Time Stealers

Not exactly a thief of time, but rather time lost through inefficiencies that provide little benefit for the time consumed in achieving the outcome. Some actions, especially those with little focus, that are carried out use a lot time, but with little return, so time wastage is relatively high. Some typical time stealers include:
1. Machinery breakdown. This can be common in the grounds care industry and it can be a significant time stealer, especially on the day of the breakdown, having potentially significant negative impacts on the day’s work schedule and on other colleagues work schedules. This type of time stealing can add up over the year if an appropriate maintenance schedule is not implemented, or if pre-start checks and post-use checks and clean downs are not routinely undertaken.
2. Being interrupted in the current task, which might be by a phone call, video call, email, face-to-face chat, being distracted by a social media post, or other event, are all frequent time stealers and these reduce an individual’s productivity. Getting back into focus after an interruption can sometimes take a disproportionate amount of time when compared with the actual interruption time. This can be especially pronounced if the task is one that requires a considerable amount of concentration and thought, with several evenly spaced interruptions potentially cancelling out any productive work during the day.
Aiming to stay focussed may require a disconnection from email, phones etc., whilst for some potential face-to-face interruptions putting up a ‘Do not disturb’ sign, closing an office door, finding a quiet place to work, or letting the person know you are unable to talk to them at the moment because you have an urgent, key, important task or deadline to complete, but will be able to talk later once it has been completed.
3. Meetings can be significant time stealers. Is your presence at the meeting essential? What is the meetings purpose? Is it actually necessary to have the meeting? Can you provide some information for the meeting without attending it? If you have to attend, make sure you are well prepared so as to avoid unnecessary questions and delays during the meeting. Contribute positively to encourage good time management of the meeting, aiming to ensure it runs according to its agenda and it doesn’t overrun.
4. Defining work objectives, prioritising workload and froward planning can all help to significantly reduce inefficiencies and wasted time or time spent on unnecessary actions. Being clear of expectations can help to plan appropriately, making best use of available time and resources. At the start of a working day and week, having a well-planned work schedule for a grounds team contributes immeasurably to improved overall efficiency. Unforeseen events can and do occur, for example, vandalism or machinery malfunction (even if it has been well-maintained). Even if contingencies haven’t been factored into a work schedule, having a well organised and defined work schedule makes it much easier to make adjustments so as to continue achieving work outcomes.
5. Work colleagues: unavailability or lack of support. Often you will need clarification or input from colleagues before being able to proceed properly. If this is not forthcoming, slow in receiving it, or they are unavailable at required times, then having a contingency plan to deal with these situations can reduce the stress of being held up. This plan will also be a pro-active one, by knowing what needs to be done to overcome the unavailability or lack of support. Cascading a request upwards to a line manager may be the necessary planned action, to avoid delaying the issue, thereby ensuring that progress is not halted for any particular length of time.
6. Trying to do too many tasks at once. Multi-tasking might sound good and give the impression of being very productive, but in practice this leads to inefficiencies. Some tasks might be able to be carried out in tandem but trying to juggle more than a few at the same time will lead to an inefficient use of your time. The perception might be that you are an effective multi-tasker, but the reality will be different. The brain is only able to effectively co-ordinate and one or a few activities at a time, so trying to multi-task will result in slower progress being made. Focus on mostly individual tasks, achieve each, and then move on to the next most relevant, important or impactful task. This will usually be the best approach for improved productivity.
7. Talking excessively, ‘going around the houses’, and talking about unrelated issues for the task in hand are all common time stealers. Don’t be rude and blunt when talking with someone but be concise and know beforehand what you want to get from a conversation. Don’t waffle and waste time, plus there is a time and place for small talk, but not most of the time during the working day.
8. A lack of confidence in your ability to do the task, without constantly and regularly checking with someone else that you are doing it right or asking them how they would do a task or react or respond to a particular (often minor) query. This is you interrupting yourself, and you interrupting someone else. Obviously if by not checking with another person a major problem might arise, then clearly you would check with them before progressing further. However, for most situations or issues, just having a bit more confidence in your own abilities can reduce time lost and will provide a positive reinforcement of your abilities, giving you more confidence going forward. If a mistake is made, and everybody makes and has made numerous mistakes in the workplace, then the key action is to learn from the mistake to ensure it doesn’t happen again. In practice mistakes are mostly minor, easily resolved and have minimal if any impact on productivity or overall quality of outcome because they are usually readily corrected.
9. A perfectionist approach might appear to be a trait that is desired by many but spending often long periods of time than is really necessary to achieve an outcome that is essentially the same as an outcome with much less time spent on it will see a significant reduction in efficiency. Effectiveness of outcome might be judged to have improved by say 0.1%, but if this has taken 10% longer, or even more time, then the returns are clearly worth the effort. Using this example, it would then take twice as long to do a task to see a theoretical improvement of 1%. Within the grounds care industry this is often termed as ‘gaining fine margins’, or similar, and can be frequently commented about on social media or in conversation with some groundstaff, especially those at elite level clubs. These comments are rarely challenged as by doing so it can often be seen to be questioning the motives and professionalism of those making the comments. However, from a cost-effectiveness or sustainability perspective this approach is not appropriate, and perfectionism cannot be said to be achieving either. Don’t forget that time is money. So, reflect on the desired outcome and spend your time efficiently to achieve it, and be cautious in trying to achieve a ‘perfect surface’, as this is a constantly moving and nebulous outcome in practice. Yes, aim high, aim for excellence if desired but always question and reflect on why and how something is to be achieved.
10. Trying to locate something. Finding a tool, item of equipment, fixing or fastener (such as a nail or screw), or computer file can take up a considerable amount of time. This really is wasted time. Making sure everything is stored and replaced when used in the correct location, having items properly labelled, will definitely reduce the time needed to find something when it is needed. Having a well-organised and appropriate naming system for computer files, rather than ad hoc naming and filing, will help in being able to retrieve them, rather than spending ages trying to find something that has just been randomly named and stored in an unknown location.