Four Must-Do Practices for Senior Executives and One New Twist On An Old-Fashioned Solution

January’s newsletter from McKinsey Quarterly included an article to help senior executives cope with information overload. The advice boils down to four must-dos:

1. Stop multi-tasking. It’s addictive, makes us anxious, slows us down, and impairs creative problem solving. Acknowledge, reevaluate, and adjust the mind-set that glues us to futile work patterns.

2. Focus. Resist intellectual over-consumption. Create and protect “alone time.” According to article authors Derek Dean and Caroline Webb, each day senior executives should shut down email, close web browsers, send phone calls to voice mail and – if they must – leave the BlackBerry or smart phone where they can’t check it.

3. Filter. Look only at the things that matter or need a decision. Delegate. Don’t read “cc’d” emails and consider only matters that have been researched and prefiltered by the sender.

4. Forget. In short, regularly do something that puts work out of your mind.

But hold on there … This is all well and good (very good, actually), but there’s a problem. The "Just do it" tagline is a glib response to the "How do I do it?” conundrum – and we all know that.

So I got to thinking about the how-to part of the focus-and-filter equation. And that’s when I thought of yesteryear’s "executive secretarial" function. Hear me out.

This vital -- albeit old-fashioned corporate function -- got thrown out with word processors and the downsizing rampage of the 80s. Capitol Hill still has it, though, up there, they call it the “administrative assistant.” I’m sure this power-position exists elsewhere as a tweaked version of the executive secretary, but I’m looking at this a bit differently. I'm thinking that what senior executives need this time around, is an "executive content manager." To do what? To focus and filter so that senior executives can stop multi-tasking and forget.

What are the qualifications of the 21^st Century Executive Content Manager?

1. Absolute integrity... a person you can trust NOT to discuss your business with anyone except you... a person to whom you grant open access to your email accounts, who can capably sift through, route, and abstract what you need to know, turning a useless mountain into a focused molehill.

2. Intelligence ... somebody smart and intuitive, who can navigate the swift political waters and who actually understands what is important, both intellectually and functionally.

3. Superior communications and interpersonal skills... somebody who can read, write, condense, perceive, abstract, and – perhaps most important of all – schmooze.

Sound good? It does to me!

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A Few Things I’ve Done To Manage the Workload

Productivity expert Barbara Hemphill cites an Accenture study that found middle managers spending two hours a day searching for information, half of which turns out to be of no value (and that was three years ago!). Today, I don’t know a single direct marketer -- a single person, actually -- who isn’t overwhelmed.

The following tactics have helped me cope over the last few months:

1. File incoming email to folders. As an editor in the direct marketing field, I need to read every notable industry publication and blog. BUT, I can’t afford the distraction of messages invading my inbox. To cope, I set up filters to hide my mail before I see it. Especially useful has been my “electronic newsletters folder," which contains every e-newsletter, press release, blog or announcement related to the industry. About once a week I spend an hour inside that folder. Estimated time savings: ½-hour per day.

2. Tell laytr.com everything. Laytr.com is a free service from Oslo, Norway, that reminds me of every must-recall detail, large or small, personal or professional. This service says it’s in beta, but I’ve never had any reminder system – human or otherwise -- that is easier or more reliable. Laytr helps keep my inbox clean, too, because I set-up alerts for stuff I need to deal with, but can't right now. Estimated time savings: I can’t even estimate because peace of mind is priceless.

3. Hit delete. No matter how much I filter my email, the SPAM comes. I used to suppress my instinct to delete. No more. Delete, delete, delete. It’s fun. Estimated time savings: 20 minutes/day.

4. Screen all phone calls. Vonage sends me an email that contains an audio file of every incoming phone message. This tells me who's called and why. Estimated time savings: 15 minutes/day.

5. Listen later. Online educational meetings and webinars are great, but they take an hour or two. Most of us can pick up the meat by registering ahead and downloading when a) we’re less busy; b) we’re in the mood to focus; c) we’re ready to take notes. Estimated time savings: 1 hour per week.

6. Contain news consumption to one online daily newspaper. The news summary allows me to scan the planetary zeitgeist first thing in the morning and/or go back later for details. Important headlines arrive as the news occurs. Estimated time savings: ½ hour per day (and YES, I miss reading -- and touching -- the full print newspaper).

7. Respect the 5x8. I have a 5x8 notebook beside my computer where I record everything … to-do, to-call, to-think-about, to-remember, to-follow-up-on, to-be-or-not-to-be. There is no question – ever. When I complete tasks, I check them off the list (very satisfying). I write down phone numbers, names, snippets of phone calls, ideas, concepts, working titles for articles, shopping lists, etc. When I have filled one page, I copy all the incompleted items to a new page and begin again. Estimated time savings: whatever I might have otherwise spent on mental health counseling.

8. Be less social. I’m not tweeting as frequently. I’m blogging fewer times per month. I visit the LinkedIn groups less often, so I cut my group memberships my 25%. My Facebook friends number 20. I did recently reactivate Quora. The information there is selective and intelligent and -- so far, unlike LinkedIn -- nobody is promoting anything. Apparently, such antisocial behavior mirrors a trend that Forrester reports: namely, that social behaviors have reached a plateau. Estimated time savings: 1 hour per day.

I sit in front of a computer most of the day. Your work life may be different. For example, if you’re on the road, I’m sure your smart phone is the essence of your work plan. If you’re moving around your office or plant, you have a different set of challenges. How are you coping?

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Got Problems? A Project Manager Is Both Cause and Cure.

"Manager" is one of those titles into which people are promoted out of positions like "administrator" or "assistant" .. at which point most employees in today's title-ridden corporate culture can't wait to stop being a "manager" in order to become a "director" or a "vice president." Face it: declaring yourself a "project manager" earns lackluster response compared to the worshipful gazes cast on database -- or even social media -- folks. That's too bad because -- IF you really can "manage projects," IF you can conceive and successfully execute them, start to finish -- you're increasingly rare and deeply valuable.

The Recession Killed Middle Management Years Ago
Sometime in the early 80s , middle managers became obsolete. In that recession, Chiefs and Indians stayed, while mid-range Buffalo Hunters left in droves. Writing on bNet, Wharton Management Professor Peter Cappelli noted, "Downsizings during the 1980s took a disproportionate toll on managers. For corporations, the fallout is weakened allegiances and a threat to productivity ... Such efforts frequently 'thin' the management ranks while transferring managerial responsibilities elsewhere in the organization."

At the time he wrote this in 1992, Cappelli said, "Job security for managers has continued to erode: The unemployment rate for managers soared 55 percent last year, while overall unemployment climbed just 13 percent."

Time didn't reverse the free fall. David Lynch writing for USA Today in January this year confirmed the scars that linger after a savage recession. The visible disfigurement from the 80s recession is the dearth of middle managers who know how to take a project from A to Z. In my experience, that wasteland has left many organizations floundering in piecemeal goo.

Good Project Managers Are Both Born and Made
A Google search on "project manager skills" turns up considerable discussion of what makes a good project manager. Apparently, some project management skills are inherent within personality, while others get honed "on the job." Few seem to sprout from "education." For example, Asan Sofian's report, Project Success in Relation with Organizational Roles and Capabilities and Project Managers' Skills and Capabilities, cites the three key process skills as:
• the ability to communicate
• knowing how to handle costs
• practicing effective time management.

Key interpersonal skills of a good project manager include:
• leadership
• effective communication
• the ability to motivate.

Vital personal traits are:
• professional integrity
• personal integrity
• decisiveness.

In short, project manager essentials boil down to a heavy dose of integrity and a firm grip on communication. If the famous Peter Principle -- "In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence" -- is true, then the best managers tend to get stuck in the middle. Unfortunately, 30 years ago, thousands of middle managers were escorted out of the building and never replaced. So where does that leave organizations in the first decade of the 21st century? Adrift.

What can we do about it?

1. Acknowledge that project management is Mandatory Skill Number One for project success.

2. Rely less on "credentials" and more on a track record of proven project management aptitude. The next time you launch a project, see if somebody in your organization has Asan's essential skills and give that person a shot .... or, as Jim Collins would say, "The most effective leaders of companies in transition are the quiet, unassuming people whose inner wiring is such that the worst circumstances bring out their best. They're unflappable, they're ready to die if they have to. But you can trust that, when bad things are happening, they will become clearheaded and focused."

3. Recruit for the character and personality strengths that make a good project manager [see above] ..

4. Hire the better writer. Note: The April 12 edition of Newsweek featured an article titled "Chaos Theory" by the whiz kids who founded 37Signal. Their #2 Rule for succeeding in business without really trying is -- and I quote -- "HIRE THE BETTER WRITER: Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking."

5. Demand the ability to multi-task. Business executive F. John Reh says, "A successful Project Manager must simultaneously manage the four basic elements of a project: resources, time, money, and most importantly, scope. All these elements are interrelated. Each must be managed effectively. All must be managed together if the project, and the project manager, is to be a success."

6. Compensate the project manager who produces. Applaud and value a gifted project manager's contribution.

7. If the project manager you currently have is a clear thinker, a clear communicator, a respected leader, a marvel of organization, planning, and scheduling, and a proven leader, give that star a raise. If not, replace him or her. Or, as Jim Collins would say, "It is better to first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then figure out where to drive."

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