Manage with Minimum Time

Source: Management Tips – Harvard Business Review

Do you strive to be a good manager or mentor, but feel you do not have that time to do it well? Don’t get trapped into thinking that leadership is an extra commitment on top of your day job. How you lead, not how much, is what counts. Here are three ways to maximize your management in minimum time:

  • Turn dead time into development time. Look for every small stretch in your day when you could be talking to someone and convert each into a coaching opportunity. Walking out of a meeting? Use those two minutes to give your direct report feedback on the presentation.
  • Show up in people’s work spaces. Once per day, get up and walk over to the desk of someone you haven’t spoken to recently. Take two minutes to ask her what she’s working on.
  • Make two contacts per day. Everyday, e-mail two people you met with that day and offer “feedforward.” Employees who know that you’re trying to develop their skills will stay engaged.
Manage with minimum time