You're leading a team and struggling to manage your time. What can you do to improve?

If you're leading a team and finding it challenging to manage your time effectively, there are several strategies you can utilize to improve your situation. First, take a step back and evaluate where your time is going. Review your current tasks and identify any areas where you may be spending excessive or unnecessary time. Learn to delegate tasks to empower your team members and free up some of your time for more pressing or strategic responsibilities. Prioritize your tasks and focus on what will have the most significant impact on your team's objectives.

Here are 7 guidelines to keep in mind: 1. Make the time to set your priorities — it won’t happen by itself. 2. Think beyond today. 3. Determine what matters most to you. If everything’s a priority, then nothing’s a priority. 4. Invest your resources wisely. When you overcommit your time or spread your resources too thin, you fail to dedicate the attention that your priorities deserve. 5. Maintain your focus. Accept the fact that you can’t do everything well. Trying to be all things to all people leads to mediocrity. 6. Get ready to sacrifice. Choices have consequences. Saying “no” to one thing allows you to say “yes” to another. 7. Learn to say “no.” Remember that subtracting from your list of priorities is as important as adding to it.

Imagine you only have one hour of work time today, what do you need to do? Start with that and be disciplined. This might hone your decisions towards what you are able to delegate. Use the Pareto Principle, only 20% of our work creates 80% of the product. What is that 20%? For example, if you only had one hour, it would be important for your team to have their personal drive and to be equipped to come up with their own solutions. That's your 20%. It's easy to get hooked by the detail of a task. You can and should get to the details - but make sure you're not doing that at the expense of the big picture for you and your team.

En el día a día me ha funcionado priorizar las actividades así como diferenciar urgentes e importantes, para perseguirlas una a una me apoyo de las habilidades de mi equipo, delego conforme al conocimiento de cada colaborador brindando en todo momento apoyo y soporte mediante una comunicación efectiva para abarcar más actividades entre varios individuos y así asegurar el éxito del equipo y el logro de los objetivos

Prioritising tasks is critical to manage your busy schedule. I often use the Time Management Matrix popularised by Stephen Covey, which allows you to sort your tasks into four categories as explained above and, attend to the important ones only and try to delegate the urgent but not important tasks to your team. This gives me the opportunity for me to focus on more trivial issues and plan my day better.

? Plan your week; schedule your day. Determine your priorities for the week and set daily goals. ? Prioritize. It’s less important to get everything done than to make sure you get the right things done. ? Focus. Tackle one thing at a time — single-tasking. ? Set artificial deadlines. There is great truth to Parkinson’s Law, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” Therefore, create artificial deadlines to ensure progress. ? Review your goals on an ongoing basis to ensure that you’re still on course. ? Measure advancement. Measure progress — not the time that you’re working. ? Be disciplined. If you don’t get something done, it’s not that you don’t have time; you just chose to spend it doing something else.

As a Leader here are some things I would do - 1. Organize Your Schedule 2. Utilize calendars, planners, or apps to layout your day, including time allocated for each task. 3. Set SMART Goals 4. Define each task with specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals to maintain focus and motivation.

Once you have prioritized your tasks, you need to plan your day accordingly. You can use a calendar, a planner, or an app to organize your schedule and allocate time for each task. You should also include some buffer time for unexpected events, interruptions, or emergencies. A good practice is to plan your day the night before, or at the beginning of each day, and review your progress at the end of each day. You can also set SMART goals for each task, which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, to help you stay focused and motivated.

Proven ways to delegate: ? Surround yourself with trustworthy people. ? Focus on the process as much as on the end result. And make sure to consider strengths and weaknesses when assigning work. ? Be explicit about goals and expectations. Tell people your ultimate goal rather than micromanaging how they do it. ? Set milestones. Establish key milestones and review progress along the way. ? Delegate responsibility and authority. It’s not enough to delegate a task. Give the person the responsibility and authority to get it done. ? Set the right tone. Create an environment in which dialog is open, questions are encouraged, and mistakes become part of a learning experience. ? Give continual feedback.

Delegating effectively assigning tasks to team members in a way that maximizes their strengths and capacity to handle the workload. Know your team: Understand the strengths, skills, and interests of each team member. This will help you match tasks to individuals who are best suited to complete them effectively. Communicate clearly:Clearly communicate the expectations, goals, and deadlines associated with each delegated task. Ensure that team members understand their responsibilities and have the necessary resources to complete the task successfully. Provide support:Offer guidance, support, and resources to team members as needed. Be available to answer questions, provide feedback, and address any challenges during the task.

Delegate tasks that are urgent but not important to capable team members, freeing up your time for more critical issues. Trust your team with responsibilities and empower them to make decisions, enhancing team efficiency and reducing your workload.

Minimize distractions: ? If people know you’re swamped or on a tight deadline — beforehand — they’re less inclined to hijack your time. ? Learn to say “no.” It’s nice to be needed. But don’t try to make everyone happy at the expense of your own needs. ? Delegate. Increase your productivity by delegating tasks to others. In addition, if you can’t satisfy a request, suggest an alternative way of satisfying it. ? Declutter. If you know things distract you, put them away. As they say, “Out of sight, out of mind.” Furthermore, clear your mental clutter too. Meditation and/or exercise will increase your productivity. ? Prioritize what NOT to do. Know the things that distract you most and eliminate or minimize those activities.

In today’s world of distractions like social media its very easy to waste time. But if we set boundaries between office and home we will realise that somethings are only killing our time. Attention is the most valuable currency and we must not give it to someone knowing is going to waste our time.

Establish clear boundaries to minimize interruptions during focus periods.Leverage technology to block out distractions and manage communications effectively.

Team meeting should have 3 goals in mind: Purposeful, Personal, and Progress 1. Pre-plan your meetings by determining your goals and with detailed agenda, preferably in a question format. 2. Schedule the team meeting with the right stakeholders, and communicate the details of the meeting prior to. 3. The teammate leading the meeting should proactively, assess and manage the cadence and involvement of the discussion. 4. Incorporate an interactive engagement activities like breakout sessions or poll questions. 5. Set logistical expectations, for example, putting yourself on camera when conducted via virtual. Don’t have a meeting just to have a meeting. Reallocate your time saving efforts for meaningful 1:1 conversation with your teammates!

One area that a Leader should manage their time is to allow space to be among their people. Set a time in your week to be able to pause and connect with your team. It may seem like your calendar items should only be meetings and deep work, but creating a dedicated time to stand up from your work area and walk around can pay dividends. If you're in a virtual environment, create an appointment for 'office hours' to allow your Team to connect in a virtual meeting or a chat conversation.