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THE NEW ART OF SCHEDULING: BEYOND TIME MANAGEMENT TO TIME
CREATION
Article by Herb
Rubenstein
CEO, Herb Rubenstein Consulting
The purpose
of this article is to increase your productivity by simultaneously
increasing your work time and leisure time through a new form of
scheduling. I call this new system the "Variable Reinforcement
Scheduling System" or the "Rubenstein Scheduling System."
While not everyone
can use this system in every context, this system has applications
in business, in sports, in music, in all aspects of training and,
if used properly, in personal situations. To set the stage properly
and describe when this system can be used, we must think of those
situations in our business and personal lives where we meet with
someone or a group of people on a scheduled, periodic basis in order
to give training, support, instruction, education, promote progress
on a specific project or other similar activity.
Typically, the
person giving the training or leading the session sets the schedule.
The schedule may call for weekly meetings, monthly meetings or even
more frequent meetings. Each meeting time becomes a constraint on
the time and resources of the leader or trainer since under the
current scheduling paradigm, this leader or trainer or educator
has to show up at every meeting.
The Rubenstein
Scheduling System is a radical departure from how we normally schedule
meetings and educational sessions. First, the trainer, educator,
instructor and the person or group receiving the service set a series
of meetings that represents the optimal number of times necessary
to achieve the desired result. Let's use a physical fitness personal
trainer as an example of the Rubenstein Scheduling System.
When one begins
to work with a personal trainer one can set one, two or three sessions
per week. In these early sessions the trainer both teaches the student
about the art of working out and trains the student by pushing the
student to increase the weights or length of aerobic activity. The
person comes to the training session on a regular basis because
he or she wants to improve physically, has probably paid for the
session whether he or she shows up or not and, most importantly,
because the trainer will be there waiting. This is the normal paradigm.
Assuming that
the trainer is scheduled for two visits per week, after several
weeks the student learns enough to do the training without the trainer
but probably does not have the discipline to do the work out or
a regular basis if the trainer is not there. Here is where the new
art of scheduling comes in. The trainer and the student agree that
"training" will occur on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00am.
Of course, the student must arrive at the training facility (or
go to the gym in the house), be properly dressed, properly hydrated,
warm up for 5-10 minutes, do stretches for 5-8 minutes and do aerobics
for 10-40 minutes before the trainer even arrives for weight training.
This preparation is similar to preparation for any course which
includes homework or even getting organized for the training activity.
Now, at the
appointed time, 10:00am the student is ready to start the weight
training. The trick, and this is an ethical trick is that the trainer
and the student have agreed that the trainer will show up for 26
sessions over 26 weeks. Although this sounds like once a week, watch.
The trainer and the student have agreed that the trainer will show
up either Tuesday or Thursday at 10:00am, but the trainer does not
tell the student which day he or she will show up. And the trainer
reserves the right to come both Tuesday and Thursday of the same
week and over the 26 week period the trainer can show up even more
than 26 times if he or she wants.
So, the student
must get ready for the training session every Tuesday and Thursday.
The student only has to pay for 26 instead of 52 sessions. The trainer
can charge more than half of the normal 52 visit price because the
trainer is creating value for the student even when the trainer
is not there. The trainer can now have twice as many students, earn
more income and can see greater productivity per investment in each
student.
How is this
system generalizable? If you are a strategic planning consultant
who meets twice a month with your client, after an initial period
of twice a month meetings, the consultant can then designate two
days per month to meet with the client and designate all the work
(preparation) for each meeting, designate the "leader"
for the days the consultant will not arrive and then agree not to
tell the client which of the two days per month the consultant will
actually arrive. (Of course, the consultant reserves the right to
show up both days). Thus, the consulting agreement would be for
12 visits per year and since the consultant can charge more than
one half of the normal rate for 24 visits, (since this system will
lead to a great enhancement in per-visit productivity) the consultant
can affort to attend even more than 12 sessions per year if he or
she wants to.
This system
creates "time," by having the effect of your being somewhere
actually occur even when you are not there. It creates flexibility.
It doubles or even triples the number of clients a single consultant
or trainer can serve since if a trainer is to work with a client
on three occasions per week or month and by agreement the trainer
or consultant will show up only on one of the designated days (but
not tell the client which day). And it increases the productivity
and income of the consultant or trainer.
However, the
most positive effect is the "weaning" or "independence"
effect. This system will promote the creation of a more self disciplined,
more independent client base that will look to itself to lead the
training or consulting session when the trainer or consultant is
not there. This will promote leadership, enhanced productivy and
provide greater satisfaction among clients. I personally developed
this system for use with my personal trainer and our physical training
output (time in the gym) increased by 300% in the first month of
use and has stayed at that high level over the course of this year.
Welcome to "time creation," and going beyond time management.
Now that you
have more time, welcome to our Values Driven Growth Model to assist
your organization and those organizations you serve grow.
Values
Driven Growth Model
The Values Driven
Growth Model is the approach that Herb Rubenstein Consulting employs to assist corporations,
individuals and non-profit organizations expand their economic opportunities.
The model consists of six stages:
- Assess Organizational
Capacity
- Conduct
Strategic Goals Assessment
- Identify
Predominant Values of Organization and Individuals
- Align and
Reorient Values
- Create New,
Measurable Goals and Supportive Processes
- Create New
Organizational Capacity
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