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CEOs often tell me that they want to focus on improving efficiency or productivity for their organizations. While much time and energy are spent attempting to tighten up operational processes and procedures, surprisingly one of the most effective ways to add efficiency and productivity to an organization is for CEO to first improve his or her own time management.
As a CEO, how do you do that?
Log your time. What tasks and activities do you do daily/weekly and how much time are you spending on them? The tricky part here is that you must log everything. From getting up in the morning to going to bed at night. Where is your time being spent?
Study your time log and identify where you are wasting time. Organizing by percentages typically works best. Are you spending a disproportionate amount of time running personal errands? How much time do you spend reading emails? Speaking on the phone? Wasted on non-productive tasks?
Delegate. Once you have evaluated where you are bleeding precious time, you will realize that there are often many tasks that can be delegated. When you do decide to delegate, make sure to train your employees properly, give them due dates and hold them accountable.
Apply the 80/20 Rule. The 80/20 rule states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. Every day or every week, depending on your business, identify the areas on which you need to focus and then block off time in your calendar to work on them. During this time, you aren’t on the phone, you aren’t checking emails, you aren’t meeting with employees. You are not distracted by anything and instead are heads down focused on what you need to get done.
Avoid the “Idea of the Week” and shiny objects. It is tempting to drop what can be painstaking time management work when a potentially enticing new idea is proposed and tries to lure you away. Stay focused on your plans and commitments.
As you start changing your behaviors you will also be able to better mentor your employees. As a CEO, enhancing your own time management will help promote alignment for the entire team and better delineate organizational priorities. You will minimize distractions and increase focus which naturally leads to increased efficiency and improved productivity – certainly things that impact your bottom line.
Let us know your tips for improving time management.
By Blair Koch
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