Time Management Tips for Administrators

We know you’re busy. You’re running a school. Maybe you don’t have enough staff to help support you, or your school has been growing and it feels harder and harder to manage your time. It’s critical for administrators to use their time as effectively as possible so that you can focus on the core responsibilities of your job and not waste your time.

Our best tips for time management

1. Batch your tasks: Take the tasks that are similar to each other and do them at the same time rather than spread out. When you shift your focus from task to task, you become less efficient. As an example, instead of checking your email throughout the day, spend dedicated time checking and responding to all emails, and then don’t revisit the task until your next dedicated time.
2. Delegate: Though you might feel like you save more time when you do a job yourself, it can be worth it to delegate certain tasks so you can focus on your critical roles. Yes, you might take time to create and train someone else on other tasks, but in the long-run, you’ll save yourself time.
3. Look at how you schedule: Get everyone on your team using the same tool, and try scheduling tools like Calendly or YouCanBookMe. These tools allow people to schedule meetings with you when you’re available. Also be sure to schedule meetings with yourself (for example, that hour that you’ll be checking email) to protect the time you need for tasks.
4. Use technology: There are many tools that can help make your job easier from fully-loaded School Information Systems to software like Transcript Maker. There are many options when it comes to utilizing technology to improve your time management.
5. Make time for self-care and personal development: It may feel hard to make time for yourself, personally, when you’re so busy from work, but if you don’t prioritize yourself, your work can suffer.
6. Save time with your transcripts: We make it easier and less time-consuming for you (or the person you delegate to!) to deal with transcripts. This is an area where people can spend more time than is needed, and we want to help you be more efficient.

Take action now

There’s no need to waste more time. You’re busy, we know, but pick just one of these time management tips and work on applying it in your routine. Then, enjoy the time you’ve saved and pick another idea to try.

Resources Mentioned:
5 Time-Saving Tools for Private High School Administrators
Try Calendly or YouCanBookMe to get your meetings scheduled
Trello can help you get on the same page with others, and save time.
Feeling like change is hard? Check out our podcast where we help you push through the challenges.
Laura Vanderkam reminds us we have 168 hours each week (and other great time management tips)
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