Did you know that Brazilian productivity is one of the lowest in the world, largely due to poor time management?
And do you, in your day-to-day, have the impression that time is flying? That time is short for so many things to do? Most people complain about lack of time. It became a habit and, perhaps, even an excuse for a certain lack of organization and mismanagement of time.
As Pythagoras said, “With organization and time, one finds the secret of doing everything and doing it well”. So it may seem strange that companies, in the 21st century, still offer their leaders training on time management. But the reality is that there are a huge number of managers who still don't know how to manage their own time or set priorities – for them and for the professionals who make up their team.
Every leader has to know how to manage in time: people, objectives, goals, actions and deadlines.
The Brazilian by nature does not like to plan, but to go straight to the execution and production of his work, without paying attention to time management. A fact that confirms this proposition: a good part of the projects in Brazilian companies suffer delays in relation to the initially planned schedule. The main cause is poor time management by the people involved, especially the leaders.
Another relevant evidence is that many people leave companies because they cannot balance professional and personal lives. This means that, for many professionals, there is a perception that they are working too much – sometimes with overtime involved and additional costs for institutions.
Managing time better is often a crucial topic for leaders. Knowing how to work by establishing priorities is essential not only to improve your performance and avoid delays in deliveries, but it is also useful to retain good professionals in the team. Knowing how to organize the agenda and manage appointments makes a huge difference between you and other leaders, those who often have the talent, but can't be efficient because they don't have the organization and discipline necessary to manage the commitment list.
Planning actions in advance, delegating and distributing tasks among team members taking into account the skills and abilities of their collaborator, the limits of each one and monitoring the results are competencies that the leader needs to acquire and practice in practice daily . Also remembering that there are activities that can be done in parallel to the others and that, however, should not be overlooked and put aside.
To help your organization, knowing and practicing the leadership compass is very important. Dividing your tasks according to importance X urgency makes you more clear about your priorities. Simple relationships:
1. Important and Urgent – do it now;
2. Important and Not Urgent – plan and schedule when it will be done;
3. Not Important and Urgent – delegate;
4. Not Important and Not Urgent – delete.
Below is a model of a Leadership Compass with tasks that could go into each quadrant.
I'm sure that putting this in your routine, you will take a good step towards managing your time.
Édila Souza is an Executive Educator and columnist for Gente Mais Portal.
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