Maximising Time and Resources
An article on the importance for a Manager to focus on how to maximise their time and resources as opposed to simply craving more time and resource!
Maximising Time and Resources are a key skill of a Manager. The majority of people who move into management have achieved their career progress through a combination of being successful in their previous role and showing an aptitude and desire to manage people.
So what can make managing so challenging once you have got there?
A manager’s role is not finite in time. You could invest 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in developing your team whilst fulfilling all the tasks that fall under ‘management responsibility’. And there lies the problem.
A manager always can use ‘more time’. This extra time will no doubt lead to the team being even more successful. Ultimately, isn’t the manager’s role to lead a team to success?
Equally, if the manager had more resources – more staff, more equipment or better staff, better equipment, again, production would increase, leading to even greater success.
In fact, I would suggest any manager who doesn’t want more time and more resources is probably not managing correctly!
Therefore, we either need to live a very frustrating managerial career, because we can never get what would make us more successful, or we need to change the narrative.
So perhaps changing the narrative to ‘how do I maximise the time I have available’ and ‘how do I maximise the resources that I have’, is a far more productive approach and better for your health!
Maximising Time
You can’t invent more time and you can’t shirk your responsibilities. Therefore, that just leaves the opportunity to prioritise.
Focus on the following three ideas:
1 Prioritise all your tasks around what will make your team more successful.
2 Value those priorities. Only postpone those priorities if an emergency comes along. (How many managers prioritise doing their emails over staff development?)
3 Build those important priorities into your diary for the next 3 months. Then re-evaluate your priorities for the next 3 months.
Maximising Resources
The more effective your staff are, the more successful your team will be. Therefore, time invested in their development will increase output.
Ensure the following three rules are adhered to:
- Every member of your staff – without exception – has a development plan for improvement in place. Manage these through to fruition.
- Build time in your diary to develop all staff – including top performers. This means, appraisals, regular one-to-ones, coaching etc…
- Manage underperformers up quickly. Set an expected progress level, document it and support their growth. Do remember though, ultimately it is their responsibility to develop their shortfalls, you are their as support. If your team is ‘carrying’ an underperformer, this can be very frustrating for your top performers because it can create a negative atmosphere and hold team performance back.
By following these six simple rules and Maximising Time and Resources, not only will your team achieve more success, your staff will feel more valued and management will be a far more enjoyable experience for yourself.
Here at Unlock Staff Potential, we are committed to supporting and training your staff to ensure they have the appropriate skills to help your business flourish. Contact us for a bespoke training quotation.