Life Contained's Personal Productivity Blog

Time Management Tales: Accountant in Chicago

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A Chicago accounting firm asked Life Contained to help one of their tax accounts to be more productive through greater time management and priority alignment with their team lead.

One of the key decisions made to reach these goals was to conduct a recurring meeting between this technical powerhouse and his manager. Not quite an apple a day, following is more about the structure he decided to use:

• Frequency. A weekly meeting seemed best to start. During tax season, this may be revisited.

• Duration. Thirty minutes, with an option to stretch to forty-five should the need arise.

• Leadership. My client welcomed the notion of conducting the meeting from his office as opposed to his boss'. Making the suggestion to his manager may not have been easy, but it was accepted and results in a win-win. My client takes on greater ownership. His manager is not distracted by email/phone calls/visitors in his office.
  

• Content. Each meeting covers:
  

  • Schedules (deadlines, meetings, vacations, etc.)

  • Prior week accomplishments (though it was avoided at first because it felt like chest beating, this is covered now to close loops for the manager)

  • Coming week top priorities (making certain you’re aligned)

  • Issues/opportunities (allowing for reactive & proactive planning)

  • New business/firm news (allocating a little time for asking the team lead about the bigger picture)

• Ground rules. The rules are simple. Show up in body and mind.
  

His efforts to conduct these recurring meetings result in better prioritization and fewer moments working on the wrong things. Is there someone you should be meeting with regularly? Do you have a recurring meeting highlight we missed?