. The third reason for doing this is because it is just plain fun.” —John Doyle, vice president, personnel
A HISTORY OF MANAGEMENT BY WALKING AROUND in touch by direct and informal contacts between many
levels of the company.”
The technique can backfire by decreasing trust or slowing your team’s progress if viewed as simply a way to “be visible,” or if seen as interfering with work. For MBWA to be a truly effective management technique, leaders must wander with intent. The purpose is to get closer with associates and residents, so keep in mind the following suggestions:
Listen. View these walks as an opportunity to build relationships and identify problems—those they tell you about, as well as those they may not yet realize.
Share. Use these walks as an opportunity to transmit company values, share information, and celebrate success.
Help. Be prepared to act. The more you show you are prepared to act on the feedback you are getting from residents and employees, the more trust you build.
process she leads with her team. “We cre- ate the plan as a team and decide our goals together. Then it’s my job to keep that goal in focus at our weekly meetings,” said De- Minico. “Having those common goals helps with communication and teamwork—and saves time.” Boop’s time management strategy is “to
stay focused on priorities. I put families, res- idents, and staff first. After that, I focus on state regulations, then other corporate re- quirements,” he said. While every day brings new challenges, Boop constantly evaluates what needs to get done against these prior-
46 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE MARCH/APRIL 2018
ities. He also tries to do the most important work as early in the day as possible. While Taylor agrees prioritization is
one of the most critical time management techniques for an executive director, she emphasized the importance of having a system for “circling back.” “Almost every day you might have to focus on something different, so having a system that you can use to circle back and pick up and find where you left off is important,” said Tay- lor. When things don’t go as planned, “you have to have a way to quickly get back to where you were.”
Find Your Team’s Strengths— and Delegate Personal time management is im- portant, but even for expert time
managers, “some days it takes more [than 8 hours] to get the job done,” said Boop. If that seems to always be the case, DeMinico recommends overburdened ex- ecutive directors take a step back and look at where their time is spent. “Are you get- ting pulled in where someone else could be doing the work? Once you look at where you’re getting mired down, you can address the issues, so your team can take on more of
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