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What are clients coming to expect from their time advisers with respect to technology? Is it changing?

Getting Things Done has been widely touted and praised as a tool agnostic approach. That is, it was designed without any particular app, device, platform or medium in mind, whether it be paper, digital or personal memory-based.

Many consultants, professional organizers, coaches and trainers have taken the same approach, sincerely believing that the best tool for a client is a personal choice that a client needs to make on his/her own. The search for the right app is a personal choice and so is the process.

Recently, this advice has struck me as odd: not in keeping with the times we live in.

While I don’t advocate a return to the days when time management training was done by solution vendors who pushed their own approach (thereby increasing sales of add-on’s) I think there is a new trend emerging. Clients expect their time advisers to be experts, not novices in the business of choosing tools. Many, by taking the tool agnostic approach, have rendered themselves clueless about the choices that exist, ignorant of the process the client must undertake to make a decision.

This is a mistake.

Every single client must make some difficult choices about their evolutionary pathway from the system they currently have to the one they intend to use in the near, middle and distant future. It’s a point I make in Perfect Time-Based Productivity. Why?

Research shows that as the number of time demands (i.e. self-generated tasks) increases, they must evolve their approach. They simply don’t have a choice; and it’s certainly not a matter of taste, style or personality.

Most clients are unaware of this fact. However, as a time adviser, you cannot be.

Even if you prefer to use paper, you must to be able to advise a client who needs to use the best technology available. Or at the very least, you must be able to satisfy a client’s curiosity about their options.

I recommend that my trainees follow these principles, regardless of the outcome:

Principle 1 – One size doesn’t fit all. There is no perfect tool set for every individual. You must take ownership of the need to carve out your own system of skills, practices and tools.

Principle 2 – An individual’s system must match his/her volume of time demands. There is a progression that a user must respect and fit their choices in accordingly. (See the graphic below.)

Principle 3 – Everyone who plans to be working for at least the next five years needs an upgrade path – an understanding of how they will deal with the inevitable increase in time demands. A good time adviser doesn’t give clients a single set of skills, practices and tools to work with. They are continuously preparing them for the future.

Here’s a graphic I just drafted that ties together these principles – (A final version will be completed soon.)

It’s based on a long article I wrote called Learning to Optimize Each Day’s Plan from the Controversy Between Listers and Schedulers [ Research].

A skillful time adviser understands this evolution and can speak to each of the five steps in the graphic with some expertise. It’s an inescapable process in which clients can easily locate their current, past and future state. You can help them understand their upgrade options and how to implement them effectively.

But what are the options at each stage?

This is where you need to stay current. Even though you may not be able to know everything, you must stay a step ahead of the average client – indeed, you are expected to do so.

To keep your knowledge of the most recent tools current, I recommend that you check out the following forums.

Quora.com – Follow forums like Personal Productivity Apps, Time Management Software and Productivity Software.

Productivity Stack Exchange – Check out tags like calendar, scheduling and software.

GTD – Discuss Tools & Software – This community occasionally takes a deep dive that illuminates different schools of thought.

Reddit – You can use my subreddit to see the topics I follow which sometimes relate to tools.

If you keep abreast of these groups I believe you will remain reasonably well-informed. One thing you will learn is that it’s a huge mistake for a time adviser to conclude that a client should use one system; that their job is to enforce it at all costs, now and forever. That’s the kind of dogmatism I illustrated in Bill’s Im-Perfect Time Management Adventure and it has no place in the practice of the modern time adviser.

Instead, I’m inspired by what I learned from being trained by Thomas Leonard of CoachU in the early 1990’s : the best coaches empower their coachees to operate effectively without them for years to come. Helping your clients to see the big picture – their future – and the small skills, practices and tools to be used along the way serves them best.

Most coaching programs make a passing reference to the fact that coachees require different kinds of feedback depending on their level of development.

This makes intuitive sense.

You wouldn’t give a beginner the same advice as someone who is an expert. However, that insight focuses mostly on the content of the feedback to be provided. In other words, whereas a novice requires repetition and reminders of the basics, that kind of input would be useless to someone who has more experience.

But what about the way in which the feedback is provided? That much harder question has rarely been addressed by more than anecdotes and stories. A recent paper by Stacey Finkelstein and Ayelet Fishbach sheds some light on this question with some interesting findings.

As they put it, “novices sought and responded to positive feedback, and experts sought and responded to negative feedback.” The reasons were simple – novices were more interested in increasing their motivation to improve, while experts were more interested in making tangible progress.

What does this mean for you as a time adviser?

1. You must do an accurate assessment.
It’s a big mistake to assume that one size coaching fits all, and you must perform a sound diagnosis to determine whether your coachee is a novice or expert. Without this knowledge, you are more likely to make mistakes.

2. You must vary your approach.
As you work with a client, it makes sense to start out giving lots of positive feedback and then change your advice over time to provide more negative feedback. Changing the blend of feedback might come intuitively to some coaches, but all would benefit from making this shift consciously.

I recommend my book and the forms it includes as a tested method for completing your diagnoses. You can also help your clients compare their skills against others who have also done this evaluation – it can reveal immediate opportunities for improvement and habit patterns that are working against their peace of mind.

 

The lay-reader may not know, but a coach may figure it out… I actually wrote my book, Perfect Time-Based Productivity, in part, to serve as a guide for time advisers (coaches, consultants, professional organizers and trainers.)

Here’s what I did in a nutshell: I took the training I have been delivering to hundreds of people over 6 years and put it all in the book – everything I could think of. Also, I included more research links than anyone has ever dared (to my knowledge) in a how-to that’s meant for the layperson, not the academic.

The result is that the paperback version, which came a few days ago, is HUGE. At a little more than 400 pages it’s far too much for the casual person who just wants a few random tips.

But it’s just right for the time adviser who wants a solid reference document unlike any other. It gets into topics such as the difference between pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy (the training of children, adults and self-directed adults.) With its 250+ citations and a full index, it gives you the source of each idea from fields such as psychology, management, adult learning and industrial engineering. In other words, it’s far more than the usual time management book filled with tips, tricks and shortcuts based on “anecdata” – one person’s experience condensed into one-size-fits-all rules.

In fact, it starts by asserting that “time cannot be managed.” If you have been following my work you’ll know that the more sophisticated clients and trainees know this fact also. They also happen to be the ones who may be willing to pay you a premium.

While I wrote the book for the educated, learned individual who has left behind the days of “Time Management 101”, I wrote it as if they were all alone, coaching themselves. In my book, I allude to the fact that it’s possible to get help, but I didn’t emphasize it much because my goal was to empower the reader fully. After all, most won’t use a time adviser in the course of their lives, or even meet one.

But here’s the “secret” part of this message: they would actually move much faster with someone else by their side, helping them along. That is, with expert help they’d be able to protect their peace of mind as time demands increase with greater skill. As a time adviser, it places you in a great position to help.

Furthermore, unlike many books of this kind, you have my full permission (upon registration) to use the ideas and forms in all your work with clients, customers and trainees. Right away, at no additional cost.

When you register, you’ll have future access to upgrades, materials. This translates to your being on the cutting edge and always being a step ahead of your clients… all of them… including those who think they know more than you, or thinking they can cleverly Google Search their way to greater productivity. Plus, you’ll have the confidence and comfort of knowing that you aren’t violating copyright by using the materials.

Some more good news: Amazon has discounted the paperback – to my surprise – but I don’t know how long it will last as they don’t advise me either before or after.

So there are two steps involved:

1) purchase the book on Amazon.com (in either Kindle or paperback format.)

2) register your intent to use the materials in your work, then download your forms

Also, it’s gotten some decent reviews, which I’m very encouraged by, and several of your colleagues have endorsed it. Here are some of their kind words, in the next few paragraphs.

“In this age of quick fixes that usually don’t stand the test of time, the foundations in Perfect
Time-Based Productivity will endure because they are based on both research and individuation. Get started immediately on your journey to better productivity!” Janice Russell, Certified Organizer Coach, Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization

“Perfect Time-Based Productivity presents the problems we face through a collection of vignettes. Each person will likely feel a kinship to several of the characters met. Francis Wade intertwines these vignettes with large body
of research in the area of time management, and suggestions for implementing best practice. The “cheat sheets” provide the reader with a blueprint assessing one’s current level and charting a course toward a desired future.” Dr.Frank Buck, Frank Buck Consulting, Inc.

“This book shows you how to get more done, faster and easier, than ever before.” Brian Tracy – Author, Unlimited Sales Success

“Francis Wade has written a well-researched, practical book that goes beyond time management to help you boost your personal productivity. Perfect Time-Based Productivity offers a step-by-step method for achieving your goals and attaining the next level of success in your life.” Laura Stack, aka The Productivity Pro® and Author, What to Do When There’s Too Much to Do

“In Perfect Time-Based Productivity, the author doesn’t just deliver winning formula on time-based productivity – he delivers it in a manner that makes it easy to follow and implement. If you’re a time-focused person looking to get more out of the hours of the day, then this book is, well, perfect.” Mike Vardy, Author of The Front Nine and Founder of Productivityist

***

Once again – you can visit the Amazon sales page here and purchase the book.. The link to register as a time adviser is on page 349, in the section just after the Summary.

As you can imagine, the posts I plan to place on this blog in the future will build on the content in the book. Don’t be left behind as we build our skills as time advisers.

I have some good news: I recently posted up a revised set of forms covering all 11 time-based productivity fundamentals.  This is the first time they are being made available to the public, which of course includes all time advisers.

While the general public will see them as a way to start diagnosing their skills immediately, as a time adviser I hope you see something else: an opportunity.

To my knowledge, they are the first complete set of diagnostic tools for time-based productivity behaviors. Also, the fact that they are being offered to the public means that you also have full access.

What does “full” mean?

It means that you can start using them immediately with your clients. All I ask is that you register, and adhere to the Creative Commons License that governs its use. Now, I can’t require that you register – it’s just a matter of honor in which I am trusting that most people will – even though a few may not.

It will be their loss, however, as there are resources I plan to make available to time advisers who are registered. Being registered means that you are not a dabbler, but are serious about being successful in this particular niche.

In my book, I have mentioned the fact there are time advisers who are willing to work with clients using the Perfect Time-Based Productivity approach. As I have mentioned in the past, I don’t plan to work with two or three individual clients per year – I’m not talking about myself. There is a group that has received the BabySteps training and a few stand out in terms of their use of the materials.

Perhaps there may be readers of the book who are interested in getting direct assistance, which I expect would be drawn from the ranks of registered time advisers. Make sure to register by visiting the following page.

However, the first step is to head over to download the complete set of forms here.

I’m en route to the International Coaching Federation Conference in Cleveland Ohio, and just got news that my article on the ICF blog was published today.

It’s for time advisers, and it stresses the need for us to be well ahead of our clients, and their powerful ability to Google up time management advice. Here’s the link to the article on the ICF blog entitled “How to Clear Up your Client’s Time Management Confusion.”

Mark Hortsman’s website, Manager-Tools.com, is one of the best resources on the Internet for managers of all levels. It’s always an entertaining listen as he shares his ideas with his audience.

In this interview with him, I got a chance to ask him to shed some light on how time-starved CEO’s should manage their time. Tune in to this podcast and listen to the advice he gives – it’s not for everyone, but it does apply to those who are at the top of our best companies.

Click here to access my interview with Mark Horstman and don’t forget to rate the podcast on iTunes and leave a message.

P.S. Should I bring him back for an interview on coaching top executives on their time-based productivity skills? If you think so, let me know in the comments below.