Our research indicates that nearly all village managers regularly struggle with not having enough time! (I would imagine this is no truer than now as we navigate the varying stages of the pandemic).
This isn’t necessarily because we are inefficient or lack time management skills.
In my experience it’s more likely the complexity of the role, the often-reactionary environment, the limited access to operational tools and the unpredictable incidents and events that occur almost daily that are responsible.
The strategies needed to assist with time management are related more to operational efficiency and support. In my experience, one of the most important time management actions is to have TOOLS to save time.
When I’m talking about TOOLS, I’m talking about practical things such as:
- Standard email responses
- Process maps
- Village CRM – Village Master / Salesforce
- Collaboration tools such as DropBox, Trello, Notion
- Forms and templates
- Data capture software
- Community information go-to manuals
- Site maps with utility outlets,
- Daily, weekly, monthly checklists for all roles
- Annual calendars
- Live Action Lists
I know these take time to set up but if you start with the thought of “Am I EVER likely to have to do this or respond in this manner again?” then save it as a template, document the process, schedule it in your calendar or create a checklist as you do it – I guarantee it will save you hours of time later!
And if you ask your team to do this as well it will be beneficial to all.