Do You Know the 4 Levels of Time?
You May Be Thinking About Time Wrong
When people think about time they usually think about what they're doing with their time. The best way to think about it is to think about why you're doing what you're doing. The reason to do anything at work is to produce an output - that's the "why." The "what" is the work it takes to produce that output. But there are 4 levels to doing the work.
The 4 Levels of Time Spent at Work
All four are all necessary at some point. The question is what's the best way for you to spend your time?
Level 1 is producing the outputs. If no one spends time at this level, then the outputs don't get produced. This work is done constantly.
Level 2 is managing people who produce the outputs. It's helping them prioritize, doing quality checks, supporting, training, motivating. When this kind of work is not done the outputs still get produced but probably not to the same quality or quantity. This work is done frequently but not continuously. By that I mean a team leader manages people regularly but often has time to be an individual contributor part time as well.
Level 3 is designing the workflow and systems. If this work doesn't get done then the outputs are not produced as efficiently and it's harder for the company to scale. It involves redesigning the systems people use; duplicating them for repeatability, and bifurcating them into subsystems for scalability. This work is periodic. If you do it too often, people get whiplash. But if you never do it, the company won't scale well.
Level 4 is deciding which outputs need to be produced. This is the strategy level. What happens if this work isn't done? In many SMB companies the answer is nothing changes if it doesn’t get done. That's because the strategy is often obvious and hard to change. What I mean is if you run a plumbing company in a local area your strategy is to do plumbing in that geographic area. You don't have to think about it. And it’s not easy to change. Obviously if you want to move into new markets or develop new products then strategy does become important and if it's not done well then the wrong outputs may be produced. This work is done sporadically. Most companies don't need to change strategy very often.
Don't Fall into the Level 4 Trap
The trap is that level 4 work often seems more fun than the others for a business owner. This leads to shiny object syndrome. But if you don't have the infrastructure of the other levels in place, spending a lot of time at level 4 is often worse than wasteful. It's worse because in addition to wasting your time on something when you don't have the resources to follow through, you'll divert the limited resources and energy of the entire company down a dead end.
Which Level Should You Work At?
The answer changes as the company scales. The company needs work done at each level at the appropriate time. But you, as the company owner or CEO, are not required to do them all obviously. You should work where you're best given your skill set and your goals. But even though you are not required to do work at every level, you are responsible to get them all done by someone. Level 3 work takes a certain mindset and skill that many entrepreneurs don't have - they're too intuitive and quick. There's often a benefit to bringing in a consultant to do level 3 work. Level 4 work often benefits from bringing in a facilitator to lead a strategy session.
As luck would have it, level 3 and 4 work is the kind of work I can help with 😁. If you'd like a free 45-minute coaching call, Book HERE
But even if you don't take advantage of that offer, I hope this post has been useful for determining where you should spend your time.
A lot of entrepreneurs also have ADHD. Running around at level 4 making changes is a big problem. Most employees can't handle the constant changes. I highly suggest a book called Rocket Fuel on this topic. Most entrepreneurs need an operations person to filter and execute on the ideas.