Have you ever wondered how come your competitors seem to be doing much better than you are? You’re both selling the same service, you have the same number of team members, yet it seems that they have much more clients than you do… One of the possible answers is that they’ve improved their time management skills by using time tracker application for Windows or macOS. 

Think about it. They also work 8 hours per day, weekends are off, and right now they’re working on 10 projects, while you’re only working on 5.

Let’s see what it is that they do, and more importantly, what can you do to help your team improve their time management skills with a time tracking app for employees.

Set SMART Goals

Setting goals and setting SMART goals are two separate things. So many people set goals that are very vague, and there’s no way to measure the success of said goal. For example, saying “We want to increase sales” is far from “We want to increase sales by 50% in the next 6 months”.

Setting up SMART goals means you’ll set goals which are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

Once you’ve set SMART goals, you’ll be able to clearly differentiate the tasks and allocate them to appropriate department. With the end goal in mind, it will be easier to see the steps you need to take to achieve the best results.

Don’t forget to consult with the department heads while creating SMART goals, after all, they are more familiar with their workload and the current state than you are.

By using project management and time tracking tools at the same time you can align everyone’s assignments so you’re working towards achieving the SMART goal. Within such tools, you can clearly set deadlines, allocate time, track project success, and maybe even modify the steps as you go. Additionally, having all this information in one place saves you time on updates and progress meetings.

Limit the Number of Daily Tasks

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It might seem counterproductive to give your team less tasks to handle, but it’s actually quite a good technique. Multitasking kills productivity, and the studies show that people need about 20 minutes in order to completely focus once they switch between tasks. So, the more tasks they have, the more will your employees switch from one to another, losing their flow and leaving a lot of space for mistakes.

With an employee project time tracking software you can see how many tasks each person on the team has. Maybe you’ll find that some team members have way more assignments than the others, and you can change the workload so everyone works equally. With fewer tasks per day, your employees can focus better and achieve more. 

Set the Time for No Interruptions

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If your employees take 20 minutes to get back in the game after switching tasks, they take that much time after seeing a message on Slack. While Slack has certainly made our lives easier in terms of communication, team agreements and updates, it can be quite distracting.

Luckily all chat tools have “Do not disturb” settings and your team members shouldn’t be afraid to use that option. If they’re looking to focus 100% on what their doing, let them know that it’s okay to set chat tools to “Do not disturb.” If you have doubts about their performance during these hours, you can easily check what’s happening with their productivity levels in your time tracking database.

Wrap Up

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It’s clear how top time tracking apps can help your business improve. However, you can’t expect that change will happen just because you installed the software. You need to work on your team’s time management skills in order to get the best results.

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