HOW TO GET ORGANIZED
It is a fact that getting too involved with minimal process details ends up diverting the focus from the most important aspects of managing a sales team.
The manager must have the ability to keep all members "within his field of vision" but, at the same time, concentrate his efforts to ensure collective performance.
Therefore, time management and productivity are the key to resolving this and other impasses.
Being able to manage the schedule to optimize the use of working time in order to be as productive as possible - and make your team as well - can define the success or failure of your performance.
Fortunately, today, there is a lot of content on the subject. In addition to very efficient strategies and tools available for those who want to hit goals, without always being the first or the last to leave the office.
Why do time management and productivity go together?
In fact, spending a long period of your day working does not in any way guarantee that the results delivered are satisfactory.
Much more than the amount of hours worked, what defines a good professional is what he can produce within the normal period of work. In other words, your time versus productivity.
Time management is managing hours of work - yours and your salespeople. Its goal is to use every moment worked in the most efficient way possible to ensure high productivity.
Productivity, in turn, is the relationship between what was produced in a process and the resources used for that (among them, time). You can see why time management and productivity are extremely linked, right?
So, it's time to ask some questions.
Among them, evaluate how many hours you spend with unnecessary emails, meetings that could be resolved in a call or even with cell phones and social networks.
5 Golden tips to improve time management and productivity
In the case of leaders, as sales managers, being productive is essential to being able to fulfill all functions. This is because, in addition to their personal activities, the manager must also coordinate the tasks of his team.
In order to deal with this high demand efficiently and without being involved in unnecessary aspects (such as the micromanagement we talked about above), it is necessary to have a well-organized agenda.
However, it is important to note that focusing on time management and productivity is not related to programming every single detail - not least because problems and unforeseen circumstances will always arise. It is, in fact, about gaining control over your available time to have a more satisfactory income.
Success in this time vs. productivity balance depends on planning and execution, but also on changing posture in the face of some situations.
And how to do that?
We have gathered tips to assist in this process:
1. Prioritize demands
In addition to having a list of tasks, it is essential to establish the order of execution of them. This sequence must be based on the priority of the demands.
One technique for doing this is "ABC Priority System". It is quite simple and intuitive, as you only need to mark one letter for each demand on your agenda, using the following scale below:
- A) the task is urgent and needs to be done immediately;
- B) the task is important, but it does not need to be done immediately;
- C) the task needs to be done, but there is no urgency.
This is a great trick to pass on to your team members. In addition to helping them to identify the relevance of the demands, it also serves to make them understand the importance of finishing a started task and not having to return to it later.
2. Plan the time and timing of the activities
To manage your time, it is essential to be aware of the time that each task can take - especially routine demands. When you have to do something new, estimate the time you will spend on the activity and try to respect what you have determined.
To do this, an infallible strategy is to identify the time of day when you are most productive. We all have a moment where we can focus more easily and yield more.
Finding out which one is yours and taking advantage of it can greatly improve your time management and productivity relationship. In fact, it is also worth noting this issue in your team and provoking them to do the same.
3. Avoid distractions as much as possible
Currently, what is not lacking in our daily lives are the so-called “attention thieves”.
Social networks, messages on your smartphone, the amount of emails in your inbox. Not to mention other forms of interruption of concentration, such as noise in the workplace or phone calls.
Scholars indicate that, after having stopped work, it takes about 20 minutes for a person to concentrate again. Throughout the week, if you are going to book, it will result in several hours of work.
As we have already said, one of the challenges for managers to improve time and productivity management is the accumulation of functions.
Therefore, a leader needs to know how to delegate tasks and encourage the autonomy of employees.
Of course, this does not happen overnight. The manager needs to prepare his team to make decisions and carry out activities as expected and within the agreed time. Charging the delivery of demands and providing feedback pointing out errors and suggesting improvements is part of this process.
The more autonomy your team has, the more time you will have to dedicate to big decisions and to carry out your work efficiently, delivering the best results.
5. Hold productive meetings only
Meetings tend to be big enemies of managers' productivity. When a leadership position is reached, they become constant and sometimes occupy full-day agendas.
Team meeting, with managers from other areas, board, with customers - it's a meeting that ends more. You can see that this is one of the points that needs to be reviewed if you really want to improve your time x productivity ratio.
It is evident that a person who spends the day entering and leaving meetings cannot concentrate on other demands. So the ideal is always to assess the real need for that meeting: is it indispensable or can the issue be resolved by email or phone?
If the meeting is really necessary, the challenge is to make it as productive as possible.
To do this, prepare the agenda in advance to avoid deviating from the subject. In addition to being on time with the start time, setting an end time also makes the meeting more efficient.
Tools to manage time and ensure productivity
Managing time, becoming more productive and making your team one is not a simple task by any means. However, today, there are many tools that can be used for time management and productivity.
Some of the most basic are agendas that synchronize all appointments (Google Calendar) and programs to control the time spent on activities and concentration (Clockify and Tomato Timer), for example.
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