This is Part 4 of our series on "The creative industry's relationship with time". If you missed it, read part 3 here.
”I’m an emotional gangster. I cry once every month.”
Cardi B
Feelings towards the concept of tracking time are either extreme and visceral or entirely non-plussed. Some people working in creative businesses or professional services recognise it as a part of the job – the same as the routine daily stand-up or the creative wip. Others though can see it as life-endingly unnecessary and the enemy of creativity. Some will even refuse to do their timesheets, arguably a sacking offence if it was part of your job in any other industry?!
The challenge with the concept is emotional responses can affect rational needs. Depending on your role and perspective, the logic may seem perfectly reasonable, yet yield very different outcomes. As one of our designers at Streamtime shared recently… their favourite saying is:
“All feelings are valid, but not always rational.”
A challenge as old as time.
From 25 years of working in and with agencies, I’ve seen the good and the bad effects of the time-tracking system. While the reactions and responses can vary dramatically, the debate often comes down to whether reasoning and expectations are clear – or not. It’s inevitable that if something isn’t explained or understood that emotions can run high.
One of the seemingly strangest conundrums of the time-tracking discussion is that, used for good, it should make things better for humans and businesses. It can provide recognition for efforts, point out when individuals and teams are being over-worked and identify areas for investment.
That’s the rational side of course.
When time-tracking outcomes aren’t connected to the inputs, feelings take over. One of the biggest emotions that emerge is resentment.
- Resentment of not being able to finish for the day because you haven’t done your timesheet.
- Resentment of tracking all the time as requested, only for the constant over-working and long hours to be ignored and nothing improving as a result.
- Resentment of someone else telling you where to log your time, when you know it’s a blatant lie.
- Resentment of having to spend time on admin that has no benefit for your work or life!
Overly dramatic? Perhaps. But don’t tell me you haven’t felt it at least once. Part of the reason for this seemingly irrational feeling can be the result of a culture of mistrust in your teams. For some, it’s a trap akin to your partner asking, “do I look good in this?” “Do you think they’re pretty?”
Like, what’s going on here? Is it some sort of mind-game to get to your inner-most feelings and motivations? Like you’ve been trying to hide something from them for all of eternity that you didn’t even know you knew?
Back to work, it’s a negative spiral of second-guesses. “Should I be truthful? What if they think I’m not working fast enough? What if they think I’m not worth the money they’re paying me? Why is there such a focus on time-tracking, is this in preparation for redundancies? I better start looking for a new job.” As a business owner this feels like a huge unnecessary drama, but feelings are valid. To resolve it we need to provide the clarity needed for your teams to understand the real motivations for tracking time, but logic alone rarely changes behaviour when strong emotions are at play.
Cage match: Emotional v Rational
These two competing systems are in constant tension, and the balance is real.
• The Emotional Brain: Fast, intuitive, and reactionary, relies on instinct and past experiences. If time tracking feels tedious, intrusive, or micromanaging, it triggers negative emotions of frustration, resentment, or even stress.
• The Rational Brain: Logical, analytical, and effortful, this system understands why time tracking is necessary—for fair billing, productivity insights, and profitability. However, rational understanding doesn’t always override emotional resistance.
Explaining the rational, without acknowledging the emotional often leads to failure. Common-sense rarely defeats high emotions. The framework for success here, looks something like this:
We need to…
To understand…
And then…
For you…
We need to accurately record the time and resource spent on projects.
To understand how the cost of projects, matches the revenue for projects.
And then we can make decisions on how much we should charge in future.
For you to be given more realistic time, resources and deadlines to do your best work on your terms.
The point in this framework is that we’re making no secret of the business need. But, we’re connecting it to the rational and emotional needs of individuoals. The above is just an example. You may have different scenarios and reasoning.
Here’s another.
We need to accurately record the time and resource spent on projects.
To understand why we consistently go over planned time at the beginning of a job.
And then we can discuss solutions to realign resources for different phases.
For you to be given more realistic time, resources and deadlines to do your best work on your terms.
The W and F remain the same, but we’re responding to different pain points that our teams may have raised, or that we’ve identified. (And yes, the WTAF is intentional 😉).
Ultimately what we’re talking about is connecting what’s in it for you with what’s in it for them.
Over to you
Think about what other obstacles could block success.
Are you asking others to do something that you won’t do yourself?
Are you sharing the actions and decisions that you make with the data you’re gathering?
Are you transparent with what’s getting better or worse?
The goal? Positive emotions, aligned with rational decision-making, help teams stay healthy and perform at their best – so that next time you ask for the truth, it’s shared honestly and openly in pursuit of a better outcome for your business and your people.
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