Managing A Managers Time

Making the shift from “do-er” to manager is usually a little tricky. You tend to shift from a clearly defined schedule to a much more free flowing and open schedule. In many cases you’ll feel as if you are being pulled in too many directions as employees, meetings, emergencies, and day to day activity eat up your work day. Many new managers struggle with time management. Luckily, there are a number of easy time management techniques that can be put into place to make life much easier.

1. Suck it up and make friends with your calendar.

Many new managers just don’t realize how important their calendars are. If you commit to something, book yourself some time to complete the task. Make sure you move your to-do list items into scheduled appointments. The most important part about scheduling your time is that you are committing to execution. If something unexpected comes up (and it will) you’ll be much more strategic and organized when you shift around your scheduled tasks and appointments. Thinking of your day in adjustable time blocks makes everything seem much more achievable, especially once the pressure to constantly remember action items fades.

2. Process your In-box

You may or may not be a fan of GTD, but there is something to be said for processing your in-box on a regular basis. Many new managers feel swamped by email as soon as they update their job title in their email signature. Using the calendar tip above, block out dedicated time in the day to process email and get your in-box down to 0 unread emails. As you review email you should be delegating tasks as necessary, scheduling time for action items, and be focused on organizing yourself. Processing time is meant for organization, not action so make sure you don’t get pulled off on a tangent when reading email. Timothy Ferriss of “4-Hour Work Week” fame suggests blocking dedicated email processing time in the morning and afternoon, and not even reading it in between.

3. Use the phrases “Send me an email” or “Schedule a meeting”

You may think it sounds a little harsh, but as a manager it is critical that you protect your time so you can spend it wisely on managing your business. Without a doubt, you will have all sorts of distractions pulling for your time. Once you’ve nailed the above 2 tricks of managing your calendar and in-box, make others help you. By asking people to email or book a meeting you accomplish a few things. You know that once the activity is in email or your calendar you no longer need to worry about it since you know it will be addressed in a timely fashion. The other (more interesting) side effect is that by asking people to be proactive about their requests you will also see a decrease in time-waster requests. The extra steps of emailing or booking a meeting usual force the people with time waster type requests to find their answers in different ways.

The 3 tips above have served many managers well for a long time. There is nothing new or revolutionary about the approach, but as a new manager, simple tricks like this can make a big difference. At the end of the day, effectively organizing your calendar and email flow will allow you to have much more productive time with much less stress.

(PS – These tips also work well for seasoned managers.)