The most powerful & simple productivity tip you can use as a CEO

The dream of productivity is the one common thing shared by all workers- from the grassroots level to the CEOs. Likewise, all employees have different obstacles to overcome to achieve increased productivity. C-level executives face different problems as compared to other level employees. Thus they too need a good productivity tip to get them going through the day. Before we understand what tips for productivity are apt for CEOs, let us see how most CEOs spend their time and days.

How to know the best productivity tips based on Statistics for how CEOs spend their day 

There are many productivity tips available that promise to improve our efficiency and productivity. But choosing the right productivity tip for you depends on one’s daily routine. Let us see through this research by HBR how most CEOs spend their day in different aspects of the corporate world and choose the best productivity tips. 

1. How CEOs spend time in communication

• 72 percent of their work time is spent in meetings, compared to 28 percent alone time.
• Thirty-two percent of the CEOs’ meetings lasted an hour, 38 percent were longer than that and 30 percent were shorter.
• The average CEO spends 43% of his time meeting employees of the company, 19% with outsiders, and 11% with both types together, while the rest of their time is spent working alone.
• This was primarily face-to-face interactions, which took up 61% of the work time of the CEOs we studied. Another 15% was spent on the phone or reading and replying to written correspondence. The final 24% was spent on electronic communications.
• 25 percent of their work is spent on people and relationships. 

2. How CEOs spend time at work

• The average CEO works 39 hours a week,  and the majority of the time (56%) is spent in meetings in person.  
• It was found that the average CEO spends one in three hours (13 hours over the course of one week) in activities that were not planned in advance. 
• The percentage is the same for activities that involve the CEO alone or with other people, suggesting that a sizeable share of meetings is not pre-planned. 
• Only 3 percent of their work is spent on professional development and only 1 percent on crisis management. 

3.  How CEOs spend time in other activities

• Different CEOs plan to different extents. At the extremes, 10% of the CEOs spend over 90% of their time in planned activities, whereas 10% of them spend over 60% of their time on activities not scheduled ahead of time.
• Meanwhile, 4 percent of their work is on mergers and acquisitions, while another 4 percent is spent on operating plans.
• About half (47%) of a CEO’s work was done at company headquarters. The rest was conducted while visiting other company locations, meeting external constituencies, commuting, traveling, and at home. 
• They also worked 79 percent of weekend days at an average of 3.9 hours daily, and 70 percent of vacation days with an average of 2.4 hours on those days. Altogether, the study found that CEOs worked an average of 62.5 hours a week.
• 25 percent of their work time is spent on functional and business unit reviews, 16 percent on organization and culture, and 21 percent on strategy. 

Here we see how most of a CEO’s time is spent attending meetings while they barely have time to relax even on weekends. Thus the best productivity tips for them would be the one that helps them delegate and get their work done using productivity tools, etc.

The single productivity tip to improve your efficiency- The Art of Delegation

Now that we know what are the pain points in the daily schedule of a CEO’s life, let us look for the best productivity tip to allow a better work-life balance.

Delegation is the process of distributing or directing work amongst one’s employees as per their skill or department. A CEO and his duties can easily be distributed amongst his employees to ensure that the CEO can focus on the development of the company. As simple as the process of delegation sounds, it is quite akin to a skill. One cannot delegate just as they see fit to shake off responsibilities. The art of delegation is built on a set of principles that an able CEO must follow to use as a great productivity tip.

1. This productivity tip is useful only when delegated to the right person 

One must make sure that the person to whom the task is being delegated, can handle the task well. The quality of work and the deadline for the task should be well communicated to the person. Following up on the delegated task is also an important productivity tip to remember. 

2. Use the right tools for delegation

We know that all your tasks require singular focus and dedication. Many productivity tools can help you achieve the same while also saving you time. Using the right email management software, for example, can help you raise your productivity levels as you stop worrying about managing your emails. Thus such tools for productivity help you set aside time to delegate properly and also focus on your tasks at hand. 

3. Set Realistic Goals for the delegated person

One of the main obstacles to achieving high productivity is setting unrealistic goals. If one wants to know how to improve productivity by delegation correctly, then one must know their capabilities. Also setting proper goals allows clear communication regarding the importance of the task and the deadline expected. Also, the person’s skill set can play a great role in this productivity tip. 

4. Don’t let multitasking come in the way of good delegation

Multitasking might be doing you more harm than good. It is known to increase the time you utilize to do daily tasks, thus reducing time efficiency. When we try to do two things at once, both of them serve as a distraction for the other. Keeping this in mind, delegating more than one task to the same person is a recipe for disaster. This is especially true when the tasks are highly important and are expected to be completed in a similar timeframe. This combined with the prolonged time taken by the tasks can harm your time efficiency and productivity.

All a good CEO needs is a single productivity tip

All CEOs bear the weight of the entire company and the responsibilities that come with it. In this high-pressure environment, it can be easy to get lost in anxiety and zero work-life balance. The productivity tips of delegation and its tools can not only help you face the responsibilities but also give you enough time to savor life.

FAQs