Why are time management skills important?
Time management is undoubtedly one of the most important attributes a person should possess to work well. If you work in an organization, you should work towards managing your time well. This will benefit you, other employees, and the firm as a whole.
Completing every task on time will reduce stress, something that about 46% of employees feel due to the increase in workload owing to poor time management. As an employee, you always have a responsibility to provide work above a certain quality and standard. When you effectively manage your time and prioritize your duties, generating higher-quality work is simple. Time management strategies help you prioritize tasks so you can focus without being distracted.
6 ways to develop time management skills of employees:
1. Set realistic deadlines and expectations.
As a senior, HR or manager, if you want to help the employees manage their work time well, the foremost thing should be to set flexible deadlines and realistic expectations. It is crucial to know how much an employee can work. Employee expectations may be created using well-stated objectives and actual results. Simply defining an aim isn’t enough. Decide on quantifiable key outcomes so that workers can track their progress toward the purpose. Managers must set realistic goals, but team leaders should also ensure that employees understand they are responsible for those goals.
2. Good communication is crucial.
The communication between employees and the manager should be good enough for an employee to freely say if the workload is too much or the deadlines are hard to finish. The ability to communicate effectively at work may boost overall productivity and aid in the formation of a cohesive team. If employees communicate with one another and consider the perspectives of others, they will be more engaged in working and finding the best solution together. Managers may better understand their workers’ talents and capabilities by creating open lines of communication and then offering clear instructions to the people most suited for the job, increasing the overall efficacy of each project.
3. Appreciation can do wonders.
Managers should watch how well their employees perform, but this assessment should not extend a specific limit. Also, when the employee works well and completes all projects on time, the superiors should reward or appreciate him. Appreciation is essential in the workplace because it helps to foster a pleasant culture and develop employee-leader connections. Appreciation has been shown in several studies to be one of the most effective ways to encourage people, increase their productivity, and increase their commitment to their work positions.
4. Help the team members in planning their time.
The more you resonate with your team, the better. For instance, the most productive time of an employee’s day is the morning three-hour window from 9 am to 12 pm. Find out a way to utilize this time the most. You may begin to improve your team’s time management by having them track their own time. Before they can effectively contribute to it, everyone needs to be accountable for their time expenditure. It’s also a good idea to monitor their time for two weeks or even a month to better understand your team. Personal time management is another great technique to teach it better. Inform the group that changing their work habits is a crucial practice they may apply in their personal lives.
5. Reminders can also play a crucial role.
Keep a continual visual reminder of the project’s progress and deadlines to assist your team in better managing their priorities. Naturally, none of it should be intimidating or terrifying. Instead, a basic milestone tracker can be written on a whiteboard or an instructive graph on a wall-mounted screen. Make individuals more aware of their time constraints and restrictions to operate effectively within them.
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6. Promote taking breaks in between the work
The first step is to recognize that your employees taking breaks is not a bad thing but rather something that will benefit your business in the long term. While it may appear that not getting any work done for some time is a disadvantage, employees who are fatigued by early afternoon as a result of working nonstop will be far more so. It may seem self-evident, but reminding employees that they are not only permitted but actively encouraged to take a break can increase their likelihood of doing so.
How to learn time management strategies?
You can take up online certification courses like the Executive Postgraduate Programme in Human Resource Management under the Loyola Institute of Business Administration in association with upGrad. It offers 300+ hours of learning content under top-notch industry experts through live mentoring sessions and coaching rounds.
Conclusion
Team time management tools are primarily concerned with prioritizing broader goals, communicating effectively, and minimizing workflow gaps created by excessively complicated processes. Helping teams acquire these crucial skills is one approach to getting people to collaborate on improving their time management. Involving them in the process at every stage will also make them more open to the new strategies and tools you want to use. This will allow you to assist your employees in being more productive, which will also benefit the organization.
