People & Leadership
A founder can work twelve hours a day and still not move the business forward
Constant interruptions, small tasks that feel urgent, work that only the owner is allowed to approve, and meetings that could have been messages: the founder's day fills up easily with things that are not the founder's job. This session is about output rather than effort: finding which work matters most, doing more of it, and reducing or handing over the rest. It looks at how you work. Managing the calendar itself has its own session, on founder time management.
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A founder's attention is the scarcest resource in the business.
Early on, doing everything personally is a strength. Later, it becomes the reason important work, such as hiring, pricing, customer relationships and planning, keeps getting postponed by urgent but low-value tasks.
Improving productivity is not about squeezing more into the day. It is about deciding what deserves the founder's best hours, and being honest about what does not. For that, it helps to look at the day as it is, not as one would like it to be.
Becoming more productive without working longer
35 topics across 7 areas. Seven practices, each of which can be tried in a week. 6 apply to almost any business; the rest only in a particular case.
Find the Work That Matters MostStart with value, not volume.5
- List the five activities that most directly move the business forward
- List the tasks that took most of your time last week
- Compare the two lists, without judging yourself
- Ask which tasks only you can do, and which only seem that way
- Choose one high-value activity to protect time for
Stop, Simplify, Hand Over, BatchFour ways to take work off your plate.5
- Stop: tasks that nobody would miss
- Simplify: tasks that can be done in fewer steps or with a template
- Hand over: tasks that someone else could do with a little guidance
- Batch: small tasks such as approvals or invoices, done once or twice a day
- Choose two tasks in each category to act on this month
Know Your Best HoursPeople do not think equally well at all times of day.5
- Notice when you are most alert and focused
- Use those hours for the hardest work, such as planning or writing proposals
- Keep routine and administrative work for lower-energy times
- Avoid scheduling meetings in your best hours unless they are important
- Adjust to the realities of family, travel and customers
Interruptions and MessagesMost are reasonable, and most do not need an instant reply.5
- Agree with the team what counts as urgent, and how to reach you for it
- Check messages at set times instead of all day
- Turn off notifications that are not for emergencies
- Ask for questions to be collected for a daily check-in
- Tell people when you will reply, and keep to it
Meetings That Earn Their PlaceEvery meeting costs the time of everyone in it.5
- A clear purpose and a decision or outcome for each meeting
- Only the people needed, for only the time needed
- A short agenda sent in advance
- Actions, owners and dates recorded at the end
- Regular meetings reviewed every quarter, and ended if they are no longer useful
Tools and RoutinesA few good ones are better than many.5
- One place for tasks and one place for notes
- A simple template for recurring work, such as weekly updates
- A test before adopting a new tool: what problem does it solve, and what will it replace?
- Shared documents, so that information is not only in your head
- Regular clean-up of what no longer helps
A Weekly ReviewIf it appliesTwenty minutes, same time each week.5
- What did I complete that mattered?
- What took more time than it should have?
- What can I stop, simplify or hand over next week?
- What are the three most important things for next week?
- What is one thing to try differently?
Try this week
- Write the five activities that most move your business forward
- Mark which of them you actually did last week, and for how long
- Choose one task to stop and one to hand over
- Set two message-checking times and tell your team
Signs productivity is the problem
- You end most days feeling busy but unsure what you achieved
- Important tasks keep moving to next week
- You do small tasks first because they feel easier
- Your team cannot make progress without you
- You are always reachable, and rarely focused
How the session runs
A practitioner or an owner with a working system leads the session and shows how the practices apply to a founder's irregular week. Participants complete the value list, choose the tasks to stop, simplify, hand over or batch, and agree a weekly review time. The session is not about working harder. If long hours and pressure are affecting health, a doctor or qualified professional is a better first step than a productivity method.
What your students leave with
- A clearer sense of which of their tasks produce the most value for the business
- A list of work to stop, simplify, hand over or batch
- A way to protect the hours in the day when they do their best thinking
- A set of simple rules for messages, calls and interruptions
- A small number of tools worth using, and a reasonable test for adding more
- A weekly review habit that takes under twenty minutes
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
The goal is not more hours. It is more of the right work.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.