This is the second of our casts that describe our recommendations about calendar management.

Last week, we covered some basics of calendar management the most important of which was that effective managers think about managing their priorities a WEEK at a time - thinking in terms of weeks is the most effective way to stay strategic, and therefore effective.

We then covered our first, and perhaps most surprising point - Family First. Simple in practice ... schedule time for your family ON YOUR CALENDAR first.

This cast describes the first of our recommendations about calendar management.

We spend a lot of time talking to executive clients about how they spend their time, and how they manage their priorities through their calendars. Several times over the past couple of years we've talked about how when we start coaching an executive, we ask for two things immediately: an accounting of what they consider their priorities, and a print out of their calendar.

They almost NEVER match, except with CEOs and COOs.

Today, we finish up our series on building a sense of urgency in your team.

Here's a brief outline of the Sense of Urgency series:

1. Ask the right questions
2. State the deadline ... don't ask
3. Know how to combat bad answers
4. Accelerate all deadlines
5. Use passive updating
6. Feedback every time ...
   

You know you're a manager - really, truly in a role of managing others - when you get frustrated that things don't happen as fast as they used to. "Gosh, why don't they GET IT? Can't they SEE what kind of pressure we are (I AM) under?" What is taking SO *(@((&$^*@^Q@*#% LONG?"

That's what all that extra pay is for. ;-)

If you've wondered whether it's just YOUR team, it's NOT. We find a lack of a sense of urgency to be pandemic. Most managers spend time complaining about this very thing when we coach them.

This week, we finish (finally!) our series on working effectively with administrative assistants.

Also, for all of those who went to Podcast Alley and voted for Manager Tools, thank you very much! We achieved a long-held objective of getting in the Top 10 list of all podcasts. We don't know how long we'll stay there ... but we're enjoying the moment. And we owe that to all our friends here on Manager Tools. Thank You!

This week, we continue our series on working effectively with administrative assistants. Given that this is part 2 of 3 parts, we've obviously had a lot to discuss on the subject.

  [Play in Popup]

One of the lost arts of the corporate world in the past 20 years is how to work with an administrative assistant. While we won't argue that a great deal of the "leaning out" of corporations has been a good thing, working with admins effectively is one of the painful legacies of the cutbacks.

Today, we cover the second in a two-part series of podcasts on Time Management. If you're new to the show or you didn't listen to last week's podcast, it's probably worth while going back and listening to the previous show first. Otherwise, you'll be joining the conversation half-way through and we all know how comfortable that feels. :-(

We recommend 4 1/2 steps to analyzing your use of time

Time management is a fallacy, we like to say. Time doesn't need you to "manage" it - it's been getting along just fine without you for billions of years. We can't manage time. But what we CAN manage is what we do with that time. And yet, the overwhelming evidence is that managers do NOT "manage what they do with that time." There's a shocking CHASM between our behavior in this area and our knowledge of what to do. In fact, Mark recently blogged on how busy everyone says they are, which irritates him. He looks at their calendars, and there's no EVIDENCE that they're busy.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen