Time management, as business managers well know, is vital in business. In small business management many of the issues about schedule revolve around "non-productive time". The phrase says it all: we prize time spent productively. That commodity is limited in the world of business and so it needs to be managed wisely. Generally speaking it is managed wisely, because management skills focus on getting the most out of productive time. We prize being efficient.
What about "non-productive time"? Is it a necessary evil? Of course not! How a manager approaches breaks, quitting time, leaves and vacations actually makes a difference in the productivity of the company as well as the quality of work. Humans bring to their tasks something computers do not bring: a brain.
Unlike computers, that brain begins to malfunction with constant use. Humans are subject to fatigue. Humans are subject to burnout. Tired humans have more accidents, become less efficient, make mistakes, get discouraged and will quit the company if they are overworked long enough. In other words: time out is important.
Start with good management of your own time outs and then make sure your people are also using time outs wisely.
Breaks
The right number of breaks is however many you need. This varies from day to day and task to task. Intense computer work demands breaks geared to rest the eyes. Manual labor calls for breaks to rest the back. It would be wise to schedule several breaks throughout the day, including lunch. Force yourself to use these breaks and insist that your workers do the same.
Quitting Time
This writer once worked for a boss who had no quitting time for himself. He would work until he was too tired to move or to see. He was the worst boss I ever had! Why? Because he had the same quitting time standard for me and everyone else whose work he managed. The job nevesr ended. Leaving work at the end of the workday was viewed as tragic.
Start with yourself. "A good manager goes home when the day is done." Say that over and over until it becomes your mantra. The implication, of course, is that a good manager organizes the work to be done in a realistic manner.
When is your workday done? When does your workday begin? What is a realistic amount of work to be accomplished within that time frane? When your quitting time rolls around the thing to do is go home. Your work will be waiting for you when you come back. The world does not hinge on your doing several extra hours of work each day. But your life outside of work might well hing on having you there instead of working overtime.
When you have six good hours to work on a given day, schedule six hours of work for yourself, not seven or eight or nine. Six hours might be par for the course, given time out for breaks, lunch and interruptions. Your first responsibility for time management is to get the most out of the time available, first for yourself and then for your workers. Productivity can be measured by how well that time is used.
The manager who is frequently working overtime is not managing well. The workers who frequently get asked to work overtime are being mismanaged. Hours are being taken by the company from what otherwise would be the another part of their lives. This is a recipe for trouble and indication of serious mismanagement.
Leaves and Vacation
The current trend is for people to skip their vacations, cut them short or take work with them on vacation. This goes right along with sleep deprivation that has become a national epidemic. Add working overtime to this recipe and what you will get is fatigue, stress, health problems, burnout and rising employee turnover rates. If you as the manager or self-employed person follow this recipe you will discover that work is no longer satisfying. In the end you are likely also to discover that you can't beat the odds: you, too will end up stressed, fatigued and battling health problems before retirement age.
The moral of the story is that all work and no play truly does make Jack a dull boy. So: take your breaks, go home and have a life when the workday is finished, and enjoy those vacations! Many things have changed in the world of business and economics. But human nature has not changed. None of us are computers.
Don't be acting like you are a computer and do not allow your workers to pretend they are computers!
del.icio.us · digg this · spurl · reddit · furl this
