In>Professional Development are educating on effective leadership and time management to give you back the hours you didn’t know you had.
In>Professional Development’s associate tutor and leadership development specialist, Steve Barry, shares his thoughts on how to recapture the lost hour of the day. With over 25 years’ experience in people leadership, Steve knows the importance of effective management and how working smarter can revolutionise your output.
“Imagine this, you manage to recapture an hour of resource every day over your working week by making a few simple changes. This would be equivalent to gaining 7 weeks per year. Now imagine if a team of say 7 were to do this, it would save around 49 weeks of resource a year. Creating a more time efficient team within your department.”
So how can YOU recapture that hour?
Outline your tasks as a Manager.
For anyone with the title ‘manager’ or that has people reporting into them, the quest to save time begins with examining how they spend their time each day. Only a little amount of digging is required before unearthing that the activities of the manager involves doing tasks they shouldn’t be doing.
We understand that managers are quick to do tasks that team members don’t step up to or take responsibility for. However, it’s important for the manager of said team members to understand that they can be left frustrated when they do un-demanding work.
Learn how to be an effective leader
All too often managers make it as easy as possible for their team, resulting in them taking on most of the work on themselves. In contract to this type of manager, there are those that are very direct and forceful in their approach with a ‘do it this way’ and ‘I want it like this’ approach.
It’s important to note that both approaches are limiting and can result in team members feeling disconnected or disengaged.
- REMEMBER: As leader, your role is to get the best out of the people around you.
- STOP USING THE SENTENCE: “What you should do.”
- START USING THE SENTENCE: “What should you do?”
This simple approach not only pushes back responsibility, but it is a fantastic engagement tool. Aimed at getting people to step up and own what they do. It is also the key to getting your hour back.
Understand what drives your team.
Look around at the people you work with.
Ask yourself, do these people drive to work? Do they have mortgages, pay rent for their homes? Do they have families of their own?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then these very same people are up for the challenge to not only step up, give you your time back, but also own and enjoy what they do, to their best ability.
We want to help Managers be the best leader they can and the most efficient when it comes to time and resources. These three simple steps should help towards taking control and restoring the balance, but if you’d like to know more about leadership styles and techniques you may want to take a look at our CMI Level 7 Senior Leadership Programme.
If you would like to find out more information about our CMI Level 7 Senior Leadership Programme (Accredited) and recapture 7 weeks of your year back, email enquiries@inpd.co.uk or call 0161 509 2999.
