10. Time management for Leaders?

How often have you said, "I wish there were more hours in the day", or looked up at your clock and an hour has flown by?

Time management is a common issue I see at all levels of leadership, and often it comes down to a few things: not delegating, not allowing time for interruptions, and allowing deadlines to sneak up on you.

Here's how I manage time - for myself and for my team - in my role as a CIO.

Nail down your timeline

I create a basic WIP document that allows me to plan out what I’m going to focus on for the next 6 months. It’s a document that’s broken up into four quadrants, based on what I want to achieve in:

1. The next two weeks
2. The next month
3. The next 3 Months (high level tasks)
4. The next 6 months (high level tasks)

The tasks in the first two quadrants are quite detailed and specific, I can easily say that yes a task has been completed, or no, it hasn't.

The tasks in the third and fourth quadrants are generally not be as refined; this space is more for ideas and an overarching vision. 

I review this sheet most days. This is how I stay accountable to the tasks I need to complete in the short-term, without losing focus on what needs to happen in the long term.

A good leader needs to be three months ahead of their team, and pulling the team towards an overarching goal.

On a daily basis, I check in with my direct reports every morning. On a board, we have four columns: backlog, to do, doing it, and done. We write tasks or projects on post-it notes and stick them to the board so we can see, at a glance, where each team member is at.

I go around and ask each team member what they’re working on, if they need help, are there any other issues, do we need to have a chat individually later, etc.

What this allows me to do is to be front and centre, in the middle of the work with my team, while being able to keep an eye on how they’re tracking. It also allows the team to collaborate with each other – and this gives me the valuable opportunity to observe the dynamic between individuals in the team and assess whether there's any friction that needs to be resolved.

This is something that we do every day. The routine of being held accountable every morning means that not only does a LOT more work get done, there are no excuses about not knowing what needs to be done, or not being able to find the person who could help with a project.

This style of project management is also fantastic for bigger projects. It doesn’t have to be overcomplicated! All you need is a board, some post-its, and a team willing to try something new.

When I first started to explore this way of working, I visited some of the biggest companies in Australia, and spent some time in my organisation exploring how to deliver projects in a different way – for us, it worked.

I didn’t make a big announcement about wanting to make changes, I just started to run our next project in this style; as the team starts to see results, any resistance to working differently to the established model does seem to melt away.

This can be hard for some team members, particularly those who are challenged with working in teams or being held accountable consistently. It’s fascinating to watch how dynamics evolve, and how people learn to organise themselves within that working framework.

Working with the team, individually

If someone needs to have a meeting with me, I do make myself available to the team during the day, and then from 5pm – 6:30pm I focus on my own work. In leadership roles, it’s common to be interrupted constantly, and the open door policy I have with my team means that I need to be organised, be flexible and be prepared to stay back an extra hour or two to get my work done when everyone goes home.

In terms of managing a team, I get together with my direct reports every day – that meeting can take anywhere between 8 minutes and half an hour. I like to make the work visible, work on the highest value work, break it down so we’re not spreading ourselves too thin, reflect and measure, and have everyone on the team accountable for their work.

By working in that way, I feel it creates rapport and teamwork. Often I’m standing back, observing team members and how they’re working to understand dynamics to determine my next move. 

I meet with each of my direct reports once a week or fortnight, depending on the needs of that team member and what we’re working on (30 – 60 minutes). They provide a WIP and we work through their plan together to make sure they’re proactive, rather than reactive.

The WIP keeps them accountable when it comes to their KPIs and project objectives. It’s good to work backwards from the end result to the daily and weekly tasks that need to be carried out.

Sometimes these meetings are more like a coaching session than a meeting, and they give me more insight into their career goals, struggles, and where there may be a skills gap we need to close. I also like to nurture their leadership aspirations by giving them opportunities to elevate their skillset, simply by bringing them along to meetings, asking them to chair a meeting, etc.

I’m the type of leader that likes their team to ‘do stuff’. My intention is always to help people progress their skills and ability. My leadership style depends on the situation, and I do like to think I’m approachable to the team.

Managing expectations

Being so available to my team does mean that sometimes my own tasks get pushed back to late in the day, and for that reason, I often block out time from around 5pm-6:30pm, in the office, to get what I need to get done, done - without interruptions. This means that I don't resent the inevitable interruptions that occur throughout the day, and I can show up as a better leader. 

I share more tips and tricks for time management as a leader in Episode 10 of the Lady Leadership podcast. Listen to the whole episode of the podcast, here.