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Time Management Tips For Strategic People

Time Management Tips For Strategic People

You would think that by the time people find themselves in senior roles they have mastered foundational skills such as time management – not necessarily true.

How many senior people do you know that cannot get their important work done in business hours, while finding plenty of time for day-to-day tactics?

Here are some tips that can help shift the allocation of time from tactical to strategic:

1) Put long-term strategic actions on to-do list

  • Although there are always urgent tasks to prioritize, highly effective people make time to prioritize proactive tasks such as strategy, improvements, problem prevention and long-term project work.
  • Review your prioritized list once a week and move the things that need to be done into your calendar for the upcoming week.

2) Put short-term strategic actions on calendar

  • Use your calendar to schedule time for proactive work. Block time using the actual project/task title vs. a generic label such as “work time”. This way when you say “yes” to things, you know what you are saying “no” to – and you will make better decisions as a result.

3) Eliminate interruptions

  • Eliminate interruptions when doing difficult work. Resist the urge to check your e-mail or answer calls during this time.
  • Turn off your e-mail notifications, so that you no longer get “pop-ups” letting you know that another e-mail has landed in your inbox.”
  • Reset people’s expectations of how long it will take you to respond if necessary.

4) Learn to “say no” – with finesse

The next time you get asked to do something, consider the following range of options:

  • Yes! (When it is clearly higher priority than what you would be giving up).
  • Find a more expedient way to achieve the objective.
  • Offer to do just the part of the task that has the most value, or that cannot be done by someone else.
  • Suggest a different person.
  • Negotiate a longer timeframe to get it done.
  • Do it on the proviso that something else will be done later or not at all.
  • Help the person become self-sufficient by showing them how to do it themselves.
  • Consider saying “no”, with an explanation of why.

5) Delegate operational activities

  • Appoint owners for operational activities. Coach them as required but don’t “own” their problems.
  • If people come to you when they should be dealing with your staff, redirect them to the right people and avoid being a conduit for all work that happens in your team.
  • Delegation requires performance management – make sure that you are proficient on the 3 main performance management skills: goal setting, giving recognition and giving corrective feedback.

Russel Horwitz, Principal
russel@kwelaleadership.com

Liz 2018-06-24T17:37:57+00:00 March 8th, 2017|

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