A career track can be a minefield for those who lack organisation and good time management skills!
When dealing with multiple clients in a fast-paced and high pressure environment, you need to keep on your toes and ensure that you manage your time efficiently to prevent stress and future melt-downs.
The consequences of good or bad time management are even more important — it won’t just affect you or your firm’s reputation, it can also have a real impact on your client’s success in their own business.
Here are my top four tips for good time management:
1. Read and respond to emails as soon as possible
It’s easy to read an email and tell yourself that you will reply or take the necessary action later – only to completely forget about the email completely after just a few minutes time.
Email inboxes tend to fill up, so even if you are busy doing something else when an email comes through, take a few minutes to attend to it in order to avoid any forgetfulness down the track. Clients really appreciate it if you reply promptly and address their concerns.
If there are files attached to an email, add them in the client file, even if you don’t have time to read it. You will thank yourself when you open that file next time!
2. Diarise activities that you need to do each day
Your head won’t remember everything you tell yourself needs to be done, so it’s imperative that you have a written record on a daily basis so that you are aware of upcoming deadlines.
Ensure that if you don’t complete all the activities at the end of the day, re-diarise the activity for the next day or a few days later. This will ensure the efficiency of your files.
3. Update your files regularly
Before any upcoming important client meetings, be sure to check the files – make sure you know what work is still outstanding and what needs to be done so that you don’t find yourself missing deadlines.
To-do lists at the top of file folders are a good way to remind yourself of what needs to be done when you open that file up again. The last thing you want is to find yourself missing something significant that can cause delays and result in an unhappy or dissatisfied client.
4. Deadlines
It’s very important to keep track of all deadlines, but this is often easier said than done. But recording them straight away and regularly reminding yourself of upcoming deadlines means you won’t find yourself in the disastrous position of missing one.
Always take note of the timeframe you have, and ensure that you make yourself available to meet the deadline, no matter how busy you are.
In conclusion…
Of course, finding a system of organisation that works for you can take some time. All professionals should be constantly assessing how they can improve their practice methods to be as efficient as possible. For some ideas on what skills the most productive people master, check out this post on time management.
Ultimately keeping good time management strategies are well worth it – they will lead to better work efficiency, lower stress levels and higher client satisfaction.
