If anything must be postponed — reschedule immediately. Be optimistic and positive about your life. Meetings In a recent survey, sixty two per cent of business owners and personnel listed meetings as the number one source of wasted time.
Send everyone a copy before they attend. You might need to hold a few dry run meetings to get employees accustom to this new rule. Do not tell anyone these are practice meetings. Have an appointment or other use for the room that must start promptly at your meetings scheduled ending time. When is multitasking really effective? With more techno-gadgets available than ever before, multitasking has become the norm.
A common form of mutli-tasking, a business meeting over lunch, accomplishes productive time during a secondary time activity and can be greatly beneficial. Talking on the phone with a supplier while simultaneously emailing a customer can be tricky and detrimental. Talking on the phone, while driving, can perilous. Is your multitasking effective? Most people do not perform either task as well when multitasking.
Ask yourself before trying to perform two or more tasks at the same time. Look at each one individually and compare your effectiveness to performing each one solo. Limit Incoming Attacks Shut off your email notification and let your phone go to voice mail. Take a fifteen minute break during the day away from everything.
Go for a walk around the block without your cell phone or blackberry. Sit outside on a park bench. Some place where you can be completely uninterrupted for fifteen minutes. Let your mind come to a halt. The renewed energy from such a break can make you more effective and less stressed.
Establish Rules for Your Time When creating your schedule establish a set of rules for your time. Turn off your cell phone during secondary time, for example during dinner. Decide when what and when you will not multitask. Set blocks of time aside when you are unavailable to people and devices. Avoid interruptions 2. Schedule reactive activity 3. Have a Plan B 4. Keep Meeting Times 5. Be Prepared 6. Be Realistic 7.
Break Yourself In 8. Make it a Team Effort 9. Be Generous Organizational skills are perhaps the most undervalued trait of successful business men and women. Organization must be addressed at both a corporate and a personal level. The members of a corporate team must be able to work well together, plan ahead, and concentrate on one or two major goals.
They must communicate well by sharing their schedules and updating both personal and client contact information on a regular basis.
Workspace Workspaces must be organized in order for all employees to have easy access to resources on an as needed basis. When was the last time you cleaned your virtual desktop? Most computer desktops are cluttered with icons and folders within folders and file names with variations.
When an employee is absent, production can come to a halt for the lack of a password. Keep an updated master list of passwords in a safe but accessible location.
Process Organization Another area in which an organization can save time is processing mail. Mail should be opened as soon as it arrives and sorted into piles: Accounts Payable, Checks to be Deposited, and Advertising.
Deal with one pile at a time and only deal with each piece of mail once. Remember that you do not need to keep every piece of paper that crosses your desk. The same information is often available elsewhere. For example, bank records are now available online as are magazine articles. Put yourself in the center of your work area. Keep a small amount of supplies at hand, but store large quantities so that they are not in your way.
Clean up as you complete a task. Do not allow supplies to pile up. Use the tops of filing cabinets and bookcases to store hardware, such as printers and scanners.
This will free up useable workspace. Finally, scan and file documents on the computer, always make a back-up copy and get rid of the paper version.
Agonizing over decisions can interrupt all Three Faces of Time. Sleepless nights can violate tertiary time, which can leave you depleted and less productive. Few SME owners have analyzed their own decision making process. What is your decision making process? Fantasizing Technique Many times we limit ourselves to our present position when making decisions. While this is practical, a simple fantasizing technique can open your mind to new ideas. In order to open your mind to possibilities, try fantasizing about your position.
For example, how would you do things differently with an unlimited budget? What is the optimum or perfect outcome for your decision? Mentor Technique When you are up against the wall on a decision, having mentors that you can run things by can make all the difference. Find people that are not involved in the day to day operations of your business, that you trust. These people need not be in your industry, but good decision makers. If needed, ask people involved how they believe different decisions will affect them.
Inductive Reasoning See the big picture and imagine the different outcomes of your decisions. Draw conclusions based on your past experience in similar situations and the experiences of others.
Base your hypothesis on as many facts as possible. Cost Benefit Analysis Weigh the costs of alternative decisions and estimate the benefits. While all other applicable techniques should be exhausted, this one should be one of the first used.
Benefits and risks include much more than profit and loss. The Art of Stopping In order to avoid jumping to the wrong conclusions, or in order to gather facts, stop and ask, when does this decision need to be made. Consider the consequences of holding off on making a decision. This will give you the time to collect more data and verify information. Decision Value Estimate the cost to make a decision. Often, the costs of studies made to reach decisions have been more costly than the outcome of the any choice made.
Weigh the time and manpower that will be needed to make the decision. Know the value of making a decision. You could even get a democratic vote from the group to consider the majority opinion. Draw two columns and list the benefits of a decision on one side and the disadvantages on the other. Weigh the results. Are you putting your message in their terms. Consider their vocabulary, listening ability, and pattern of thinking.
Some people cannot handle more than a few simple instructions at once. Now consider your method of communication. Some people respond better to verbal instructions, others to a written message, while still other people need both. Ask people to repeat your instructions or communication back to you. Everyone has filters through which they hear and interpret information. These filters include their level of vocabulary and language, their personal self image, past experiences, their perception of you, and expectations.
Remember to listen well. Most miscommunication can be contributed to poor listening. Battling Opposition When met with opposition to your ideas try using creative vocabulary. Disarm People How can you make people more receptive to you message? People in a relaxed state of mind are more receptive to listening. Start conversations in a disarming or neutralizing manner. While many managers and business owners feel chit chat is a waste of time, this can disarm people and put them in a receptive state.
In addition, you will often get more and useful information from people when chatting. A defensive person usually has reduced listening ability. They will not hear most of what you say. A person on the defensive will be stopped by the words they find offensive. You will waste an incredible amount of time breaking down someone in a defensive state.
Allow Time for Questions In addition to having people repeat your instructions or statements, ask them if they have questions. In a group setting, allow private time for one on one questions from individuals involved in the group.
This could also be by email. This could be because they do not want to appear less intelligent in front of their peers. Follow up with people and ask if they need assistance or have questions about a project or task. Project Communication The major shortcoming in project management is the difference between expectations and results. This is often due to lack of, misunderstood, or poor communication.
Many people require visual communication to understand concepts. As soon as I started to only do the tasks that were on a par with or above my hourly rate and gave the rest out to others, my business soared. The same can be said with SME owners. Yes, it does add to the cost base but what does an additional 80 per cent of you doing what you are best at generate for your business in terms of turnover and profits? Some SME owners delegate most every task before them, and are still drastically short of time.
They know their businesses better than anyone and can perform most every job. These owners often refuse to let go of tasks below their capabilities, which is not always in the best interest of the business.
As if the Captain of the ship refused to give up swabbing the deck, because he felt no one could swab a deck like him, these owners hold on to tasks. Many a business vessel has run aground with clean decks.
As a small business owner, you must decide which jobs would be better off delegated or outsourced. Let go of any duty, which would be better delegated. Some people might do the job differently than you, but effectively reach the same results. Question every task in front of you.
If this is difficult, imagine you if you were somehow restricted to only delegating. Who would do your job? When possible, give employees choices. Ask them to decide what tasks they would like to assume. If some employees might be more capable in specific areas, consider having employees exchange tasks. Remember delegating should free you of time. Consider starting or paying for educational or training programs for ambitious employees.
Be careful about dividing a task among people. Grouping people could create new human management challenges that eradicate any time savings. Make sure the person or people understand the desired results. Write down as many ideas as possible. If you have any new information, make changes in your plan taking it into account. Set task milestones and have people report results to you at critical intervals. Whenever possible have a Plan B for delegated tasks that fall short of completion or produce undesirable results.
Outsourcing Many SME owners have discovered the benefits of outsourcing, from projects to accounting services. The time to locate vendors, check references, evaluate services, collect bids and make payment plans, must be weighed for each service or project.
To get your feet wet try posting a simple job on an online outsourcing service. In this age of techno business and virtual worlds, seems sophisticated electronic devices are procreating morphed generations of themselves incessantly.
Business has been invaded by PDAs, notebooks, earplug cell phones, bluetooth technology, backup drives, call forwarding, email notification, wireless technology, blogging, and so on. A quick tutorial in business electronics is needed just to make an educated decision.
They are great easy-to-use time management tools. Online Project Boards Online project boards are great for any task or project involving multiple people or people in multiple locations. It gives you the tools to collaborate and share documents with employees, customers, clients and partners. What have not changed are the principles of effective time management and skills needed. The basic skills outlined in this book will help you become far more productive.
The electronic devices available help measure time, control activity, record, schedule, estimate, and communicate more effectively. There are several positive byproducts of managing time effectively including: increased confidence, stress relief, improved productivity, and a higher energy level. How are you getting your news? For many years news was either read from a newspaper or seen on a television broadcast. There was little choice as to what news or when. Now with the advent of the Internet, there is much more news, and this news is really current — up to the minute.
But what news really benefits you? Choose Your News News can be a major distraction. What news do you really need to be productive in your business? Choose that news by RSS feed. Filter out everything else. If you feel you really need the latest chit chat and violence, set aside some secondary time to watch the news. While this seems like an elementary concept, few businesses fully utilize digital storage. This is one time saver that does require an initial investment of time, scanning paperwork and destroying.
But studies have shown that the time required to file, protect, and retrieve documents is a major cost to SMEs. Backup Systems Keep disaster plans in place and practice prevention. With the scheduling software and now available and the low cost of additional hard drives, there is no excuse for not having daily backups of computers. One computer crash without a back up can cost you more than just the time to recover; it can ruin your business.
Start everyday with an accomplishment that energizes you. For some this is a physical workout, others a project. Use the tactics in this book to avoid procrastinating. Many SME owners attack time management like any other program, with full steam. Scheduling too much in a day will lead to constant changes, delayed projects, and a feeling of overall failure.
Start slow and build. Be flexible. Measure your success with your time logs. Use the time profit or loss statements to make adjustments. Keep lists of the interrupters. While any change can sometimes feel uncomfortable at first, the rewards of managing yourself effectively are dimensional. Make it a point to set an example of your new self management strategy. Tell others about your plans. If everyone throughout your company and customers and clients jump on the band wagon to manage themselves, everyone will benefit.
After you have become accustom to your weekly panning, start making an annual plan. At the end of every year, take a weekend away to reflect on the past year and make plans for the new one. Make a list of items you wish to accomplish in the upcoming year. Schedule the projects, vacations, and events that you can. In a world where uncertainty reigns, contemplating the future with an activity plan has a calming effect. Small business growth and internal transparency: The role of information systems By Iman Hamzah.
Distributed and mobile work: Places, people and technology By Satu Koivisto. Download PDF. There is no other skill that will increase your productivity to the same degree as being able to delegate successfully. As a specific skill, delegation is one that becomes increasingly more important as you progress through levels of management and will greatly increase your own productivity.
In this eBook, you will learn: why delegation is one of the most important management skills you can master, how to decide whether or not a task is suitable for delegation, the ten rules of successful delegation that will motivate and empower your team, how to accurately monitor delegated tasks and avoid the over-reporting trap, and the six questions you need to ask in order to develop your delegation skills.
If that is something you have problems with then I would recommend this book. You could read it in a lunch break and probably work out what you were doing wrong. I have recommended it to other people I work with who like it as well.
See the full list of Productivity Skills eBooks, templates and checklists available for free download right now. Donna Emmerson Marketing Communications Manager. Arguably, this can get overwhelming for individuals to handle. Merely in an office, each person may be given multiple roles to play, thereby, having to execute a number of activities simultaneously. Given these mundane scenarios, why we need a time management template is fairly obvious. What is time management? The ability to allocate 24 hours of each day in such a way that you are able to be productive and complete all necessary tasks is what is known as time management.
With hectic lives that we now lead on a daily basis, time management is a course taught in many colleges. People who have mastered the art of managing their time and resources conduct seminars and workshops to help other people do the same. Time management skills are no longer only sought after in workplaces.
One of the easiest ways to handle time is by using templates. These templates are freely available online. You can customize it exactly as required; color coordinate, use columns, or any other method of organization to modify the way you plan your day, week or month. Time management tips Remember, each person operates in their own way. The way one person tackles a particular task may be significantly different from another, however, both have similar output or productivity during their day.
Try out different methods, mix and match different ways of using your time in order to figure out what combination of habits works best. Doing this will allow help one achieve their more efficient daily routine. Organize This is the first and most important tip that anyone could receive. Whether handling an assignment at work, school homework, or home projects — it is vital that you start by organizing each day. Make life even simpler by using a weekly calendar template that can aid in keeping track of every week.
Organize each day according to the number of tasks that need to be complicated. Place each task in order of priority in a to-do list. Determine the priority of individual jobs based on deadlines, difficulty, and requirements.
A lot of time slots for each task. Delegate enough time for overflow, unforeseen problems or mistakes that need correction. Be reasonable Do not try to set unreasonable goals that cannot all be accomplished in one day. Set achievable goals that not only get the job done but do not drain you of all available time and energy.
These goals will also leave you with a sense of accomplishment in the process. It also ensures that you do not overwork yourself or focus on jobs that are unimportant or can be kept for later. Doing what is important is the key to completing everything necessary. Using a time management template can significantly increase your productivity. Download a template today! They are easy to use; free and can be easily customized.
Opt for a minimal layout or use any number of colors and designs to make the worksheet look attractive. Once you have delegated necessary time to each task, focus directly on completing those tasks. While planning your day or week; do not neglect the home front while focusing on work; do not neglect studies while focusing on having a social life.
These are all given factors that are often hard to adhere to. Sudden plans with friends or a crisis that has arisen can be tackled, but must be balanced out with the rest of the week. If the event pulling you away from the schedule is unimportant or can be avoided, then avoid it!
However, do not overwork yourself to the point of exhaustion. Stay focused While there may be a lot of work to complete in one day, focus on one task at a time. Try and finish it within the time you have allotted yourself. Do not get distracted by what needs to be done later in the day or tomorrow, or the next week.
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