TIMING Is
EVERYTHING
K
Take It from Popular ICMA Keynoter Daniel Pink nowing that Daniel Pink’s keynote presentation at ICMA’s Annual Conference in September 2018, “The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing,” was so well received by ICMA members in attendance, PM magazine asked him to share his research and findings on the importance of timing in a person’s life, which is the subject of his latest bestselling book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.
PM
magazine: In your book, you emphasize that the time of day someone does things may be one of the most important factors to consider in how people perform on the job. What are some ways that local government managers can apply this wisdom when leading staff members? Daniel Pink (DP): The key is to understand what’s go-
ing on—and then to respond to it. The most important insight from the science for managers is that people’s cognitive abilities do not remain static over the course of the day. Our brainpower changes in predictable, and sometimes dramatic, ways. So what managers should do is allow people to do the right work at the right time. In particular, most of us move through the day in three stages: a peak, a trough, and a recovery. During the peak, we should be doing analytic work—work that requires head-down focus and attention. Think writing a report or crunching numbers. During the trough, we should be doing administrative work—work that doesn’t require intense analysis or creativity. Think answering routine e-mails. During the recovery, we should be doing insight
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work—work that benefits from being a little mentally loose and creative. Think brainstorming. Most of us move through the day in this order: peak in the morning, trough in the early to midafternoon, and recovery in the late afternoon and early evening. But about 20 percent of us—people who have “evening chronotypes”—don’t follow this pattern. Night owls tend to reach their peak late in the afternoon and into the evening. If managers can get people doing the right work at the right time, they’ll see better performance and higher satisfaction. PM: On a larger scale, how can local government managers use these principles to help make life better for the residents they serve? DP: The science of timing isn’t only about
what happens over the course of a day. Another dimension is understanding how much of our lives are episodic. Most of our experiences—from projects to careers to relationships—have beginnings, middles, and ends. And each of these stages exerts a different influence on our behavior. So, when thinking of residents’ encounters with government, including everything from a visit to the department of
