Anyone can lose track of time sometimes. Employees zoning out or getting distracting researching random topics can throw teams off task. As a leader of a team, you have to keep your team on task. Here are some techniques of how to do that.
1. Know How Your Team is Spending Their Time
There are many tools online that allow you to track how time is currently being spent. Knowing where your team is currently at allows you to work on making improvements in their time management skills.
See how much time each person is working and how much time people are getting distracted during. Then, you know who is getting the most distracted and who is spending what time on their part of the project.
2. Create a Schedule
Some people need a schedule to produce their best work. Create a schedule for your team that is balanced between work time and rest time. Your schedule should include what task everyone should be doing along with any deadlines for the day.
Once you have a schedule, stick to it. Don’t go off schedule if you can help it. People will eventually get used to working in the time slots that are given with the schedule.
3. Know What Your Team Needs
Your team members each have different needs that can affect how much work they can do in a day. Talk to your team members and ask what works best for them, this is especially true for the workers who are getting more distracted and off task than other team members.
4. Don’t Multitask
Multitasking is super tempting. You might be sure that you can do two things at once, but you can’t without compromising your work. This is true for your employees as well. Don’t allow for multitasking to happen. This means giving your employees solid breaks for lunch and socializing. Work time should just be work time.
5. Allow Your Employees to Say No
Effective time management involves knowing what amount of work your can handle. Don’t force your employees to take on more work than they can handle. If they do, they won’t be able to provide their best quality of work and they will be more resistant to doing the work.
Make your employees responsible for knowing their limits and don’t let them pass that limit with the tasks that they have been given.