As a leader, it seems that many things conspire to prevent you from focusing on your main roles – increasing sales and propelling your organization forward. This is why effective time management for leaders is crucial to your success. And, it's not just about getting everything done – it's also about having a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day and avoiding burnout. The following are seven time management tips for leaders to help you balance your responsibilities.
1. Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize
Prioritizing what you want to accomplish is your number one time management for leaders step. Commit to writing the most important tasks you want to get done this week and this month. You can even go further out and include this quarter or even this year. Your list should be confined to the level of tasks (not projects.)
· Example: Your project might be preparing for an upcoming tradeshow. Your tasks might be training your staff to manage your booth or getting your marketing materials ready.
Give each task a deadline but leave some blank time to cope with those unexpected tasks that will inevitably pop up to steal away your time and attention.
2. Avoid Robo-Checking Your Email
Your email inbox is waiting to enslave you! Don't let yourself be subjugated. Set aside regular times to read and reply to messages. Let your co-workers and employees know when you will be electronically available. Request that they only contact you during your offline hours by calling or texting with urgent issues. And don't be tempted to respond to those email pings and pop-ups that will keep alerting you even when you've gone home for the day. Silence your phone when you retire for the night or leave it in another room.
3. Organize Your Emails
You'll spend less time in your inbox if it's organized. Here are some ways to keep your inbox from taking you over.
· Delete emails you're never going to read again.
· Unsubscribe from those recurring emails you never read.
· Use folders and categories to keep your inbox organized. Use labels such as Action Items, Reference, Waiting, and Archives. If you have no problem keeping on top of your folders – particularly those labeled Action and Waiting – use them as your daily to-do list.
· Have your mail automatically sorted into particular folders as soon as it comes in.
· Make use of a helpful app such as Boomerang for Gmail. With Boomerang, you can draft an email and then schedule it to go out later. You can "boomerang" a message out of your inbox and have it return later when you actually need to address it. You can also receive a reminder if you haven't received a reply from a recipient after X number of days.
4. Use Your Calendar Wisely
Choose the kind of calendar that works best for you - on your computer, on your phone, or the old fashioned way - on paper. Better yet, use a calendar that you can access on your desktop and on all of your devices. Immediately transfer any appointments you quickly jot down on paper on to your calendar. You could also use your calendar to schedule specific times to complete a task or a project.
Most electronic calendars also allow you to create several overlapping calendars, e.g., a personal and a work calendar. This is a helpful feature to avoid double-booking yourself. Some people like to have a planning calendar. When there's an event you might attend, or if you're going back and forth with someone to schedule an appointment, you put it on your plan calendar. So they look tentative in your schedule, assign a light color to your plan calendar appointments. When plans firm up, you can transfer them to your work or personal calendar.
5. Make Your Meetings More Productive
Every leader knows how hard it is to get anything else done when spending most of the day in meetings. When you head up a meeting, make it more productive and efficient right off the bat by clarifying the meeting's goals and objectives from the outset. Before heading to the conference room, ask yourself the following questions:
· What am I looking to achieve?
· What do I want agreement on?
· How can I best get a list of action items?
6. Book Meetings for Less Time
Just like household items expand to fill a larger house, meetings tend to stretch out to fill up the available time. If there's a sense of time constraint because of a shorter meeting time, people are more likely to get to the meat of the matter and wrap up their points more quickly. Remember, when the meeting ends and attendees still have questions or concerns, you can always sit down with them individually or schedule a follow-up meeting.
7. Schedule All Your Meetings Back-to-Back
It's harder to concentrate on other things when you're anticipating your next meeting. You're less likely to be at your best if you frequently have to interrupt what you are doing. So, if you can, set up all your meetings back-to-back. This way, the rest of your day won't be broken up by another conference.
Time Management for Leaders: Final Thoughts
There's a lot of time-saving advice on time management for leaders out there. Please remember that what works for others might not feel right for you. So, don't feel guilty if you abandon a strategy that doesn't suit your personality or needs. If you find that you are struggling with time management, let Shaping Development help you manage your time. It’s worth your time to book a consultation with us to see how we can assist.