The most important asset for organizations is time. Unlike money, you can’t earn more of it – once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. Today, organizations and people are busier than ever and, oftentimes, the focus is on money or sales without understanding the importance of managing time and how to better leverage the hours everyone has to maximize profit, effectiveness and efficiency for the overall business.
So, if time is the most valuable asset in an organization, how can business leaders tap more of it? We recently connected with Raquel Gomes, founder of Stafi, a virtual assistant company, to gauge how organizations can get time back during the workday. The first step? Be selective with your time.
“We cannot create time, go back in time, or buy time,” Gomes says. “We have the same 24 hours as anyone else. We are CEO’s though, so our job is to set the direction for the business we manage – and you will only be able to do a good job if you are very selective about how you use your time. To give you an example, if you are the owner of a small business and your business is generating $500K annually. This is how you calculate your time:
Let’s assume you make $500.000 per year. Let’s divide that by 12 months, assuming you work 40 hours per week and take two weeks’ vacation. That translates to $$41,666.67 per month. Finally, let’s divide your monthly income by 160 hours per month, which ends up being $260,42 per hour.”
How Can Organizations Optimize Their Talent Pool and Their Time?
Having processes in place. Record processes, have all your staff watch these recordings, and take quizzes on them. Refresh them when needed as processes evolve.
Using technology and platforms to help staff get organized. Document everything through these platforms so anyone needed has access to in the case of turnover. If you are not strong in defining platforms to be used, hire help.
Recognize your weaknesses and strengths. This is critical as a CEO. Look for talent who compliment you. This is KEY and it has been so important in my journey growing Stafi.
How Can CEOs Preserve Their Time and Productively Spend It to Increase Overall Happiness?
Prioritize Your Mental Health and Wellbeing
Work on your mindset and allow yourself to disconnect and truly recharge. Work on thinking you are worthy of time off and being present in the moment during those times. Honestly, this has been a challenge for me because there are things happening in your business that you are so excited about that you may feel at times as if you are almost “addicted” to work, making it hard to stop and truly relax. What I have learned is that a recharged mind is more creative and stable than a non-recharged mind. Find out what are the things that help you recharge. For me, it’s playing and laughing with my daughter, working out, going on vacation, and being in contact with nature. These are the things I try doing as much as possible.
Love What You Do
I honestly believe that you must recognize the things that you are so good at and that no one else does as well as you – this will be your biggest value and contribution to the business. Also, do you love doing these things? It’s important for you to love what you do. This is not always possible, of course, we are all grownups. But, for me, it’s important to do as much of what you love as possible.
Tap Talent that You Can Trust
Hiring good talent that you trust and can delegate to is key to feeling happier. If you don’t you will eventually burn yourself out, and more than once. Burnout isn’t fun. I have been through it. Getting out of it can also be hard and require a lot of mind and body work. You want to avoid getting there.
Therefore, it’s paramount to hire good staff that you can rely on and delegate to without having to micromanage every step of their work. If you don’t have this staff, it’s time to upgrade your existing staff. We have gone through many upgrades throughout the years, and we will keep doing so.
Implement the Right Systems and Processes
Get the right systems and platforms in place to create and optimize processes. You can rely more on technology than on people. People come and go, the information that is stored always stays and can be transferred to another human.
Get a Personal Assistant
This is a must. Many CEOs do have executive assistants, project managers, etc., as part of their team, but some don’t have personal assistants who can take care of everything related to your personal life. I feel that having my personal life in order is a huge reliever for me. Knowing that my assistant is taking care of everything my daughter needs for her dance lessons, has all competitions on our schedule, all the hotels ready for us to travel to her competitions, etc., is huge. When it is time to organize a birthday party, she handles everything. Having everything in place for my daughter and family, for me, is as important as being a great CEO.