Time and Accountability Grid
A time and accountability grid sorts the work an owner or leader does into four zones, Keep, Grow, Hand Over and Let Go, by how much energy each task gives and how good you are at it. It then adds up the hours. It is built for owners and leaders of Australian businesses between $3M and $30M who know they are doing work someone else should own, and want to see how much.
Your numbers
List what you spent time on in the last fortnight. Rate each one on Energy and Edge. The grid shows what to keep and what to hand over, in hours.
12 hrs a week on work someone else should own
Hours in Hand Over and Let Go
12 hrs
Share of listed hours
40%
Hours a year (45 weeks)
540 hrs
WatchMore than a day a week is in the bottom two zones. Pick three items, name who takes each one, and set a date.
Who this is for
Owners and leaders of Australian businesses between $3M and $30M in revenue who want a straight answer from their own numbers, without a spreadsheet or a sales call. It takes about 5 minutes.
How the calculation works
Each activity is rated on Energy (fuels me, neutral or drains me) and Edge (expert, competent or weak). The pair decides the zone: work that fuels you and that you are expert at is Keep, while work that drains you and that you are weak at is Let Go.
Hours are added up for each zone. The headline is the hours in Hand Over and Let Go, shown as a share of all the hours you listed and as hours a year over 45 working weeks.
The items you tick in the bottom two zones become your three actions for the month.
Built from work carried out earlier in Adam's career.
Common questions
What should a business owner delegate first?
- Start with work that drains you and that someone else could do as well or better, because handing it over frees the most leader time for the least risk.
What is the difference between Hand Over and Let Go?
- Hand Over is work that still needs doing well and should move to a named person or a system, while Let Go is work that drains you and that you are weak at, which often should be stopped or redesigned.
How many hours in Hand Over and Let Go is too many?
- More than nine hours a week, about a full day, is worth acting on, and more than 18 hours a week suggests a seat in the business needs to be designed for that work.
See the whole business, not one number
The free Operating Scan is 21 plain statements about how the business actually runs, answered Not us to Always, in about six minutes.