Wondering how to achieve more as a busy recruitment business owner? It’s a question I am often asked. If you have an endless to-do list that you seem to have barely touched by the end of the working day, this is for you.
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Be proactive and retrospective
I know you might have heard this a 100 times before. The question is have you taken action on it? Excuse the pun and it is common that people get this point intellectually though not in the ‘muscle’ by implementing what I am suggesting.
Proactivity starts with planning. Allow yourself time to plan and factor this in so you have both planning and doing time. They two are different and will produce different results for you.
This could mean spending the first 20 minutes of your day going through your list of ‘must dos’ using a simple checklist.
A key step many don’t appreciate is to audit your own behaviour and work plans regularly to check if you are making best use of your time; you probably aren’t.
- Are there tasks that keep cropping up that could take less time if a clearer process was in place?
- Are you under-estimating how long it will take you to complete certain duties; this is really common with certain personality profiles?
- Are you focused on ‘busy work’ that can be outsourced rather than income generating activities that will help either you or your team make more placements? ( Look someone else can tidy up the filing draws)
Set your own deadline
If you have a lot of work to get through but no particular deadlines to work towards it’s not necessarily laziness that will cause you to eke a task out. Without a clear brief or a time goal to work towards it becomes easier to get completely absorbed in a task at a micro level. If this is a behaviour you recognise in yourself, set yourself clear deadlines and have some fun with-it.
One billing manager I know gives himself a reward depending on how many things he can do in a day. Crazy maybe; though it works for him and gives him the satisfaction on a job well done.
Free Business Checkup Reveals…
How Fit Your Recruitment Business Is For Growth…
Know when to delegate
There is a well-known saying “If you want a thing done well, do it yourself”. However, knowing when to delegate or ask for assistance is fundamental to getting more things done in the workplace and can massively increase you and your billing teams overall value.
This might mean planning training and development time with the consultants you manage so that they can contribute to the overall success and productivity of your team.
Take enough rest
When workloads are high sleep is often the first thing to suffer – either through stress or through cutting the amount of time you spend asleep. Sleep aids learning and helps memory, so it needs to be a significant feature of each 24 hours. Lack of sleep can cause you to underperform and over eat. This then will eventually impact on your health and your ability to perform well in your role.
We all need to work late from time to time, but doing so continuously at the cost of your sleep pattern is likely to slow your productivity.
Eat and drink right
Surprisingly what we put into our body has a huge impact on both our physical and mental performance. Think about it logically there is a reason why elite athletes religiously monitor and manage their diets; it works. Who hasn’t had a sugar fix in the middle f the afternoon and then regretted it a couple of hours later as the sluggishness appears.
I know when I am training , I need to fuel up as I expend a lot of mental energy if I don’t get enough protein inside me I am useless.
Most human beings spend a large percentage of their time dehydrated. Water fuels everything so ensure you get enough of it. Alcohol is an enjoyable substance I have to agree though too much too often impacts your mental calibration and performance. Unfortunately stress is often subdued by a few glasses of wine or beer. Resist that temptation instead ask yourself what else can fulfil that need? Especially during the working week.
High performing consultants are the lifeblood of any successful recruitment organisation. The challenge starts when your recruiters underperform. There is a solution and I cover it in-depth in my latest ebook; How to Convert Your under Performers to Consistent Billers in 14 Days or less. You can download it here.
Warm regards
Nicky
