The Experts

Create more time to focus on your business

I have drafted an organisational chart and my name is in practically every box. I now know why I’m constantly exhausted! What do I do next to save my sanity?

Look for the position you would most like to work yourself out of as soon as decently possible. More often than not it involves routine work. List the duties, activities and responsibilities that you do when you are in that box. Prioritise them; there will almost certainly be a top three or five things that get done there, that if you had a set of written instructions for them, you would be able to hand them to someone else.

Develop the instructions with clear outcomes (call them systems if you like) and find someone to follow the instructions. The rule is: throw systems at a position before you throw people into it. If you can have someone else manage those responsibilities without the need for you to stand over their shoulder and teach them, you will have freed up a significant chunk of your time – leaving you free to concentrate on something else!

Seriously, that is the way you will gradually work yourself out of the boxes that eat away at your time, allowing you to spend more time focusing on the areas where you are more valuable to the business.

Published: Friday, February 11, 2011