The 6 Most Effective Time Management Techniques for Busy Leaders

A recent study by McKinsey & Company found that employees spend nearly 60% of their working week on coordinating tasks, such as meetings, emails, and administrative work, leaving only 40% for actual role-specific tasks.

That equates to an enormous amount of time where employees are scheduling or discussing what needs to be done rather than actually doing what needs to be done.

It is not unusual to have a week consumed by meetings, either in-person or online, but I heard recently of a leader who had only 6 hours of time available to apply their skills to an entire week, out of 54 hours, that’s 11%.

What a waste of an organisations most precious resource.

Something Amazon founder Jeff Bezos identified when he implemented the “Two-Pizza Rule”, suggesting that meetings should be small enough that two pizzas can feed the entire group. The idea is to keep meetings efficient, ensuring everyone contributes meaningfully without unnecessary participants present.

Successful leaders understand the value of time and that it is a finite resource, the reality often being that there is always too much to be done in too little time available.

As a result, leaders need to continually develop their skills in order to overcome these challenges.

In my role as a leadership coach, my role is to help simplify the lives of senior management, whilst maximising their ability to deliver responsibilities against deadlines.

Over this time, I have found there to be 6 essential skills for managing this problem that busy leaders can use to stay organised, focused and productive.

1. Prioritise, Prioritise, Prioritise

This isn’t just a practice for improved productivity, it’s essential for simplifying what to focus on and becoming more strategic.

To cut through the noise, the 3 x MIT framework provides a clear, actionable method for prioritising tasks and reducing clutter.

3 x MIT

As a rule, try to enforce a rule of working on a maximum of 3 tasks at any one time.

These are your ‘3 Most Important Tasks’, there can be many other in the pipeline, but these take your full focus, when one task is finished, another moves up this pipeline to fill the space.

By consistently focusing on your top three priorities, you create a structured workflow that enhances efficiency, reduces overwhelm, and ensures meaningful progress on what truly matters at that moment.

2. Avoid Context Switching

Science has proven that we don’t truly multitask, we context switch. The brain can only focus on one cognitive task at a time, so when we attempt to multitask, we’re actually shifting rapidly between tasks. This constant switching reduces efficiency, increases errors, and drains mental energy by forcing the brain to constantly shift focus.

1 x FTT

Where possible, apply the “Finish This Task” principle to complete the task (or parts of tasks) you are currently working on.

Instead of jumping between multiple tasks, commit to completing the one at hand, or a meaningful portion of it, before moving on.

By eliminating context switching and committing to finishing one task at a time, you’ll improve focus, efficiency, and produce higher-quality work with less mental fatigue.

Note – As much as I’d like to own this I credit Mytra A.I’s impressive Director of Software Engineering, Dave Stephens for this one.

3. Delegate or Say ‘No’ When Necessary

Many leaders have got where they are by setting the own high standards.

As a result, leaders feel that to maintain these levels they need to do everything themselves.

The reality is the opposite, over-reaching leads to an inevitable drop in performance and results

I recently listened to a leader who delegated an important task to his team, and due to his own commitments could not check in with the team at any stage.

He remarked that they not only completed the task within the designated timeframe, but in his own words “knocked it out the park” to a high standard he could not have achieved either on his own or as part of the team.

Simon Sinek emphasised the need to develop people to exceed their leaders.

A lesson for all leaders.

If we can delegate tasks to team members with the relevant skills and expertise, and be confident that they will produce high-quality work, we build trust and = allow them to take ownership of their work. This can help team members feel valued and motivated, which can lead to improved morale and job satisfaction.

While we all strive to help as many people as possible, we must prioritise our own roles and responsibilities.

Before promising our time to other tasks, we should regularly ask ourselves some basic questions to help us stay aligned with our own priorities.

When faced with additional requests or tasks, pause and ask,

• Does this directly align with my top priorities?
• Am I the best person for this, or can it be delegated?
• What is the impact if I say yes, or if I decline?
• What is the impact if I fail to get my own most important tasks done?

It’s inevitable that we will be asked to help someone with a task or piece of work at some point. High performing team members find it hard to say no to others around them as they both understand the pressures that others are under and they themselves will inevitably need to reach out for support at some point.

If we are to say yes to a task, we should be clear to manage the expectations of the person asking.

Often when we say yes, they will assume that you will put time and effort into this almost immediately only to circle back a week later to find out that you haven’t even been able to pick that particular task up yet.

Manage expectations by saying clearly when you’ll be able to get round to the task adding in buffer time for it.

4. Avoid Distractions

Distractions are everywhere and even with a dedicated focus on minimising being sidetracked, they still manage to creep in to our working days.

We’ve all suddenly caught ourselves having been distracted for a period of time by task that doesn’t require our immediate attention.

It leaves us with a feeling of frustration and annoyance, but we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves after all, these particular apps, software programs and devices are all designed to do just that and keep our eyes of their rivals and on their own product.

Keeping mobile phones away from arms reach, silencing them by turning off notifications and make a mental note to only focus on the intended task when their use is required.

5. Presume You’re not as Good as You Think You Are (in one day)

The saying that we ‘overestimate what we can do in one day and underestimate what we can achieve in one year’ is so true.

I often set time aside for work and regularly don’t get through the amount I intended to, resulting in a sense of frustration.

This is a proven phenomenon known as the ZeigarnikEffect which is the negative emotions we feel from the jobs that we don’t complete on a ‘To Do’ List, outweighing the positive emotions of the ones we do complete.

To prevent this effect, be careful not to underestimate how long tasks will take and make sure to add in some ‘buffer time’at the end of each task for unforeseen distractions and delays. This should not be underestimated even to the point of adding an additional 30-50% over-run.

6. Create a Schedule

I love a list, and I love a schedule.

One of the primary benefits of setting a schedule, which is fundamentally a goal, is that it helps you create a clear roadmap.

By scheduling tasks, you avoid wasting time on unimportant activities, and instead, focus important time and energy on the items that matter most.

It doesn’t have to be cast in stone, modern business is dynamic and we must always have certain flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances, but having a daily schedule does help to manage time effectively.

Make sure that you also factor in breaks at appropriate times, and defined cut-offs at the end of the day to help to avoid burnout.

In conclusion, mastering time management is not just about finding ways to get more done, it’s about ensuring that the right tasks are being prioritised and completed effectively.

Ultimately, it’s about working smarter, not harder, and creating an environment where both leaders and their teams can thrive.