When managing time becomes a business skill

Time is one of your most vital business resources. Managing it is one of your most vital skills!

As a business owner, you might rate money as your most precious resource. One thing about money is you can always make more of it. Time, not so much. It’s quickly depleted and, unfortunately, if you waste an hour doing something that could’ve taken you ten minutes, there’s no machine available (yet) for you to climb into, to go back in time and recover it. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good! And, of course, time is money too. So, for your business’s sake, it’s important to be careful with your time.

Time is the gift that keeps giving

Do you find it hard to plan and control how you manage your time? Poorly managed time leads to procrastination, which can result in self-control issues. This, in turn, can directly impact on your ability to accomplish the goals you’ve set for your business. So, essentially it’s a battle over control. And gaining the upper hand will allow your business to benefit in several ways.

Reduce stress

When you have control over your time, there are fewer (nasty) surprises. And when there are surprises, you have space to consider your response and take action. There’s less rushing around, frantically trying to meet tight deadlines. With better time management, you will instead notice a reduction in the stress levels among your employees and in yourself.

Improve performance

When your time is managed effectively, you get more tasks done and you get them done faster. This is a no-brainer. It means you and your team are able to perform better, which increases productivity levels all round.

Reduce errors

When you’re better organized (because you’re in control of the way time is allocated to business tasks), you make fewer mistakes. Mistakes need attention and time to rework and correct them. This is an efficient business discipline if you consider you’re saving time for more important stuff by taking the time to do something right the first time round.

Improve reputation

When your business associates and clients see you as professionals who are always punctual and organized, you gain and retain a reputation for being reliable and trustworthy. They won’t doubt that you’ll be on time, meet deadlines or complete tasks and projects with and for them timeously, which obviously makes you easier to do business with.

Take control of your time

It’s important to acknowledge the concept of time management as a business skill and why it’s relevant before venturing into what activities are involved in skillfully managing time. So, understanding the need, let’s consider how you can develop these qualities in yourself and your teammates. Here’s what you need to do to hone your time management skills:

• Set realistic goals within realistic time-frames
• Set priorities for all tasks
• Monitor how you spend your time
• Practise your time management skills
• Put plans in place for the future

While it might seem obvious, these are precisely the kind of things people struggle with that cause time to slip through their fingers. We'll explore these in greater detail in a future blog post, and look at other techniques to help you manage time more effectively.

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