By Mashum Mollah
Are your employees struggling with managing their time?
Wasted time leads to less efficiency. That leads to lower profits.
There are 161.78 million people in today’s workforce. While most of them have years of experience in their belt, the newer employees may struggle in their first month. Nowadays, with everyone having to do more to make a living, it’s possible they will have a harder time polishing their time management skills.
It’s your job as their superior to show them how they can improve their time management. Read these tips to help your employees manage time. Soon enough, your employees will have time management strategies of their own.
Pinpoint the Causes of the Problem:
Some of the hurdles that prevent your company from achieving optimal efficiency are sometimes the ones you least expect. Something as simple as a lack of prioritization can be the root of people not following timetables.
First, you have to identify what’s slowing down progress. Once you’ve nailed it down, consider what you can do to lessen it. You should be careful to not cause major changes in the workplace. Having a major change may cause people to take more time to get used to it.
Remove any big distractions that you find in the workplace. Most workers don’t realize that they’ve wasted their time on trivial things.
Recommend that They Keep a Time Log:
A time log is one of the simplest time management tools available. This helps your employees keep track of their productivity. Keeping a time log also helps them realize if they’re behind schedule.
A time log is the most effective way for your employees to start building a productive work method. Having one helps them discover more ways for them to use their time with efficiency.
It gives them a clear view of how much time they spend doing certain tasks. They will know if they are on schedule and should keep up the pace. This is also good for easing their minds. They can take a minute to relax if they see they’re ahead of schedule.
Time logging can also make them realize what they’re wasting their time on if they are doing so. They’re forced to look at how much time difference they spend between tasks. This can help them know what they’re doing that’s costing the company time.
Keeping a time log also makes them more focused on one task. This will make sure that they finish one as soon as they can. Most employees struggle with this because they try to multitask.
Make Priorities Clear:
Sometimes people don’t know how urgent something is. This leads to a lot of lost time and a lot of rushing in the end. However, this is not all the fault of the employees. Sometimes, poor communication from the leader is what leads to this.
When in a meeting, make sure to emphasize how one project can be. In the event you give out many projects, be sure to be clear on which comes on top of the list first. This will help avoid confusion among urgencies.
It also doesn’t hurt to make a timetable which they can follow. This is helpful if you have projects requiring a month to complete.
Also, let them know what the drawbacks are if an important task misses the cut. This helps them focus on which ones are more important than others.
Set Expectations:
Most of the time, it’s the little things that you notice keep happening. Someone being late for meetings by 3 minutes every time, for example. This may not seem important at first, but it still pushes back productivity. And, depending on your look at it, it may seem disrespectful.
One way to avoid this from happening is by setting expectations for your employees. The simple act of saying “I expect you to be there on the dot.” or “I expect everyone to be there 5 minutes before me.” helps your case more than you think.
Employees often look to impress their leaders. They try to avoid disappointing them, even more so when specifics are set down. They will do what they can to meet your expectations if you set them down.
You can also put this to use in different ways to increase productivity in the workplace. For example, telling your employees that you expect their desks to be more organized. Setting expectations may lead to an efficient place of work in the long run.
Ease Their Workloads:
Many employees admit that they’re overworked most of the time. Often, they feel like they are too overwhelmed by the number of projects they receive. This leads to most of them becoming too stressed to focus. Others even admit that this is one of the reasons they procrastinate.
You may think that you are approachable enough to talk to about these things. However, most employees are still intimidated by their bosses. Sometimes to the point they can’t say to when given more projects, even when they’re overwhelmed.
If this keeps up, you will start to notice employees missing deadlines, seeing a drop in their work performance, or not being able to speak up in meetings.
Some telltale signs even look good on the outside, like an employee who is always on call despite their workload. These are the people who need your help.
One thing you can do for them is to ease their workload. You can start by grouping them up to work on some of the bigger projects. This makes sure that they will have someone to rely on if it becomes too overbearing for them.
Also, you should plan ahead. Divide the workload among your available employees ahead of a meeting. This ensures that everyone gets a fair amount of work between them. Do these things right, and your employees will consider you an impressive business leader.
Applaud for Positive Change:
If you start noticing someone changing their work habit for the better, applaud them. This indirect strategy makes them feel rewarded for something small. Positive reinforcement plays a big part as you will likely see them improve more.
That said, don’t go over the top with it. Keep it close and one-on-one if possible. Broadcasting it among their coworkers will make it look sarcastic.
Help Your Employees Improve Their Time Management Skills:
Improving an employee’s time management skills requires help from you. You must help them improve themselves as well as help them through good leadership. Go and train your employees now!
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