10 problems with time management at work
Tempus fugit (or “time flies”) is a Latin phrase that refers to that quick and inevitable passage of time. If you have a company, you know that, indeed, time flies. We don’t usually realise this, but sometimes we are the ones who insist on wasting it. For us, humans, time is our most precious asset. Some people within the business world claim that time is also the greatest asset within a business. In this article we are going to go through some reasons why you waste time in your business and some ideas to improve time management at work.
Not setting goals
In order to make the most of time, first you must know where you are heading. And this applies to all company members; so make sure that everyone has clear objectives. Once you know your goals and these goals are well-defined then, you can break down these long-term objectives into smaller objectives, which are easier to achieve. If you bear this in mind then the possibility of reaching these goals will be an incentive to get down to work, which will improve your time management at work.
Not setting deadlines
Do you know about the Parkinson’s Law? You can find more about this here in this article, but for starters, the first Parkinson’s Law goes like this:
“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.
What does this mean? Basically, that the human being tends to procrastinate, and if you do not set realistic deadlines, then you will leave things until the last minute.
Not setting reasonable deadlines is not a good thing when doing any task, it does not matter whether these tasks are important or not. By having reasonable deadlines then you will force yourself to get down to work; if you don’t set deadlines then it’s very likely that you will waste time.
Not planning tasks
In addition to setting goals and deadlines, it is necessary to establish a plan so that these different tasks can be carried out. There are many ways to do this; one of them is a highly structured system such as the GTD Technique, and another one is to write down tasks in a simple agenda. Sometimes, planning will also include establishing habits, such as spending time on certain tasks (for example, the hardest ones) when you feel that you have more energy. So it’s really important to find a way to work in order for you to save time and be more effective. Find the one that best suits you, and put it into practice.
Too many breaks
Does each member of your team take a morning walk to “gossip and find out new things” about every member of each department? Multiply that by the number of workers in your company and you will realize that a huge amount of time is wasted. This does not mean that people shouldn’t have a break at work from time to time, but there are more reasonable ways of having a break, which don’t involve distracting others. In addition, there is time to bond and socialize with each other, such as lunchtime.
Getting calls all the time
It is a popular way to interrupt your work so it deserves special attention. The contacts and information must be directed to the right people, and this must also arrive at the right time, in the right way. If someone receives a lot of calls, then this person won’t be able to work all day. If you receive messages or calls that are meant for someone else then, you will waste time when passing this calls on to someone else. Therefore, the management of calls and messages should be effective but it shouldn’t be disruptive, otherwise these calls will be a huge waste of time for you.
A great solution is to use a ticketing tool. You can take a look at the Integria IMS incident management tool here.
Too many meetings are scheduled
Some meetings are fine from time to time, but planning too many meetings ends up being a total waste of time. Also, you have to keep in mind that these meetings need to be brief in order to be more effective, and these meetings should be planned and should have clear objectives, otherwise these won’t be very useful and won’t help improve time management at work.
Not promoting time management techniques
Some time management techniques, such as the Pomodoro Technique can be very useful for some people. But there are others to fight procrastination, which can help us fight procrastination, which makes us leave things until the last minute. It’s very important to talk about these types of techniques (there are more of them) among the people who work with you because, you know, these techniques might help them make the most of their time at work.
Too many different means of communication are used
Email, telephone, internal chat, Whatsapp, Skype … a lot of means of communication are used so communications are doubled and everything turns into chaos (and chaos is a waste of time). In addition, these different communication tools end up being used to talk about issues that have nothing to do with work, which is a waste of time.
Not using the proper technological tools
Although this section might be similar to the last one we talked about earlier, it’s a bit different. There are many tools that can help us save time. From tools for organising, to alarms, to project managers such as Integria IMS or remote management programs such as our beloved eHorus. There are technological tools that can help you save time, have a go, use them!
Wasting time on commutes
Have you ever found yourself stuck in a traffic jam, feeling that you are wasting time, specially that time which you could use for other things? An important part of day goes away when commuting, especially in big cities. Sometimes, options such as teleworking, greater time flexibility, or remote access to your office computer can help save all that time spent on commutes.
And now that we looked at some ways to improve time management at work, let us introduce eHorus. EHorus is a remote device management system based on the cloud. Do you want to know how it can help you? You can find out more by clicking here.
