How to Optimise Your Time as the CEO

Thriving business owners, founders, MDs, or CEOs will tell you that time management is the key to their success. Yet there are still so many other leaders out there who fail to realise that time management starts with them. 🤔

Whether you’re the managing director of a small and medium enterprise (SME), or the leader of a global conglomerate – how you manage every hour of your day can make or break you.

After all, what do they say? ‘Time is what we want most, but time is also what we use the worst!’

So, in this blog, I explain why – as the person in charge of your business – it's important to know how you’re spending your time so you can use it more wisely.

WHY TIME MANAGEMENT IS SO IMPORTANT FOR CEOs ⏰

As the CEO, the buck stops with you. You’re the person who’s ultimately in control of how successful your business is. That’s why you must get control over what you do with your time.

If you don’t regularly question the daily tasks you’re doing, you could end up falling into a routine of doing what feels comfortable or familiar. Or perhaps getting involved in jobs that could be done by your team. Or worse still, spending your days reacting to whatever comes your way! 🔥

There are only so many hours in a day, and those hours must be spent doing the right things if you want to achieve your business and personal goals. In fact, we’ll discuss what the ‘right things’ are a little later in this blog.

But time management isn't just about using your time wisely, it's also about understanding where your time goes. And the best way to do that is to track your time.

HOW TO GO ABOUT TRACKING YOUR TIME 📈

It might seem like a hassle to keep track of how you're spending every hour of the day. But it can be an extremely valuable exercise. Even if you do it for just one week.

Whether you type your daily tasks into a spreadsheet, pop them in your diary, scribble them down in a notebook, or use a time tracking app – after just one week of tracking your time, you’ll be surprised at what you see. 😲

It’s often helpful to put everything you do into a category. Such as…

• Strategy – for example, researching what your competitors are doing
• Team management – for example, doing 121s
• Client facing – for example, pitching for new work
• Personal development – for example, speaking to a mentor
• Admin – for example, doing emails or signing off expenses
• Wellbeing – for example, going for a run
• Family time – for example, doing the school run

This exercise can help you identify areas where you're wasting time and what you’re not doing enough of. It can also help you to see where you could delegate tasks more effectively. In short, it can give you a better understanding of how you're using your time – and that's something any CEO can benefit from.

TIME STEALERS YOU SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR 🔎

Below is a list of typical time stealers at work. It’s worth seeing your time tracking exercise has identified any of these and what you can do to keep them at bay…

• Doing other people’s work 👎
• Unnecessary or elongated meetings 👎
• Decision-making by committee 👎
• Dealing with people performance or behavioural issues 👎
• Technology (social media, email) 👎

WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING AS A CEO

How you should be spending your time – as the owner, founder, MD, or CEO of your business – depends on what kind of company you run, where you are on your business journey, and what your skills and experiences are.

One commentator wrote that CEOs should follow the 40-30-15-15 formula. In other words:

• 40% of your time should be spent on the future of your business
• 30% of your time should be spent on your business strategy and the daily execution of that strategy
• 15% of your time should be spent reviewing the factors that are affecting the success of your business
• 15% of your time should be working on yourself as a leader

I wonder how this compares to how you’re spending your time today? 🤔

START TO TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR DAYS

Once you’ve identified how you’re using your time and what your time stealers are – you’re now equipped with powerful information that should drive changes to how you manage your days.

For example, it might be time to:

• Delegate more ✅
• Reject some invitations to meetings ✅
• Carve out more time to work on yourself or the future of your business ✅
• Hire more help ✅

💡 Mandy’s productivity tip: keep reminding yourself of Parkinson’s Law. In other words, ‘Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.’ With that in mind, why not try the Pomodoro Technique? It’s something that works for me and could help you too! 🍅

CREATE YOUR OWN STRATEGY DAY

As a CEO, it's essential to periodically step back and assess the big picture of your business. You need time to reflect on where your company stands and where it's heading. This includes strategic planning, analysing market trends, evaluating competitive landscapes, and identifying growth opportunities.

Some CEO’s choose to hold their own CEO Strategy Day once a quarter, to prioritise high-impact initiatives and steering the company toward continued success.

To create your own CEO Strategy Day, start by blocking off a dedicated day in your calendar, ideally away from distractions and interruptions. Next, define your objectives for the day. What specific areas of your business do you want to focus on? Write a list of questions and spend time answering them, such as:

• How is the business performing?
• What improvements have been made since the last quarter?
• Is my vision clear and am I on track to achieve it?
• Where do I need to spend my time and energy?
• What’s draining my time and energy right now that needs addressing to make space for better things?

REMEMBER, IT’S YOUR JOB TO SET THE RIGHT EXAMPLE

In my experience, the way CEOs manage their time sets the tone for the rest of their business too.

For example, if you’re somebody who’s got into a habit of organising unnecessary meetings – or debating everything by committee – then your employees are going to assume that’s the way things are done and will soon start to copy your habits.

This is something to be watchful of. 👌

HOW I CAN HELP YOU

As a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, and a HR director with many years of experience, I can help you to:

Review how you spend your time and take action to change this if necessary
Identify your strengths and use them effectively as the CEO of your business
Help you to build and retain a happy and high-performing team

📲 Book a FREE call with me to chat about how I can help you to operate more successfully as a CEO. 

TO SUM THINGS UP THEN

⏰ The way you manage your time can make or break you and your business

🤔 Time management isn't just about using your time wisely, it's also about understanding where your time goes. And the best way to do that, is to track your time

🗓 Categorising your tasks is a way of seeing what you’re spending your time doing and what the time stealers are

💡 If you want to know what you should you be doing as a CEO, the 40-30-15-15 formula is a helpful benchmark

💪 Once you have a better understanding of what your days look like, use that insight to make positive changes

👍 And remember, the way you manage your time sets an example for those who work for you

📲 If you need help to be more effective with your time, get in touch today!

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