Good time management doesn’t just improve our work efficiency and help us work smarter, it can also reduce stress levels among employees. According to a Gallup survey, 41 percent of Americans feel they don’t have enough time to accomplish their daily goals.
But it’s not just that 41 percent. Most of us feel like we have too much to do with too little time. Fortunately, business owners can adopt several time management strategies that can improve team efficiency.
The Importance of Time Management
Proper time management skills can have major positive impacts on your team:
- Training your team on how to become better at managing their time allows them to tap into their potential, setting them up for success. In return, productivity increases, and your company grows.
- Proper time management also means your team members will be less stressed since their work days will be well organized. When your staff carefully plan and execute their tasks, they feel more confident in their work.
- Moreover, delivering projects on time builds trust and respect from coworkers.
- Your team members will also experience better work-life balance because they plan their workdays well enough to finish tasks early and enjoy free time.
How to Improve Time Management in Your Team
If you’re eager to improve time management in your in-office, remote, or hybrid teams, here are 6 powerful tips you can implement.
Understand how everyone spends their time
Before you implement any time management strategy, start by finding out how your team is spending their time. Keep in mind that people approach time management differently, and only by understanding their approach can you help them improve.
Time tracking tools can give you insights into how many hours an individual is productive in a day. They can also provide crucial information on how much time they are spending on tasks and non-work-related activities, such as shopping or browsing social media during company time.
Once you understand every team member’s working habits, you can devise strategies that can help them work more efficiently.
Set SMART goals
Once you know how your team spends their time, encourage them to set SMART goals. Goals add structure to your time management strategy and give you the direction to follow. That’s why business owners and managers need to inspire their teams to set goals.
Goal setting allows team members to feel a sense of accomplishment throughout their workday, which can be a great source of motivation and encouragement. Just be sure to remind teams to set realistic goals.
Likewise, remember to enlighten your staff to avoid putting themselves under needless stress to meet deadlines.
In essence, encourage your team to set SMART goals. Here are questions to guide your employees when goal setting:
- Specific: what do you want to accomplish?
- Measurable: how will you know when you’ve accomplished the goal?
- Achievable: is your goal realistic based on your resources and workload?
- Relevant: does the goal align with the overall priorities of the company?
- Timely: is your goal time-based?
Having an end in mind can help your team stay focused and complete the tasks the best way they can.
Set priorities
Designating every member of your team with a specific number of hours for every project gives them a clear view of the work structure. This can help them plan and prioritize their time, so they can complete projects on time.
Assigning a priority to specific tasks can help one focus their efforts on important things that need their time the most. What’s more, prioritizing tasks provides a better understanding of which tasks can and should be delegated.
Set a team schedule
Working with a schedule helps to create consistency in how your teams work and can improve their overall efficiency. With that in mind, take time to create a detailed team schedule that clearly shows active tasks and set deadlines.
Consider posting the team schedule in one location that’s accessible to all and encourage team members to discuss their roles and expectations with each other. Once you’ve set a schedule, provide all the support they need to accomplish their tasks and meet company and personal goals.
Doing so helps remove guesswork from the team and everyone can visualize which tasks need more effort. In addition, setting time constraints for finishing tasks will keep employees focused.
Communicate clearly with your team
Excellent communication is the secret weapon to developing a friendly and supportive atmosphere in the workplace. When people know exactly what they need to do, they work more efficiently and deliver better results.
As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to determine when to use synchronous and asynchronous communications and the channels to use.
Most importantly, you must share all the necessary information that will boost effective collaboration and work performance.
In the same spirit, let your team members know that you are approachable and ready to listen to them. Actively listening to employees’ concerns and acting on them can greatly boost motivation among your workers, consequently, improving productivity and overall earnings.
Discourage multitasking
A study published in the European Research Studies Journal revealed that multitasking increased the time required to complete tasks by 15 percent. While some employees are good at multitasking, try to encourage them to focus on a specific task before moving to the next.
Doing so will prevent time wastage and increase their work efficiency. Plus, when someone multitasks, their focus and effort are divided among the various tasks, and this could result in low-quality work.
Encourage teams to take scheduled breaks
Did you know that taking regular breaks can boost performance and focus? According to scientific studies, the human brain can only take so much focus. Once it reaches its limit, you can’t concentrate on anything.
To maintain consistent productivity, encourage your employees to take scheduled breaks throughout the workday. Scheduled breaks create a sense of structure and work better than just taking a break on a whim.
Advise them to do something that provides a total distraction during the breaks. For example, going for a short walk outdoors, jogging, meditation, or preparing a cup of coffee. If your team works from home, encourage them to get out of their home offices for a few minutes before resuming work.
Regular breaks provide the brain the much-needed refreshment and is a great strategy to maintain focus and concentration.
Wrapping Up
Effective time management takes time. But once mastered, you and your team will start seeing the benefits in your professional and personal lives. Teaching your teams to make the most of their time will help them accomplish more in a day and work more efficiently.
Remember, do not overwork your team. Use a time tracking tool to monitor their workload and encourage them to factor breaks into their schedules. Employees will be happier if they have the right work-life balance while accomplishing their goals at work.
