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Effective Leadership Skills:
7 Tips To Manage Your Time & Goals
Effective leadership skills are gleaned through various practices, including learning how to manage your time. If you can't manage your own time, then being an effective leader is all the more troublesome.
- Start. As simple as it sounds, the first thing you need to do is start. If you have something you need to write, sit down and write the first paragraph. Everything will flow more smoothly towards completion once the project has started. Effective leadership skills can only get going if you put them in action.
Bonus Tip: Schedule 5 – 10 minutes of time with yourself to simply start your tasks. Measure the time and make sure that you stick to it.
“What gets measured gets treasured.” – Brian Lee, CSP
- Set Clear Goals and Objectives. Keep a to-do list, in combination with a day planner if you like. Be sure to go into each day with a clear idea of what you need to do. If you want to have effective leadership then you need a plan.
Bonus Tip: Plan your next week's goals, and then plan your to-do list as a result of your goals (not the opposite). Plan what you are going to do for the next day at the end of your current day, in case you have changing priorities from plans that you made last week.
“You can't hit a target you don't set; in fact, you may just end up hitting everything else – are you being hired to hit everything else?”
- Know Your “Sweet Spot” of the Day. What is your most productive period of time; what is your least productive time, did you achieve your goals, and how could you have done what you were doing more effectively? Get to know the times of day that work for you in terms of specific tasks.
Bonus Tip: Even though some people say they are not morning people, try segmenting first thing in the morning to complete an important task or activity. There is a lot to be said for “getting it out of the way”.
“For every disciplined effort, there is a multiple reward.” – Jim Rohn
- Handle e-mail and Phone Calls in Batches. If you are like most people, you get phone calls and e-mail messages throughout the day. However, if you respond to them as they come in, your day will be too fragmented to do anything effectively. Try “chunking” e-mail and telephone calls together and return them all at once. Do your best to utilize the tools that the phone and e-mail systems offer you for management of these contacts. Keeping distractions away from your effective leadership skills is essential to success.
Bonus Tip: Do your most important activity in your “sweet spot” time first; then take a short reward stretch break, or have something you can look forward to, such as a fresh cup of coffee.
“Everyone wants the gold medal, but not everyone is willing to run the race.”
- Divide Larger Tasks into Groups of Smaller Ones. Break a job into bite-sized pieces for easier consumption. Look at it like cleaning a room. You may not have time to clean the whole room, but you should pick a task to match the amount of time available. If you've got 20 minutes, you can do a drawer, with 40 minutes, you can clean a closet. With an hour, maybe you can clean the whole room.
Bonus Tip: Deciding on the amount of time needed for a task is key. Always allow more time for planning.
“Measure twice, cut once. Don't bite off more than you can chew.”
- Prioritize Tasks. Try to understand the difference between urgent and important. Also try to create lists of what must be done by the end of the day, what should be done by the end of the day and what you would like done by the end of the day. Don't penalize your leadership skills by not being effective in your efficiency to get important tasks completed.
Bonus Tip: What are your top three goals each day? Tell others for accountability.
“If you have to swallow two frogs, swallow the biggest one first.” – Brian Tracy
- Learn When to Say No. Many people are afraid to let their managers know how busy they are, however, if you are overextended, it is important that you speak up for yourself. The primary effective leadership skills is communication, but knowing when to say "no" will help keep you from overextending yourself.
Bonus Tip: Let your boss know, based on company goals, what is on your to-do list are for the week so that they are aware of your workload.
“You can't cure what you don't know about. You'll never know about something until you ask the right questions.”
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Defining Leadership
