Time management for working in teams

- Working with a team can sometimes be a challenge, particularly when it comes to time management. You're juggling not only your schedule but the schedule of other people, and it's impossible to be perfect in that situation. However, there are some tips and things that you can do to simplify the interaction and the communication with your team members. Number one is to create some ground rules. Have a meeting where you just sit down and say what are the rules that we are going to use with how we interact with each other's schedules. When is it appropriate to interrupt someone? What constitutes a real emergency, and when these emergencies happen, what channel are we going to use? Any other rules that you can think of how you're going to facilitate communication will have a big impact in how you work together. Number two is to create clear deadlines. Sometimes when we delegate something to a team member, we don't really tell them when it should be done. Instead, let's ask the question when is the latest I need to get this to you? In this way, we properly procrastinate. This proper procrastination gives us enough room to complete something not in a rush but in a way that juggles all the other priorities that are in front of us. Number three is to create a shared calendar. Now, to a degree, this is an IT issue, but the idea is we want to set up a situation where all team members can see each other's calendar at the same time. This gives us a space to schedule appropriate meetings or other things where we need to coordinate. Let's also have some boundaries and some rules about how you use that shared calendar. Number four is to create a consistent meeting pattern. This is particularly important in the manager-employee relationship where the manager and the employee may be constantly interrupting each other. Instead, establish a consistent one-to-one meeting pattern that we can count on. And number five, simply communicate. Anytime there's a change in your schedule, anytime you run into an obstacle, let everyone know, this isn't complaining. This is letting your team understand that there is a slowdown and perhaps they need to adjust their expectations in the things that they are working on. A gifted manager can help a team work together smoothly. Hopefully, with a few of these starting points, you'll be able to better unify your team's time management.