As more people have to adjust to remote work, managers need to ensure team efficiency. “How?” you ask. The answer lies in a time management action plan.
Poor time management can build up stress and tension while your team hectically tries to keep it together and meet the deadline. Don’t let this happen. Write an action plan that will enhance productivity and successful collaboration.
Outline the what, when, and who. Provide your team guidelines that lead to perfect organization and business triumphs.
Are you ready to start a new chapter of increased productivity and harmonized team? Take these steps when writing a time management action plan, and you’ll get there.
1. Define the Ground Rules
Every team needs rules to function properly. Allowing each employee to follow their own idea of good time management can end up in a huge mess.
Establish the basic rules for the remote work environment. Some questions you should think about are:
- How many days per week do you have at your disposal?
- Should the employees be available during specific hours or will you keep it flexible?
- How will you track their time?
- Do employees need to report their daily achievements or give you a weekly overview?
- How long will the break be?
- Do you plan to employ a certain time management technique (such as Pomodoro, Kanban Board, The Eisenhower Matrix, etc.)
Setting the ground rules will eliminate confusion and misunderstandings. Figure out what type of approach suits your team and line of work best and live by those rules.
2. Adjust the Plan to the Team’s Capabilities
The most common trigger of quarrels and employees’ dissatisfaction is unachievable expectations. If you overflow your team with work, they won’t be able to stick to the time management action plan.
Review each of your team member’s abilities. Look into their time tracking history to get a better idea of the time they need for different tasks.
Once you understand how your team operates, you can develop a plan that is tailored to them.
3. Outline the Goals
Without clear goals, the team’s productivity can’t reach its peak. You need to set your short-term and long-term goals. Having those goals in front of you will help you navigate everyone towards making those goals a reality.
Another benefit of writing down the goals is boosting motivation. A visual reminder will ensure that your team consistently “keeps their eyes on the prize.”
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4. Set Milestones
Goals help you see the big picture. But now, you need to zoom in. Turn your goals into digestible objectives. Break them down into milestones.
Setting different levels of achievements will take your team step by step. You can create weekly milestones and monthly milestones that help you cross the project’s finish line.
What’s more, you’ll be able to calculate precisely the time you need for each goal. Dedicating smaller time frames for milestones will take you to a timely accomplished goal.
5. Provide Your Team with a Checklist
How often do you create checklists? If you are still a stranger to this organizational method, it’s time to get you acquainted.
Checklists are highly popular and efficient time management tools. They come with multiple benefits such as:
- Delegate the tasks more evenly
- Assure that the team doesn’t skip any step
- Motivate the team to take action
- Give your team a sense of accomplishment with each ticked off task
- Keep track of the team’s achievements
With the help of the checklist, keeping an eye on the tasks ahead of you will never be an issue. The bird’s view of the tasks will help you quickly organize the team according to the time you have.
6. Embrace Prioritizing
No matter how much you try to finish everything in time, you won’t always make it. That’s why prioritizing is a heavenly tool for time management. You need to be prepared for this scenario.
Whenever you plan out the work, make out what are your priorities. Getting those done first will take the pressure off. Also, you won’t put too much on your plate for tomorrow.
Teach your team how to prioritize their daily tasks as well. Before they get to work, they should be clear about what they need to do and stick to that plan. They can arrange their priorities in a shared schedule.
7. Regularly Revise the Plan
Change is inevitable in business. You can’t expect a smooth sea all the time. With that in mind, conduct a regular revision of your action plan.
Consider arranging weekly meetings to discuss your workflow. Ask your team to share their thoughts and provide suggestions for improvements.
Creating an ideal time management action plan from the first try is impossible. You need to make adjustments until you figure out what works best.
8. Make It Shareable
Time management will be an easier endeavor when the team has a constant overview of their upcoming responsibilities. Making your daily, weekly, and monthly plan sharable will help you with that.
Where you share the plan depends solely on your preference. You can use a common platform such as Google Calendar. Or, you can get tools specifically designed for time management purposes like Asana or TeamUp.
Time Management: Plan and Conquer
Team efficiency can’t be achieved without a plan. If you want to keep your team organized, you know what to do – get to writing and create a time management action plan.
Develop a plan that will be personalized to your team. Not only will this help you meet your goals, but it will also inspire a more positive work environment.
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Author’s bio. Jessica Fender is a professional writer and educational blogger at FreeEssayWriter an aggregator for useful college resources and websites. Jessica enjoys sharing her ideas to make writing and learning fun.
