At Unleash & Engage we specialise in helping people get more done and help them feel good about doing it.
So if you’re responsible for a team, a department or a whole organisation, it’s vital that you lead by example and that starts with how you manage your time.
If your people keep hearing you say, “I’m stacked! I’m so busy! I’m in back to back meetings!”, they’re likely to follow that example, and it’s not a good one.
So the first thing to ask yourself is, “Am I busy doing what needs to be done?” Or “Am I just busy being busy?
If you feel there’s too much of the latter in your life, start taking charge of your diary and stop allowing it to take charge of you.
For instance, how often have you accepted a diary invite from someone who’s “popped a little meeting in” because they saw a little gap? Or found yourself double-booked into a pointless meeting that prevented you from attending a more important one?
It’s all a matter of priorities, so here are a few tips to give you more control over your working week, and more time within that week for what’s actually important.
1) Don’t fill, fulfil.
Some people regard a full diary as a badge of honour, proof of their importance to an organisation. If yours is filled with essential appointments, then great. But it isn’t, is it? Come on, admit it and start weeding out things that aren’t fulfilling and make time for things that are.
2) Embrace the Space.
Start welcoming a blank space in your diary and think about how best that time could be spent. It might be on something urgent but neglected; it may be spending time with your people, making sure they’re okay. Or it could be just grabbing some lunch, stretching your legs and clearing your head. Whatever it is, try to ensure that it’s beneficial to you and those who work for you.
3) Say yes to saying no.
If you don’t think your attendance at a meeting – or even the meeting itself – is strictly necessary, say so and say no. Only then will you have the time to say yes to more important things.
4) Don’t let your work become your life and your life become your work.
No-one’s suggesting you always leave at 5.30 on the dot but sending out emails late at night to which your people feel obliged to respond smacks of poor leadership. It suggests you ran out of time during the day because you were too busy doing other things. This is often the difference between feeling miserable, burnt out but not achieving very much and feeling happy, focused and achieving quite a lot.
5) Rocks, Pebbles & Sand.
Think of your working week as a big empty jar that you fill with rocks, pebbles and sand.
Your rocks go in first. They’re the important things that will make a real difference to the goals and aspirations of you and your team.
If you still have capacity in the jar, add your pebbles. These may help support your rocks but they’re not as important.
If there’s still space in the jar, you can add your sand. These little grains are fairly inconsequential, so only sprinkle them in if you have time to spare. Too much sand and you’re back to square one: “Very busy” but not achieving very much. If you feel this happening, just hold the rocks and pebbles in place and tip out the sand.
Follow these five simple steps, encourage your teams to follow them too and you’ll make far more progress in far less time.
More importantly, you’ll find yourself doing what you said you’d do and earning the trust that comes with keeping your promises. If you keep yours, others will start keeping theirs and the entire workplace will get more done, and feel good about doing it.
But most importantly, while managing your time more wisely will have a positive effect on your work life, it can have an equally positive effect on your home life.
To find out more, drop us a line at info@unleashandengage.com and let’s talk.
We promise you it’ll be time well spent.