Balancing act

Efficiency and organization come second nature to savvy CEOs

Matt Bolch

February 27, 2008

Joe Snowden considers himself a bit of an efficiency fanatic. The president of McRae, the 40-person integrated marketing communications firm Snowden founded in 1989 at age 22, believes every second of his day is important.

"If I figured out that I was losing 30 seconds a day brushing my teeth, that's several hours a year (three, actually) that I'm losing," says Snowden. "Organizational skills, to me, are inborn."

The biggest efficiency gainer Snowden has uncovered recently is an executive assistant. He formerly thought an assistant was an executive perk, but Snowden believes his productivity has doubled since he made that hire in October. It can be hard for an executive to admit he can't handle every detail, but freeing yourself of that responsibility opens up valuable time in your schedule, Snowden says.

Michael Kogon hired his first assistant 11 years ago when Definition 6 had fewer than a dozen employees. Three of his former assistants are now senior consultants and another is a vice president of the global interactive marketing agency that has 55 U.S. employees and another 30 globally.

Kogon was an executive assistant early in his career and knows the value of having someone handle such duties as maintaining appointment calendars, consolidating voicemails and e-mails, staying on top of action items and running personal errands. "My assistant is not a secretary," Kogon stresses, "but someone who has the authority when asking for something, it's like me asking for it."

It's a matter of time

Managing one's time is another important factor in staying organized, says Rich Parlontieri, CEO of Tyrone-based Speedemissions, which has four dozen emissions testing stations in Georgia, Texas, Utah and Missouri, including 14 in the metro Atlanta area.

Parlontieri says he doesn't let the Internet and e-mails overwhelm him, choosing to pull up e-mails on his cell phone before or after business hours. Often, he finds it easier to pick up the phone and have a quick conversation rather than send an e-mail.

The CEO tried moving from the paper-based Day-Timer to an electronic BlackBerry to maintain his schedule, but Parlontieri went back to the Day-Timer. "I like to see what I'm doing in black and white. I live by it," Parlontieri says. "When I make or receive a call, there's always a written record. Last thing at night and first thing in the morning, I look at it."

Snowden also prefers a paper calendar over a PDA for scheduling appointments after discovering he can move quicker in a paper-based environment. He divides his time into 15-minute increments, allowing for as many as 12 meetings a day on widely different topics. However, McRae has invested in exchange server technology to allow his staff to be connected through PDAs.

The CEO at Definition 6 has wrapped both arms around technology, using an electronic tablet loaded with Microsoft OneNote software and Windows Mobile software for his phone. When attending meetings, Kogon receives the agenda electronically and can jot notes that become part of the historical record without an intermediate step to transfer or scan paper documents.

By using a digital dashboard system tied into reporting software, Kogon can keep pace with key company metrics such as cash flow, billing reports and exception flags quickly and easily. "I don't have to go through financial reports to know what's going on," Kogon says.

Efficiency helps increase family time

Busy executives often are road warriors, rushing from meeting to meeting or from city to city while engaging clients and interacting with employees. But many execs also have families, and it requires other organizational strategies to juggle work demands and a home life.

Snowden has met that challenge by investing in a condominium just a block from McRae's downtown headquarters. He lives in Fayetteville but stays in town for early morning breakfast meetings or to work full days. He says he's equally diligent about leaving work to be home with his family.

Kogon will leave the office to have dinner with his family, then leave again, when necessary, to continue working. "An executive should have a good mindset and make time for family," Kogon says. "They deserve time every day – somehow."

Tips to start, stay organized

Monica Ricci has been helping businesspeople get and stay organized for nearly 10 years as owner of Catalyst Organizing Solutions (Editor's note: No relation with this publication). She says that most engagements with a professional organizer are based on a half-day or a full-day fee, although she does have ongoing relationships with certain clients.

Among the most-common problems she finds in office environments are filing systems that are fragmented or poorly managed and lack of physical storage space for the materials the company uses regularly.

Here are her top four tips for staying organized.

1.    Make time for maintaining your organizing systems.
2.    Keep action items out of your inbox. Devote a dedicated space on your desk or in your briefcase for these to-do lists.
3.    Establish time boundaries with others. Time is your most-precious commodity.
4.    Capture ideas/tasks in your paper or electronic organization system – not in your head.

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How do you stay organized? Visit our Catalyst Community Forums to learn more about what other small business owners do to stay efficient.

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Balancing act

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Efficiency and organization come second nature to savvy CEOs

Matt Bolch

February 27, 2008