It really is what it seems: They spend about a third of their work time in meetings.
That is one of the central findings of a team of scholars from London School of Economics and Harvard Business School, who have burrowed into the day-to-day schedules of more than 500 CEO’s from around the world with hopes of determining exactly how they organise their time - and how that affects the performance and management of their firms.
Their study - known as the Executive Time Use Project - incorporates time logs kept by CEOs' personal assistants, who tracked activities lasting more than 15 minutes during a single week selected by the researchers. The project, which is ongoing, so far has collected data from three different studies of CEOs from around the world.
In one sample of 65 CEO’s, executives spent roughly 18 hours of a 55-hour work week in meetings, more than three hours on calls and five hours in business meals, on average. Some of the remaining time was spent traveling, in personal activity, such as exercise or lunches with spouses, or in short activities, such as quick calls, that weren't recorded by CEOs' assistants. Working alone averaged just six hours weekly.
The researchers said they weren't surprised by the amount of time spent in meetings, since one of the roles of a CEO is to manage employees and meet with customers and consultants.
A busy meeting schedule - often conducted virtually in global companies - can indicate that executives are engaged with their companies and close to their managers and clients. Still, CEOs say they pine for more solo time to think and strategise.
Executives' assessment of how they spent their time differed from the actual records, as noted by their calendars and personal assistants, researchers found.
When top executives compare their top priorities to their time use, "they are usually surprised about the mismatch," says Robert Steven Kaplan, a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2012
