TIME INTELLIGENCE - EMCC Conference 2008

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Time Diagnostics

EMCC UK 2nd Annual Conference 2008

Clearing Time: Coaching is a time-critical process
Alan Bec & Tony Murphy
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Abstract
In our presentation we question with our audience the role that time plays
within coaching. Exploring the history of time together, we debate many
psychological temporal concepts and theories and our time-related realities
from our everyday experiences. It will be seen that most of us feel we simply
do not have enough time. Time, then, is of the essence. We show that time is
part of us, it happens inside us, rather than just externally to us. This points to
the need for a psychology of time. This paradigm-shift in perception has a
major impact on individual well-being, work and family life in our 21st century
western society. We are entering a time famine on a global scale. Given this,
we argue that by clearing away our redundant theories and habituated notions
of time, and throwing out un-proven and out-dated time management training
techniques, we can explicitly address time as the central coaching, learning
and professional development theme. By utilising time diagnostic tools we
aim to prove that more control and balance in time perspective coaching and
training will help people in education and business to get more time on their
side.
Clearing Time Paper © A. Bec & T. Murphy 2008.

A really short history of time

Time in Evolution

It may be that the way we conceptualise time really is what separates humans
from other animals. In human evolutionary terms, neuroscience and cognitive
neuroscience point to the frontal lobes/neocortex as being the area of the
brain most involved in the mind’s ability to plan and think about the future
(Ward 2006).

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Time Diagnostics

This area of the brain is a recent evolutionary development, being only 2
million years old. It took 500 million years to get to the proto-human brain.
This, they say, is why our foreheads slope differently to apes and pre-homo
sapiens hominids–to accommodate this new mental apparatus (Gilbert 2006).
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Time in Physics

Far from being something “out there”, which exists independent of us, time is
a figment of our imagination. The distinction between past, present, and future
is a convenient organising metaphor, rather than a real description of how time
works (Einstein 1931).

Yet time as a socially agreed construction and psychological organiser has
gripped the masses from the first factory clock. Clocking in and out for work
has changed our mental sense of time and relationship with the natural
environment. From then on, time ran at a predetermined speed and was linear
in behaviour, one thing followed after another.

These Newtonian concepts of the linear flow of time, across one’s life span -
from cradle to grave - are spatial references for a human instinct or sensibility
which is difficult to describe or visualise.

Forward looking 21st Century concepts of time, such as Quantum Theory and
String Theory are even more difficult for our minds to grasp. How can a
particle be in two (or more) places at the same time? It is tempting for us
to hold onto Newton’s model because it is an easier, more comfortable
description of the time concept.

Einstein changed our view of time forever by proving that time is not a

constant, but exists in a relative relationship with matter and space. How we
perceive ourselves (matter) in relation to the environment (space) creates the
social illusion called time.

Time in Psychology

In 1890, William James devoted chapter 15 in volume one of his book “The
Principles of Psychology” to the perception of time. Since his book, relatively
few researchers have pursued this important line of enquiry. Amongst those
that have, time has clearly proven to be a significant factor in how people
shape their positive or negative self-theories. Key psychological areas linked

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Time Diagnostics

to time perspectives have shown us a better understanding of locus of control,
motivation, personality and future-achievement (James, 1890; Cooley, 1902;
Mead, 1934; Lewin, 1942; Kelly, 1955; De Volder & Lens 1982; Dweck, 1999).

How we, as individuals, perceive time and arrange cognitions and experiences
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into past, present and future time zones, critically affects mental–health and
well-being- and our thoughts, feelings and behaviours (De Volder 1979;
Nuttin, 1985; Holman & Silver, 1998; Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). When happy
we tend to project more long-range goals into the future than when unhappy
(Wohlford 1966).

Personal optimism, hope and resilience are founded on our beliefs about how
positive our past was. These positive beliefs are significant predictors for being
resistant to depression, poor performance at work, and poor physical health
(Seligman, 2003).

Time as commodity ”out there”?

Clock time – the time that ‘we never have enough of’, entices us to try and
manage it better by - ‘saving it’ or ‘spending it’ and even ‘wasting it’- is now
central to Western people’s psyche (Boniwell, 2005). Time has become a
precious and scarce commodity (Robinson & Godbey 1997) that, despite our
efforts to manage it, slips out of our control.

As coaches we all come into contact with people who experience time as a
commodity:

Entrepreneurs repeat their story of “Time is Money”.
Clients want to better balance their time at work and at home.
Coachees never have enough time, and want to learn how to prioritise.
Stressed managers’ talk as if time was an external pressure.
Religious and spiritual clients struggle in this life but expect everlasting
time and better use of time after death, in the next life.

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Time Diagnostics

Time as lived experience ”in here”?
Time as we all experience it is not necessarily constrained by our watches

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(Csikszentmihalyi, 1992).

Time slows down and speeds up according to our emotional states.
Clients get stuck in the past.
When engaged or involved in learning activities (flow states) we experience
timelessness and well-being.
Positive past memories remain vividly imprinted in our minds.
Negative past trauma memories are ever present in “flashbacks”.

Scientists studying ’Time Use’ perceptions, discovered that people mistakenly
estimated they had fewer than 20 hours of free time a week, when in fact the
true figure was 40 hours (Sullivan & Gershuny, 2001). In addition, people actu-
ally have 5 to 7 hours more time per week than in the Sixties. (Robinson &
Godbey, 1997; Pentland et al 1999). But we all agree that it doesn’t feel that
way. Time management and the concept of work/life balance then becomes a
problem of how we choose to perceive time, rather than of time mechanics.

We do not control our time perspectives

As coaches, we find that people report that they no longer feel they have
control of their family time, their work time, their sleeping or eating time or
their leisure time. ‘Time Anxiety’ (Boniwell, 2005) is becoming an epidemic, and
yet, as coaches, we are still looking at managing symptoms, rather than chal-

lenging the root causes.

Examples of symptoms of Time Anxiety:

Fear of missing deadlines - i.e. sleepless nights.
Avoidance behaviours – i.e. paralysis by analysis.
Filling diary with appointments – i.e. appearing busy.
Fire fighting - i.e. no time for prevention.
Intolerance to interruptions - not coping well with workloads.

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Time Diagnostics

As individuals in the work-place, we operate within teams, departments, and
companies, which all have their own time cultures and time expectations. The
scope for conflicting pressures and demands increases Time Anxiety.
Directors hoping to engender a vision of the company’s future had better take
into consideration how much spare time their employees and colleagues have
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to plan strategically for that future.

‘Time Management Training’ is a waste of time

The current approach to time management is based on 19th Century technology.
Popular notions of industrialised output and productivity involve systematic,
rational approaches to time-critical problem solving and time–critical decision
making (Kepner & Tregoe, 1965).

The foundation of this approach is a belief that time is a commodity “out
there” that can only be controlled with “out there” time mechanics (lists,
diaries, task prioritisation, clear goals etc). The aim is to do more in less time,
and then use the time saved to do more things. So we still end up working
longer hours and getting more stressed.

Over the last 55 years employers across the western world have enrolled many
millions of managers onto time-management courses. Time management
courses and books are still very popular today, yet there is significant evidence
that learnt time management behaviours (such as goal-setting; prioritising;
making lists and scheduling activities) may only have affected perception of
job satisfaction, have both positively and negatively affected stress levels and
have not increased efficiency or performance. (Macan & Shahani 1990; Macan

1994; 1996.)

When they do work, these monochronic (ordering, punctuality, rules, conformity
and processes etc.) time management behaviours and attitudes mostly give
people the perception that they have control over their time behaviours rather
than actually giving them control over their time. Time Management training
has little or no effect ().

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Time Diagnostics

Process Model of Time Management

Job Induced
Goal Setting Tensions
Prioritising
Somatic 6
Time Perceived Tensions
Management Making Lists Control
Scheduling
Training of Time Job
Satisfaction

Organising
Perferences Job
Performance
Based on Macan (1994)

If the purpose and true outcome of time management is to improve how we
feel about time, then it makes more sense to address that directly, rather than
promoting time mechanics as the solution. There is a need for a polychromic
approach (changing the plan, insights, dealing with interruptions, being com-
fortable with ambiguity, complexity, and multi-tasking) that is more relevant to
time in today’s global business and technological environments.

Time Diagnostics offers just that. We focus on ‘Perceived Control of Time’,
(locus of control) relating it to individual and their group ‘time-perspectives’.
Rather than installing the monochronic mechanics first, we would identify the
individual, the team, the department and the organisations actual time
perspective and time use (rather than the tacit time rules).

Zimbardo’s Time Persectives Inventory (ZTPI) (1999) is a good example of a
diagnostic tool that helps to differentiate unconscious temporal processes:

Present Hedonistic - Living in and for the present.
Present Fatalistic - Limiting individual control over lifes experiences.
Future - Planning, strategising and envisioning.
Past Negative - Painful past memories.
Past Positive - Nostalgic views of ‘the good old days’.

These Time perspectives can act as limiting beliefs or motivators to action.

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Time Diagnostics

The Time Diagnostic process
Module 1 : Time Preferences. Identify & Modify
After completing our on-line time diagnostics inventory (TDI) delegates join a
structured learning group to make their time behaviours explicit, both individ-
ually and as a team. We reveal actual strengths and psychological blind-spots. 7
Module 2 : Motivation. Identify & Align
The team members work on clarity of purpose via balancing individual time
preferences and extended views of the future personally and as a team.
Utilising locus of control and time use experiences we clarify shared vision

Module 3 : Planning. Self Management
Developing decision-making capabilities is critical. Exploring the difference between
how they think they make decisions and the way they actually make decisions
ties into the TDI. Each individual sets 2 goals, achieveable over 3 months.

Module 4 : Execution. Getting on with it
The goals are tracked during their practical implementation and updated.
Using follow-up coaching we check progress and use of the new ways of relat-
ing to time so that learning is actually integrated into everyday work activity.

Module 5 : Time Preferences. Reflecting and Assessing
Delegates feedback to us using self-evaluation and by reviewing the 3 month
coaching programme outcomes. We produce a report on the training effective-
ness, in terms of individuals, teams and the organisation’s time use a whole.

The 5 Modules Time Diagnostics learning programme

Time Motivation

Preferences Self Theories
Default Modes Enjoying What
of Time Behavior's You Do

Evaluation Planning
Time Anxiety Perceived Use of Time Decision Making
Locus of Control Prioritising
Reflection Time Mechanics
Execution Strategy
Self Discipline
Getting On With It
Adapting Plans
Reflexivity
Adapted from Boniwell (2005) ‘The Facets of percieved time use’

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Time Diagnostics

Conclusions

Perception of time has always been central to performance coaching and
training.

If time is ‘in me’, and ‘in us’, then you and I can control our time together 8
(Zimbardo, 2002). We can rethink our own time perspective and each of our
client’s time psychology. Knowing we can control ourselves both supports
coachees in being proactively responsible and gives them choice about
behaviour. How they think about their past, present and future is coachable.
The past can be changed - hindsight is often fallible. The present is here
and now. The future is not more of the present.

For coaches and trainers, this is good news. With the right diagnostic tools we
can start to give clients choice and options in their thinking, rather than just
give instructions on how to modify time behaviour. Time is as amenable to
coaching as any other aspect of a client’s behaviour.

By clearing redundant theories and habituated notions of time, and examining
how we actually work with time, we can re-conceptualise a more controlled and
balanced time perspective with behaviours that get time on our side.


For more information go to:

www.timediagnostics.com
Alan@timediagnostics.com
Tony@timediagnostics.com

Join our mailing list and keep up to date with Time Diagnostics ideas and tips
for the 3rd millennium.

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Time Diagnostics

References
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