Practical time management tips to make the most of your day
Everyone’s day has the same 24 hours, so why do some employees get more done and reach their goals faster than others?
It’s simple: Some team members are better at managing their time. Time management is a soft skill that allows people to prioritize, organize, and expedite tasks to achieve peak efficiency and productivity.
As a project manager, you can establish schedules and deadlines, but the process will only lead to frustration unless you help your team prioritize tasks and develop time management skills.
We’ll help you better understand time management, demonstrating why it’s important, what’s holding people back, and which tools will ensure teams get the most from their workday.
What is time management?
Whether at home or in a professional setting, time management skills allow people to coordinate tasks and activities to optimize the effectiveness of their efforts. In other words, it helps them achieve higher-quality outputs in less time.
Successful time management requires the coordination of multiple factors (e.g., organization, planning, and scheduling) to take advantage of the time available. It also considers team members’ working conditions, capacity, and characteristics. Motivation and routine also play a role.
Why is time management important?
Time has value, but determining its inherent worth can be challenging. That’s where time management comes in.
In a business environment, managing time helps leadership establish organizational and employee expectations. It supports staff as they deliver high-quality work and achieve their objectives while assisting managers in visualizing capacity and establishing realistic goals.
When team members lack good time management skills, they may experience increased anxiety and stress. Because they’re short on time, employees might deliver rushed, inferior work – or miss the deadline altogether. This impacts project quality and success.
Without intervention, these conditions lead to time poverty, an overwhelming situation where there’s too much to do and not enough time to do it. Employees’ home life and well-being suffer because they cannot get ahead of their workload despite performing to the best of their abilities.
Over the long term, a lack of time management skills can lead to poor mental health outcomes and burnout, higher turnover rates, and a diminishing reputation for the company.
Time management benefits
Every task takes time, but some drive more value per hour. Time management techniques will help team members determine the optimal use of their time, improving employee productivity and work-life balance. But that isn’t the only advantage.
Effective time management strategies yield the following benefits for the company and its employees:
Innovation: . When employees can adequately manage their time, they have the space and energy to innovate. Workers fully engage with tasks instead of reacting, leading to inspired and inventive outcomes.
Productivity: Employees who feel challenged by their work (rather than overwhelmed) experience higher job satisfaction. They accomplish more and are motivated to take on other tasks and projects to maintain those positive feelings.
Engagement: Without stress-inducing time constraints, team members enjoy a sense of accomplishment and are with their job and company.
Absenteeism: Motivated staff show up daily with passion and purpose. Highly engaged staff are less likely to require sick days, .
Turnover: Companies that offer a productive and engaging work environment encourage employees to stay in their jobs or seek opportunities within the organization.
Recruitment: Reputation plays a role in attracting top talent to a company. Candidates seek out businesses known for their positive culture and for treating employees well. This popularity can reduce your hiring costs.
Time management challenges
Many factors contribute to an employee’s poor time management practices. Some are intrinsic, caused by internal barriers, whereas others are a product of their work environment. Project managers and team leaders must recognize these challenges and develop strategies to improve time management skills.
Internal factors
Some people are naturally better at time management than others. Fortunately, leaders can model and teach the techniques employees need to take control of their time.
Here are some habits that contribute to poor time management and ways project managers can help:
Multitasking: Tackling too many jobs at once distracts from critical work. Instead, team members should be encouraged to focus on completing a vital task before moving on to the next.
People-pleasing: Workers may struggle if they try to accommodate conflicting needs. When they spread themselves too thin and cannot deliver as promised, employees may experience frustration and poor-quality results. Staff should feel empowered to delegate tasks or say “no” to unreasonable requests.
Anxiety: . Team members may struggle to determine where to focus their attention when they feel stressed. Leaders can reduce anxiety by prioritizing tasks ahead of time.
Lack of motivation: We’re all reluctant to undertake work when we don’t see the point. Managers can motivate their team members’ productivity by tying their work to team or company goals.
Poor self-control: Distractions shut down productivity. Encourage team members to block off time to focus on a single task, take breaks to improve concentration, and find ways to minimize factors that negatively impact their performance.
Procrastination: Some employees can only begin a task once faced with a time crunch. Leaders can help them overcome this reactive behavior by creating a daily schedule and assisting with time reallocation.
External factors
Workplace conditions can negatively impact an employee’s time management. These barriers are often outside their control. It’s up to leadership to address these issues:
Job constraints: When a workplace doesn’t empower employees to make decisions regarding their workload and processes, they may face unrealistic timelines and inefficiencies. Grant them the authority and tools to complete a task “their way” within a realistic time limit to improve outcomes for everyone.
Workload: Sometimes, workers receive more daily tasks than they can handle. Managers can avoid overloading their staff by seeking input during delegation and scheduling.
Distractions: Life happens. Family emergencies, illnesses, or vacations may impact an employee’s ability to deliver on time. Managers must account for time off in their project schedules and build buffers into their timelines to minimize the impact of unexpected absences.
Resources: A team may be understaffed or receive an urgent, last-minute request that leaves everyone scrambling. Time management tools can help employees work smarter to maximize their efforts and working hours.
How to improve time management with Tempo
Tempo has a full roster of Jira-enabled productivity apps to help team members get the most out of their workdays. When implemented alongside these time management tips, they’ll yield benefits and success without stressful time crunches.
Set SMART goals
Tool:
A SMART goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, making it the perfect addition to any time management strategy. Review historical data from past projects using Custom Charts for Jira to better understand a task’s time requirements and set achievable expectations for your team.
Prioritize tasks
Tool:
Many prioritization techniques, from the Eisenhower Matrix to the Rapid Planning Method (RPM), help order project work into weekly or daily tasks. No matter which you choose, the Strategic Roadmaps app creates a roadmap of your plans, allowing stakeholders and team members to visualize your strategy and prioritize urgent tasks.
Distribute work evenly
Tool:
Multitasking is a productivity killer, so avoid overburdening employees by balancing their workload with Portfolio Manager. This application allows you to distribute work evenly across the project team using predictive scheduling and resource leveling based on real-time data.
Time blocking
Tool:
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that separates time into blocks to help team members focus. Employees can set a time limit to concentrate on a task, usually 25 minutes. Once time’s up, they take a five-minute break to refresh themselves. Tempo’s Time Tracker monitors their effort, allowing them to manage daily tasks while visualizing progress.
Track the day’s activities
Tool:
Encourage team members to use Tempo Timesheets to log their work. Time tracking helps them avoid the temptation to procrastinate and holds them accountable for their time management. Users generate a detailed report of time spent on each activity, identifying areas of efficiency and improvement.
Motivate your team
Tool:
Offer visibility into how your team’s efforts contribute to business objectives and project ROI with Capacity Planner. When they understand how their work affects the big picture, workers experience greater intrinsic motivation.
If you face time management challenges, experiment with habits and Tempo’s tools to find what works best for you and your team.
Try Timesheets today
