HR Solutions: Time management improves effectiveness of business

Lynne Haggerman is president/owner of Haggerman & Associates, a firm providing outplacement, retained search and management consulting/training on human resource issues.

Research shows that during the life of the typical small-business person, three years will be spent in meetings, two years playing telephone tag and eight months opening junk mail. Interruptions will occur 73 times a day. No small-business owner seems to ever have enough time. Entrepreneurs, however, do have all of the time that is available to everyone else.

Effective time management decreases anxiety, frustration, dissatisfaction, procrastination, guilt over tasks left undone and the feeling of working hard but getting nowhere. Employing sound time management skills increases confidence, creativity, decisiveness, productivity, energy levels, and the sense of achievement and peace of mind. Four simple, easy-to-apply time management techniques remain the most popular for small businesses.

First, take care of yourself. If you are unable to work due to poor health, you will not have your small business for long. Eat lunch. Maintain your nutritional health and fitness. Take time for relaxation, recreation, family and friends. Live a balanced life physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually.

Second, determine priorities by utilizing goal-setting techniques. Determine the mission and objectives of your small business. Create job duties and goals for each employee based upon your organizational vision. Devise a detailed action plan for each objective, including a daily to-do list. Be sure that you and your staff perform the most important and urgent tasks first, the important but not urgent next, and the less important last. Seriously consider eliminating all unimportant and not urgent tasks currently performed in your company.

Third, utilize solid project management techniques. Before starting, get organized by determining objectives, assessing and securing needed resources, and deciding specific tasks with deadlines for each team member. Develop a plan. Strive to identify and rectify any anticipated issues. Follow up and manage problems.

Fourth, and most important of all, stop wasting time. No more unproductive meetings. Do not focus on processes over results. Create systems to avoid nonconformance. Learn to say no. Delegate whenever possible.

Study and streamline processes. Complete and analyze time logs. Determine time wasters and time imbalances based upon your priorities. Remain open to shortcuts.

Unnecessary perfectionism is a time waster. For example, after finishing a report, avoid making nit-picky modifications that do not affect or improve upon the content, message or outcome but consume time better spent on more pressing tasks.

Get organized. Arrange your work space for minimal movements. Keep only what you need in sight and group the rest elsewhere. Establish and maintain a filing system. Each piece of paper that comes across your desk should only be touched once. Plan your day first thing in the morning but remain flexible to allow for the unexpected.

Minimize interruptions for issues that have little to no value. Analyze each interruption in terms of the topic, the time of day, the individual involved, the length of time the situation took and the priority of that issue to you.

Stop procrastinating, which is a denial of personal responsibility and an energy drain. Summon the strength and discipline to get started. Do what you dread first. Determine if the short-term relief of procrastination is worth the long-term consequences. Do you believe the task is too big? Break it down into smaller, manageable parts. Are you afraid of failure? Seek help from a trusted advisor.

Don't be a firefighter. Maintain a log and develop an action plan to resolve the root problems causing the fires. Don't keep too much on your mind. Retain scratch paper everywhere, document ideas and tasks that must be completed, and transfer each to your official to do list.

As you implement each time management idea, monitor your progress in managing time. Decide what is working and what is not. Reward yourself for success and begin to better enjoy your life and your small business.