I Don’t Have Time to be this Busy!

For many of us it is eternally frustrating to reach the end of the day and ask ourselves: What did we honestly accomplish? We have supremely busy schedules and we grasp for any extra moment of time we can find to get our tasks accomplished. Time management has become an even more important topic currently as a result of the changing office environment. Does the following scenario sound familiar?

It’s a Tuesday morning and you know you have to work on a new marketing project. Without distractions it will take you about 3 hours. You sit down to get cracking on it but then you see an email from your supervisor. You stop what you are doing and you reply. Then a resident request pops up. You don’t want to delay the needs of your resident so you address the situation and make sure it’s handled. Then the phone rings and it’s a vendor who is determined to get their 3 minute pitch out. After that you get a message on your phone that you have been tagged in a photo on Facebook. The morning is already gone by now and you still have not started on your marketing project that needs to be done today.

Does the above scenario sound all too familiar? I probably barely scratched the surface of the never ending events that take place on a given business day. We have morphed into a world where multitasking is common place and is accepted. Statistically though, we actually get far less accomplished when we move around to different agenda items. It is far better if possible to complete an item and then move on to the next. I firmly believe that time management is a team effort. It is true that we individually can find ways to keep ourselves on task. More than likely many of our decisions are what contribute to our lack of productivity. It certainly takes great discipline to be as focused as possible.

On the other hand if we are a team leader or a supervisor in any way there are some practical steps we can take to encourage proper time management. You may have a project item or matter that needs to be addressed by a team member. Have you asked yourself this question: What is the priority timeline of this item? Do you have the habit of asking a team member this question before assigning a task: What are you currently working on? By asking before assigning you have now helped time management. With the knowledge of what someone is already working on you may be able to make a decision to assign another business item for another time of the day.

The multifamily world leaves little room for inefficiencies. Time management is a discipline that needs to be addressed on a daily basis. You may think you are efficient at time management but have you ever tried writing out a timeline journal of your daily activities? You will be really surprised I am sure. You may even think you are the King or Queen of time management as a result of the ability to successfully delegate daily assignments. But has that delegation turned your team into a bunch of multitaskers who at the end of the day are groping for the right words to explain why they got nothing accomplished?

I am very much interested in what you do at your corporate office or onsite to help facilitate better time management? Please share any tips or best practices you employ in the comment section below.

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The Training Factor is happy to release a new course entitled: Time Management-Success is only 15 Minutes Away.  If you would like more information about the course or any of our services, please feel free to contact us today.

Written by Jonathan Saar

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