Tag Archives: Employee Management

 

“Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose.”  – Thomas Edison

There are many skills a quality leader should have — good communication skills being one of the most important — but perhaps the second most important skill that can help elevate the workplace is time management.

Why Time Management is Such an Important Skill for Leaders in Business

Time management is about learning how to use time wisely and manage your employees effectively. When you push too fast too hard to get things done, it leads to burnout, which is the antithesis of productivity. Once you or anyone on your team starts experiencing burnout, it can be challenging to turn things back in a more positive direction.

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for people in the workplace to end up pushing themselves harder when they start experiencing burnout for fear that they aren’t doing a good enough job. This, however, can make things worse and lead to long-term burnout, which can result in severe mental and physical fatigue, a loss of motivation, a weakened immune system, and frequent mood swings.

This is why time management is so crucial a skill to have as a leader — because it helps protect mental bandwidth, which is another word for your executive functioning and cognitive capacity or the ability to exert mental effort. When you’re burnt out because your time is not well managed, it can have a significant impact on your mental bandwidth.

When a leader has mastered time management, however, they lead their team to make smarter decisions, which fosters efficiency and productivity. When your cognitive functioning is working at full capacity, it enables you to better plan out your day so that the right tasks get done at the right time. This is effective time management — not working faster, but working smarter by making smarter decisions.

Tips on How to Master the Art of Time Management

There’s no single right way to develop solid time management skills. It’s a combination of efforts and mindful behaviors that can teach you how to better manage your time and your team.

Set Personal and Professional Goals

Your personal and professional goals can impact your time management ability. For example, if you aren’t enjoying personal time, not getting enough sleep, or not making time for activities or hobbies you love, this can impact how you feel at work.

Part of learning to better manage your time and mental bandwidth is setting both personal and professional goals for growth, such as learning a new software or tool, getting better sleep, and learning to set better boundaries so you have more time for personal activities.

Automate Processes When Possible

One great way to find more time in your day is to go through all the repetitive and redundant tasks you or your team perform every day and see if those tasks can be automated. It might seem like a minor adjustment, but over time, when you don’t have to worry about doing small things, you reserve more of your mental capacity for bigger things that matter.

Delegate Wisely

Learning to delegate tasks to the right people is a key time management skill. If you don’t have enough people to delegate to, it’s potentially a sign that you need to grow your team and hire more people. Additionally, if any staff members are interested in growing into a management position, start delegating certain leadership tasks to them a little at a time to mentor them and help them grow.

Make a To-Do List of Top Priorities Every Morning

Even if you think you remember everything that needs to get done, get in the habit of sitting down each morning and writing everything down. Doing so can be a huge mental relief and help you create a better plan for your day or week. Highlight the top priorities so you know which things need to get done first to avoid wasting time on less important tasks.

Avoid Over-Commitment

Deadlines are important, but be mindful that you are setting and agreeing to realistic deadlines. Pleasing your customers is essential, but not if it means over-committing and burning out yourself and your team. The quality of the work you and your team do will be much better if you allow for the appropriate amount of time to get things done.

Allow for Flexibility

Your list of top priorities should act more as a guide for your day rather than a hard rule set in stone. You will undoubtedly have days where timelines shift and new things pop up that take precedence, and your ability to be flexible can make your day much easier when this happens. It is not the end of the world if something changes and throws a wrench in your plans. Simply go back to your list and move things around.

Allowing for flexibility also means allowing for breaks and space to decompress. This is critical for you and your employees if you want to manage stress in a high-volume work environment. Your days and weeks must allow time for self-care, both at work and at home. If you can tell your team is being pushed too hard, make them take a break. Go outside for a little walk, do some stretching, refuel with a snack — something to just allow the mind to get a little reprieve to avoid mental bandwidth being over-expanded.

Effective Time Management

To remind yourself and your team every day how to be most efficient with time, consider making a list of the “golden” rules of time management and keeping it posted where you can be reminded each day. This might seem silly at first, but writing things down and keeping them where you can easily see them is one of the best ways to remember something often enough that it becomes a habit. At the end of the day, healthier and smarter work habits and behaviors are key to effective time management.

*This article is written by Ainsley Lawrence. View more of Ainsley’s articles here.

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Managing employees in the workplace is a huge responsibility and one that can have both positive and negative effects on all aspects of an employee’s life.

Learning how to effectively manage is vital for professional leaders looking to transform their work culture for the better.

In this article, we will discuss effective employee management and the impact this can have on individuals and the organizations they work for.

What Does it Mean to Manage Employees Effectively?

Everyone is new to management at some point in their careers. Certainly, the transition from employee to manager or team leader can be very exciting. It often comes with a pay rise, heightened responsibilities, and an opportunity to have more say in a company’s direction.

However, great business leaders also understand the heavy responsibility of managing other people – whole teams in fact – and doing so in a productive, empathetic, and professional manner.

Signs of Poor Management

Too often, managers fail their employees by demanding too much and having unrealistic expectations. This can lead to all sorts of problems for your employees and organization as a whole. Here are some of the signs that your employees are struggling under poor management:

Let’s take a look at some of these in more detail and discuss how effective management can help combat these issues.

How to Manage Employees Effectively

Managing employees well means putting people first. A people-first approach to management will ensure you manage effectively and this in turn will help your organization thrive.

Address Employee Burnout

Employee burnout is directly related to management style. According to research carried out by AMH International, there is “a significant relationship between burnout (personal accomplishment) and leadership styles (autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire) toward job performance.”

When people think of burnout they often assume it is self-inflicted. However, this is rarely the case. More often than not it is a build-up of stress and pressure (typically in the workplace).

Employee burnout can be caused by numerous factors, however the most common include: unrealistic expectations from management, unmanageable workloads, unsociable working hours, poor working conditions, and lack of support in the workplace.

Burnout is becoming increasingly common in today’s society, as it is a condition that is caused by persistent stress. LuxuryRehabs.com explains that ‘In modern-day “hustle culture,” the pressure to work harder can be overwhelming. And even if you love what you do, working too much can drain the joy right out of your life. But there’s a bright side—burnout doesn’t have to be permanent.’

As a manager, it is your job to properly address and manage employee burnout so that people can not only function in their job but thrive. There are two ways you can achieve this:

Offer Flexible Working Hours: the traditional 9-5 working model doesn’t work for everyone. Whether your employees have school pick-ups to deal with, a car service booked, or a doctor’s appointment to get to, it can be difficult to fit everything in. Offering flexible working hours is a great way to show your employees that you care about their work/life balance. Choosing when they work also gives employees more control over their job, which in turn increases productivity and satisfaction while at work.

Lead by Example: One of the primary aspects of effective leadership involves leading by example. Whether they want to impress you, are worried about maintaining job security, or want your job one day, your employees will follow your example. So, it’s important that you lead well. A few simple ways to do this include; taking a lunch break, avoiding working late, taking time off once in a while, showing compassion and understanding to others, and having integrity.

According to Forbes, “Leading by example will build up your team members and prepare them for more prominent roles in the future. Ultimately, that results in your team being more productive, more effective and more efficient while feeling more satisfied in what they’re doing.”

Address Mental Health and Provide Support

As a manager, it’s important to be aware of the mental health struggles your employees face and be equipped to manage these in a productive way. Around 280 million people worldwide experience depression alone and this can have significant effects on people’s lives.

Addressing the range of mental health struggles that your employees might struggle with is an important part of being an effective manager, and this can help to mitigate burnout in the workforce. It will be vital for the success of your employees and your organization. Here are a few ways you can address mental health struggles in the workplace:

Create an Open Door Policy: one of the best ways to combat mental health in the workplace is to establish positive connections with your employees. This is best achieved through open and honest communication.

Establishing an open-door policy is a great way to connect with your employees. It lets them know you are available to talk and separates the feeling of ‘us vs them’ that is often prevalent in the workplace, particularly between managers and the people they manage.

Provide Mental Health Support: addressing mental health problems directly is essential for managing your employees well and supporting a healthy, thriving work culture. Providing mental health support in the form of counseling, therapy, rehab, and mental health training days are all great ways to go the extra mile for your employees.

According to The American Psychological Association, “Organizational leaders are well-positioned to influence a positive culture shift and normalize mental health in the workplace. These positive and supportive workplace practices can boost employee mental health, company morale, and your bottom line.”

Help Employees Feel Valued

Employees who feel valued by their employers are more likely to work hard and perform better. If you want to manage effectively, you must help your employees feel valued. This is achieved through all of the points mentioned above as well as the following:

Offer Development Training: properly training your employees isn’t just important for development, it helps keep employees motivated and like they’re working towards specific goals. Providing the right training and development opportunities is essential for this.

According to our article Supervisor Training: Insider Tips for Management Skills Development, “It has been proven time and time again that companies that invest in employee training see an increase in morale and motivation to do the job[…] It’s more important than ever to do everything you can to keep employees happy, make them feel valued, and show them a path forward with your company.”

Prioritize Open Communication: as we mentioned above, leading by example is integral to management success and one of the most important parts of this is open communication. Taking the time to talk with your employees and be honest about the state of the business and the challenges it is facing sends a message that you value their opinions and the roles they play. Involving employees in open conversations is great for encouraging team collaboration, establishing trust, and helping employees feel more engaged in their roles.

But, how do you communicate with your hourly employees who do not have access to email? TeamSense breaks down effective communication methods for improved engagement and productivity with your team on the shop floor.

Keep Employees Safe: it is your responsibility to ensure your employees can work safely. This means carrying out health and safety risk assessments, providing quality work equipment, and offering the relevant training.

When you are committed to health and safety in the workplace, it shows your employees that you care. Workers are more productive when they can work safely and safe working environments reduce illness, injury, and accidents – saving your business money and protecting your people!

In Summary

Taking on the role of manager in the workplace is a huge responsibility. It’s a chance to make your mark on a company, to support its direction and growth, and to have a lasting impact on the lives of its employees.

We hope this article has highlighted the importance of a people-first management approach for an effective management strategy. If you prioritize your employees’ needs and take the time to listen to their concerns, you will help shape a team that is committed, driven, and thriving now and into the future.

*This article is written by Sophie Bishop. Sophie is an experienced construction writer with a passion for sharing insights and her experience within the health and safety sector. Sophie aims to spread awareness through her writing around issues to do with healthcare, wellbeing and sustainability within the industry and is looking to connect with an engaged audience. Contact Sophie via her website: https://sophiebishop.uk/.

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