Article

Master time management

I am convinced that one of the reasons propane retailers underachieve is because the leadership is ineffective with the use of their personal time.

All of us struggle with time management, but many leaders of retail propane companies remain bogged down with the business’ daily activities and, therefore, are unable to have adequate time for the truly important decisions. I argue that those of us in this category are slaves to our time, unable to do what is most important. Conversely, it’s my observation that those who have achieved the most success in this industry are in complete control of their time.

Retail propane operations are unique in a number of ways from other businesses. We basically operate a distribution business that delivers its entire product the old-fashioned way – from door to door. We do all we can to route and schedule propane deliveries, to space out our service work in order to smooth out the peak load. These efforts, however, are subordinated to a demand (the weather) that is both completely out of our control and has a reliable forecast of only 10 days.

So to a degree, we are in reactive businesses scrambling to meet the next unexpected spike in demand. However, the most successful operators in our industry prove that it is possible – in spite of our industry’s unique demands – to manage our time in a way that allows us to be the best leaders.

Here are some ideas you might consider employing in your business. These concepts were adapted from the late management adviser Peter Drucker and well-known business author Stephen Covey:

Know your time
One way to manage your time is to begin your day by planning around the time you have, not the tasks you have to accomplish.

Planning tasks does nothing toward the allocation of your most precious resource – your time.

Starting with the evaluation of the time you have available will force you to examine all of your tasks in light of importance and significance. “Knowing your time” will change your perspective on your future and open up a new world to how to manage your day and your business.

Record and eliminate
Another action plan is to keep a record of what you do with your time – every minute of it.
Objectively examine various segments of time, asking yourself that if certain tasks do not get done, would it matter? If the answer is “no,” these are to be eliminated.

The outbox has been described by an executive I know as his best tool. If you do not have an outbox – an effective place to dispose of tasks that you should not bother doing – then you are subject to every nuisance that is naturally attracted to your position of authority. If tasks are necessary but can be handled by someone else, pass them off.

Consolidate time
Virtually all important work is accomplished in meaningful blocks of time, not small pieces of 10 to 15 minutes.

Days composed only of small pieces of time means you will address only urgent items, forcing out the most valuable, larger periods necessary for your best thoughts and decisions. Do your best to consolidate the smaller chunks of time into larger, more valuable blocks of time where you can accomplish meaningful work.

Focus on the essentials
Stephen Covey defined the essentials of time management in which all time is placed into four quadrants.

Urgency is the nature of retail propane operations. There is little that can be done about the urgent and important items. Also, the “not important” and “not urgent” quadrant is easily controlled.

However, Covey coaches that the essence of good time management is pushing our time away from being spent in the “urgent,” “not important” quadrant and adding more time in the “important,” “not urgent” quadrant.

Master these skills and you will see meaningful changes in the effectiveness of your day and, in the long run, the success of your business.