Leading Companies Online Magazine

When Time Management Fails
By Hunkar Ozyasar
Reviewed by David Binns, Beyster Institute Staff

As corporations grow increasingly complex, so do the demands on managers who must learn to operate effectively in larger organizations. Successful managers must learn to deal not only with competing demands on their time, but must also learn to compete within their respective organizations for advancing their personal and corporate agendas. If a manager is “an individual who is given a set of objectives to reach, as opposed to specific tasks to complete in a predetermined amount of time, and manages various resources to do so,” then the definition of what a manager is expected to deliver and how to manage those responsibilities can involve a complex set of criteria. “Managing up” in dealing with senior managers and working effectively with one's peers is as important as the traditional expectations of managing groups of employees to achieve given objectives.

Think of When Time Management Fails: How Efficient Managers Create More Value With Less Work by Hunkar Ozyasar as a practical career counseling guide for managers in medium and large-sized corporations. The book draws on the in-the-trenches experiences of hundreds of corporate managers as well as Ozyasar’s own experience and on-the-job training as a manager in a multinational consumer goods manufacturing company.

Ozyasar believes that managers must first recognize two myths about management. The first myth is that a manager’s workload is dictated by the job, and the second is that managers who work less succeed less. With reference to myth #1, “never forget,” he writes, “that you are ultimately trying to create a favorable impression in the minds of those whose opinion makes a difference, as opposed to performing a set of rigid tasks that require the investment of a certain amount of effort and time.” As for myth #2, “there are a large number of ways to accomplish a managerial task, and even more options to sell the results.”

In short, working smarter rather than working harder is the key to success. In a chapter on “How Hard Work Can Ruin Your Career,” Ozyasar claims that “the higher you move in an organization the less critical hard work becomes.” Rather than a prescription for kicking back on the job, the point here is that results matter more than effort. If you’re relying solely on hard work to distinguish yourself from other managers, there are only so many hours and so much energy you have available. The goal should instead be to become an Efficient Manager (EF) who has “a proactive and strategic mind set,” knows how to “handle people to maximize efficiency,” who “works to build a positive image over time,” and who “accumulates political power and uses it wisely.” EFs are those who think like a salesperson, take the initiative and redefine their jobs (i.e., look for new ways to perform their duties and to differentiate their job from other managers’ jobs). And here’s a classic corporate power move: outsource as much as possible to become the client rather than the seller (since he who pays bills has more power).

From “Managing People for Maximum Efficiency” to “Gaining the Power to Do Less,” the premise of When Time Management Fails is that corporate managers need to be smart both in terms of how they work as well as how they work the system. “Polishing Up Your Image to Cut Your Workload” is as important as the need to “prioritize ruthlessly” and avoid the tendency to judge yourself by how much you work rather than how smart you work. One obviously needs to deliver the goods, but it’s also important to look good doing it in terms of managing expectations and perceptions of the corporate hierarchy.

At times, some of the advice can seem almost trite or commonplace:

• “clearly communicate and accept full responsibility for what you will deliver”
• “appear calm under pressure and look in control”
• “don’t deceive people”
• “help others look good and make their lives easier.”

But these practical lessons-learned contain useful tidbits from experienced managers in regard to managing both the perceptions and realities of typical management jobs in larger corporations. “Either accept assignments enthusiastically or reject them” is sound advice in terms of picking one’s battles. Ensuring continuous information flow and allowing others to express themselves are critical lessons for any manager, as is the more difficult process of learning that “if you want your people to learn the game, let them touch the ball” (i.e., allow them to succeed or fail in controlled environments).

From advice on “managing up” in terms of saving senior managers’ mental effort and time by anticipating the information they need to make key decisions, to getting the most out of subordinates by inspiring confidence, Ozyasar offers experience-based perspectives for how to become an Efficient Manager. Advancing from the “do as I say” stage to the “do what you want” stage is as much a process of learning how to manage the competing demands of the corporate management world. “Whenever possible, work away from your desk . . adopt a variable schedule to avoid always being at someone else’s beck and call. . .brand your intellectual products, including files and emails to customize your work.” Such skills can be critical to a manager looking to earn the credit for meeting and exceeding responsibilities.

One of the more interesting chapters is “Gliding Through Obstacles with Action Plans.” Rather than being merely “bureaucratic necessities that slow us down by imposing an inflexible schedule,” Ozyasar describes how action plans can be used for a variety of purposes demonstrating the difficulty of your job, gaining credibility to pull others into your projects, showing how things are moving ahead in projects you are managing, and even dealing with inevitable failures. Again, the key idea is to transform standard corporate communications tools “into slippery body armor that will enable you to slice through the organizational jungle with far less effort.”

Too much of When Time Management Fails comes across as advice for refining political skills and burnishing one’s image, as much as for improving managerial effectiveness. Perhaps that’s a necessary evil in larger organizations where equally effective managers must nevertheless compete within the organization for resources, opportunities and face time with senior staff. Based as it is on the practical experiences of successful managers in a variety of corporations, there’s good reason for current and aspiring managers to take these hard-won lessons to heart.

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