Time and timing considerations are central to most decisions we make as nonprofit leaders.

Planning involves using past and present data to adopt targets for future work. It also involves scheduling tasks and activities, monitoring and reporting cycles, deadlines, and time-sequencing of processes (including coordination of serial and parallel processes e.g., using Gantt Charts).

Time series data is employed in every dashboard. Monthly, quarterly, and annual data is collected, analysed, and reported to relevant committees, managers, and the board. We use such data to aid in performance management, quality control, and decisions about future action.

Temporal orientations are used, sometimes unconsciously, when making decisions of all kinds, from minor choices while performing a task through to strategic goal formation. Whether the time horizon we use is short-, medium-, or long-term, makes a difference in the kinds of decisions we make. It also influences the sustainability of outcomes from those decisions.

Short-term decisions often involve quick thinking, expediency, or cost factors, whereas long-term thinking considers the ripple effects and legacy impact of our decisions, not just within the term of office of the board (or elected officers), but for future generations.

Time management and time governance are vast arenas. Often confined to calendar and task management, temporal considerations actually encompass a diverse array of activities and functions, only some of which are referenced in the charts below.

Temporal metacognition

A recent paper by Norwegian academic Bård Torvetjønn Haugland, (The future is present: Prefiguration in policy and technology experimentation), offers some interesting perspectives on temporal orientation in decision-making.

Haugland notes that German historian Reinhart Koselleck has described ‘experience’ as present past, the past ‘whose events have been incorporated and can be remembered’ (Koselleck, 2004: 259).

French philosopher Paul Ricoeur calls this reflection on the past ‘reconfiguration’ – and places this concept in his time narrative model – the stories we tell ourselves about what happened and why. (More on this to come in a future post).

Haugland also mentions Koselleck’s description of ‘expectation’ as ‘the future made present’ and thus ‘the not-yet, to the non-experienced’ (Koselleck, 2004: 259). Haugland suggests that “Prefiguration can be said to seek the fusion of experience and expectations“.

Ricoeur on the other hand, positions configuration in the present moment as the point of fusion between reconfigurative thought (the past as remembered) and prefigurative thought (the future as projected).

Various writings on sensemaking have described hindsight, foresight, and insight as temporal modes of thought that are referenced when we make decisions, either individually, or collectively (e.g., at the board table).

‘Metacognition‘ is a general term used to describe the subjective experiences associated with our actions. Temporal metacognition is the ability to consciously self-regulate the focus on the past, present, or future.

Maciej Stolarski and Joanna Witowska from Warsaw University formulated the idea of temporal metacognition, which they defined as ‘the ability to consciously self-regulate the focus on the past, present, or future‘ (Stolarski & Witowska, 2017). They identified three dimensions of temporal metacognition (see header image above), namely:

(1) the capacity to control a maladaptive time perspective in a given situation and to switch to another
(2) the ability to reinterpret past events using present experiences, and
(3) the ability to connect the three time dimensions to make conscious, purposeful decisions.

See also:
Stolarski, M., & Witowska, J. (2017). Balancing own time perspective from an aerial view: Metacognitive processes in temporal framing. In: A. Kostić, & D. Chadee (Eds.). Time perspective. Theory and practice (pp. 117–141). UK: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Stolarski, M., Fieulaine, N., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2018). Putting time in a wider perspective: The past, the present, and the future of time perspective theory. In V. Zeigler-Hill & Todd Shackelford (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Personality and Individual Differences (pp. 592-628). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/sense-time/202203/past-present-future-don-t-get-stuck-in-single-time-dimension

Temporal dynamics

A range of forces, factors, and models may be taken into account when considering the temporal dynamics at work in your decision-making. These include:

• the temporal orientations, dispositions, biases, and ‘framing’ of decision-makers and those charged with implementing those decisions
• the ways in which time and timing are employed in your plans, systems, and processes, and their contribution to your organisation’s productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness
• the use of time as a resource – how it is valued, how it is managed, and what kind of ‘temporal culture’ those managerial approaches cultivate
• how linear and cyclic timing activities and perspectives are addressed
• the evolution of thought about time, and various other ‘philosophical’ perspectives

The chart that follows offers a selection of just some of the dynamics at work in our decision-making activities. Several additional temporal considerations will be explored over a series of future posts.

Hindsight, foresight, and insight in decision-making

Previous posts have noted the use of data about past and current circumstances and projections of future circumstances to aid decision-making in the present. These posts (see links below) have tended to focus on strategic decision-making, however, similar observations can be made about the use of these temporal perspectives in project and program management. The chart below positions hindsight, foresight, and insight as filling for the ‘sandwich’ comprising strategic innovation processes and incident (risk event) analysis processes.

Our decisions are never made in a vacuum. They are situated at a particular point in time, and the context in which we make them continues (relentlessly) to evolve. Paraphrasing Heraclitus, ‘no one steps into the same river twice‘.

Developing our temporal metacognitive abilities, skilfully fusing experience with expectations, is an effective way to cope with ever-changing circumstances. It is also helpful in preventing ossification (being ‘stuck in the past’), and apprehension about imagined future developments.

See also:
‘Time is of the essence’: Temporal factors in NFP productivity and efficiency

Temperament and Temporality

Making sense
Governance lines of sight
20:20 Hindsight
Reflective governance: The MELD Model
Adaptive strategy