For you to be a successful manager you have to feel in control at all times. If you are stressed out and all over the place, your staff, bosses and colleagues will pick up on this very quickly and will conspire to add to the pressure you are already feeling. This will cause a downward spiral that is hard to break.
The way to avoid this in the first place is to have a clear picture of what has to be done and an even clearer picture of who has to do what. For this to happen you have to block of a chunk of time to formulate the picture in the first place. This thinking time and planning time is probably the most important thing any manager can do, so you have to guard your diary to make sure sufficient time is set aside for this vital function.
Work to your own body clock here, some people are most creative first thing in the morning others late in the evening, whatever time you are at your best, pick an appropriate location for your session. Only use your own desk if you are happy you will not be disturbed. Why not book a meeting room for a set period of time and close the door behind you and get to work. From everyone else’s perspective you are at an important meeting, this is true, although some might be surprised to discover the attendance at the meeting is only one!
If you are working in an open plan office you can use a couple of simple systems to give you some uninterrupted working time. The first is where you agree with a colleague that if you can divert your phone to them for an hour, they can divert their phone to you for an hour. This means the phone will be answered and you will get to concentrate on the job in hand. You can also use a system with red stickers when applied to the wall of the partition indicates that the door is closed and you are not to be disturbed. Some people think that because you are in an open plan office you are available at all times, this system, as long as it is not over used will give you the time you need for the important tasks.
You are probably getting the picture at this stage that management is a function that is carried out on a one to one level. Part of everyday should be devoted to talking to your staff individually, to explain exactly what has to be done, the standards that have to be achieved and the desired outcome.
I am a huge fan of written lists; you should maintain a list of what has to be done at any given time. I recommend updating your list before you leave the office in the evening to make sure nothing has been missed. This also has the added bonus of enabling you to leave the work behind you in the office rather than constantly carrying it around with you in your head – particularly when you get home in the evening.
Every time you make a list of what has to be done there are a number of key questions:
When does this task have to be completed by?
Who is the best person to complete this task?
What can be done to either automate or eliminate this task altogether?
With this level of thinking performance will improve.
The order that tasks are completed is up to you, again some simple rules help here. The question you must ask as you are going through the list is “What is the most important thing I can do right now? Not what is the easiest? Or what will get others off my back? Unless those “others” includes your boss, the tasks your boss has asked you to do should always be at the very top of your priority list. There are many reasons for this statement and we discuss this later. In the meantime get in control, write your list, analyse what you have to do and why. Then spend your time working on the most important things and you will see a real difference on a daily basis.