Return on Invested Time
Require every organizational activity to repay the time people invest
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 97%
Return on Invested Time applies the logic of capital allocation to employees' attention. Every meeting, program, or assignment asks people to contribute a scarce resource, so the sponsor must identify what that investment should produce. The return might be a stronger capability, a better decision, improved collaboration, or measurable business progress. Leaders compare that value with the aggregate time required, reject initiatives that are interesting but unproductive, and revisit the work to see whether it delivered. The mechanism creates a practical filter between abundant ideas and limited organizational capacity. It also changes internal programs from activities that merely occur into explicit investments in people and firm performance.
Origin
Kate Burke developed the phrase while leading human capital at Alliance Bernstein and looking for a business-oriented way to evaluate talent initiatives.
Core principles
- 01Treat employee time as invested capital
- 02Demand a practical return from every initiative
- 03Reject fashionable work that does not create value
- 04Use development time to strengthen both people and the firm
How to run it
- 1
Name the investment
Identify every person whose time the activity will consume and estimate the total commitment required.
Pro tip Include preparation, follow-up, and coordination time rather than counting only the scheduled event.
Watch out A small recurring request can create a large hidden organizational cost.
- 2
Specify the return
State the concrete capability, decision, behavior, or business outcome the activity should produce.
Pro tip Write the expected return in language participants can recognize and assess.
Watch out Interest, novelty, and participation are not sufficient returns.
- 3
Compare alternatives
Ask whether a simpler or less time-intensive action could produce the same result.
Pro tip Test a small version before committing the whole organization.
Watch out Do not preserve an initiative merely because it is fashionable or already budgeted.
- 4
Measure and adjust
Review the result against the promised return, then continue, redesign, or stop the activity.
Pro tip Collect evidence from both participants and business outcomes.
Watch out Without a review, low-return activities become permanent routines.
In the wild
A talent team proposes a company-wide workshop. Before approving it, the leader calculates the employee hours involved and asks what behavior should change. A smaller pilot with managers and a follow-up coaching session offers a clearer return for far less time.
→ The firm develops the targeted capability without consuming unnecessary company-wide hours.
Common mistakes
Counting attendance as value
High participation only proves that people spent time; it does not demonstrate a useful return.
Ignoring cumulative time
Leaders often assess an hour-long request without multiplying it across every participant and recurrence.
Is it for you?
Best for
Leaders choosing among training programs, meetings, transformation projects, and internal initiatives.
Not ideal for
Emergency work where immediate action must precede a formal assessment of returns.
From the transcript
“So anytime you ask anyone inside the organization to do something, you were asking them to invest their time, so you better have a return…”
“And so it stopped us from chasing things that maybe academically interesting or fads, but really focused on the individuals inside Alliance Spernstein, and how…”
From the episode
Building an Asset Allocation Strategy: Masters in Business with Kate Burke
Kate Burke