As a leader, your goal is to help your team members increase their level of output. Achieving this involves prioritizing their work, providing insight into wise use of time, and letting them work independently. To help your teammates stay productive, follow these guidelines to boost your team’s time management skills.
Set Clear Expectations
Define exactly what you expect your team to accomplish and when. Ensure your members have the right amount of work to do and know which tasks to prioritize. Explain the goal of each project and ask for ideas to complete it. Ensure your teammates create a plan to finish their projects and have defined deadlines to meet. Regularly follow up to check progress, ask and answer questions, and give and receive feedback. Provide praise, encouragement, and incentives throughout the project.
Determine Where Your Team’s Time Is Going
Ask your team members to track their time for one week. At the end of the week, sit down with each member and ask questions. For instance, find out whether the time spent working aligned with their most important responsibilities. If not, determine what got in the way. Use their answers to address issues you uncover. For instance, if a member cannot invest time on their most meaningful work due to continuous interruptions, ask them to block time for focused work each day. If a teammate took on too much, provide a partner to help them get caught up. Keep in mind that when working on a project or new task, a team member may fall victim to “spinning his/her wheels.” It is important, when reviewing time with a member, to discuss when projects take longer than estimated or typically should. Then, working with a member to become self aware of the situation and be comfortable to stop working and ask for help to stay on task.
Train Your Team to Estimate Their Time Commitments
Ask each team member to create a weekly plan for you to review. Remind them to consider how long research or obtaining resources may take and whether they may need to involve someone in another department. Determine whether your teammates are being realistic about the time it takes to achieve a milestone and whether they can be held accountable for their results.
Teach Your Team to Increase Productivity
Show your team how to keep their productivity in line with the estimated amount of time required to complete a project. Check each member’s calendar for the next week. Identify meetings, tasks and calls they can drop or delegate. Have your teammates create a list of the activities, what their focus was, why it was chosen, how they will get out of it, and what they will do with their additional time. At the end of each week, review the lists and track what happened to the activity, how much time your teammates saved, and what they accomplished instead.
Make Sure You Help Your Team
Help your team with time management by setting clear expectations and then working with your team on creating more time in the day and being more efficient. By implementing these tips, you will improve the overall productivity of your department and have happier employees.
Manage Your Time and Your Team’s Time
Providing your team with tips for managing their time results in increased productivity and greater accomplishments. Completing projects on time results in additional value for your department and the company. Your team members move forward in their careers as the business grows.
Manage your own time by outsourcing your hiring needs to Ambrion. We craft the right strategy to find the candidates you need, send them your way and continue to follow up long after a candidate is hired.