Time Management for Effective Leaders
Time Management – Getting a Handle on It
Benjamin Franklin famously said (or at least is famously said to have said), “A place for everything, everything in its place.” Often, our busy moms and grandmothers quoted us this maxim in an effort to get us to clean our rooms. However, the saying applies to the principles of business growth as well by reminding business leaders about the importance of time management.
Ineffective leaders have yet to master the art of allotting tasks the appropriate amount of time. They spend too much time on issues that are neither urgent nor important. These are leaders who spend the day putting out brush fires, taking too many unscheduled appointments and working long, late hours clearing out email. These ineffective time managers can’t find room to focus on business growth and then wonder why their business isn’t growing.
Effective leaders, on the other hand, have mastered time management so they can focus on what leaders are supposed to focus on — developing strategic goals and managing operations. Leaders need to adopt a few time management principals to become more effective.
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- Delegate — You hired your staff members because you felt they had specific skills and knowledge to help you company grow. Now it’s time to let them do their jobs. Empower your employees, hand over certain responsibilities and watch your employees flourish.
- Guard the Gate — Great executive assistants are worth their weight in gold because they help leaders establish boundaries. They become the gate keeper for you, guarding your time from tasks others could and should be dealing with.
- Meeting Protocols — Meetings suck up valuable time often with unimportant minute. Set strict guidelines for meetings including when they will end and what you will and won’t discuss. If you start to sidetrack to another issue, then you need to schedule another meeting.
- Maintain Balance — Working longer hours doesn’t make you more productive or promote business growth. Great leaders also have great lives, exposing them to different ideas, ways of doing things and viewpoints that can lead to innovation. Managing your work time more effectively will allow for more opportunities for leisure.
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The busy matriarchs in our lives made their families successful through effective time management. You can promote business growth for your company by putting everything in its place as well.
