Using 4 Quadrants Philosophy – Productivity & Time management

11-05-2021 CA Madhukar N Hiregange

Everything we do in our life can be categorized/ ranked/ prioritised as per its importance and urgency. “ Putting 1st things 1st. As we grow to be team leader/ managers or partners, we find that most of our time gets focused on the unimportant activities or on urgent activities. It is like a chakravuha - a downward spiral with no hope of coming out. Knowing what is important we are stuck in inaction. We nod our head and agree that we need to dedicate more and more time to long term activities as we grow in stature and numbers- but we are running faster, spending more time than before doing routine tasks!! May be a need to refocus and change our beliefs and emotions underlying the professional work?

In profession unlike a business being on top of the subject to provide problem solving means that the most experienced also would continue to spend time maybe in the aspect of providing advice or drafting replies and appeals. Therefore, partners cannot spend entire time in long term. The higher value services like transaction structuring or resolving thorny problems of the past would need their attention. They may also enjoy those challenges and may not be ready to stop that activity.  

Do we not want a work life balance, do we not want growth, do we not want good health, do we not want to get up everyday with a spring in our steps and sleep after a fulfilled day of work? [even WFM] Answer is a resounding yes. Then why we are not able to achieve what we want? May be the answer lies is misplaced prioritization. There could be a number of solutions. In this article let us understand and examine whether customised application of the 4 quadrants theory in our practice can help us.

What is 4 Quadrant Theory?

A combination of urgent or import activities broken into 4 quadrants with the cause, effect is this theory. I would deliberately change the order of discussion to drive home the understanding. It maybe noted that the examples are as generally perceived. It is possible that for 1 person the activity of watching unending Netflix serials for a limited time is wonderful to watch as a stress buster and may be classified in QII whereas for most of us active professionals it could be Q IV (where we cannot control it- it has become a habit) as under:

IV Quadrant: Wasteful Quadrant – Avoid it/ Limit it: Focus on entertainment: video games, social media, whatsapp groups, prolonged serial watching on TV/ Mobile, drinking away the evening to escape boredom etc. This could be said to be leading an irresponsible life where one can have a joyful, energetic and purposeful life. Can we say that some of the above is for some a stress buster. Yes. However, spending long hours probably is not what would be advisable as pone can get hooked- get into this habit. When this is done in the off office hours, it may be advantageous as we cannot live a robotic life. However, these activities can get into our office/ working time. It may be likely especially when one is working from home.   

The impact of significant time in this quadrant could lead to laziness, ineffective working ( if done along with work or in work time), increased dependence on others, loss of respect, unhealthy life style, inadequate rest as we are unable to get way.

Way Forward: Advisable not to involve in this segment in the normal working hours and not spend more than 1 hour a day even otherwise. Avoid where possible and in working time, avoid and use that time to shift to Q II activities to empower self and live a more meaningful, fulfilled life.

III Quadrant: Reactive Quadrant – Reduce – Delegate: This is perhaps the area where most of us are stuck. Here time disappears in doing a number of routine or unimportant tasks like long calls, allowing interventions taking time, unscheduled/ unprepared meetings, general discussion, popular but “c” category activities etc. Here one is reactive.

Very often at the end of the day we are unable to say what exactly we have done something of significance. There is a lack of satisfaction and sense of wasted potential when we look back.

Way Forward: Make a list of tasks taking even – 5 minutes. Look at what are those which can be avoided, those that can be done by juniors. Stop saying “yes” to accommodate other people or look good before the boss/ senior. Say “no” firmly rather than have a long laundry list which would show one as an eternal excuse giver. In today’s technology driven age see whether some of these tasks can be automated. Ideal is not to spend more than 15% time on this segment. There would be tasks which cannot be delegated but may not look like adding value like documentation.

I Quadrant: Quadrant of crisis- Necessary- Manage it: This segment consists of task that cannot be postponed at all as there are deadlines approaching or passed, emergency problems keep coming up, work not scheduled/ prioritised now remembered or follow up from client. About 10% of the work may be requested at the last moment. If we accept then we need to deliver as it is time sensitive.

These jobs create a lot of stress, possible quality compromises, answers not upto our knowledge and expertise (sub standard), making avoidable mistakes due to set processes short circuited, client’s ire at delays or need to follow up. These also lead to routine within control jobs being side lined and becoming critical and urgent. Overtime we are doing most jobs late and under par in terms of quality. Our infinite potential gets lost in these self sabotaging activities. While we may be proud to say we will manage- it always comes with a price of quality compromise and client’s irritation.

Way Forward: All the jobs need to completed well in time after prioritising and allowing for intervention / interruption time. Getting self/ system ready, processes working well, duly monitored. Work coming in at the last moment can be refused or additional time taken as it is not possible to delay the other work in hand. Preparation of an internal standard operating task list, checklist, preparation of templates for recurring work, avoiding duplicating activities, following fist in first out in normal circumstances, all work reaching deadlines to be focused on- maybe take one day to come up to date. See how working in the QII can in medium term lead to reduction of time here. Not more than 20% time should be spent here. Since profession is dynamic invariably there would be emergencies for regular/ new clients which cannot be ignored.    

II Quadrant: Pro- active Quadrant – Ensure sufficient time for it: This the quadrant where we as professionals can break into 2 baskets viz.

Professional work needing your level of skill, knowledge and experience delivered well in time. This builds the name/ fame and invariably would lead to more work. If not focused on it can move to Q I.

For this sub category one can ideally spend around 30% of professional time. [ if it is business then this may be much higher] It is also needed for keeping in touch with the latest.

Second type of activities could be longer term objectives which invariably lead to avoiding the urgent and critical stage for our tasks. Other developmental work – working on the bigger picture, could be as under:

  1. Focus on recruiting right people
  2. Focus on goals of growth
  3. Nurturing core values
  4. Continued updations and learning,
  5. New Opportunities – building capacity to deliver,
  6. Putting in place systems and procedures including automation of internal processes,
  7. Taking care of one’s health physical & mental,
  8. Relationship building and expanding with staff ( one to one), mentoring of potential partners and clients,
  9. Delegation, proper training at all levels and building a second line- succession planning,
  10. Family time – Daily , weekly & taking mandatory holidays to rejuvenate.
  11. Many other long-term strategies like new offerings, collaborations, networking etc.

Way Forward: This is proactive part of our professional life. Here we plan, prevent (maybe by setting processes, SOP, checklist), build our capability further or new strategies for growth and flourish by focusing on the development tasks enumerated above. It is imperative that we spend at least 30% for this sub category.

Note: The above classification may need a bit of tweaking depending on one’s goals, position in organisation and character.

Conclusion - How can we Use this tool effectively?

Understand that we get results where we have clarity. Getting extra ordinary productivity and time for higher level activities can only happen if we are in normal course spending sufficient time in Q II. This focus would free us from the QI and also from QIII over a period of time. It would give us time to focus on the big ticket items in our life. It is all our experience that we get positive results in the areas of life we focus on.

The Q II tasks could be executed much better if we list down why it is important ( 3-5 reasons); how we need to be ( visionary, disciplined, patient, persevering..) break into what all specific actions are needed to get great results and the frequency per day, week, month, quarter or year. Monitoring this excel/ tracker once a week would keep increasing our capacity, inspire us continuously