Time Management for Workplace Productivity

Kenyans are typically not classified as time keepers. They are also said to be last-minute people. This is not the case for all Kenyans but a good majority are not time sensitive.

What is the longest time you were kept waiting by someone, be it a date, formal or social meetup?

Do you find yourself confirming with your friends if they mean Kenyan time and American time?

Do you have ‘slow-motion’ colleagues who are constantly testing your patience?

Do you ever finish your workday feeling like you weren’t able to accomplish everything you intended to do that particular day? Well, it happens, to many people as well.

We are all familiar with time-related clichés:

?·??????Time is money

·??????Time is precious

Yet, we receive this wisdom casually and we don't often treat our time like the limited resource it is.

Time is also said to be the most valuable thing a man can spend. It cannot be stopped or reversed(~Theophrastus). Do you agree?

Being productive at work can be difficult. Managing your time in ways that are conducive to your productivity is key but it can sometimes be hard to know where to start.?

Considering the speed at which business moves these days in Kenya, one thing is certain; if you can’t manage your time effectively, you will have a hard time managing anything else.?

Yet, most people waste precious minutes, hours, even days, reacting to what is going on around them rather than developing skills that will keep them moving forward and accomplishing their most important goals.

Productivity at work is essentially completing goals in a timely manner and it is therefore?important to understand how to accomplish that without sacrificing the quality of the work.?

This means that in addition to being fast, employees must also be correct. Efficiency cannot be ignored if maximum productivity is the aim.

We all have a limited number of hours in the day, and learning how to manage our time better is key to making the most out of it.?

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TIME MANAGEMENT FACTS

Global statistics generally suggest that better time management leads to improved focus, less stress and a higher quality of work.?This is however a skill that most people neglect at work as well as at home.?

From a study carried out in 2021 by Development Academy, they discovered that:

• 82% of people don't have a time-management system
• 12.5% of people never feel in control at work
• The least successful time-management system is "dealing with whatever comes up"
• 28% of people using this technique feel their work is never or very rarely under control
• Only 20% of people carry out a monthly time audit to review how they are spending their time

FOUR KEY BENEFITS OF TIME MANAGEMENT FOR YOUR EMPLOYEES

1. Better Work-Life Balance

Good time management enables an employee to constrain their work during office hours and spend the rest of their day engaging in other activities.

For instance, a customer service employee may complete their goals by the end of the working day. This then may give them more time to spend with their family and friends and taking part in other activities other than work.

?2. Less Procrastination

In today’s technological world, getting rid of distractions is one of the first necessary steps to better time management and avoid procrastination. An employee may not be able to complete their tasks on time due to distractions.?

Time management training gives employees more control over their workload and ensures they complete their work on time.

For instance, an employee who mutes their phone notifications may be able to complete a task quicker than another employee who attends all phone calls they receive or is constantly checking their social media with every notification that comes through.

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3. Improves Career Opportunities

Proper time management can empower an employee to complete projects on time and therefore, they may be deemed reliable and dedicated.

This can create a positive impression among employers and help with their professional development.

Take for example an employee who completes a project with tight deadlines, on time with good time management skills. This can increase their chances of promotion, bonuses, recognition, etc.

In addition, employees may understand the company values them, increasing employee engagement.

Time management skills can be acquired by everyone when following a solid set of habits.

As a team leader and a team member, it’s crucial to avoid missed deadlines and deals, high overtime costs, and disappointed bosses and clients.

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4. Improving Work Performance

As a reference to the former benefit, there is nothing better than a job well done and being rewarded for that.

Workers who better manage their time perform tasks more effectively and feel more engaged and motivated to keep on doing better and better

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GAME CHANGING TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL TIME MANAGEMENT

Time management skills can be acquired by everyone when following a solid set of habits.

As a team leader and a team member, it is important to avoid missed deadlines and deals, high overtime costs, and disappointed bosses and clients.

Strategies That Managers Can Propose to The Employees in Order to Manage Time Effectively

?1. Identify Goals

Establishing realistic goals and priorities is important when managing and organizing time. This can help employees identify what’s expected from them.?

Managers and supervisors should work together to select SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals.

SMART goals work better than overwhelming and unrealistic ones and help employees to set daily, weekly, and monthly goals.?

Upon setting the goals, it is important for managers to help the employees evaluate those tasks and organize them based on importance and urgency.

It is also relevant to try and organize the tasks for the time they may take, just to allocate them to certain blocks of time.

SMART goals can help your employees manage tasks and complete them in less time.?

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2. Encourage The Use Of To-Do Lists

Creating a to-do list of some kind means that employees know what needs to get done as soon as they sit down at the desk.

Taking things, a day at a time divides the larger aims that you and your team are striving for into manageable, bite-sized chunks.

Having a to-do list ensures that;

• Employees will not leave out any tasks
• Mentally prepares employees for the tasks and helps them be more productive.
• Shows the timeline of tasks they need to finish.?
• Helps them complete their tasks efficiently and have a clearer view of their timeline of things to do.

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3. Prioritize Tasks and Communicate

Employees may take up the wrong tasks to work on in the morning and end up submitting important tasks late.?

Inevitably, tasks will run over sometimes, even if you are adjusting your daily and weekly goals as you learn about your own productivity.

It is therefore important to complete the most important tasks first based on deadlines and order of importance.

As a manager, you can help your employees by advocating for use of simple techniques like marking urgent tasks, setting deadline alerts, etc. These strategies can give employees an idea of which tasks need immediate attention.

Inevitably, some tasks will not be completed on the very day and have to be carried forward for another day.

In instances where there are people awaiting responses, it is important to teach your employees to communicate by notifying those that were waiting for some feedback, on a delayed response.

?4. Time Tracking

Time tracking is important to know how much time an employee spends on a specific task.?

They can compare the time they take with that of their fellow colleagues and analyze their own performance. In this way, employees can find their shortcomings and work on improving themselves.

By tracking time, the team can spot time-consuming and unnecessary activities and take steps to avoid them or work around them. They can also avoid taking longer than needed breaks, spending too much time on meetings or dwelling and wasting time on blocked tasks.

By adopting a time tracking tool such as Timeular, they can also define their time boxes or blocks, guaranteeing a healthy and productive schedule.

Setting a timer is also another way that can be used to better manage time and can help employees remain committed to a specific task for a certain amount of time.?

A timer can also give an employee a valuable feeling of accomplishment. Getting to the end of the allocated time having done what they set out to do, without giving in to distractions, is rewarding and can spark motivation to move swiftly on to the next thing.

5. Teach Your Employees How to Delegate

Delegating is also a way of prioritizing tasks and is particularly useful to employees in leadership positions who have to manage several projects and other operational tasks.

It can save valuable time and let employees work on other important tasks. This way, they may not have to put in more hours to complete important tasks, preventing burnout.?

Additionally, delegating can also prompt other team members to learn more management skills and to the employee who has been delegated a task, they get to gain knowledge on how to complete the given task.

6. Encourage Taking Short Breaks

Employees may try to organize their work hours perfectly by dividing tasks into time boxes and effectively managing their time. However, not every day will they be productive.

Encouraging employees to take breaks helps them with performance management, mental and physical health maintenance, and workspace safety. They can effectively incorporate break times between work hours.

For instance, they can work for two hours and take a 10-minute break after that. This way, they may not feel mentally exhausted during work and can do their best while working.?

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7. Identify Most Productive Times

When it comes to personal productive time, everyone is different. At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong way to organize your time.?

Balancing productivity with rest time entails the need to understand when the most productive periods of the day happen.

By identifying these, employees can schedule important tasks during their effective times therefore managing their performance in a better way.

They can then work through the smaller tasks in their least productive times

8. Provide Tips to Manage Stress

Even the more dedicated employee that follows a to-do list and uses all productivity tools known to mankind will experience an unforeseen situation that will interrupt their workflow, putting them off track.

Such occurrences could stress out some employees, eventually affecting their time management and productivity.?

As an employer, it is important to help employees build a positive attitude towards interruptions and help them manage stress.

This will in turn help them replan their schedule instead of stressing out during such situations.

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9. Leaders Lead by Example

For an employee to learn effective time management skills, they will normally look up to you as a manager or supervisor.

It is therefore essential for you in management to display the time management qualities you want the employees to develop.

This could involve day to day activities such as being present for meetings and logging in to work on time. In cases of unexpected eventuality, practice communication.

It is respectful to inform about absences or late arrivals as soon as possible to enable other employees to plan their time better.

Managers should educate employees or organize training on time management techniques to foster employee satisfaction, prevent stress, and boost productivity.

Below are a few tips to help employees stay focused and avoid distractions

• Switch off mobile phones or mute notifications
• Find a comfortable workspace away from the crowd
• Clear the mind before working to ensure complete focus
• Avoid multitasking as it can prevent employees from concentrating on one task

Time Management is an essential skill in the workplace. Managers ought to take up the task of helping their team members manage their time with the aim of increasing productivity, work-life balance and ultimately, fulfillment.

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Article Author

Jackie Wahome, a Customer Experience Trainer in Kenya with over 15 years of experience in Customer Experience across different industries in Kenya.

Helping businesses make more and retain more customers through unrivalled Customer Experience.

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https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/jackie-wahome-customer-experience-trainer-7b272554/

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