75% of IT specialists estimate their companies lose between 3 and 50 hours of work because employees are holiday shopping on company time. Only 14% think hours lost will drop this year.
My office manager can take all day to do some things. Then at the end of the day she gets flustered trying to put out fires. It seems like she’s not that good at time management. Any suggestions?
Time management tools include a to-do list, schedule, slack time and clean-up routines. Delegating increases anyone’s ground covering ability. Tackle the “most” items early: most important, most time consuming, most daunting. Learn to let go of perfection, get the job done.
Start with a to-do list. Most people find it rewarding to be able to check off the things they get done throughout the day. Adding and taking away from the list helps keep one’s eye on what still has to get done.
Set realistic time estimates and places in the schedule for doing specific tasks. Plan routine tasks, such as time for sorting the mail. Early morning probably includes a trip to the bank, a stop at the post office, and other short errands in town. Save time by ordering supplies once a week rather than daily.
Set break and lunch times. Just before going on break, spend 10 minutes re-assessing the to-do’s. Schedule meetings so that time isn’t wasted waiting for someone to be available.
Leave the last hour of the day open to deal with clean-up and planning for the next day. Build a daily clean up process to help reduce chaos. Schedule time to return all emails and phone calls. Stack up documents and folders that need to be handled the next day. Clean off the desk so that the next morning there’s a fresh start.
Sometimes people get behind the 8-ball because they treat all tasks as equal in priority. Some people first deal with the items that can be handled the fastest, in hopes that will free up time later on for more time consuming projects. Some people put off tasks they find the most challenging, hoping those tasks will go away.
Prioritize what stays at the top of the list and what falls away if the list gets too long. Filing is probably a lower priority than getting out correspondence. However if filing piles up, it can cause other problems, such as wasted time and effort looking for documents after the fact.
Know when the to-do list gets too long. It’s time to delegate. Better to ask for help than to lose control because there’s too much to do and not enough time.
Identify tasks that can be handled by someone more junior. Periodically hire a temp, or bringing in an intern. Assign simple things like filing, entering contacts into the database, answering phones, making copies, opening incoming mail and addressing outgoing correspondence.
Identify tasks that have absolute time deadlines. Work those deadlines into the daily and weekly plan. Chop up time consuming projects into smaller bits, and work on them early in the day. If you’ve never done something before, plan on it taking twice as long to complete as you expect.
Figure out what it is that gets you behind the 8-ball each day, and build a plan to work through that. When you find yourself consistently putting off a project, ask yourself why. Do you not like doing it? Are you concerned you may not have the skill to do it well? Figure out the roadblock, so you can deal with the problem, rather than avoid it.
Learn the balance between good enough and done, versus perfect but past due. Keep in mind that the job of office manager is to instill confidence, maintain control, and keep things moving in an orderly, calm fashion. Help your office manager build skill at handling the job professionally by practicing together.
Recognize when the job is well done. Talk about it when things get bunched up. Make time 1/2 way through the day to look over the task list together. Discuss what’s working, and what changes need to take place.
Realize this is training. It takes some time to change. Practicing means you’ll both get what you want: a smoother running office and a more successful, controlled end to each day.
