Reflect the core of your business. Unlocking Your Productivity Potential with a Time Management Strategy. Elevate your business and begin to enjoy life with HouseRules.

Unlocking Your Productivity Potential

Unlocking Your Productivity Potential with a Time Management Strategy

As a small business owner, you have a lot on your plate. From the day-to-day management of the operations to the management of the team, there is rarely anytime to do it for yourself. With so much going on, it can be easy to get overwhelmed and feel like you constantly have to split yourself several ways to get everything done. That’s why sooner you submit to good time management practices. Here are five tips to help you stay on top of your schedule.

Stop losing your sanity and get to grips with managing your time and being productive

How HouseRules Can Assist You Prioritise and Manage Your Time

The first step to effective time management is to set priorities. Next, identify the most important tasks and projects that need to be completed. Then, you get to decide whether this is something for you to handle personally or you can delegate.

One of the biggest challenges to overcome as the head of the organisation is purposeful delegation. Whilst it would be “nice” to attend all meetings, it will only lead to being overstretched and disappointed all around. Part of building your internal community is to share the load.

We’re not going into the methods of how to prioritise because any search will return a series of options. This is about recognising how and when to delegate to others in your internal community. The value of your team will be realised when you can depend upon your team to show where you cannot.

Developing a Time Management Strategy: Understanding Your Options

There will be times when essential matters arise but can be handled by another team member. This may be something that you are still reading right now and saying, “Hell, no!” However, this is the first hurdle to get over. Presuming you have started on this journey alone, this is something to remember when contemplating growing the team.

You always have choices. Onboarding someone that has the experience and skill to share the load. Alternatively, you can join forces with someone who aligns with your vision and the company’s ethos, but you will have the opportunity to train. There is value in homegrown talent.

The Ethical Considerations: Making the Most of Your Resources

However, before you opt for what appears to be the cheapest option, keep in mind that this is a time management exercise. If you already have an issue with spreading yourself too thin, do you really have time to take on the additional role of teacher/trainer?

Remember, it’s an ethical consideration to make an offer that includes a promise to develop a person and then don’t follow through on the promise. From the initial meeting, you are building a relationship with trust.

A quick reminder is ongoing for the experienced person (who you may now be swayed to be the easier option). That individual may be skilled, but with experience comes an individual with their own boundaries and values firmly established. This will still require you to invest your time.

Putting Time Management into Practice

So you’re now clear on your priorities, and you have made the decision to take on extra assistance. What is commonly inferred at this point is that the owner gets to the point of complete frustration. At a time of heightened desperation, is when a business owner will seek to expand the team.

The worst possible time is because a plan has not been mapped out. Let’s be clear, having a collection of standard operating procedures (the dreaded SOPs) is not a viable strategy for a business looking to build an internal community. When you, as the owner, have clarity on what effective assistance you need, then a list of instructions is not going to cut it.

Without a clear plan in place, businesses risk losing their sense of direction. Simply creating standard operating procedures (SOPs) will not suffice if you want to build a thriving internal community. As a business owner, you must be clear on what kind of assistance you require in order to succeed. A mere list of instructions won’t cut it.

Reflect the core of your business. Unlocking Your Productivity Potential with a Time Management Strategy. Elevate your business and begin to enjoy life with HouseRules.

Manage your time with the future in mind

Firstly, no one can give you back your time. You, as the owner, must decide where your efforts will reap the most significant returns. Otherwise, you fail to be clear about what is possible to hand over instead of dumping the tasks you don’t enjoy on someone else.

No thought for the process will leave you even less time and deep in a hole of despair because you are not worried about what work to assign to get your money’s worth. As a result, you fail to see the value of the new recruit.

When you have a structure in place, you know how to hand over responsibilities in a manner that works for you, the new individual and the business. You will be aware that even the most experienced person will still need monitoring (very different to spying) so that they are conducting business in the manner you have set out for the organisation.

The Wrap Up

Time management is so much more than clearing a triple-booked calendar. There is a process of contemplation, testing and adjustment until you find a balance of comfort and confidence. This is why it’s so essential to have HouseRules in your business. It’s not about managing the symptoms as they suddenly occur. It’s about going to the root to build a business on solid foundations.

Although it may seem like you don’t have the time and you need a solution like yesterday, this is one of the primary services of CAS Ltd. The Humming session can be booked and utilised to determine whether hiring a VA is the right call for you and your business at this point. Perhaps it’s a matter of getting your house in order before hosting guests who may become long-standing and valued members of your business.

Check out the Calendar Management piece that can assist you in adjusting to being the premier employee and owner!

You know that I understand time is valuable.  Book a Sip & Chat to discuss today rather than putting it on the back burner.  My calendar is open to all, but there’s a limit on the number of working relationships at any time.  And I’d hate for you to miss out.

CAS Ltd, The Ethical Strategist, Cas Johnson - find the balance for your business with policies and culture.
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My Happy Clients!

"In my book Cas is the queen of policies and procedures. She help me come up with policies that not only fit my brand voice but that fit my personality for enforcement. She is my go to instead of some cut and paste job by someone who doesn't know me or how I am. She even let me keep my policy about treating emails like chocolate, which I do not share."

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