One of the common challenges we hear from leaders is that they are time poor and struggle to fit many of their activities in. Normally we would take a review of their time, commitments and methods for organising their time and delegating appropriately. In this post, we are going to take a peek at the ICE time technique.
Often leaders and their PAs plan too much to achieve in one day and so the concept of ‘ICE’ time is to allow time for the inevitable situations that crop up that are last minute yet require attention as they attach to the leaders role, goal, mission or values. Take for example, a colleague who is in need of support as they experience a Mental Health issue at work.
ICE stands for In Case of Emergency, and shrewd leaders plan in ICE time as part of their diary management system.
What would happen if you added 10-20% contingency time when you plan your diary? At best you find that you don’t need it and you can bring forward other important and non-urgent work, and at worst you haven’t eaten into the next day’s planned time by dealing with an urgent and important matter that was unanticipated.
Why not give it a try, see if you find it helps you, not only from a time management perspective, but also from an overall wellbeing perspective.
