Managing Time Effectively as a Leader
In our 1-on-1 meetings with our newly appointed team leaders, who have decided to expand their areas of responsibility and feel ready to take on the responsibility of a team, we have observed that many of them face challenges in different areas. Firstly, it should be noted that their decisions lead them towards a separate career plan from their current role and responsibilities. Unfortunately, many people see this change as a promotion in our industry. The fact that deepening responsibilities can also be a career goal is often forgotten or unnoticed. Due to the disregard for the fact that new roles and responsibilities require different skills, individuals who make choices without evaluating this process often experience difficulties and burnout. At Trendyol, we support those who naturally assume appropriate responsibilities in this new career process, fully aware that becoming a team leader is not a promotion but a role change that brings new responsibilities.
For our newly appointed or aspiring team leaders, one of the most challenging issues that come with new responsibilities is effectively managing their time. In addition to being accustomed to working with focus and producing solutions in their problem-solving roles, they also find themselves spending time in meetings that make them feel that time is passing quickly, and they are unable to focus and produce at the end of the day (which is the opposite). These meetings can include various activities such as conducting 1-on-1s to develop team members, meeting with Business teams to determine the product strategy they are working on, conducting extra work to prioritize correctly, and participating in job interviews to expand the team. These are all new topics for a new leader that require more focus on interacting with people rather than individual focus. In short, Manager Time is added to Maker Time.
Our brain continues to be preoccupied in the background with the issues and problems it encounters throughout the day. Additionally, when transitioning from one topic to another, it takes an average of 20 minutes to focus and start producing a new topic entirely. Any interruption (such as a teammate asking a question, email, Slack, or notifications from social media applications) during a period that requires focus distracts us, causes our focus to disperse, wastes a minimum of 20 minutes, and keeps our brain constantly occupied throughout the day. As a result, the brain, which has dealt with different topics throughout the day and struggled with many problems, feels unsatisfied and unhappy at the end of the day. It makes us feel tired. To effectively use time, it is essential to first plan the subject that needs to be prioritized, usually by distributing meetings (Manager Time) in short time periods (e.g., 1 hour) across the weekly calendar. For example, completing job interviews on Thursday mornings and scheduling 1-on-1s for Thursday afternoons. In addition to that, setting aside uninterrupted time slots in the calendar for tasks that require focus and will take a long time (minimum 2–3 hours) (Maker Time) and eliminating interruptions during these periods.
One thing our brain does unconsciously is to use our energy efficiently. Therefore, if it needs to make a choice, it tends to choose the easy way out. For example, instead of focusing on a new topic and expending energy, our initial reaction is to check emails, browse social media, or make a coffee first, which are unnecessary and low-energy tasks. Being aware of this, we should eliminate these unnecessary interruptions while working and schedule time for them as well. For example, email is an asynchronous form of communication. Checking our emails at specific times (morning, noon, and evening) will protect us from unnecessary interruptions and loss of focus.
Another important aspect to consider in effective time management is accurately determining the importance and urgency of the tasks to be done. Sometimes, by spending time on tasks that our team members can handle or non-urgent matters, we fail to direct our energy and time toward more valuable tasks. The Eisenhower Matrix provides detailed information on prioritization and delegation.
Lastly, automating repetitive tasks (which computers do best) and focusing on achieving results without delaying for perfection, obtaining output at a level that meets the needs in an iterative manner, and focusing on completing current tasks rather than starting something new (which is our brain’s tendency to save energy) are also factors to consider in effective time management. Two great resources on this topic are mentioned above:
- “Drive” by Daniel H. Pink
- “Deep Work” by Cal Newport.
