Everybody knows that leading a company is not fun. It does not matter whether you are a leader at a small company or a multinational corporation. You always have to maintain a balance of time, resources and the people you are leading. How do successful managers do it? What can you learn from their experience? The Daily Muse website has offered six of their tips that can be of assistance to you.
90 minutes of work and then pause
Tony Schwartz, president of the Energy Project, advised resting after every 90 minutes of work. It makes sense. The human body works in the same long energy cycles throughout the day. Thus, it makes sense that after an hour and a half or more your attention and energy level drops, and you feel tired or start to wander aimlessly on social networks. Change it.
Do not let yourself get distracted
There is nothing worse when you are working intently on something and suddenly someone interrupts you. According to research, it can take up to 25 minutes before you get back to your previous level of productivity. This is really frustrating. Andrew Marsh, CEO of Fifth Column Games, came up with an effective solution in his own company. Every employee has the “cone of silence” to place it on his table when he does not want to be disturbed. Another solution may be to turn off the phone or put on the automated e-mail response informing others that you are currently away from your desk.
Plan not only your time but also your energy
Co-founder of The Daily Muse website, Kathryn Minshew is a big believer in optimizing your own working time. According to her recommendations, for demanding job tasks you should use your most productive hours of the working day when your energy is at its highest level. Meetings can be left for later.
Email is not your master
Gina Trapani, founder of ThinkUp, checks her mail box only at certain times of the day. Therefore, she can better concentrate on other work and does not have to think about answering when the message arrives. When you look at emails is up to you. It also depends on your position and the urgency of the messages you receive.
Short and concise
No one has time for reading or writing long email essays. Andrew Torba, co-founder of Kuhcoon company, recommends keeping the length of messages around 140 characters, corresponding roughly to the length of messages on Twitter. This saves time for you and your colleagues. If your message is longer, then dedicate 5-10 minutes for a phone call.
Delegate work tasks
It is easy to get lost in the deluge of job duties that you have to do yourself. Delegating certain tasks to your subordinates, however, is the best way to organize your own time at work. According entrepreneur Daniel Tan Kh, you should take a step back when planning work and learn not just to delegate, but to really trust your employees.
Do you have any other tips that help you keep up your productivity?
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