Mastering time management is vital for your personal and professional progression, as well as leading a life that is balanced and fulfilling. Time is one of the only resources we can’t stop or slow down, but when managed effectively, can be used to our advantage. This is especially true of leadership roles, where your growth and development are defined by your commitment.
Whether this is your first time thinking about it, you’ve been struggling with your time keeping for a while, or you just need some support balancing more responsibilities in the same 24 hours – here are some actionable strategies to help refine the skill.
Why do you need time management for personal leadership?
Personal leadership starts with the choices you make every single day, and these needn’t have to be drastic changes. Getting up a little bit earlier or acting on that idea you’ve been pondering both demonstrate the ability to prioritise based on importance and productivity.
Managing your time effectively ensures that precious hours aren’t lost to procrastination, indecision, or distractions. It teaches you accountability and fosters self-discipline, so any challenges that you are presented with can be taken in your stride and put towards long term success.
Setting clear priorities allows you to allocate your time to what truly matters, and will differ from one person to the next. Whatever personal growth project you have running, leading with clarity will help you live intentionally and bring you closer to achieving your goals by breaking big ideas into achievable steps.
As well as practical benefits, good time management also has emotional and physical pay off. A well organised schedule eliminates the rush of meeting deadlines or forgetting responsibilities, creating a stress-reducing response as you start to feel more in control of your life.
Why do you need time management for professional leadership?
Being an effective leader in the workplace requires more than technical skills or expertise – it needs ongoing organisation and careful resource allocation to manage both your own time and that of your team. Without this, you risk disrupting business workflows, stunting productivity and damaging morale.
As soon as you get into a good time-keeping routine, your ability to make informed decisions will feel a lot more natural. Having allowed yourself the room to step back and scope out the task, you won’t feel so pressured to reach a final decision in haste.
A well-structured approach to business operations means leaders don’t have to juggle multiple responsibilities at once and identifies opportunities to delegate tasks. Not only does this streamline processes in line with business goals, it creates better work outcomes and motivates your team.
The paramount of professional leadership is to lead by example. Strong leaders are role models, which means it’s your time management that sets the standard for the rest of the workplace. If you set a culture of efficiency and respect for deadlines, it will inspire your team to do the same.
How to improve your time management
Poor time management is by no means permanent – it can be continuously improved with the right support and procedures in place.
A good place to start is trying to understand where most of your time goes. This can be calculated by tracking the hours you’re currently doing to identify patterns, inefficiencies, and low-impact activities that can be shortened or eliminated altogether. If you struggle to do this manually, there are plenty of time-tracking and planner apps that will do the legwork for you.
Once you’ve separated the minor and major tasks, you can focus on completing the most important projects to the best of your, or your teams, ability. It’s best to allocate specific time slots, and stick to them, to avoid focusing too much on one task at a time.
Setting SMART targets will help you decide how these time slots will fit logistically – this means making your goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Being clear about what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there will help you track your progress and maintain motivation until task completion.
It can sometimes feel unnatural to say no to people, especially in work environments. But despite wanting to appear helpful and busy, saying no is a crucial skill in managing your time effectively. Passing the task on to someone else doesn’t make you lazy or work shy, but instead shows you care about the standard of work being produced. You shouldn’t feel obligated to take on more than you can handle, particularly when you have support from team members who have the capacity to do it.
Be the “reliable one”
By understanding the importance of time management in personal and professional leadership, you can take full control of your schedule and lead a more fulfilling life.
247PLC combines its experience in people development with the latest AI tools to listen to your concerns, and provide actionable steps that will help break the cycle of lateness and disorder.
The service is available to check in with whenever you need pointing in the right direction. Whether it be late night thoughts stopping you from switching off or an unmanageable workload heading your way, you can make conversation with your AI coach at any point. In fact, it’s one of the few things in life that doesn’t require your time management, as it’s all on your own terms.
The platform has been continuously trained by a real-life personal leadership coach to ask thought-provoking questions and provide advice that can be trusted. All conversations are conditioned to mimic an in-person coaching session, constructively outlining the steps you need to take to become a punctual and organised person and leader.
Mastering time management is vital for your personal and professional progression, as well as leading a life that is balanced and fulfilling. Time is one of the only resources we can’t stop or slow down, but when managed effectively, can be used to our advantage. This is especially true of leadership roles, where your growth and development are defined by your commitment.
Whether this is your first time thinking about it, you’ve been struggling with your time keeping for a while, or you just need some support balancing more responsibilities in the same 24 hours – here are some actionable strategies to help refine the skill.
Why do you need time management for personal leadership?
Personal leadership starts with the choices you make every single day, and these needn’t have to be drastic changes. Getting up a little bit earlier or acting on that idea you’ve been pondering both demonstrate the ability to prioritise based on importance and productivity.
Managing your time effectively ensures that precious hours aren’t lost to procrastination, indecision, or distractions. It teaches you accountability and fosters self-discipline, so any challenges that you are presented with can be taken in your stride and put towards long term success.
Setting clear priorities allows you to allocate your time to what truly matters, and will differ from one person to the next. Whatever personal growth project you have running, leading with clarity will help you live intentionally and bring you closer to achieving your goals by breaking big ideas into achievable steps.
As well as practical benefits, good time management also has emotional and physical pay off. A well organised schedule eliminates the rush of meeting deadlines or forgetting responsibilities, creating a stress-reducing response as you start to feel more in control of your life.
Why do you need time management for professional leadership?
Being an effective leader in the workplace requires more than technical skills or expertise – it needs ongoing organisation and careful resource allocation to manage both your own time and that of your team. Without this, you risk disrupting business workflows, stunting productivity and damaging morale.
As soon as you get into a good time-keeping routine, your ability to make informed decisions will feel a lot more natural. Having allowed yourself the room to step back and scope out the task, you won’t feel so pressured to reach a final decision in haste.
A well-structured approach to business operations means leaders don’t have to juggle multiple responsibilities at once and identifies opportunities to delegate tasks. Not only does this streamline processes in line with business goals, it creates better work outcomes and motivates your team.
The paramount of professional leadership is to lead by example. Strong leaders are role models, which means it’s your time management that sets the standard for the rest of the workplace. If you set a culture of efficiency and respect for deadlines, it will inspire your team to do the same.
How to improve your time management
Poor time management is by no means permanent – it can be continuously improved with the right support and procedures in place.
A good place to start is trying to understand where most of your time goes. This can be calculated by tracking the hours you’re currently doing to identify patterns, inefficiencies, and low-impact activities that can be shortened or eliminated altogether. If you struggle to do this manually, there are plenty of time-tracking and planner apps that will do the legwork for you.
Once you’ve separated the minor and major tasks, you can focus on completing the most important projects to the best of your, or your teams, ability. It’s best to allocate specific time slots, and stick to them, to avoid focusing too much on one task at a time.
Setting SMART targets will help you decide how these time slots will fit logistically – this means making your goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Being clear about what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there will help you track your progress and maintain motivation until task completion.
It can sometimes feel unnatural to say no to people, especially in work environments. But despite wanting to appear helpful and busy, saying no is a crucial skill in managing your time effectively. Passing the task on to someone else doesn’t make you lazy or work shy, but instead shows you care about the standard of work being produced. You shouldn’t feel obligated to take on more than you can handle, particularly when you have support from team members who have the capacity to do it.
Be the “reliable one”
By understanding the importance of time management in personal and professional leadership, you can take full control of your schedule and lead a more fulfilling life.
247PLC combines its experience in people development with the latest AI tools to listen to your concerns, and provide actionable steps that will help break the cycle of lateness and disorder.
The service is available to check in with whenever you need pointing in the right direction. Whether it be late night thoughts stopping you from switching off or an unmanageable workload heading your way, you can make conversation with your AI coach at any point. In fact, it’s one of the few things in life that doesn’t require your time management, as it’s all on your own terms.
The platform has been continuously trained by a real-life personal leadership coach to ask thought-provoking questions and provide advice that can be trusted. All conversations are conditioned to mimic an in-person coaching session, constructively outlining the steps you need to take to become a punctual and organised person and leader.