Manage My Employees

Archive for the ‘Time Management’ Category

Short Article #33

To recap Monday’s Short Article #32 Interruptions Threaten Time Management:

Interruptions can be enormous drains on productive time. The time wasted most commonly affects activities like project management success, hitting deadlines consistently, or maximizing selling time for the sales force. 

There’s no doubt in my mind that wasted time due to unnecessary or ill-timed interruptions add up quickly:

• There’s the amount of time the interruption actually takes and…
• …the time for ‘recovery’ which represents the amount of time required to get our concentration and focus back on to the work we were doing when we were interrupted.

Both factors, can and often do, reduce our personal productivity by thirty minutes, an hour or more.

I advised a large sales force on improving time management and increasing selling time a few years ago. Do you have any idea what the single biggest killer to selling time was in that company?

Answer: salespeople shooting the bull with one another on unnecessary conversation.

Surprisingly, the salespeople admitted that it was not uncommon for HOURS of time to be wasted on unnecessary conversation, every week. Wow!

No wonder the sales manager sensed that his team needed help with time management.

Here’s the good news… after implementing a few of the steps below, the company could ‘free up’ over 1,000 hours annually of additional selling time across its sales force. That translates into more sales and more profits.

Try these steps whether you’re a busy manager, leader, small business owner or salesperson.

5 Steps to manage unnecessary or ill-timed interruptions and increase productive time:

• Hold your calls for a specific amount of time. Read more »

Short article #32

Interruptions, whether they are necessary or unnecessary, represent definite productivity killers.

Unnecessary interruptions, and interruptions which are important enough to make their way to your desk but are ill-timed, could often be handled at much better hours of the day. (Like when you’re not in the middle of really critical work or pressing deadlines.)

Successfully managing interruptions presents three immediate benefits:

One: helps us achieve higher levels of personal productivity.

Two: we can get more done at the office in less time, on time.

Three: we can get more done at the office which helps contribute to healthier work-life balance.

How much time does an interruption actually waste?

Read more »

Short article #31

On the heels of making resolutions for 2010, there’s a good chance that better time management is on the list for many professionals.

After our resolutions are cast in plaster, however, the excuses usually start their grand entry as we concave to old ways and habits under increasing pressure to get more done.

So, what’s the worst excuse for poor time management?

Here are a few possibilities, see what you think.

A. I never have enough time.

B. There are too many things I’m trying to juggle all at once.

C. I’m disorganized by nature, but I can find whatever paperwork I need to put my hands on, so what’s the big deal?

D. People are pulling me in so many directions right now.

What’s the right answer? What’s your answer?

Read more »

Avoiding the trap of trying to get more done without help from others will increase your personal productivity.

However, if most of us were frank we’d admit to following the self-prescribed mantra that doing it ourselves is the best way to get something done right!

Keep in mind delegation works the very best when you need some free time for other tasks and delegation could help.

A wise manager will carefully consider aspects related to the employee being considered for important work assignments. Try asking yourself these questions before you delegate:

• Can this person work independently without concentrated oversight?
• Do they have the experience or skill-set to do the work at a successful level? 
• Is he/she able to make an immediate contribution?
• Will they have the enthusiasm and drive needed to get the work done?
• Are they dependable, will they come through on deadlines?
• Will I need to free the employee of other work/tasks in order to achieve the delegated work?
• Will this person require a lot of my personal oversight and time? In particular, can I make the necessary time investment right now with this individual to coach or train them in how to do the work?

Admittedly, delegating to an employee is frustrating especially if he/she doesn’t follow instructions, or if in the past they dropped the ball on assigned work altogether. But keep on trying—because the benefits of delegation are significant.