For a business to flourish, it needs to be organised and to utilise resources efficiently. Ensuring that you and your staff can effectively manage your time is an important step in helping you to do more within your budget. This article brings together four of my video series focusing on time management, productivity and a willingness to be flexible.

Flexibility in business planning

In times of constant change, such as the past couple of years, a vital element for business success is flexibility. Flexibility around your targets, your direction, your people and your planning processes enable business owners to respond to changing circumstances quickly and retain an agile mindset.

There are three important aspects where flexibility can make a huge difference to your business.

1) During 2020 and into 2021, creating a 30-day planning timeframe was a great way to manage ever changing rules, regulations and working challenges to ensure business survival.

But now in early 2022, should we consider reverting to a longer planning timeframe or are there reasons to continue with the shorter span?

I am working with my clients now on the 90-day planning approach, but we are continuing to place more emphasis on each 30 day period whilst things are settling into the new long-term way of working that is still emerging.

2) Whichever timeframe you choose for planning, the key to successful planning when you are a business of more than one is communication. Timely, clear accurate information that enables your staff to manage their priorities and workload optimally will mean your business stays on track. Adopting more flexible, agile communication methods, perhaps using technology such as Slack, can make a significant difference to your ability to respond to a changing environment.

3) Finally, the other thing to pivot on is cash flow management. Liquidity is key, so make sure that you are on top of your numbers and look for ways to reduce your debtors, reduce your work-in-progress and lengthen your own payment terms if possible.

Of course, there could be other elements of your business that need to be approached flexibly and you can watch my video on Flexible planning which discusses some more areas to consider.

Time management

When businesses must change their ways of working, one of the things that can fall by the wayside is time management. A couple of my clients particularly struggled during the lockdown with their productivity which was down to inadequate time management. It was common to hear comments such as ‘I wasted the whole morning because something came up and then I couldn’t get back on track.’

Getting on top of your workload and planning your time at the beginning of each week is a necessary discipline. It is important to step back and, on a Friday, look at what is happening for the following week. Prioritise, put things in the diary, including your leisure activities, going out for a walk, spending time with the family, taking a lunch break – it is called time blocking and it can help you to stay much more focused so you can get through your task list.

I would recommend creating 30 minute or 60-minute blocks to hold space in your calendar for all the tasks on your to-do lists including non-business tasks and to make this a habit on a weekly basis.

Of course, we all know that sometimes something unexpected comes up that will throw your best laid plans out of the window but then all you need do is move that block of time in your diary and your activity is then replanned.

Using focus sheets

Another way that I support my clients to get the best from their business, is to use focus sheets during coaching sessions. For each session the client must complete a focus sheet that details what has been achieved since the last session. This is created from the two or three goals that they want to achieve between the two sessions which are generally held a fortnight apart.

This approach enables us to explore what their challenges might have been during that time, what their greatest focus has been when they are working ‘on’ their business as opposed to ‘in’ their business during that time. We will also review their motivations levels because it is very important to have the right mindset in order to continue working with a positive mind frame.

I know that this approach can work and can empower clients to embrace tasks that they may have previously struggled with. One client was a bit wary of making phone calls to particular prospects – she was a little bit fearful of cold calling and telephone sales. So the goal was for her to make a few phone calls between the two sessions. The day before she sent me her focus sheet, that goal had been achieved. It has been achieved in part because she had said she was going to call 10 prospects, but she called five, but at least she went some way in doing that because otherwise, she would have let it drift and it would not have happened at all. So that was progress.

No alt text provided for this image

Creating more time

One of the things that a lot of business owners say is that they have no time to do anything. Of course, we all have the same 24 hours each day, but some people are better at using that time in ways that move their business forward. One of the first things I do with clients is to find out how they are spending their time and then how their employees are spending their time to make sure that everybody is being productive.

Some of the questions I will ask include:

·        Are you scheduling your activities (see time-blocking above)?

·        How are you working ‘in’ your business vs. ‘on’ your business?

·        Are you monitoring how productive you are being?

·        What are you delegating?

I use the phrase ‘default diary’ and I encourage clients to be referring to that dairy from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed. As I mentioned earlier, putting in your work and leisure activities and making sure that there is time for relaxation as well. It is about getting organised.

One clear example of a client who was struggling with needing more time had five managers, but his biggest issue was that all his time was being sucked up by those managers constantly asking him questions. My advice was to create the default diary which enabled him to time-block for his own work and make dedicated space for his managers, so they knew when he could be disturbed and when they needed to leave him alone. He was sceptical about the approach but agreed to trial it for two weeks. That was two and a half years ago, and he still says to me, ‘That time thing you told me, it changed my life.’

Making more time means you must look for opportunities to delegate and outsource effectively. Without this approach you cannot hope to. Business owners can get huge time wins by:

·        simplifying things

·        delegating

·        organising

·        planning

·        implementing more structure

Great time management can have a huge impact on your ability to achieve more of the right things in your business so you can reach your financial targets. If you have time management ideas that have improved your business, I would love to chat to you about it. You can email me on falgunidesai@actioncoach.com or message me on LinkedIn.