Companies and organizations hire managers with the positive intention of improving organization, productivity and time management of their employees. Some managers are great at improving overall staff efficiency but let’s be honest… the majority of them don’t really get their heads around the time management bit very effectively.
Now let’s not put all the blame on managers, most of them may have the best intentions but just tend to lack the general know-how about personal and staff time organization.
If you are a manager looking to improve your skills, we have some good news for you: time management is a skill that can be learned. For your benefit, we have compiled a list of how you can improve your time management skills below:
1. Focus on Communication with Your Team
Smooth communication is essential when it comes to managing your staff effectively, and saves time in the long run from correction of miscommunication blunders and mishaps. You need to make a priority list of which tasks are most important and put it somewhere where the whole team can access and be aware of it.
This will save a lot of time, which is wasted in everyday work life on tasks that are not really essential. You also need to ensure there is smooth communication between the team, and make common folders where data related to different projects is stored.
This location should be made available to all the staff and when data is centralized. Staff members will save valuable time searching for needed information. One of the best ways to make communication flow smoothly is through project management software such as Basecamp.
2. Monitor Time Spent on Various Office Tasks
During the office day, a lot of time is wasted on tasks which are really not that relevant or important. As a manager, you need to keep a track on how much time is spent on different tasks. There are many ways you can do this.
You can have employees note down their start and end times on certain tasks or even the overall time they spent working on each one. This practice can make you realize which tasks are time consuming. Whether they really are high on the priority lists and what can be done to accomplish them more efficiently.
Time tracking software would again help here, such as TIMEDOCK which offers features such automatic timesheets etc.
3. Keep Track of Time Spent by Staff on Work Assignments
Technology has played a great role when it comes to making managers more time efficient. With time tracking apps, you can even track how long certain employees take to finish the same tasks.
Those employees who take too long as compared to their counterparts, over a period of analysis, are just not efficient enough and can be replaced with more productive staff. Similarly you can monitor how long employees spend working on a team project and find out who is being productive and who is wasting time.
You can further utilize all this gathered time data and hold it as a benchmark to hire new staff. These time tracking practices will in the long run help you improve your team and hence enhance productivity and minimize time wastage. A great time tracking app that would help in automatic task detection of staff members is TimeCamp.
4. Learn to Delegate to Team Members
As a manager, you need to get your priorities right. You need to understand the strengths of your team and delegate those tasks which they can handle more effectively, so you can focus on the bigger picture and more important things.
This will further help you enhance your leadership skills which are extremely important if you want to excel as a manager. Delegation will also save you valuable time which can be used to carry out more important things and plan the next best move for your team.
In the words of American businessman and entrepreneur Eli Broad, ‘The inability to delegate is one of the biggest problems I see with managers at all levels.’
5. Work with Technology and Automation
Technology is a great asset for the modern day manager, especially when utilized efficiently. By updating to automation and technology, time and space spent on manual tasks can be eliminated. This can save valuable time which would otherwise be wasted on tedious administrative tasks.
When all the information about current work projects are kept neatly in designated computer or cloud folders. You save valuable time accessing them to make important decisions. Customers can have their invoices automatically generated and make payments with the click of a button.
Pay for your employees can be generated instantly from the hours that have been clocked in on their automatic timesheets. If your work deals with external clientele, technology can add an element of transparency as well.
Time tracking software can be used to calculate how many hours your staff spent on client projects. Your client can be given access to these data as well. It will reassure them that they are in fact being ethically billed.
Satisfied clients mean more business from returning clients and good recommendations. This will help you generate a good client base and save marketing time and costs.
The above simple steps when taken correctly will help you enhance your time management skills not only as a manager but only on a personal level. One common element amongst all these points has been the advantage of using time tracking software.
In today’s world where technology rules the roost, time tracking software is a vital investment which can help you get ahead of the game. After all, better time management means better productivity, better team efficiency, better company profits and for you personally, a way of becoming a better manager.