One thing founders and business owners don’t think of is that they would also have to master employee time management too. After all, the way you control your tasks and time can make the difference between your business’s success or failure. And how you organize your tasks will affect how your team sorts out theirs.
Any first-time entrepreneur can easily underestimate the daily challenges of running a small business. A 2022 Timewatch survey reported that mastering employee time management brings benefits like lower stress levels, higher productivity, a boost in confidence, and better workplace relationships. So, if you want to make a difference in the way you work and operate your business, keep reading this guide. We’ll walk you through everything you need to know to make the most out of your hours within a day.
Identify Time Management Challenges
When it comes to mastering employee time management, the first step you need to do is identify the challenges that are standing in your way. Whether you’re running your business on your own or you’re operating it with a team, conducting a time audit will help you determine productivity gaps. You have to initiate this task because, surprisingly, almost 50% of workers never try to understand how they spend their time.
One thing you can do is open conversations, either through team meetings or individual discussions. Conducting surveys can also be a great way to uncover specific time management challenges that people in your company are facing. Also, remember to create a safe space for honest dialog to encourage individuals to genuinely share their struggles without worrying about repercussions or judgement.
Once you’ve gathered the information, the next thing to do is to sift through the insights and organize them into identifiable categories. Taking this approach will help you understand the specific challenges you and your team are facing.
Obstacles When Mastering Employee Time Management
In general, you might encounter the following obstacles when mastering employee time management:
- Multitasking: Research shows that only 2.5% of the world’s population can multitask. The rest are simply dividing their attention between different tasks, causing them to lower their quality of work.
- Inefficient Meetings: According to a Doodle survey, about 47% of employees list meetings among the biggest activities that waste their time at work. If they are not carefully planned, they can consume valuable time without producing meaningful decisions or outcomes.
- Unclear Priorities: Employees tend to waste time on less critical tasks when they are not given clear guidance on what they have to accomplish first.
- Constant Interruptions: Zippia research shows that 80% of employees experience trivial interruptions at work. Moreover, the average worker gets disrupted about 56 times a day.
Set Clear Goals and Priorities
Mastering employee time management is also synonymous with setting clear goals and priorities. To ensure that your goals are both impactful and achievable, consider taking the SMART approach—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. By using this framework, you’re creating well-defined, quantifiable, realistic, and significant objectives.
If you’re running a team or managing employees, it would also be a good idea to involve them in the goal-setting process. By collaborating with your workers, you are aligning the goals with individual and team capabilities. Besides, you’re ensuring that every member is accountable for the objectives they set. After all, letting someone contribute to the process helps the person become more engaged and motivated to accomplish the goals.
When you’re translating your overarching goals to your daily productivity, you can break them down into smaller, actionable tasks. Here’s a simple template to follow:
- Goal: Define the larger objective using the SMART criteria.
- Tasks: List the specific steps needed to achieve this goal.
- Deadlines: Assign a realistic deadline to each task.
- Responsibility: Determine who is accountable for completing each task.
This methodical breakdown transforms broad goals into manageable actions, making it easier for teams to execute and track progress. Consequently, you can enhance overall time management within your startup or small business.
How To Use SMART Goals in Employee Time Management
Now, let’s apply the template to a common goal that many startups and small businesses might have: increasing website traffic by 25% within the next quarter.
The first step here is to identify your goal using SMART criteria:
Increase website traffic by 25% over the next three months to enhance online visibility and lead generation.
Quick Tip: Read our guide on how to make business goals using the SMART approach.
The next step is to break down that goal into smaller, actionable tasks. Then, you can assign an achievable deadline to each task and determine who will be responsible for it. Here’s an example based on the goal we established:
Enhance Communication and Collaboration
According to a McKinsey report, using digital tools for communication can raise knowledge workers’ productivity by 20 to 25%. So, if you want your employees to use their time efficiently and maximize collaboration, implement software programs like Asana or Slack. These platforms provide a centralized space for sharing information, tracking progress, and addressing concerns promptly. As a result, you can avoid wasting time on multiple emails and back-to-back meetings.
Another way to address potential roadblocks is by having “stand-up” meetings. You can conduct these gatherings daily or weekly to allow team members to share their progress, discuss challenges, and seek assistance if necessary. However, if you’re the one organizing the meeting, make sure that there’s a clear agenda and that everyone sticks to it. By giving direction to your collaboration and communication, you’re helping your team become more efficient and cohesive.
Implement Time Focusing Techniques
Another critical step towards mastering employee time management is adopting time-focusing techniques. By structuring work in a way that minimizes distractions, these strategies improve individual and team productivity. Here are some effective methods that you can easily integrate into your daily work routines:
Eisenhower Matrix
The Eisenhower Matrix, also known as the Urgent-Important Matrix, can help you prioritize tasks and manage time effectively. You can use it to teach individuals and entire teams to determine if tasks are urgent and important. Consequently, it facilitates a better focus on value-adding tasks.
When using this approach, you’re creating a matrix with four quadrants:
By categorizing tasks into these quadrants, employees can allocate their time and resources more efficiently. What’s more, they can focus on activities that contribute significantly to their goals while minimizing time spent on less critical tasks.
Pomodoro Technique
A study conducted by Acuity Training and Development Academy found that 60% of employees who use the Pomodoro Technique got their tasks under control either four or five days a week. So, if you want an efficient way to do focused work, this method is worth a try.
With the Pomodoro Technique, you’ll have to work in concentrated intervals, ideally 25 minutes, followed by a five-minute break. By taking this approach, you can maintain high levels of focus while taking rest periods regularly. Consequently, you can prevent burnout by refreshing your mind.
Time Blocking
Time blocking is another technique for managing tasks. With this approach, you’ll assign specific blocks of time to different categories of work or tasks throughout the day. Doing so will help you become more organized when handling your daily goals. What’s more, it ensures that every task will receive your undivided attention.
Daily Stand-Ups or Check-Ins
Let’s get deeper into why stand-up meetings can encourage productivity. These quick check-ins—not lasting more than 15 minutes—help people organize tasks and priorities. By providing a platform for discussing quick updates, you’re helping them determine urgent concerns. At the same time, you’re giving them the opportunity to identify and address potential roadblocks early on.
Establish Designated “Focus Hours”
Using strategies to manage interruptions can also be a way to improve productivity. One example would be designating “focus hours” to certain times of the day. During these periods, you will minimize non-urgent communications. As a result, you can dive deep into your work without getting distracted.
Shared Team Calendar
To encourage employees to respect each other’s commitments and time blocks, you can set up a team calendar. Taking this approach allows better coordination and planning. What’s more, it informs each team member about everyone’s schedules, allowing them to organize meetings and collaborations accordingly.
Providing Training and Resources
According to a Gallup survey, companies that invest in strengths-based development experience up to 19% boost in sales and up to 29% increase in profits. So, if you want your team to become more productive and engaged, you should let them join workshops or webinars on time management. After all, these virtual and in-person sessions can provide valuable insights and strategies tailored to the unique challenges that your team faces.
After the training, you can create an environment of continuous development by assigning “time management mentors.” You can handpick individuals who excel at organizing their tasks, allowing you to open opportunities for peer-to-peer support. At the same time, you’re creating a culture where effective time management practices are openly discussed and valued. By strengthening the team’s overall ability to manage time efficiently, you’re also driving the growth and success of your business.
Monitor and Adjust Strategies
Once you’ve set the employee time management techniques in motion, the work will continue. After all, the true test of these practices lies in their long-term viability and adaptability to changing team dynamics. So, during this phase, it is crucial to conduct regular feedback sessions that will serve as a channel for discussing the effectiveness of the methods you’ve implemented. What’s more, these sessions will encourage everyone to take a look at what’s working and what’s not. Consequently, you can make real-time adjustments to your approach.
There should also be a framework that managers can use to review and adjust these time management strategies collaboratively. Here are some details to consider when creating the framework:
- A systematic approach to collecting feedback
- Analysis of the outcomes of current practices
- Informed decisions on necessary changes
Of course, creating this framework will involve periodic review meetings dedicated to discussing time management practices. Here, team members can share their insights and suggest improvements. By taking this approach, you can ensure that your methods are aligned with the changing needs of the team and the business. After all, being responsive to feedback and willing to tweak strategies allows you to create a highly adaptable, efficient, and productive work environment.
Remember – flexibility is crucial when you want to survive an unpredictable business landscape.
Mastering Employee Time Management Takes Time
Mastering employee time management is not an overnight achievement. Instead, it’s a continuous journey that evolves with your business. Also, remember that the strategies we’ve discussed are crucial when you want your team to learn how to maximize their time to become more productive. Additionally, don’t forget to tailor each technique according to your operational needs and goals.
The key to mastering employee time management lies in the willingness to refine and improve these strategies over time. This involves regularly soliciting feedback from your team, analyzing the effectiveness of current practices, and being open to making necessary adjustments. Creating a culture that values continuous development and adaptation ensures that your time management strategies remain relevant and effective, even as your team and business grow.
Eunice Samson’s interest in keeping up with the “bleeding edge” of technology has led her to a career in digital marketing. She’s currently writing SEO content for eCommerce, SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS companies. Aside from searching for opportunities to increase her online marketing knowledge, Eunice also scours the Internet for useful bonuses and coupon codes that she can use to fuel her love for photography. During her free time, she watches professional photo retouching tutorials between streaming her favorite TV shows. Fun fact: Eunice has never met a cupcake she didn’t like.
