Employee Development, Benefits far outweigh costs

The fact that most managers spend zero time on this topic means that they are either too consumed in their day to day duties, or they don't see an acceptable return on the investment of their time or the companies resources.  In this post we will discuss why developing employees is important and worthwhile and then we will discuss how to do it. 

Please keep in mind that this blog is intended for the senior manager to engage in a dialogue, or forum with their managers to help them grow as managers.   The question at the top of each section can be asked of the group, and then the facilitator, or trainer can use the answers provided here as a way to guide the discussion.  I'd love to hear from managers on their own examples, or amplifying or differing opinions about the information provided here. 

Note: The term subordinate is used to mean either a front line worker, an experienced or new individual contributor, or a junior or senior manager, but always junior to the manager reading the text.

Why should a manager spend the time and resources on the personal development of their employees?

1. Strengthen the team - As each team member becomes more confident in their position and learns more skills, the more things actually get accomplished and the easier it is to get things done, and the more time the manager gets to focus on strategy and planning.  It really is an upward spiral.  The more time the manager spends on developing subordinates, the stronger the team becomes and the more time the manager gets to spend on developing  the team further, the more the team gets done, etc. etc.
2. Make the company more valuable - If the cliche about the biggest asset a company has is its people is true, then the better the employees become, the more valuable the company becomes.
3. Improve morale - When the manager takes an interest in their employees as people, and invests in developing their skills, it will improve how the employee views the manager and the company.  Good morale doesn't always lead to better performance, but bad morale almost always leads to worse performance.
4. Succession planning - There are many aspects to succession planning in the manager's mind that is affected by developing employees in their group.  Let's take a look at a few of the main ones:
1. What if something happens to the manager - Hopefully it is a promotion, or a better job somewhere else and not the proverbial "run over by a bus" accident.  If the manager has done a great job of developing subordinates there may be someone who can step in to the manager's role
2. What if the manager wants to leave - The manager may want a promotion or another job in the company, but can't be considered for the job because their current organization can not function well without them at the helm.
3. Morale - Employees feel better about a company that not only talks about wanting to promote from within, but systematically prepares existing employees to be ready for promotion.
5. Attract better talent - When the word gets out that a manager works to develop the talents of their employees and is good at it, everyone will want to work for them.
6. Retention - This works as a retention tool because as long an employee is gaining more skills and developing as a person and an employee, it will take a compelling offer to get them to leave.  One potential down side of developing employees is that they become a target for other managers in the company, or other companies, when they need talent.  That is not an entirely bad thing for a manager, because it enhances their reputation. 
7. Allow employees to reach their full potential - Sometimes a manager will spot great potential in an employee to better themselves and bring significant value to the team and the company.  The skilled manager can help make this potential become a reality.
8. It is a good skill to have - Particularly as a manager becomes more senior, their ability to develop subordinates becomes a part of their primary job description.
9. Enhance the reputation of the manager and of the team - This is the net result of all of the above.

What are the sources of development in employees? 
In other words, where do employees learn the things that either help or hinder their development?

1. Their managers.  That's right.  One of the biggest developers of employees is the example they see in their bosses.  It is not just the good example that will leave an impression.  Employees can also learn what not to do from a poor example.  Unfortunately, junior employees may not know what is good or bad behavior in a manager and may learn bad habits from the inexperienced, or badly behaving boss.  This means that a manager doesn't need to send an employee to a training course, or create a development plan to make an impact on the development of an employee.  Just by behaving with high integrity and competence could be the best way to develop subordinates.
2. Doing challenging jobs or tasks - figuring out what to do, executing a plan they developed, and seeing the results is another top way employees develop.  Both successes and failures can have a profound impact on an employee's development.  Trial and error is a great teacher.  The pressure of making important decisions that affect their reputation, their careers and sometimes the success of the whole team, builds confidence and resourcefulness in both individual contributors and managers.
3. Failures, setbacks, falling short - One of my cliches is "You can tell much more about the character of a person when they get knocked down, than when they win easily".  Reflecting on the job not gotten, the bid proposal not accepted, coming in second (or last) can provide unique insight for a person that can be more valuable than the easy win.  How a person reacts to these setbacks can be an important component of their development as a person, employee, or leader.
4. Life experiences - There are many things that happen outside of work that contribute to the development of a person.  A few include - the way they were raised, participation in sports, a family crisis, or development they gain from coaching or volunteer work.
5. Formal training - I differentiate between formal training  and formal education.  An employee can gain valuable skills and expertise from training.  These can range from a few hours to a few months in length.  Training programs typically concentrate on a narrow scope and provide specific information to be retained and used later.
6. Education - Education differs from training in that although the course may provide significant detailed information that can be used on the job, the developmental aspect of the education is more in the ways a person learns to approach problems and research possible solutions.  Education refers mainly to college level courses, and ultimately degrees, taken at a school of higher learning.

How should a manager go about developing their subordinates?
Now that we've discussed what develops people in the general case, we can now use that  information to discuss what a manager can, and should, do to develop their subordinates.

1.  Provide a positive role model - If a manager wants their team to treat everyone fairly, act with integrity, consider all relevant factors before making a decision, have a balanced work/personal life, then that's how the manager should act.  Bottom line - Lead by example.
2. Delegate important and challenging tasks - Notice that the first two items listed should happen as the normal work routine.  Without even thinking about developing their subordinates, managers that do these two things could be doing a good job of developing them.
3. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the team as a whole, as well as each individual team member - If the team needs a second baseman, who has the potential to be good at second base?  Once the team as a whole has been addressed, then the manager can focus on each person individually in developing them based on their individual strengths, which may or may not be a current need of the team.
4. Help the subordinates understand their strengths and weaknesses - this can happen in many formal and informal ways, such as:
1. Performance reviews - This is what most companies use as the primary method of forcing a discussion between bosses and their subordinates.  These can be effective, but the frequency tends to be only once a year, which is too infrequent to actually have a positive effect.  The other problem with annual performance reviews is that in an attempt to make them easier for managers, they have become mostly fill in the blank forms and grading check sheets that don't provide much intimate communication between the manager and their employee.
2. Formal career counseling or development plan discussion - These don't occur very often in the work place, but scheduling and conducting a formal career counseling session with an employee can be very illuminating to the manager about the aspirations of their employee and very morale boosting for the subordinate.
3. Informal discussions - Every conversation with a superior is usually listened to very attentively by a subordinate and what is said can carry a lot of weight, even though the manager may not be aware of how important their choice of words can be to the subordinate.  On the other hand, if the manager listens closely to a casual conversation with a subordinate, they may learn a lot about the direction the subordinate would like their career to take.
4. Encouragement and recognition - Positive reinforcement for any behavior has a good chance of encouraging the same behavior in the future.  If the manager believes that taking risks is important to development, they should recognize and encourage employees who take calculated and reasonable risks.  
5. Provide timely feedback - Feedback is a critical assessment of the employees actions close enough in time to the actual effort to help them see what was effective and what was not effective.  This should be done continuously and consistently in the spirit of helping, but the manager must be careful not to be perceived as a "micro manager" or "nit picker"
6. Hold employees accountable for their performance - Remember that a failure, or setback, can be a huge driver to development.  The employee will remember and learn from the manager's candid assessment and consequences of poor performance, a bad decision, or lapse in judgement.  There is a reason for the popular phrase "Tough Love".
7. Help subordinates see a path to meet their career objectives - Whether it be in job selection, training, education, or volunteer work.
8. Map out a development program with the employee's collaboration
1. Challenging jobs or tasks
2. Identify the need and opportunities for training
3. Recommend a reading list
4. College courses
5. Opportunities outside work

What would a Development Plan look like?
Keep in mind that this is not a performance review, or a superior-subordinate task discussion.  It is an attempt by the manager to help a subordinate take actions that will help them in the future, and that future may, or may not, include the current manager.  In other words, even though many of the elements are similar to other directed tasks, the manager should take a much softer and collaborative approach to this discussion.

1. Pick a short time frame
1. Don't rely on the annual review, the time frame is too long
2. Plan should be executed inside of 90 days or less
3. If longer projects are needed, pick smaller milestones that can be accomplished and assessed inside the 90 day window.
2. Be specific in what needs to be done - If it is a training course, which one should be taken and how will it help develop the employee.  If it is a project or challenging task, what exactly is expected? 
3. Define specific success criteria
4. Establish a realistic time line
5. Focus on strengths, not weaknesses - Managers spend so much time in damage control mode, that it is easy to focus on overcoming the shortcomings of an employee.  Most people will get further in their careers by developing their strengths rather than working on what they don't already have.
6. Involve the subordinate in developing the plan
7. Recognize and reward achievement 

That's what I think.  Tell me what you think.
Leave a comment, or send me an email.  Do you have an example that illustrates a point made here?  Have you tried something that didn't work?  Did you find the post helpful?  Did you forward a link to someone you thought could gain something from the discussion?

Effective Interviewing

Hiring good employees is a primary responsibility of managers. That being said, any manager who says they have never made a bad hire, simply hasn't hired many people. Every hire is a gamble made with very little information.  This post is an attempt to arm the manager with some tools that will help them gather as much relevant information as they can in the one or two hours they get with a candidate before deciding who is the best candidate for the job opening. 

A manager can improve their chances of making a good hiring decision by having the candidate interview with as many people as is practical.  It is their own judgement, however, that carries the most weight.  For the purposes of this post, it is assumed that the manager and HR have done their job in creating an excellent job description and have lined up several seemingly qualified candidates.

The keys to an effective interview are as follows:

1. Preparation of an interview worksheet tailored to the position.
2. Thorough review of the candidate's resume and cover letter.
3. Execution of the interview
4. Post interview summary
5. Bonus - Reference check questions

Let's take them one at a time.

Preparation of an interview worksheet tailored to the position.
An interview worksheet is simply a list of questions that are designed to give the interviewer a thorough understanding of the candidates experience, expertise, and motivation for the position.  By using the same, or similar, questions for all of the candidates provides a level playing field for all candidates.  Once a good interview worksheet has be created for a particular position, it can be saved and reused whenever that position is required.  This allows the worksheet to evolve over time to become increasingly effective and a manager can tailor them to new companies or situations.  Obviously the questions will be different for a manager versus an individual contributor, or an accountant versus an engineer, but some questions are relevant to all candidates.  The worksheet should have a space for the candidates name and date at the top of the first page and no more than 6-10 questions should be printed on each page to leave space for writing the candidates answers, or interviewer observations, feelings, or other comments.

The interview worksheet, and therefore the actual interview, should have four sections.

1. Work History
2. Technical
3. Motivation
4. Business Personal

1.  Work History
This is the section where an interviewer learns about items in a candidates resume and cover letter that are relevant to the job,  What companies have they worked for, what were their positions, who did they report to, etc.  Additionally, this section  is where any questions generated from the resume review will be asked.    There may be many things about the job opening that are not in the resume, and those things will be covered in the Technical section.  Here are several questions that might be asked in the Work History section.  Notice that most of the questions are written exactly as they would be asked. 

1. Tell me about your last company, including size, organization, scope of your position, who you reported to, where did you fit in the organization, what do they make? This question can be shortened or expanded depending on whether the interviewer is already familiar with the companies where the candidate has worked.  It can also be broken up to ask several questions instead of one long question.
2. Who were your main customers at _____?  What percentage of your time was spent with customers?
3. You mentioned that you increased profits at _____.  What exactly did you do?
4. Your resume states that you improved the safety record at several companies.  How did you do that?
5. What coding language did you use at _____ and ____.  Which one did you like better?
6. How often did you close the books at _____.  What was your role in the close?
7. Why did you leave ______.  It looked like you were very successful there?
8. What ERP system did they use at _____.  How proficient are you in using it?
9. What reports did you develop to manage your department at _____?
10. What accomplishment at ______ are you most proud of?
11. What would your subordinates at ______ say about your management style?

2.  Technical
This is where the interviewer explores the candidate's background concerning the specific technical aspects of the job.  These may or may not be in the candidate's resume.  In some instances a candidate may not have any experience in a particular area, but can still discuss what they would do in a given situation, or how they would handle a new challenge.  Here are some possible questions:

1. What is the role of the Document Control Manager in handling new products?
2. Describe a difficult personnel situation you experienced and how you handled it.  How would you do things differently today in the same situation?
3. How much do you know about California Employment Law?
4. How often do you recommend reconciling balance sheet accounts?
5. How often did you have to deal with lawyers?  What are some examples?
6. How would you approach an initiative to reduce product costs ( labor costs, programming costs, freight costs, travel expenses, etc)?
7. What would you do to improve inventory accuracy?
8. How would you handle an upset customer?  What would you do if there was no way to satisfy them?
9. Explain your experience with inventory valuation (tax preparation, cost accounting, payroll, AR collection, AP - discounting & payment philosophy, working capital management & control, budget preparation, asset management, product costing, etc).
10. How would you improve inter-departmental relations between Ops, Finance, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, HR, Quality, R&D, etc. (pick two)?
11. How do you measure the success of a sales person (hit rate, volume, margins, customer feedback, etc.)?

3.  Motivation
In this section the interviewer is trying to find out what makes the candidate tick.  What is important to them.  What do they like and what type of environment is right for them.  Here are some typical questions:

1. What part of your job do you enjoy most? Why?
2.  Explain a situation, or a few situations, where you showed initiative - what were the reasons for the effort. What were the results?
3. What characteristics do you possess that have helped you be successful?
4. Explain a failure on your part and what you learned from it.
5. What is the ideal work situation for you?
6. What is the ideal relationship you would like to have with your supervisor?
7. Why are you interested in our company?

4.  Business Personal
Always be careful to call these questions "business" personal and not just personal questions.  It can be seen by the questions below that all of the questions are appropriate to be asked, but if you say to a candidate that you will be asking them personal questions, they may become apprehensive about the type of questions that will be asked.  Here are a few:

1. What did you like least (best) about the job at _____ ?
2. How important is the title to you?
3. How long is the commute?  How do you feel about it?
4. How is the search going?
5. Where would you like to be in your career in 5 years?
6. Why are you looking for a new job?
7. What questions can I answer for you?

Thorough review of the candidate's resume and cover letter.
Although some people still swear by them, I have found cover letters to be essentially a waste of time.  However, if one accompanies a resume of a candidate that will be interviewed, it should be read.  The resume, on the other hand, is essential.  The interviewer should have only two things in front of them when interviewing a candidate, and they are the candidate's resume and the interview worksheet.  I recommend highlighting anything in the resume that the interviewer may want to refer to during the interview.  The Work History section of the interview worksheet should be updated with a few questions that come directly from the resume.

Execution of the interview
There are some obvious hospitality items that should be mentioned.  Make sure the interview is conducted in a quiet comfortable place.  Offer the candidate something to drink.  If the interview will be conducted in the manager's office, turn off the phone and don't allow any non-emergency interruptions.  Describe for the candidate the four sections and that the interviewer will be writing constantly, but to ignore it.  Do not sit in such a way that the candidate can read what is being written. 

Try to be consistent in writing things down and don't only write just after the candidate has said something.  The things to write down are a combination of several things, including what is said, the impressions the interviewer gets from the candidate, follow up questions to ask later, unrelated questions or comments that are relevant, etc.

Don't allow the candidate to ramble.  Once a question is satisfactorily answered (or not), stop the candidate and move to the next question.  It may be useful to tell the candidate that this will happen and it shouldn't be interpreted as not wanting to hear what they have to say, but that time is limited and there are a lot of questions to ask.

When asking questions, there are really three things to determine.

1. What was done - This means what did the candidate do specifically.  How did their specific actions impact the result.  The more detailed a person's answer, usually the more they know what they are talking about.
2. What were the results - Again there should be a direct correlation between what was done and what was achieved.  If the candidate does not see this connection, they probably weren't the real driver of the results.  It could be that they were told what to do and they did it.  That may be OK for the current job, but maybe it isn't.
3. Why was it important to be done - This is a little more subtle.  In the universe of things that could be done, and with limited time and resources, why did the candidate pick this item to do and highlight on their resume or in the interview.  It may be that they were told to do it, or that it was obvious, but maybe they have another reason.

Don't feel obligated to ask every question.  If a question was already answered previously, or just doesn't feel relevant, skip it.  If the interviewer decides early in the interview that the candidate is not suitable, still ask one or two questions from each section.  Do not abruptly dismiss the candidate.  The candidate has gone to a lot of trouble to be seated in front of the manager and deserves to be interviewed seriously.  That does not mean to spend the maximum time, but enough to show the candidate the right level of respect for their time.


Post interview summary
After the candidate has left, and ideally immediately after, the interviewer should write a few paragraphs on their impressions of the candidate, both positive and negative.  This is very important.  If several candidates are interviewed for a position and an obvious winner is not apparent, it is the summary that will be referenced most often.  Most people will not go back and review every answer, but will definitely reread the summary.  I also strongly recommend spending a few minutes going back over the worksheet to make sure what was written will make sense later.  The interviewer's shorthand during the interview can be indecipherable later, even to them.


Here is the bonus

After a candidate is selected, references should be called.  Most people who serve as references are given by the candidate and will be an advocate for the candidate.  There is nothing wrong with that because most people won't outright lie.  Here are some questions to get a person to give a more balanced view of a candidate.

1. What was your relationship with _____ ? Do you remember their exact title?
2. How long did you work together?
3. ____'s management style seems very developed and effective, is this how you remember them?
4. Since I will be _____'s direct manager, where do you think I could best help them develop in their career as a manager?
5. Why did they leave?
6. Would you hesitate in putting _____ in front of the CEO, or important customers?  How do you think they would perform in those situations?

Obviously I am a big fan of the interview worksheet.  I have worksheets for the following positions.  If you are hiring for one of these positions, please send me an email and I will send it to you free.  If you want more than one, they are for sale.

Accounting
CFO, Controller, Accounting Manager, Cost Accountant, Plant Accountant, Accountant
Sales
Sales Manager, Program Manager, Customer Service Manager, Customer Account Manager
Engineering
Design Engineer (new grad), Drafter, ECO Manager, Engineering Manager, Industrial Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, NPI Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer (new grad)
Materials
Buyer, Expediter, Inventory Manager, Materials Manager, Senior Buyer, Sourcing Manager, VP Supply Chain
Quality
Quality Manager, Supplier Quality Engineer
Miscellaneous
Human Resources Manager, Administrative Assistant, IT Manager, Operations Manager, Reference Check

Cliche #5 - Daily Planning

Frank's Management Cliche #5

"Spend three hours planning what to do with the other five hours in the day and you'll get more done than if you just go to work"


Explanation:

As in most of my cliches, there is a bit of exaggeration to make a point.  Probably most people will key on the eight hour day.  I know that most managers would love to only have an eight hour day.  Managers have many more things to do than they could possibly actually accomplish.  That means that a manager must be very good at prioritizing their work, delegating what others can do, and discarding what doesn't need to be done.  That can't be done effectively without a plan.  Every task must be weighed against all the others for both importance and urgency before deciding where to put effort.  This means that it is imperative that a manager spend some time every day evaluating what needs to be done and scheduling tasks based on their relative importance and urgency.  Without a plan, a manager will default to what is urgent.  The last email, the last colleague interruption, the last phone call, etc.  At the very least, the manager will end up spending several extra hours at work every day as they realize at the end of the day all the things that they didn't get to.  Without a plan, the day starts out slowly with lots of time wasters finding their way into the day.  The manager gets serious only after realizing that they have squandered away most of their time.  Unfortunately the same thing happens the next day. 

Tasks come to a manager from many different sources.  The boss gives tasks, subordinates need help, emails bring tasks, the phone brings tasks, meetings result in tasks, etc, and last but not least, the manager may have some tasks that they determine for themselves.  The effective manager will create a single list of tasks from all the sources and evaluate and schedule them in the appropriate priority.  This is not a two minute exercise each day.  Three hours vs. five hours is probably too much, but the point is that it takes time to plan properly, but the benefits are worth it.

Time Management

There are two aspects of time management that we will discuss in this post.  The first aspect is what a manager should spend time on, and the second aspect is a discussion of strategies to maximize how much work can be completed.  There are many sites on the internet that give tips on time management.  Virtually all of them deal with ways to be efficient in the use of time.  As a manager, it is first essential to know what is most important to work on, and secondarily to be efficient. 

Importance & Urgency
By far the best presentation I have found on where a manager should spend their time is by Stephen R. Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  His concept of  determining the urgency and importance of tasks in deciding where a person should spend their time is even more critical for a manager.

Start with the simple premise that all tasks have some level of importance and urgency.  That means that all tasks can be put into one of the following buckets:

1. Tasks of High Importance and High Urgency.
2. Tasks of Low Importance and High Urgency.
3. Tasks of High Importance and Low Urgency.
4. Tasks of Low Importance and Low Urgency.

Let's now look at the types of fall into each of these buckets and how a manager should treat them.

Tasks of High importance and High Urgency - These are tasks that must be done.  There is no debate when a task is both urgent and important - do it now.  A manager can not usually control these tasks, they control the manager.  Whatever time is needed to resolve an important and urgent task will be consumed.  The only thing a manager can do is to prevent a recurrence of the task in the future, or to deal with it sooner, before it becomes urgent.  Here are some examples of important and urgent tasks:

1. Health emergency (heart attack, office or industrial accident, etc.)
2. Urgent request from a customer
3. Critical machine breakdown
4. Specific direction from a supervisor
5. Any number of actual business or personal crises

Tasks of Low Importance and High Urgency - These are tasks that may not even need to be done, but if they are going to be done, they must be done right now.  Typically a manager has some choices when faced with a low importance and high urgency task.  The manager can choose to do the task, or they can choose to ignore the task.  They may decide to do the task later, or delegate it to someone else who would also then have the same choices.  The key concept to understand is that the manager has control over these tasks.  Examples of  urgent, but not important tasks are:

1. Interruptions by colleagues
2. Most incoming telephone calls

Tasks of High Importance and Low Urgency - These are tasks that are important to the business, but don't usually have a specific deadline.  These are tasks where the manager has control and choices.  Most managers will agree that they should perform all important work and give this work a significant portion of their time.  The problem is that these tasks are not urgent and can be put off.  As we stated earlier, the urgent and important work definitely gets done because there really isn't a choice.  The more time a manager can spend on tasks in the High Importance/Low Urgency bucket, the more successful they will be and the more prepared they will be for promotion to the next level.  There are many examples of tasks that sit in this bucket:

1. Crisis and problem prevention
2. Planning
3. Long term projects
4. Developing strategy
5. Resource planning
6. Infrastructure building
7. Determining and communication priorities
8. Building relationships with
1. Customers and potential customers
2. Peers inside and outside company
3. Subordinates
9. Training employees
10. Recognizing and rewarding good performance
11. Providing valuable feedback to employees
12. Learning a new skill

Tasks of Low Importance and Low Urgency - These are tasks that really don't need to be done at all.  These are tasks that fill up the day and get in the way of spending more time on important/non urgent tasks.  Unfortunately these tasks are frequently fun, or easy to accomplish, so they are very attractive time wasters.  Some examples of unimportant/not urgent tasks are:

1. Any time wasters
2. Busy work
3. Organizing file drawers
4. Rethinking already made decisions
5. Reading superfluous emails

It is up to the manager to determine what is important.  The better they are at determining what is really important, and then being disciplined in spending as much time as possible on those tasks, the more successful they will be.

Now it is time to discuss how to be efficient in the use of time.

Time Management Strategies and Tips

1. Create a "To Do" list and update it daily - There should be only one task list.  If a task comes in by email, phone, verbally from superior, at meetings, etc. the task should go on the list.
2. Prioritize all tasks by relative importance and urgency - Put the important tasks at the top and less important tasks at the bottom of the list.
3. Plan for a longer time period, at least a week - The important/not urgent tasks will get lost if the plan is for only one day.  Put a placeholder in the week's plan for non urgent but important tasks.
4. Plan the day - every day 
5. Review how well the plan was executed
1. Hour by hour, by putting a "Planned" and "Actual" column into the daily plan by hour
2. At the end of the day
6. Schedule tasks, especially unanticipated tasks that crop up during the day - It is tempting to accomplish the task that just showed up so you won't have to put it on the To Do list and schedule it, but it only takes a few of those 5-15 minute tasks to blow the day's plan.
7. Don't be a slave to email - This doesn't mean to not read them.  Schedule a time, or several time segments during the day to read and deal with emails.  Don't allow the arrival of an email to be like the ringing of the phone that must be answered immediately.  A manager should train their staff to know that if something is truly urgent, an email is not the right way to communicate the task or event.
8. Don't be a slave to the phone - It is OK to answer a ringing phone, but quickly determine what is needed and schedule a time to return the call.  Any task received by phone is still a task to be scheduled in its relative priority.  It is particularly rude to stop a scheduled conversation with someone to start a conversation with a person who has called on the phone.  It is OK to answer the phone to stop the ringing and tell the person on the other end that you are busy and will return the call as quickly as you can.
9. Delegate all appropriate tasks
10. Manage interruptions
1. Office drop ins - Find out what is needed and schedule it.
2. Telephone call requests - Put them into the To Do list and schedule them
3. Email requests - Put them into the To Do list and schedule them
11. Find ways to perform mechanical tasks  in parallel instead of in sequence - This only applies to mechanical activities that don't require much thinking.  This is not recommended for tasks that require the manager to be mentally present.  For instance, a manager should not read emails during conference calls, no one should text on the phone while driving, or go to meetings and work on other tasks. 
12. Separate large jobs into several small jobs - use the small tasks as filler items when there is a small time gap in the daily plan.
13. Bonus Tip - Spend more time with those who help you achieve your goals and less time with those who slow you down.

Cliche #4 - Their incompetence - Your crisis

Frank's management cliche #4:

"Don't allow someone else's incompetence to become your crisis"

Explanation:
Here are a few examples, which I am sure will sound familiar.

Steve: "I need to turn this report in by noon today and I need your analysis first, you have 30 minutes!"

John: "I know I should have checked with you first, but I told the customer we would drop everything to get their product out today"

Deborah: "knock Knock, do you have a minute?" (which really means an hour, or the rest of the day)

Obviously crises do happen that are not the result of someone's incompetence, and sometimes a manager can be just the person to pull a rabbit out of a hat to turn failure into success.  Sometimes things happen that justifies turning a department, or a whole company, upside down at a moments notice.  Those aren't the times I'm talking about.  When a colleague has procrastinated to the point that only a heroic effort by you will meet a deadline, or a promise has been made by someone who should have known better, and now other commitments will be missed.

Other people don't know what a manager has on their plate before they make a request and some don't care.  It is up to the manager to create the expectation that all actions will be handled in the right priority and that" right now" is usually not the right time. The key to avoiding this type of problem is to have a well defined set of priorities and a written schedule for the day's activities.  If other people know that a manager plans out their day and sticks to the plan as much as possible, then interruptions have a visible effect on those planned activities.  If a manager is interrupted by a visiting colleague, subordinate, or superior, either in person or via phone call, the manager should politely acknowledge the interruption and schedule a time when the problem can be discussed.  It should only be the most drastic of problems that are allowed to be handled on the spot.  Consistently handling someone else's problem immediately will train others that the manager is always available for everyone else's priorities and they will supersede the manager's own priorities.  This is not to suggest that a manager should avoid helping others, on the contrary, they can do a much better job if that help is provided when there are not other pressing needs in competition.  That can only be done if the task is put in its proper priority and given the appropriate amount of attention.

A related item is the use of the "if I don't hear from you" email.  This usually takes the form of "if I don't hear from you by _(time)_ , I will assume you are OK with _(action)_ ".  A manager must make it plain to everyone that if they have not responded, the only thing that can be read into this fact is that they have not responded.  With the amount of emails that everyone is receiving today, it is easy to miss something.  This is a ploy someone takes to make their priority an urgent priority by other people.  It shouldn't be done, but when it does, a manager must set the record straight.  Obviously, if the person sending the email is a superior, a certain amount of tact is required in the response.