by Ciara Conlon,
Management can be a challenging job; trying to balance all your responsibilities, maintain positive relationships and of course deliver the results you were hired for.
So what is it that distinguishes a good manager from the crowd?
In my experience productive managers tend to react less, they are more in control of both their responsibilities at work and their personal lives. Here are some of the habits that most productive managers share.
1. Plan & Schedule
Productive managers leave some time every day to plan the next. Poor managers tend to be reactive, weathering each storm as it comes. Effective managers are proactive, spending time each day looking at the big picture and readjusting priorities.
A lot of workers spend their most alert hours answering emails and trying to figure out what their priorities are. When you spend a half an hour doing this the evening before you will hit the ground running next day and use your more productive hours in the most productive way.
It won’t be always easy finding this time in a fast paced environment but those who do, reap plentiful rewards.
2. Don’t attend every meeting
A trick that needs to be learnt early on in your career is not to attend every meeting you are invited to. Some believe, the more meetings they attend the more in control they will be, in fact it is often the opposite. The more time you spend in meetings the less time you have for staying on top of your work load. You need to determine which meetings merit the investment of time. You can grade them essential, important and trivial and make up your mind after that. Obviously this will depend on your organisation and level of seniority but when you can avoid them, do.
Often meetings are used for status updates, when the more appropriate means of status updates are through a team tool.
3. Use a task management tool
A team tool is an excellent way to stay in control, keeping your team focused and accountable at all times. A team tool can be a project management tool or a team task manager, a place where all team tasks are stored and updated daily. If you can get your team to commit to updating regularly you can stay informed on the status of each project at all times. There are many tools to choose from, some of my favourites include; Teamwork, Asana and Trello, but there are many excellent ones to choose from and making the choice will depend on your team and projects’ requirements.
4. Look after their bodies
Productive managers look after their bodies. The latin phrase ‘Mens sana in corpore sano’ says it all. You need a healthy body for a healthy mind and daily exercise is an essential part of this. Morning exercise will give you the energy you need to get through the day, as well as reducing your stress and increasing your well being. If you can’t find the time to exercise, consider getting up an hour earlier in the morning. This will require going to bed an hour earlier but for most people the last hour before bed is usually an unproductive one.
As well as daily exercise, daily nutrition should be on your radar. Eating healthy energy fueled snacks rather than sugar loaded treats will keep you feeling alert and focused. Drink plenty of water during the day to stay hydrated. A dehydrated brain doesn’t produce good work.
Take regular breaks, your mind can only concentrate for approximately twenty minutes so regular breaks to stretch, refill your water, do a yoga pose, even if you just stand up and touch your toes, you will be able to focus your attention for much longer periods. Try the Pomodoro technique for a guided way to encourage you to take regular breaks.
5. Communicate Effectively
As a manager in order to get your work done, you need others to do their work too. The way to ensure this happens is to communicate effectively. Make sure your team are clear about their goals and have the skills and tools to complete them.
Give regular feedback and commit to an open dialog with all of your team. In this way they are less likely to make mistakes by not asking for clarification and more likely to be happier and more engaged at work.
If you can do these five things daily, you will become one of the most productive managers you know.
About the author
Ciara Conlon is “The Productivity Coach”, a consultant and speaker who specialises in the areas of personal productivity and leadership development. Ciara is the author of two books on productivity; Chaos to Control, a practical guide to getting things done and Productivity for Dummies.
