Tick tock: How effective leaders manage their time

It’s no secret then that C-level execs do indeed fit the stereotype of workaholics with little downtime. But that doesn’t always have to be the case. CEO burnout is very much a reality, with the World Health Organisation adding “burn-out” to its Classification of Diseases as an “occupational phenomenon” in 2019. With that in mind, here are seven tips on how to manage every leader’s most precious and influential resource - time.

1. Audit yourself

Develop a crystal-clear understanding of your unique strengths and use it to define the tasks that  can only be done by you.

Everything else can fall under these categories: tasks you can delegate while retaining decision-making responsibilities; tasks and decision-making responsibilities you can delegate fully; and tasks and decision-making responsibilities you can delegate, while continuing to be kept in the loop.

Assemble a team with members skilled in the areas that are not your own forte, and communicate your expectations about autonomy and accountability clearly. Remain consistent and do not micro-manage.

For example, legendary GE CEO Jack Welch was dubbed “Neutron Jack” for his ability to cut out unproductive work and attract the best personnel to propel the company into pole position in key categories. Meanwhile, US investor Warren Buffett has highlighted the unsustainable returns of his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, and built partnerships with the CEOs of companies under his portfolio to ensure business longevity.

3. Make your calendar work for you

One strategy is to cluster together similar tasks that require a certain mindset, such as responding to emails. This means you don’t have to spend time re-orienting yourself each time you switch into a new gear for a different type of task.

4. Help your team help you

Some business leaders may consider hiring a business coach or tapping on a mentor to help keep them accountable and provide support. In fact, the late ex-football coach Bill Campbell was a pivotal figure in the success of Silicon Valley superstars like Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Sundar Pichai at Google, Steve Jobs at Apple, Brad Smith at Intuit, John Donahoe at eBay, Marissa Mayer at Yahoo, Dick Costolo at Twitter, and Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook.

According to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who co-authored the book Trillion Dollar Coach to codify the teachings of Campbellsays, "every famous athlete and performer has a coach, somebody who can watch what you are doing and give you perspective. A coach really helps."

Alternatively (or additionally), business leaders can save themselves a lot of time by clearly communicating their priorities and agenda to their team, and that includes not just senior management, but also staff like their executive assistants who typically help structure their calendars. If your team knows what is important to you, they can help you stay aligned with your time management goals.

5. Stay familiar with your products, services and customers

Helicopter leadership is no match for an intimate understanding of frontline issues. Set aside regular periods to really get down to the ground with your core products and services, and spend time with your customers. Whether that means walking a factory floor or going full undercover boss, this will enable you to see clearly where potential problems and opportunities are, as well as send a powerful signal to staff about how they should approach their work.

Remember, with online interactions becoming more pervasive, facetime is becoming correspondingly more precious. 2018 survey by research group Kollective, 62 per cent of workers expect to be able to communicate with their CEOs face-to-face, with less than half satisfied with the current communication with their CEOs.

6. Set online boundaries

Despite the advances in communication technologies, the email inbox is still the frontline of many workplace communications, and the email habits of business leaders can set the tone for the whole company.

So, while making sure you set aside time to clear emails efficiently, also be cognisant of what norms you are establishing. Do you send emails late at night, on weekends, and during holidays? Do you expect your staff to do so too? What communications do you expect to be copied on, and what can staff expect you to reply to?

Jason Fried, CEO of US software company Basecamp, for one, doesn’t believe that workers should be contacted after hours except during real emergencies. He adds, “it’s reasonable to have one or two emergencies a year - but if it’s more frequent than that, you’ve got deeper problems on your hands.”

Clearly assess your email habits and communicate your expectations. This also applies to other increasingly common forms of communication, such as workplace messaging platforms.

7. Less is more

There are 24 hours in a day, but that doesn’t mean you should pack all of those hours with work. The mind is not a machine — besides setting aside downtime to recharge and reflect, you should also schedule buffer time in between tasks and meetings to prime your mind for information processing and optimal focus.

Bill Gates famously makes time for solo “think weeks” in his country cabin, during which he spends up to 18 hours a day reading books and pitches from Microsoft employees on new innovations. It’s helpful to spend some time away in a “third place” that isn’t one’s office or home to recalibrate and gain new insights.