The coffee shop hummed with activity, she raised her voice in an animated way, “My life….my life, if I ever lost my calendar I would be totally lost.” Her friend rolled her eyes and nodded vigorously in agreement, while those sitting close consumed their drinks, disregarding the comment. I stopped my email response and sat, wondering how that comment, from all others in the shop seemed to ‘pop out’ from the white noise of conversation. I could smell an inquiry here…
I reflected on the significance of the comment when it struck me that what she suggested was the calendar she held in her hands defined her life in some way. Without those sheaves of dated paper, bound together in months and years, she would loose herself in the fabric of life. The calendar – her book of days – provided a “model” of her life, on paper. An existence system. At each moment of her day, any appointment may (or may not) come due that would effect her life to one degree or another. Some major, others minor, but still shaping her existence…
This brought me to my work with executive leaders and the issue of time management which comes to the surface on occasion. Time management is an essential competence directly related to effective leadership performance. But, now I began to realize time management is not what is seems and may be much more than performance.
If a calendar is a model of existence, then what goes on the calendar is accomplished or completed in a model of creating something. So, re-framing a calendar from a system to manage time to a system that brings something into existence has significant implications for leadership. An appointment no longer is an accomplishment box to check off, “Well, I got that done.” It becomes an opportunity to create.
Viewing a calendar as an existence system gives access to:
- bringing more meaning into the work of a leader
- alignment of appointments to a larger goal or objective,
- the opportunity to create value in every conversation within the organization
- communicating focus on larger drivers
- keeping the leader ‘out of the weeds’ and clear about their leadership
For example, if a leader is working on driving a strategy, then every event on the calendar becomes the opportunity to create the execution of that strategy, through agenda, conversations, tasking and results.
If you want to succeed in your leadership, master your existence system.
