How do any of us get any work done?

As Craig S. Smith, our President & Managing Director (and my boss), likes to say: “Execution is a Strategy”. I like to define execution very simply: getting the job done! That’s after all our primary job in Operations.

Today 24/7/365 emails, webinars, conference calls and meetings take up lots of our time. Add to that the 24-hour news cycle, plenty of social media distractions and it’s a miracle that any of us get any actual work done.

During town hall meetings, training sessions or, yes, Q&A webinars, I am often asked two questions: how do you manage your workload? and how do you balance work/life? Starting with the second question, the honest answer is: I need to do better. This past year I have probably neglected the personal side of life a bit too much. I know it is too early for New Year’s resolutions, but if there is one thing I hope to do better in 2019, it is to spend more quality time with friends and loved ones plus take better care of my physical health. I am sure this is true for many of you too.

The answer to the first question is a couple of things we practice within our Marriott International APAC Ops team – likely all things you probably know already but will hopefully still find somewhat useful to consider as you manage your time and projects:

1.     Be in the moment – it is proven that most people – men in particular – are pretty average at multi-tasking. If on the other hand I look at most of my female colleagues, they appear to be true pros at juggling all kinds of things at the same time. That unfortunately does not work for me. I need to make a genuine effort to focus on one thing at a time to be productive. Our “no phones and laptops in meetings” is a good start. Focusing on one thing at a time helps the team and I get things done. Most of the time…

2.     Short meetings – my preference is 15 min to 30 min meetings. And never more than 45 min. With a 5-minute gap between meetings to clear the mind. My amazing PA for more than 7 years, Jovy Tang, manages the schedule firmly. She effectively runs my work life like clockwork with typical Hong Kong efficiency. Every meeting has a desired outcome – information, decision, etc. Pre-reads 72 hours in advance. Always read pre-reads n advance. We use the 10 min to present and 20 min to ask questions, discuss and decide approach for half hour meetings.

3.     1-3-page PowerPoint decks - the shorter the PowerPoint presentation, the better. Unless it is a design presentation or a brand concept that needs visuals to make it come to life. Most business presentations can be done in 1-2 slides. It is harder to do and requires practice, but once everyone is up to speed on this expectation, a lot of time is saved by the team designing and writing long “decks” and for the audience reading them. 1-3 pages; not 27 or 37.

4.     Focus on the basic questions that matter – starting with the most important question: why? followed by what? when? who? where? how? how much? pros? cons? risks? desired business outcomes? It still surprises me that folks work on projects or present ideas/concepts without answers to these basic questions. Once the team is trained to think about work (any work!) and can answer these questions about a project they plan to work on, discussions are shorter and meetings much more focused.  

5.     20/80 – what really is the 20 that gets us the 80? If we think we have found that most impactful project or idea, we work on it. If after debate we realize it is not the "20", why do it at all and we ask ourselves what it is we should work on instead? Most businesses suffer from trying to pursue too many good ideas and not focus effectively on truly great ideas. That lack of focus often leads to poor or slow execution.  

6.     If we can only do one thing what is it that will have the most impact on future business results? – a question our team and I ask ourselves constantly. And if we have debated and decided that, what is the top priority we should focus on after we have delivered the first? is the next question. Ruthless prioritization and knowing to say “no” are in my mind the best way to get real important work done fast. And not waste time on other stuff. We all know that very few folks can handle more than two projects at once and deliver excellence on time and on budget. Therefore, you might as well work on the top priority. Sounds easy? It is harder than it sounds. Saying “no” is tough.

7.     Plan, plan, plan and then do – most of our Asia Pacific Ops team come from a hotel operations background. In hotels, we jump to it to create great guest experiences, deal with daily issues and deliver large events. To manage complex projects that involve many stakeholders requires detailed planning that will inevitably speed up execution. Many of us tend to act fast to get work done and that’s of course great. Really effective teams plan 60%-70% of their time and then get projects completed efficiently.

8.     The power of PMO – whilst working at HQ of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, one of our divisions, almost ten years ago, I was first introduced to our Project Management Organization and have never looked back. The benefit of having a PMO team schedule meetings, keep track of timelines + budget, follow up and, yes, sometimes hassle various players to get tasks done, take care of communication, schedule implementation etc. is invaluable. To get to effective execution it is in my mind vital to have robust PMO support and keep the trains = team on the track and moving forward. Oh yes, one more thing, ask for “one pagers” per project with a focus on accomplishments and next steps. 

9.     Block time for email – it took me a while to learn to do this and I realize it is easier said than done: only do email in blocks, not throughout the day. I do an hour of email in the morning and one-two hours in the late afternoon or evening only. This helps me focus during the day and try give undivided attention to actually doing work, or have quality time with team members, or effectively participate in meetings.

10.  No phone notifications at all and, if you can, get a second phone – one of the best things I have done a few years ago to try and actually get work done is switch off/disable all notifications from all apps on my iPhone – except for BBC Breaking News in case a major event happens somewhere in the world I need to be aware of. No Instagram ( #bartbuiring just in case :-) ) no Facebook pop ups, neither email nor WhatsApp notifications. No nothing. A second, personal phone is great in the evenings and on weekends, and has helped me achieve better work/life balance and more peace of mind. If it’s really urgent the team will call.

Hope this makes some sense. What do you do to focus and get work done? Any tips to share? Look forward to hearing from you.

Take care.

Bart