How to use time to succeed as a manager.

Have you ever seen a military briefing on TV that starts with “3, 2, 1, Hack, time is 1200 Zulu time”? It is vital in the military, and as manager you should start your meetings the same way. 

If two jets aim towards each other at 1.8 times the speed of sound, they close at almost 1,200 meters per second.

At full power, a Rafale in an airshow can easily burn in excess of 800 liters of jet fuel per minute more than 12 liters per second. French naval aviators must stay sharp on the timing to aim at landing on the carrier within two seconds of the scheduled time after a training flight.

This is what the pilots and the crew of the boat (the boat has to be ready for recovery as well) aim for on a daily basis.

You might think it is a military cliché that doesn’t relate to your industry. 

You couldn’t be further from the truth.

Try starting your meetings that way:

“We will start the meeting as scheduled in 30 seconds at 09h30. Please put your phones on mute or airplane mode and be ready to set your watch. 15 seconds 10 seconds 5-4-3-2-1, time is 09h30 local time, we start this Friday briefing for 35 minutes. Our agenda is (…)”

Never, ever start a meeting without explaining the expected agenda (we call it “timeline”) for the meeting, but be brief.

If you do not feel like time is important enough to be managed: think again.

Some of your co-workers are on a busy schedule and they value their time for sure. In the US alone, according to the “Doodle 2019 study on the state of meeting report” an estimated 399 billion dollars a year are lost in poorly organized meetings. To be sure you finish your meeting on time, you have to keep track of your progress during the meeting.

By performing a time hack, you perform five things:

? You lead by example while making a statement: we focus on details, we are professionals. ? Every second counts: I respect your time, I respect you. ? You can ask everyone to check their phone and put it on mute. ? By being in command, you grab the attention and the leadership in the room. ? You show them that a first successful step as been accomplished together, they can trust you to make the end goal

With a time hack:

- Everybody stops the task they are currently doing, puts their attention onto something you asked them to do, and starts focusing on your voice and tone as you start the countdown.

- Now that you have grabbed their attention, you have a quiet room to start your briefing. 

However, what if you plan on starting on time and one of the key speakers or members of the audience for the meeting is late?

You will know it before starting your countdown. Two options to gain back control of the time in an efficient manner:

? Set a new starting time depending on the information you have.

? Start anyway and ask a team member to update the late personnel. You should be able to run your meeting in the reduced amount of time.

The most important thing is to remain in control of time, and maintain a positive and leading mindset.

 -“The CEO isn’t here, we will give this meeting another try at 09h40, please be there 30 seconds in advance. Thank you.” Or - “We will start as scheduled, Tom, when the COO walks in, please update him on the key areas he missed, thank you”.

You should have anticipated that some people might be late at the briefing and know how to react.

I never started planning a combat mission late. It would send an extremely bad signal to my team. Would you follow somebody into combat who is unable to start a mission preparation on time? It is also a great way to test your wingmen.

If they are unable to show up on time, are they up to standard and combat-ready? Not in my world. 

Keeping track of time has positive side effect:

? People will feel more in control of their day when they work with or for you;

? You can ask some team members to help you keep track of time: “Time keepers” let you know when you have 10 minutes and 5 minutes left by saying outload “10 minutes” or “ 5 minutes”.

? Stress and anxiety will be reduced for your followers. They feel that the environment is under control;

? Deadlines are more easily enforced and respected;

? You and your team will improve on communication and productivity: it has to fit into the schedule;

? You will be able to either finish your days earlier or squeeze in more (nap, workout, social, more work);

? You will feel in control of the events. 

Find your inflexibility

In aviation, we use timing as the backbone of everything.

Time is fuel, time is precision, time is life.

It is necessary for us to control it. In naval aviation, we decided to display and enforce our professionalism with timing. It takes discipline to respect timings all the time. 

We decided to be inflexible with the respect of timings. As a section leader in training, if your briefing before the mission is too long and runs late, your instructor will stand up and leave the room: you ran out of time. 

If you decide to prove your professionalism through your respect of time it will have a lot of positive side effects. It will create a positive spiral with your co-workers.

You all managed to start and finish on time, now all you have to do is continue working like that and you will achieve your goals.

You managed to climb the first step of the stairs together. You are in control. Just keep winning. 

Fly safe,

BRIEF - B.BRIEF - D.BRIEF