The success of a business is directly linked to the efficiency of the management. Managers need to be able to balance workplace productivity with their workers’ needs, financial pressure, time management, and external factors. This necessitates the capacity to listen and at the same time prioritize work and make the right decision
At the center, is much more than fulfilling tasks through other people. If you want to create effective management within your organization, you must understand what makes a good manager: the ability to communicate and delegate responsibilities, the ability to lead, the ability to manage time and resources. This will help you also in solving problems quickly and continue operating in an effective capacity.
Manage your time
A manager needs to be able to manage time effectively. Mastering time management will result in better efficiency and productivity, decrease the level of stress, and generally results in a more successful life.
To increase the efficiency of your managerial skill it is advised to decrease the level of stress by following a task schedule. A simple to-do list can help you see tangible progress, which helps you to alleviate stress and reliefs you from the anxiety of getting things done.
With more time at hand, you can focus on opportunities and extra activities which will increase efficiency and productivity overall. The skill of prioritization and management of tasks is very important in achieving the desired skills.
Managing time more efficiently also means prioritizing tasks according to their importance. This way you can allocate the appropriate time to each of them. One trick to increase your efficiency is to start with the most difficult tasks first. If you start with the most difficult task first you can dedicate the best part of your energy and focus. It is very important to learn to complete a task without interruption for a long period. This improvement in focus will result in higher efficiency and better time management.
Manage your finances
One area you can always improve your efficiency is how you spend your money. In case you are not monitoring your spending correctly, you might be collecting bills that are not necessary for your business.
Many businesses have different accounts, saving accounts, credit card account, checking account. It is important for you as a manager to improve your efficiency by tracking how much you spend and withdraw from every one of your accounts. Keep in mind that small expenses add up, and if you are not careful you will have to face an important bill in the end.
Your debt is another criterion of personal efficiency. For example, according to the source, the average credit card APR is a bit lower than 16%, which is still a significant rate that can influence the budget. It’s not always easy to refuse external sources of financing your personal expenses, especially when making large purchases. In order to keep your debt under control you may track 2 main indicators:
- Debt to income ratio, which is calculated as the sum of money you owe to your sources of financing (they may include banks, lenders, or even friends and family) divided by your monthly salary. This ratio shows how many months you need to work in order to pay off your debt (you may also deduct some general expenses like food or utility bills from your salary, as you probably won’t be able to escape those payments).
- Monthly payments to income ratio, which is calculated as the sum of monthly debt payments divided by your income. This ratio shows what share of your income you’ll have to spend on your debt.
You need to track your expenses regularly and manage your accounting books accordingly. By learning to log your personal expenses you will become much more efficient in managing the resources of your business.
Learn to understand your employees
For you to improve the efficiency of your managerial skills you should be able to distinguish between a good worker and a good manager. One of the biggest mistakes a manager can make is to promote the wrong person. Even though it is not very intuitive, the most capable employees are not always the best prepared to manage others. Of course, it is important to have technical and leadership skills, but being the best in a particular job does not translate into a great manager. In many cases, it decreases the efficiency of the organization.
By removing the most productive employee from the job by promoting them to a manager, you can decrease the productivity of the team. Also, it has to be taken into consideration that the best employee might be an individual who expects others to do the job in the same way. They may lack communication skills and will fail to communicate their best practice to others. Only because an employee is good at what he does, does not necessarily mean they will be able to lead the team at the same performance level.
Improve your organizational skills
In many cases, businesses are created without taking fully into consideration the correct reporting and decision-making process structure of the company. This impacts the company especially in finding the right person or team to solve possible issues you might face. It can be even worse if the manager is not empowered to make a difficult decision, which can result in a halt for the company.
As a manager, you should develop the skill to create a simple tool like an organizational chart, a decision tree, and a contact list which can help increase productivity since everyone knows who does what. The organizational chart can support your employees to find the right person they can escalate an issue when people are not in the office. The contact list can help to reach the right person quickly in case of emergencies. The decision tree makes clear the responsibilities and decisions can an employee perform without approval. Such basic tools will increase productivity and effectiveness by removing bottlenecks and bureaucracy, which increase labor costs and decrease efficiency.
Create a friendly workplace
One of the challenges for you as a manager is to create an environment where the employees feel trusted and empowered. Failing to tackle this challenge will result in an efficient business. It is crucial to have employee engagement, where employees create a strong bond with the company, the management, and the team because they care and feel valued, empowered, and trusted. In such an environment the employee will perform better, which as a result it will increase the efficiency of the business as a whole.