Time Management for Business Owners

So you're the boss.

That means your staff see you as a robotic whip snapper.

… well it might!

An obvious factor of effective time management for business owners is the leverage gained by good relatioships with all areas of resource - freelancers, your direct reports, your mid level management, your support staff, etc.

So relationship skills are crucial to business owners.

What else?

Personal time management.  If you can't organize and order your schedule… well you probably would not be sitting in the bosses chair.

Although you may sometimes neglect your own health and state of mind, so here's a reminder to take breaks, get enough sleep, reward your self for the progress that your business makes, etc. I'm not going into much detail on that stuff, but it is vitally important.

I'm sure you appreciate that already.  So 'just do it'.  Make yourself accountable to yourself, or better yet, make yourself accountable to other people, such as your secretary. Get your secretary to tell you when it's time for your outdoor stroll, or other restful activity.

But your true power comes from leverage.

So beyond persona time management and general good relationship skills, what is time management for business owners really all about?

In a word, leverage.

Your task as boss is to gain maximum performance form your team.

Ask yourself these types of questions contantly:

• Are my direct reports clear on goals?
• Have you had a one-to-one with your direct reports recently enough to maintain your relationship with them, and to listen to their frustrations and difficulties with projects?
• Are you clear on the bottlenecks that your team believes exist to greater, faster, more efficient accomplishment?
• Are you yourself clear on what you would ideally like your team to be achieving in the short medium and long terms?

Those types of questions are crucial, and just like our own comfort as business bosses, easy to neglect.

So just remember, your ultimate tool of power as a business owner is leverage.  Everything you do should be directed towards that one tool of power.

How can you leverage what exists now, what you have access to now, to greater effect.

I invite you to get my free white paper on Time Management in Small Business Teams.

Or read another short article on time management at work.