Dawgen Global Insights for January 2021

VOLUME 2 | I SSUE 1 | JA NUA RY 2021 |

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS

PAGES 36

INTRODUCTION TO OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS

Welcome to Dawgen Global and our January 2021 edition of our Monthly NewsletterDawgen Global Insights.

This Newsletter has been produced to provide you with an overview of our firm and the wide range of services offered by Dawgen Global entities; whether audit, accounting, tax or advisory services.

Over the past 18 years, I can proudly say that Dawgen has significant experience and expertise that we draw upon, day after day, helping our clients to progress. Our Monthly Newsletter will demonstrate the strength of our firm and the unique and innovative approach we engender.

This is communicated through client case studies on how our team have collaborated to help our clients succeed.

This issue of Dawgen Global Insights focuses on Human Resources Management. We explore the 10 Elements of Human Resources. This article defines and breaks down the Human Resources (HR) Ecosystem. The business world loves to use the term Ecosystem.

Within the business context, an Ecosystem is any system or network of interconnecting or interacting parts. An Ecosystem generates value for its constituents (i.e. elements) through the dynamic interrelationships among these constituents. It can be influenced by both internal and external factors.

We also examine Employee Engagement. Creating a culture of Employee Engagement starts with engaged leaders—this article explains a 5-step approach to building engagement.

Improving Employee Engagement is a priority in most Talent and HR Strategies. This article provides a 5-step approach to building a culture of Employee Engagement. This processed was developed by Aon Hewitt based on the Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders study.

Best practices from the leading organizations have shown leaders lead the way to a culture of Employee Engagement. These leaders focus on building skills, empowering others, and driving individual accountability to take ownership of one’s own engagement.

I hope that you will find the information we provide in this Newsletter helpful.

Dr. Dawkins Brown Ph.D. ,FCA, MCMI Executive Chairman Dawgen Global 2

TABLE OF CONTENT 04 10 Elements of Human Resources

15 Employee Engagement Culture

23 Principles of Executive Time Management

10 ELEMENTS

OF HUMAN

RESOURCES

4

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

The Human Resources (HR) Ecosystem is comprised of 10 interconnected elements:

known as the 10 Gs OVERVIEW:

T

The business world loves to use the term Ecosystem. Within the business context, an Ecosystem is any system or network of interconnecting or interacting parts.

An Ecosystem

generates value for its constituents (i.e. elements) through the dynamic interrelationships among these constituents. It can be influenced by both internal and external factors.

This article defines and breaks down the Human Resources (HR) Ecosystem. The HR Ecosystem is comprised of 10 key, interconnected elements—known as the 10 Gs. These 10 elements are related across 4 levels, from micro (ground or organizational level) to macro (global level).

In this article , we dive into each of the 10 Gs:

All 10 Gs are critical in ensuring the contribution for HRM for competitiveness at the Global Level.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

1

Goal

6

Glow

2

Get

7

Guard

3

Grow

8

Grapple

4

Give

9

Grip

5

Glue

10

Gratify

5

The foundation of our discussion begins with an understanding

of the concept and nature of an Ecosystem ECOSYSTEMS – OVERVIEW What is an Ecosystem?

• In its purest form, Wikipedia

• The business world loves to use

defines Ecosystem as a community

the term Ecosystem. Within the

of living organisms in conjunction

business context, an Ecosystem

with the nonliving components of

is any system or network of

their environment, interacting as

interconnecting

a system.

parts.

• This definition can be further

• An

or

interacting

discuss the various Ecosystem

generates

broadened to represent a group

value for its constituents (i.e.

of

“elements,”

elements) through the dynamic

formed by the interaction of a

interrelationships among these

community of organisms with

constituents.

interconnected

their environment.

In this article, we will elements Human

of

the

Resources

(HR) Ecosystem.

• An Ecosystem can be influenced by both internal and external factors.

The essential feature of an Ecosystem is the dynamical interactions among the elements.

Source: What Is Ecosystem Management, Grumbine, 1994

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DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

The HR Ecosystem is comprised of 10 interconnected elements:

AKA the 10 Gs—across 4 levels HR ECOSYSTEM – 4 LEVELS AND 10 GS

The HR Ecosystem is composed of 10 interconnected elements, the 10 Gs.

Ground Level The Ground Level represents the institutional or organizational environment.

The Ground Level can be private or public.

Goal

Grow

Glue

Get

Give

Glow

Guard

Group Level One step above the Ground Level is the Group Level. The Group Level refers to a grouping of many organizations within a common industry or vertical.

Grapple

General Level The General Level is where all industries with many organizations interact.

Essentially, is it the broad national (or regional) level where region-wide HRM policies and practices become significant.

Grip

Gratify

Global Level The highest level is the Global Level. This is where national competitiveness matters the most.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

7

To better understand the dynamics of the 10 Gs across the levels,

let’s look at the HR Ecosystem Framework HR ECOSYSTEM – FRAMEWORK This depiction shows how the 10 Gs interact with each other.

Ground Level

Group Level

General Level

Global Level

Get

Get Glow

Give

Glow

Give

Goal

Glow

Give

Glue

Goal

Gratify

Get

Goal

Grow

Glue

Guard

Governing Grow

Elements (Stake-

Guard

holders) Glue

Grow

Grapple Get Glow

Get Give

Goal

Guard

Glue

Glow

Grip

Give Goal

Grow

Guard

Glue

Guard

Grow

Gearing Factors (PESTLE)

This framework conveys how HRM operates at various levels within and outside an organization.

Source: Competing with Competencies, Dharmasiri, 2017 8

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

Let’s begin by understanding the first 2 Gs:

Goal and Get ELEMENTS OF HR – GOAL AND GET Goal represents the goal of the entire organization.

Get is about “getting” the right people into our organization.

• The goal embodies the strategic intent,

• There are numerous challenges to getting the right

vision, and mission of the organization.

people into an organization.

• In managing and developing people, we

• These challenges can often be traced to a Talent

need to align our Talent with the goals of

Gap—i.e. the gap between Required Talent and Raw

the organization.

Talent.

• Employees should know and understand what

goals,

advances in Digital Transformation, many candidates

priorities, and strategies are, so they can

leave school only with Raw Talent, but lack Required

act accordingly to help the organization

Talent.

attain its goals.

functional and soft (e.g. confidence, leadership,

Strategic (SHRM)

the

organization’s

Human is

the

Resource approach

top

• Especially in today’s rapidly evolving world, driven by

Management to

help

Required Talent can be both technical/

team work abilities).

an

• In candidate selection, it is important to not only

organization achieve its goals and strategies

select someone who fulfills the technical capabilities

through its people via appropriately designed

for the current role, but who possess the potential

HR strategies and supporting integrated HR

to be further developed into a future leader of the

policies and practices.

organization.

A powerful approach to getting the right people is through the Fiaccabrino Selection Process (FSP), which evaluates candidates based on 16 humanistic attributes.

The objective is to select those people who will be the highest performers with the lowest turnover.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

9

Grow refers to Talent Development: and Give captures the dynamics of rewards and recognition ELEMENTS OF HR – GROW AND GIVE This captures the need to grow people—i.e.

Talent Development.

Give refers to giving employees reward and recognition.

• This element captures important decisions in both

• Reward and recognition are 2 of the most

Training and Development. Training and Development

important tools in Employee Retention

go hand-in-hand and are intertwined.

and maintaining Employee Satisfaction.

• Training focuses on current needs. It is teaching people to do something now.

• Development focuses on future needs. It is helping people elevate to positions down the road.

• The identification and definition of Talent Training and Development needs is of the highest importance.

• What we give employees must be perceived by employees to be both fair and competitive.

In most cases to be

perceived as fair, the system of giving reward and recognition must also be transparent.

• We should have clarity of the program participants,

• If not, our top Talent are likely to leave

presenters, designers, coverage, delivery methods,

to other organizations that offer more

expected changes, expected results, etc.

competitive rewards.

• In evaluating the effectiveness of Training Programs, a metric often used is Return on Training Investment (ROTI).

As the proverb goes, “If you give peanuts, you get monkeys.”

A useful framework for evaluating Training Programs is the Training Evaluation Model (TEM), a worldwide standard for evaluating the effectiveness of training. It considers the value of any type of training, formal or informal, across four levels. The model can be applied before, during and after training to both maximize and demonstrate the value of training to the organization.

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DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

Glue captures to notions of Employee Retention and Engagement:

Glow refers to how we allow employees to shine ELEMENTS OF HR – GROW AND GIVE Glue refers to the range of choices in retaining and engaging talent that bind them to the organization.

• Being able to retain top Talent is critical to the success of any organization.

• In fact, replacing top Talent can be incredibly expensive.

In some cases, top Talent is irreplaceable.

• If we have an issue of Employee Retention, we must diagnose the problem to determine why people are leaving. We need to explore both financial and nonfinancial reasons and take appropriate remedial actions

This captures broad aspects of Performance Management, which allow employees to glow or shine within the organization.

• This element is the most subtle. “Glow” can be demonstrated through a variety of ways, such as: • A clear path to career growth within the organization • Support and encourage from the organization • Allowing volunteers to take challenging tasks

immediately.

• A culture that encourages employees • On the other hand, high Employee Retention and

to innovate, experiment, and pursue

Employee Engagement leads to higher levels of growth

Corporate Entrepreneurship

and productivity—and is a source of Competitive Advantage for the organization.

Studies

have

shown

Corporate

Entrepreneurship

helps

stimulate

To understand what drives Employee Engagement, we need

Innovation, revitalizes the organization,

to examine 5 dimensions:

increases

1. Employee Satisfaction

creates a superior market advantage.

2. Employee Identification

Examples of global companies that have

3. Employee Commitment 4. Employee Loyalty

employee

productivity,

and

pursued this strategy include Google and 3M.

5. Employee Performance DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

11

Guard captures Employee Protection: Grapple refers to competing to Talent ELEMENTS OF HR – GUARD AND GRAPPLE Guard refers to Employee Protection.

• Guarding is executed through a proper and robust set of employee policies to safeguard employees.

• Guarding also includes corporate values that are widely shared, communicated, and practiced.

• Although

this

exists

at

the

Ground

(i.e.

organizational) level, Guarding measures are also instituted at higher levels through Employee Protection regulations.

Without strong guarding, employees may be uncertain of how to proceed in many situations. This may result in lower involvement and contribution by employees.

Grapple captures the dynamics among competing organizations fighting for top Talent within the same Talent Pool.

• There always a constant fight for top Talent.

There is particularly true for roles that are more specialized.

• Despite the contentious nature of companies competing for top Talent, there are possibilities for collaborations among competing organizations with regards to HRM. • An alternative to competing for external Talent, many organizations also try to grow it from within.

This refers directly to the element of Grow.

With increasing globalization and digitization, there is now a global competition for top Talent.

These first 8 Gs that we’ve discussed originate in the lower 2 levels—however, their impact extends to all 4 levels.

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DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

Finally, the last 2 Gs— Grip and Gratify—embody influencing factors…

ELEMENTS OF HR – GRIP These final 2 elements appear at the General Level—i.e. the national (or regional) level where region-wide HRM policies and practices become significant.

At the General Level, there are 2 sets of influencing factors that impact the industries and thereby the organizations within those industries. These are:

1

Gearing Factors

2

Governing Elements

Grip is the collective and committed Human Resource Management response to the Gearing Factors.

• Gearing Factors are the external environmental PEST (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological) factors that gear or influence the steering an industry (and likewise the organizations within).

• Additional factors can include Legal, Ethical, Ecological, and Demographic.

• When such a factor comes into play, HR must deliberate, decide, and do the needful response in such an event. In other words, must take a firm “grip” in responding to the influencing factor.

Element of Grip—i.e. response to the Gearing Factor—is a critical step in remaining competitive as a country.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

13

… These influencing factors arise at the national or regional stage ELEMENTS OF HR – GRATIFY Gratify refers to gratifying stakeholders to meet and manage their expectations and maintain stakeholder satisfaction.

• Governing

Elements

government,

labor

include

unions,

HR

professional bodies, HR research institutions, etc.

These various

stakeholder groups have diverse, sometimes opposing expectations.

HR from both public

• Here, HR plays a macro role.

• HR professionals must connect, cooperate,

and

collaborate

with multiple organizations and communities at the national level.

How

HR

responds

to

gratify

stakeholders provide the key drivers

and private spaces across organizations and industries must collaborate to maintain national

for being more competitive as a

competitiveness into

country.

order to compete on the global scale.

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DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

EMPLOYEE

ENGAGEMENT

CULTURE

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

15

Creating a culture of Employee Engagement starts with engaged leaders—this article explains a 5-step approach to building engagement OVERVIEW:

I

mproving Employee Engagement is a priority in most Talent and HR Strategies. This article provides a 5-step approach to building a culture of Employee Engagement. This processed was

developed by Aon Hewitt based on the Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders study.

Best practices from the leading organizations have shown leaders lead the way to a culture of Employee Engagement. These leaders focus on building skills, empowering others, and driving individual accountability to take ownership of one’s own engagement. Thus, engaging leadership is the first step in our model:

Improving Employee Engagement has

1

Build Engaging Leadership

2

Create a Compelling EVP

3

Grow our Talent

4

Enable Engagement and Performance

5

Focus on the Individual

16

direct business benefits—such as improved employee retention, employee productivity, customer satisfaction, and financials.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

We can build Employee Engagement by following a simple 5-step approach BUILDING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT APPROACH

CREATE A COMPELLING EVP BUILD ENGAGING LEADERSHIP

FOCUS ON THE INDIVIDUAL

GROW OUR TALENT

ENABLE ENGAGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE

Historically, driving employee engagement has been the work of HR and of people managers—but the leading practice is to foster a culture of engagement.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

17

Creating a culture of engagement begins with leaders STEP 1 – BUILD ENGAGING LEADERSHIP The “Engaging Leader” requires proper Critical Experiences, Guiding Beliefs, and Displayed Behaviors: Every organization has engaging leaders—but not all have engaging leadership.

Engaging leadership forms when there is a critical mass of leaders who make engagement an expected way of life through their actions.

The Engaging Leader

1

Guiding Beliefs • My purpose • Effective leadership • Importance of relationships

2

3

Displayed Behavior • Step up

These engaging leaders

• Energize

consistently step up and

• Connect and stabilize

own solutions when others

• Serve and grow

will not or cannot—and

• Stay grounded

they do so while staying

Critical Experiences • Stretch

18

grounded through authenticity and humility.

• Learn

Source: 2015 Trends in Global Employee

• Build self- confidence

Engagement Report, Aon Hewitt

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

Next, we need to create a compelling Employee Value Proposition (EVP)—

and to grow our talent STEPS 2 AND 3 STEP 2: Create a Compelling EVP • A strong Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is about clarifying the employment contract. We should articulate what is expected and in turn delivering on what employees expect.

• Pay and rewards are very much part of an EVP. Many organizations are getting much more clear and extreme about the value proposition for top performance.

• Reputation is central. What is our company known for in the job market?

Can our employees clearly explain what makes working for us better than working someplace else? Without solid answers to these questions, it can be difficult to attract, retain, and engage talent.

• Having a clear EVP and delivering on it builds employee trust. Trust is a critical part of employee engagement—e.g. whether they will say great things about our company to others, whether they will stay with the company, whether they will try their best to exceed expectations.

STEP 3: Grow Our Talent

• Employees need to develop learning agility.

• They should proactively create the solutions needed for the future.

• Typically, the immediate people manager is the owner of career development and performance management.

• However, there is a conversation shift to empowering the individual to define his or her own path.

• Talent development should become integral to the organization.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

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We must enable engagement by having the right resources, processes, and programs in place STEP 4 – ENABLE ENGAGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE Engagement is on the rise, but unfortunately, enabling resources and programs are deteriorating. Only about half of employees feel enabled— typically, those who do not feel enabled are not engaged: 100%

6%

16%

36%

Actively disengaged Passive/Ambivalent Moderately engaged

49%

29%

32% 27% 6%

Enabled

Not enabled

Highly engaged

• As we can see in the chart, 36% of employees who do not feel enabled are in the actively disengaged category.

• Within the group who do not feel enabled, approximately 33% are engaged.

This

combination can lead to frustration and burnout, which drains the energy of

The most impactful enabling areas to focus on center on resources, processes, work/life balance, and safety.

Source: Aon Hewitt Engagement Database, 2015

20

otherwise

engaged

employees.

These

“frustrated engaged” will quickly disengage or leave.

• We find that when employees feel enabled with the right resources and programs, 78% of them are engaged.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

Lastly, we need to

focus on the individual STEP 5 – FOCUS ON THE INDIVIDUAL The 3 most impactful ways we can improve employee engagement by focusing on the individual are the following:

There has been

1

Conduct engagement surveys at the individual level

2

Provide immediate feedback after the engagement survey

3

Hire people with the right personality

a shift toward the individual in creating a culture of engagement.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

21

Engagement is an individual concept—

it thus should be measured and managed at the individual level STEP 5 – FOCUS ON THE INDIVIDUAL (DEEP DIVE) 1

Conduct engagement surveys at the individual level

• Historically, engagement surveys were conducted at the aggregate level with aggregate scores, for aggregate groups and interventions implemented with aggregated teams.

• Although engagement surveys are typically conducted at the aggregate level and conclusions thus drawn at that aggregate level, engagement is an individual concept.

• It thus should be measured and managed at the individual level as much as possible.

2

Provide immediate feedback after the engagement survey

• Aon Hewitt examined the relationship between

• They discovered that running active interventions on leader engagement increases operating income percentile rank within industry by 29%.

3

Hire people with the right personality

• Companies affect the culture of engagement one person at a time by the people they bring into the organization.

• Personality is not only a strong predictor of performance, it is also an accurate predictor of whether or not an individual is likely to be engaged.

• Personality can be a strong predictor for identifying engaging leaders who engage others.

• The 4 individual personality facets most predictive of an individual’s engagement are:

companies in which business unit leaders

• Positivity

report low incidences of intervention following

• Drive

the release of engagement results and those

• Cooperativeness

that report high levels of involvement in these

• Sensitivity

activities.

• These four are also common to the engaging leader predictors.

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DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

PRINCIPLES OF

EXECUTIVE

TIME

MANAGEMENT

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

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Time Management presents unique issues for the senior leadership—this article deliberates on the principles of Executive Time Management OVERVIEW

S

enior executives often find it hard to spend enough time on strategic priorities.

Time Management

issues have origins deeply entrenched within the

Time is a critical

organization. Executives need to learn and then adopt

resource—and if it is not

leading time allocation practices. Appropriately balancing

managed appropriately,

time in strategic priorities is critical for the executives.

nothing can be managed.

This article offers a detailed overview of the 5 principles of Executive Time Management. These principles provide effective remedies for leaders struggling to manage their time appropriately:

1

Create a “Time Leadership” Budget

2

Consider Time When Introducing Change

3

Ensure Time is Measured and Managed by

4

Refine the Master Calendar

5

Provide Leading Administrative Support

24

Leadership

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

The key findings in this presentation were synthesized from

global Time Management Study conducted by McKinsey TIME MANAGEMENT STUDY – OVERVIEW McKinsey conducted a global, online survey in 2011, which asked executives “how they spent their time.” The sample size included 1,374 executives at the general manager or above level, representing all regions, industries, company sizes, and specialties. To counter differences in response rates, the data was weighted by the contribution of each respondent’s nation to global GDP.

The study results revealed that: • Only 9% of the study respondents seemed “very satisfied” with their time allocation abilities, less than half considered themselves “somewhat satisfied,” and about onethird were “actively dissatisfied.”

• Out of the total, 52% were of the opinion that their time allocation largely matched their organizations’ strategic priorities.

• About half of the executives admitted that they were not focusing adequately on guiding the strategic direction of the business.

• Organizations tend to treat their executives’ time as infinite, treat potential opportunities as high priority, and have little regard for the leadership’s capacity to drive them.

The data points from the study suggest that time challenges are influencing the well-being of companies, not just individuals.

Source: Making Time Management the Organization’s Priority, McKinsey, 2013

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

25

First, let’s take a look at the offenders-executives who manage their time poorly were found to fall into 4 primary categories TIME MANAGEMENT STUDY – 4 TYPES OF POOR TIME MANAGERS The global study revealed 4 distinct groups of executives dissatisfied with their time utilization: “The Online Addict,” “The Networker,” “The Cheerleader,” and “The Micromanager.”

The Online Addict Online Addicts stick to the office and spend less time than others managing and motivating their employees.

The Networker The Networker spend much of their time on the outside and can be elusive for their direct reports.

The Cheerleader Cheerleaders are good with employees, but spend little time with outsiders (including customers).

The Micromanager The

micromanagers

are

invariably

dealing

with

emergencies,

micromanaging and operationally focused.

26

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

The deeply entrenched organizational origins of Time Management issues assist in explaining their existence TIME MANAGEMENT STUDY – HOW SATISFIED EXECUTIVES SPEND TIME There isn’t a standard breakdown of time that works for all executives. Leaders aspiring to make real progress should learn from the responses of the small group of executives who were satisfied with their time allocation practices in the McKinsey Time Study. The key element is to appropriately balance the time in critical activities.

Time allocation by highly satisfied group1 (n = 124 executives), %

BY ACTIVITY • Managing operational decisions • Managing, motivating people • Setting organization’s direction, strategy • Managing short-term/ unexpected issues • Managing external stakeholders • Reviewing organization’s performance against goals

BY SITUATION

BY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL

• Alone

• Face to face

• With clients, customers,

• Asynchronous (e.g., e-mail,

prospects • With direct reports, one on one • With other employees

voice mail) Phone • Real-time messages • Real-time video • Other

• With direct reports in group • With external stakeholders • With board or its members • Other

• Other

Satisfied executives were found to be allocating most of their time (73%) in meeting people (external clients and internal stakeholders).

Source: Making Time Management the Organization’s Priority, McKinsey, 2013

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

27

Leaders struggling with Time Management can benefit a lot from the principles of Executive Time Management PRINCIPLES OF EXECUTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT Research on the practices employed by leaders known to effectively manage their time has shown that that they allocate two-third of their time in making key business decisions, managing and motivating people, setting direction and strategy, and managing external stakeholders.

The Principles of Executive Time Management provide effective remedies for leaders stressed with time constraints.

Application of these principles vary depending on an executive’s shortcomings.

12

6

1

Create a “Time Leadership” Budget

2

Consider Time When Introducing Change

3

Ensure Time is Measured and Managed by

4

Refine the Master Calendar

5

Provide Leading Administrative Support

Leadership

The principles of Executive Time Management work differently in different situations, depending on which time issues are most prevalent in an organization.

Source: Making Time Management the Organization’s Priority, McKinsey, 2013

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DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

The first principle of effective Time Management is to budget time for priority initiatives 1. CREATE A “TIME LEADERSHIP” BUDGET – OVERVIEW The first principle in managing the executive’s time warrants having a ‘time leadership’ budget and a proper process for allocating it.

Organizations should consistently evaluate the requirements of leaders’ attention, guidance, and intervention each of their projects will have rather than indiscriminately assigning leaders to initiatives.

This budgeting exercise should also entail analyzing the level of commitment required by the top team or the steering committee on a particular initiative. Creating a time budget for priority initiatives is the ideal approach to know when to stop supporting new initiatives due to dearth of leadership capacity.

• One way to implement this principle is to create a formal governance committee to manage the time budget for companywide initiatives.

• The

governance

authorize

and

committee

monitor

all

should projects,

ascertain leadership time commitments

The governance committee should take concrete steps to

for all initiatives, and ensure that each

reduce a leader’s side tasks

leader has the required capacity.

to support a key initiative.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

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The second principle of Executive Time Management is about accounting for the time needed to implement change 2. CONSIDER TIME WHEN INTRODUCING CHANGE – OVERVIEW The managerial spans of control are generally considered from a structural standpoint—the broader the span of control, the fewer the managers required and lesser the overheads. For the realization of any organizational change initiative, the leadership needs to also analyze the time required to achieve the desired goals.

The time required to engage, train, and lead an employee is a critical challenge in devising the managerial span of control—which, if not managed properly, can render the organizational structure unproductive.

In overly Lean organizations, managers are likely to have too many subordinates than they can manage efficiently.

While at companies practicing delayering, unnecessary tasks and managerial roles are eliminated and critical managerial time is saved. However, managers with too few direct reports often tend to micromanage them or start needless meetings.

So, striking a balance between overly lean to a de-layered organization is the key here.

• Organizations can make headways in eliminating unnecessary work and curbing undue “meeting culture” by restructuring the departments that have

Eliminating multiple

comparatively more managers than the others.

committees and approval

• It is also critical to reorganize internal governance structures, as this can save a lot of executive time while enhancing strategic focus, accountability, and decision making.

30

authorities from the decision-making process also adds to efficiency.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

The third principle emphasizes the importance of structuring and measuring time allocation to strategic priorities 3. ENSURE TIME IS MEASURED AND MANAGED BY LEADERSHIP – OVERVIEW

Leaders at some companies utilize a considerable time on daily engagements, and forget their strategic priorities—i.e., client relationship management, training, and capability development. They should use a dataenabled reference point to gauge how their time allocation corresponds to their strategic goals.

Results of time analysis exercises for most leaders reveal little

Measuring time makes it a

alignment of their activities with their organizational strategic

priority.

priorities.

taken to shift the executives’

Most typically cannot answer how much time they devote to meeting clients or towards other critical strategic priorities. Upon tracking time, it reveals a shockingly low percentage of their overall time to these priorities.

The real productive work for a frontline supervisor at an industrial company is to manage, train and develop shop floor employees, however most of their time is spent on firefighting and doing administrative work. The reason is unstructured and misallocated time to shop floor operations.

Steps should be

behavior to monitor time—for instance, adding time-related metrics

to

performance

reviews, friendly competitions, or recognition of people who spend their time wisely.

• This may include defining, measuring, and rewarding leader-standard

work

(free from any variance), including as

priorities—such

spending

time

with

critical stakeholders.

If formal and informal incentives don’t map closely to strategic priorities, executives’ time will naturally be misallocated.

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

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The fourth principle underscores the creation and review of master calendars and meeting schedules 4. REFINE THE MASTER CALENDAR – OVERVIEW To manage critical priorities, executives must clearly appreciate what they and their teams should stop doing. This entails reviewing calendars and meeting schedules to pinpoint which meetings align with the strategic goals versus meetings scheduled out of habit or corporate tradition.

Creation

of

master

calendar

for

key

leadership meetings is a norm at most organizations.

However,

only

a

few

companies use this as an apparatus to eliminate corporate time misuse.

Executives

from

high-achieving

organizations tend to spend around 50% of their time in decision meetings and less than 10% in reporting or information-only meetings.

At most companies, though, leaders allocate their time in exactly the reverse order, and they are often unaware of it.

• It would be beneficial to identify which meetings are for reporting purposes only, for

inter-departmental

(problem

solving),

for

collaboration managing

Evaluating meeting calendars

performance and course correction, or

is a great tool to determine

for decision making.

meetings that align critically with the strategic objectives.

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DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

Administrative support cannot be entirely eliminated from companies—it makes Time Management easier for the executives 5. PROVIDE LEADING ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT – OVERVIEW In the 2011 McKinsey survey on executives’ time spending habits, quality of administrative support was one of the major contributing factor that made the executives effective time managers.

The survey results revealed that 85% of those who deemed themselves effective time managers reported that they received strong support in scheduling and allocating time. Ideally, a CEO’s administrative assistant needs to ensure that the organization’s strategic objectives are reflected in the CEO’s calendar, and regularly check that calendared time aligns with the stated priorities.

The administrative desk should “own” the master calendar for corporate officers and use it to ensure that the executive team holds meetings on important stuff yet avoids unnecessary meetings, and give the leaders time to contemplate the bigger picture by creating “quiet zones” of minimal occupation 2 to 3 days prior to important events—e.g., quarterly earnings reports, strategy reviews with business units, and board meetings.

• The executive support desk should be able to highlight any gaps in the leader’s calendar that are misaligned

Quality administrative

with the priorities.

support makes the

• This can be done by asking questions during

executives’ time

priority-setting meetings such as, “Are these the right things to focus on? Do we need to clear the

allocation more valuable.

decks to make more time for strategic priorities?”

DAWGEN GLOBAL INSIGHTS I JAN 2021

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