Time Management

Time Is a Lean Leader’s Most Valuable Resource

What is one resource every leader has, but no leader can buy more of?

Time.

We can hire more people, purchase new equipment, invest in technology, and increase budgets. But no matter our position or experience, each of us has the same 24 hours each day.

Once those hours are gone, we cannot get them back.

That makes time one of the most valuable resources we have. And for a Lean Leader, how that resource is used matters tremendously.

Lean teaches us to identify value, eliminate waste, improve flow, and continuously improve our processes. But how often do we apply those same principles to our own time?

A leader can spend an entire day answering emails, attending meetings, solving problems, and responding to interruptions. At the end of the day, that leader may be exhausted.

But being exhausted does not necessarily mean that value was created.

Being busy and being productive are not the same thing.

Time Management Is a Leadership Discipline

Time management is not about squeezing more work into every available minute. It is about working on the right things, at the right time, in the right way.

A Lean Leader needs time to go to the gemba, coach people, develop employees, understand problems, support improvement, and think strategically.

If emails, unnecessary meetings, interruptions, and firefighting consume most of a leader’s day, when will those important leadership activities happen?

This is why I believe time management is more than a productivity technique. It is a leadership discipline.

Learn to See Where Your Time Goes

In Lean, we don’t improve a process by guessing. We first understand the current condition.

We should do the same with our time.

One useful approach is a DILO analysis—Day in the Life Of. For several days, document how you actually spend your time.

How much time do you spend in meetings? How often do you check email? Consider how much of your day is consumed by interruptions and how often you solve problems that others could solve.

Then ask yourself a more important question:

How much of my day is actually creating value?

You may discover many of the same forms of waste that we see in processes: poor prioritization, unnecessary activity, multitasking, overthinking, interruptions, excessive email, overcommitment, and clutter.

Before adding another productivity tool or app, first understand the problem you are trying to solve.

The System That Worked for Me

I learned the importance of time management through my own leadership experience.

As a leader responsible for multiple departments and plants, I had to figure out how to get the most value from the time available to me. There were always meetings, problems, projects, deadlines, and people who needed my support.

I quickly realized that if I didn’t intentionally manage my time, the demands of the day would manage it for me.

One practice that helped me tremendously was Leader Standard Work. I used it to keep important leadership activities on track, especially developing my team members. Coaching and people development can easily get pushed aside when urgent problems appear, so I intentionally built those activities into my standard work.

I also used a personal Kanban board to visually manage my responsibilities. It helped me see what needed to be done, what I was currently working on, and what had been completed. Most importantly, it helped me stay on track and avoid missing deadlines and commitments.

I still practice the system I developed decades ago.

The technology around us has changed, but the principles have not: make the work visible, establish priorities, protect time for what matters, and continuously improve the way you work.

Prioritize Value, Not Activity

A Lean Leader’s day can easily become dominated by what feels urgent.

Emails need answers. Meetings begin. Someone needs approval. Problems appear.

Meanwhile, some of our most important work gets postponed.

Coaching people may not feel urgent.

Developing future leaders may not feel urgent.

Going to the gemba may not feel urgent.

Improving a process may not feel urgent.

Thinking strategically may not feel urgent.

But these activities often create far more long-term value than many of the urgent tasks demanding our attention.

That is why good time management is not simply about doing more. It is about protecting time for the things that matter most.

Your Calendar Tells the Real Story

There will always be another email, another meeting, and another problem competing for our attention.

A Lean Leader should continuously ask:

Is this the best use of my time right now?

Because how leaders spend their time sends a powerful message about what they truly value.

If we say people development is important but never have time to coach, our calendar tells the real story.
We may say continuous improvement matters, but spending every day firefighting tells a different story.
Going to the gemba may be a priority, but if we spend the entire week in meetings, our calendar says otherwise.

Our calendars reveal our priorities.

So perhaps the question is not simply, “How can I manage my time better?”

A better question for every Lean Leader is:

“Am I investing my most valuable resource in the things that create the most value?”

You cannot save time for later. You cannot manufacture more of it. And you cannot buy back yesterday.

You can only decide what you will do with the time you have today.

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