In today’s corporate world, it’s easy to struggle in isolation and feel overwhelmed by work and the ‘hustle culture.’ As you get recognised for the impressive work you do, and receive the promotions you deserve, settling into a middle management role could be a little uncomfortable at first, especially if you are unprepared. It’s pretty easy to look up to senior colleagues and beat yourself up for not delivering at their pace. However, that is counterproductive and it could trick you into thinking you are not doing good enough or you do not belong there.
If you ever feel this way, remind yourself that those senior managers were once were you are right now. Over the years, they have figured out their workflow, how to manage their time, team, and importantly, use technology tools to their advantage. Here’s some good news, mastering these productivity hacks for leaders can ultimately help you: lead your team with confidence and trust, achieve more in less time, keep your team engaged, and hit the goals that truly matter.
20 Productivity Hacks for Diverse Leaders Like You
1. Know your most productive times
Stop expecting yourself to be productive at every moment of the day. Remember you are human, not a machine and you have limits. Recognising these limits and knowing the time of the day when you have the highest level of concentration, changes everything for you. By doing your most critical tasks during your peak productive times, you tend to let your creative juices flow, make fewer mistakes, and simply enjoy doing your task rather than dreading the process.
2. Adopt a prioritisation technique
This is one of my personal favourites. With a long list of things to do, determining where to begin could be a tough one to decide. For this reason, I’ve adopted the Eisenhower Matrix prioritisation technique over the years and it keeps working for me. Regardless of how overwhelming your to-do list looks, this technique helps in prioritising tasks based on urgency and importance.
In case you missed the July Built for Balance session where I shared how I used this technique, you can still access my free Eisenhower Matric template to help you in determining what tasks to do, delegate, schedule, or delete.
3. Plan and review your week
Many people do the first part, i.e. planning their week but they ignore the latter. Personally, at the start of each new week, I make a list of things I need to achieve for that week and then break them down into daily tasks. Approaching my week this way gives me clarity on what’s most important without losing sight of what my overall goals are.
Aside from planning, taking a moment to review your activities at the end of the week helps you determine how well you performed. It also enables you to know areas you spent the most time on, tasks you may be struggling with, and how you can optimise things for better performance.
4. Start your day early
It’s true that your mornings set the tone for the rest of your day. Waking up early gives you more time to get things done in an organised manner. It’s also an opportunity to work on your personal tasks if you’re trying to build a name outside of your corporate job. By starting your day early, you can make out time to learn a new skill, meditate, journal, work out, and generally set yourself up for a productive day.
5. Remove distractions
From responding to a bunch of emails to attending to Slack messages and those social media notifications, we live in a noisy world. But that shouldn’t stop you from becoming a productive middle manager. All you need is a mix of discipline and being intentional about your focus time. Take out all distractions and block out time to do impactful work.
6. Choose monotasking over multitasking
Don’t be deceived, monotasking is cool, and doing numerous things at a time doesn’t make you more productive. Instead, you are training your mind to accommodate distractions. Focusing on only one task at a time reduces the time spent on such a task rather than spreading your attention across several things and failing to conclude any.
7. Batch similar activities
By batching similar activities, you are helping yourself stay in the same mind frame as you execute each of them. For example, you can block out some time to work on a business proposal and on the same day, create a strategy document. This would work better than moving from one task to a totally unrelated task like participating in an office video shoot.
8. Embrace diversity and inclusion
The differences in cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and even interests are what make a team diverse. Recognise the diversity within your team by accepting people the way they are and finding ways to positively impact their lives and work process. By celebrating/recognising their culture, festivals, holidays, etc., you are a step ahead in boosting their morale which could impact their productivity.
9. Encourage effective communication
It’s important to let your team know your preferred mode of communication as well as when you prefer to communicate. If you would rather respond to emails or calls during certain times, let them know. Effective communication helps in improving collaboration and preventing mistakes that could have been tackled in-house.
10. Identify and address conflicts
A united team has the potential to go farther and faster than a divided one. Having conflicts within teams is quite inevitable. However, such conflicts must be identified and tackled quickly to ensure everyone on the team feels heard and seen. Failing to address conflicts responsibly could bring forth negativity and anger among affected parties which could affect the team’s productivity.
11. Create templates for recurring tasks
Identify activities you find yourself doing repeatedly for each project or client, and create a template for such tasks. In some cases, you can also create a checklist of all activities that your team must complete to ensure the success of a recurring event. This way, you and your team never have to always think about the next steps in executing tasks.
12. Document and organise work processes
Searching for files, notes, and documents is not cute. To ensure you have every document you need in the right place and accessible when you need them, start by naming files correctly and encouraging your team to do the same. With tools like your email, Google Drive, and even your computer folder, you can group documents together in appropriate folders or labels. You can also use colour codes to differentiate them and stay more organised.
13. Have an editable calendar
This has to be one of the most underrated productivity hacks for leaders. Once you start using an online calendar to block out time for tasks, schedule appointments, and have a broad look at your day, you will see how game-changing this is to all aspects of your life.
14. Be compassionate
Being kind to your team does not make you look weak. Instead it earns you respect as a compassionate and emotionally intelligent leader. When you show empathy, your team will be more confident in your ability to lead them. This translates to their productivity as they trust you to make decisions based on the common good of the team and company as a whole.
15. Delegate, outsource, and say no
Based on a Harvard Business Review article, delegation is one of the most underutilised and underdeveloped management capabilities. It’s time to ditch the idea that a task will get done faster if you do it yourself compared to when you delegate or outsource it. A better approach will be to identify the activities you struggle with or often make mistakes at and get others who are better at such tasks to take them up. This way, your team feels engaged and you can also free up time to do other things.
16. Schedule times for less impactful tasks
Things like checking your emails, returning calls, catching up with social media, and other random activities are a part of your daily life, so schedule an hour or more to attend to those activities. Doing this reduces how often you mindlessly scroll and refresh your email or other apps.
17. Participate in continuous professional development
The more knowledgeable you are, the less time you will spend executing certain tasks. This makes it important for every manager to invest in capacity building by participating in continuous professional development. It also makes your team see you as a trusted and knowledgeable leader who can offer valuable insights on issues. Aside from professional development, you should also prioritise your personal development as it translates into you being more productive and a better leader.
18. Nap, sleep, and relax
You already work so hard and regardless of what some motivational speakers tell you, never feel guilty for getting at least 7 – 8 hours of sleep daily. Taking a power nap during the day will energise you more than you can imagine. So, rest when you need to, and when you feel less creative, it’s absolutely fine to take a break, drink some water, and engage in other activities that can re-energise you.
19. Ask questions and get help
Why spend hours trying to figure things out when you can ask questions from those who are subject experts on your team? You being a manager does not mean you have to know every single thing or possess all the skills required within your company. A more productive approach to leading your team is to have a growth mindset, ask brilliant questions, and do not hesitate to get help from those who are more experienced or knowledgeable about an issue.
Trying to figure things out all by yourself could lead to wasted hours when a simple question directed at the right person can solve your worries.
20. Use the right technology tools
As technology continues to evolve, be open-minded to discover and embrace tools that can potentially ease your work. Opt-in for simplified but functional tools that meet the needs of your team and business in general. One tool I’m most excited about right now is Contestify, an all-in-one solution for hosting and managing viral competitions. You can sign-up now and get notified when it launches.
And that’s a wrap!
With these 20 productivity hacks for leaders, you are right on your way to becoming a productivity rockstar and taking control of chaotic moments in your life. Whether you are a multitasker, procrastinator, or overthinker, give yourself some grace and take steps to figure out how to get your best work done without hating your job.
This article has been updated to contain all the resources and materials shared during the July 2023 Built for Balance session you can access them through the links below.
B4B From Chaos to Control Presentation
B4B Chaos to Control Workbook
The Eisenhower Matrix – Time Management Tool
If you haven’t, you can join my Inner Circle to get timely updates on my upcoming coaching sessions and access more professional and personal development resources.
Would you like to get in touch with me? Let’s connect.