From Priests to Punctuality – Unconventional Insights into Organisations

When things are going downhill for organisations, they often launch entrepreneurial initiatives. This can be challenging, even for big businesses, because many of them have lost their entrepreneurial mindset. But at least they are used to putting effort into acquiring customers. However, what if you never had to make that effort? What if people always attended your services out of habit? That is the situation the Church of England was in 40 years ago. My talk will explain how this traditional, religious organisation slowly embraced entrepreneurial ideas.

We set deadlines, we define outcomes, we plan projects as if we can control everything. What if we don’t actually know how our product will look like in the end? What if we cannot actually control when things happen? Why do we use so similar time management practices regardless of these factors? This talk explores what is known and what isn’t on how people and organizations pace their work and manage their time. I specifically study this looking at lawyers and law firms working by the billable hour.