One of the most frequent challenges we hear from small business owners and leaders relates to time management. Many tell us that that part of the reason they wanted to own their business was to have more control over their schedules, but in reality, the opposite is true. They feel like their business owns them, not the other way around. Despite working long hours and most weekends, they can’t get ahead.
Following are the three most common barriers we see keeping business leaders from effectively managing their time.
Rationalization
It’s only 15 minutes. I can do it faster anyway.
I don’t have time to train someone else how to do it.
Nobody else knows how to do this as well as I do.
Recognize any of these thoughts? They’re all examples of rationalization. These are excuses we tell ourselves when we spend time on activities that are not important. The problem is it’s possible to rationalize away large portions of your day, every day.
After all, if you’re spending your time doing routine tasks that could be delegated, it means you’re not spending time on other tasks that could be far more important. Urgency tends to dominate our schedule, controlling our decisions about how we spend our time throughout the day. It makes rationalization a persistent barrier for many people. It won’t go away on its own, either, which is why it’s so important to adopt a new habit.
Every time you begin working on something, ask yourself, “Have I made up an excuse that rationalizes why I am doing something that is not important?” Get in this habit and you will be equipped to combat rationalization.
Distractions
The second barrier to effective time management is distractions. Distractions are anything that impact our ability to stay focused on work.
We all face them, too! The distractions in today’s workforce are more invasive than any previous time. Our ever-connectedness to our phones and the limitless access they provide means that something else is always vying for our attention—and that’s not counting all the distractions in the office.
In order to get the most out of your time, it’s important to identify frequent distractions and work to moderate them. You can think of these as healthy boundaries that protect your time.
Here are a few suggestions on how you can do that:
Turn your work phone on Do Not Disturb and place your cell phone face-down on your desk.
Turn email pop-up notifications off so you’re not tempted to divert your attention from what you’re doing and respond to an email the second it hits your inbox.
Schedule periodic, recurring meetings to work through your team’s challenges as opposed to allowing them to be raised at any time of the day.
Designate “power hours” where you concentrate on an important activity for 60 minutes. (These can work well the for the entire team, too.)
Lack of Delegation
The third barrier is lack of delegation. If you work in a very small office, you might not think of delegation as an option, but in today’s gig economy, it’s viable for almost anyone. You can find hourly help online for routine tasks like bookkeeping or scheduling.
Delegation doesn’t always have to be to someone in a junior position, either. The idea is to hand off any tasks that you can. This can mean sharing work responsibilities with peers and colleagues as well.
Delegation is important because it achieves two critical things:
First, it provides your team members the opportunity to grow in their skills and responsibility. This helps them to be more engaged in their work as they experience greater levels of achievement.
Second, delegation provides you an opportunity to grow as well. The time freed through delegation can be used on work that builds you as a manager and leader. The failure to delegate usually means that this critical work, that can only be done by you, never gets done.
Delegation is the great multiplier of a leader’s abilities. Your effectiveness as an individual has finite limits, but as a leader who delegates work to a growing, learning team, your effectiveness multiplies.
Put this knowledge to work
One of our philosophies at The ReWild Group is that the enemy who is known is better than the enemy who is unknown. Simply naming and describing the problem goes a long way towards solving it. Know these barriers that are keeping you from effectively using your time. Look out for them in your day. Ask yourself if you’re rationalizing your time away, set healthy boundaries to avoid distraction, and provide opportunities for others to grow through delegation.
The concepts presented in this article are taken from the Strong Management Team engagement (known previously as the Exceptional Manager Program), one of the 11 elements of an exceptional business. Visit us online for more resources, tips, and tools to help you become a more effective leader.