Why is time management important for small businesses!

1. “Have you ever noticed some people are able to stay organised while getting a massive quantity of work accomplished, while others appear to be busy but never actually produce results? Time management is the key to becoming a successful entrepreneur.” – Clay Clark

The quote above highlights the importance of time management. Considering that small businesses have multiple tasks to handle with resource and capital limitations, effective time management is key to handle different business aspects efficiently. With a proper time management plan, employees can prioritise their activities, improve efficiency levels, businesses can enhance production quality and reduce turnaround time. Using time management tricks, small businesses can efficiently manage coherent and complex processes and also negate the possibility of careless mistakes.

An apparent benefit of time management is that the employees have more time to innovate and find creative ways to generate revenue. With a concrete time management plan, managers can define milestones for every activity, identify potential delays and ensure that quality product is delivered in the defined period. Furthermore, adhering to a plan saves employees from overburdening themselves at work, offers them a relaxed environment and elevates productivity.

Time management has multiple benefits for any business but preparing an effective plan for the same can be intimidating. Keep the below mentioned points in mind while tailoring one.

1. Set priorities

Prioritising tasks according to the project’s complexity or revenue value is the first step for proper time management. Prioritisation of tasks/projects enables businesses to work according to deadlines and ensures quality deliverables.

2. Set achievable goals

Effective for both the owner and the employees, setting goals and milestones enables employees to map the progress of the project and figure out the delays in case a deadline is missed. Proper calculation of time spent in completing any task enables businesses to identify the scope of automation. Receiving targets in advance gives employees enough room for tailoring strategies to achieve them.

3. Keep space for disruptions

Since automation is involved today in completion of many tasks, it may happen that work sometimes gets prolonged/stalled due to some technical problems. Therefore, a certain amount of time should be dedicated for countering any malfunctions while defining milestones.

4. Recognise and remove time wasters

There are many tasks which consume most of an employees’ time. Managers need to identify these spots and devise certain automation methods if possible. If these tasks are non-productive, then employees need to figure out ways in which they can deliberately reduce the time spent.

5. Delegate work

If managers are constantly overloaded, then subordinates should be recruited. Delegation of tasks gives managers time to think on strategies. And, since a resource will be dedicatedly working on a particular assignment, the probability of getting quality outcome increases.

6. Use the Promodoro technique

This technique suggests employees to take a break of several minutes before initiating the next task. Use of this time management technique help employees remain focused till the task is completed.

7. Utilise time tracking solutions

One of the most effective time management tips is using an online software that not only gives timesheet summary reports but also offers approval reports, leave reports and more. The timesheet summary report gives detailed information of every employee’s time spent in completing different tasks. These reports can be filtered on the basis of different parameters which makes it easier for managers to track progress of different tasks, assign priorities and actually figure out extra time spent for completing any particular activity.

The Closing Note

Finding a time management solution that exactly caters to your needs requires trial and error. Time management tips that works for one small business owner may not work for another and it is hence recommended to try out different methods till the most effective technique is found.

Quiddity offers small businesses a trial period to test out all the time management features with no hidden costs or charges for a period of 14 days. Being a small business ourselves, we truly understand the value of time in any business. Experience the myriad features of Quiddity before making the decision to buy. Call us to know more.