By Shrijay Seth, Founder Legalwiz.in
Being the key decision makers and the ones responsible for creating an impact, a lot goes in the normal day of a CEO. The key to productivity is efficiency. And one of the best ways to do so is by saving a lot of time by whichever way possible.
The new age CEOs are a smarter, faster, and fiercely competitive breed of entrepreneurs who are racing to stay ahead all the time. And to win this, it takes more than just hard work– it’s the time-saving thing!
Here’s how they do it:
Creating Intrapreneurs and decisionmakers
Besides just delegating the responsibility and authority, they pass on the ownership of work. This creates a sense of belongingness that pushes one to strive hard for results. Having a trusted team and picking up a right leader to do that job will free up their time by avoiding the nitty-gritty of the usual workday. They make leaders strong and trustworthy enough – persons who will think of the company as their own and run it with utmost efficiency. These CEOs make sure to create certain values in the company and then pass them down to the leaders in the company.
Example: Mr. S.B Dangayach joined Sintex industries in India at the start of his career and since then, with a career spanning over 3 decades, he has taken ownership in many remarkable projects and nurtures the company as his own. This led the growth of the company, making Sintex a multi-dimensional company with solutions across verticals.
Do not commit to reinventing the wheel
The key to differentiate from others does not always lie in reinventing the wheel. Also committing to do everything in-house and achieving self-sufficiency may not be a profitable bet. It is not necessary that everything done in-house would prove economical. A lot of investment may go into creating a team from scratch, hiring professionals and retaining them and also the infrastructure. Successful new-age entrepreneurs will focus on outsourcing the back-end works to the professionals who are good at it. They know the value of their time and will focus on contributing the best in what they are good at.
Example: Legalwiz.in is an online legal service provider who enables people to get into their core business, leaving their worries of compliance aside.
Leveraging technology
Technology has made things and life easier for new age CEOs. The available technology stack, when used strategically, can significantly boost productivity.
Especially, for those aiming at minimum efforts – maximum impact; this is the right to be at top of the business. With an abundance of analytics tools, decision making is now faster and improved. Tools like Shopify can help you launch MVP to experiment with your services and products in the market.
Keeping important information handy is the key to move faster. There are smart tools like Slack, Klipfolio, etc. and others easily available in the market. You just need to pick the right one that meets your requirements.
Ex: You have tools like Canva, HootSuite, etc. to create, publicize and track every social activity online. And there are plenty of other technical tools that CEOs can put to the best use.
No need to fight all the battles.
Let’s admit! You are confident and you have enough experience to take correct decisions. But then you also need to admit that you are a CEO, not a superhero. Try fighting the battle based on the strengths you have. You have all the right to choose your battles – so do it. The key to saving precious productivity time is to channelize the efforts in the area of expertise. You can not expect to fight all the battles and win. Respecting situations and embracing your strengths is the way to come out as a winner in the war. This means you should know where your core strength lies, as an individual and also a company when it comes to business offerings. This includes the expertise of your team, their experience, and also the quality of output they generate. Focusing on one thing at a time will certainly help you to emerge a winner.
Example: Intel. They are the world’s leading chip and microprocessors’ development company. They stuck with their core strength for decades and are now reaping the advantages of their expertise.
This does not mean that you should never explore other avenues. But, try looking at the other options only when you have mastered the one. And then, do seize the opportunity to grow organically when the things unfold.
Build Playbooks
Try writing down the process for anything that you do more than thrice. Try creating a playbook to hand it over to someone who’d execute the task the same way you do. This will eliminate the need for people to come up to you and ask for what to do next. The answer is already there with them in the playbook. You can make notes and write it down in the book as well which will go in the audiobook.
The fundamental idea is to systematize the repeated procedures in the early stage which will become a habit as the organization grows. This way you are freeing your precious time and also helping your employees to perform the best. This tactic is responsible for Uber’s quick growth.
Example: Uber is a classic example of implementing playbook wherein they created a list of things that they do in the city and later, create a playbook. This is shared with the other city and they do exactly what is done before listening to it. Of course, some regional adjustments do happen but they have now a solid library and an easy way to expand rapidly.
As a hustling, new age entrepreneur, you very well know the importance of squeezing out maximum time possible in a day. You’d also want to save working time and invest it for personal relationships, socializing and your family. You too must be tackling this time crunch. Share with our fellow readers – how do you save time as a new age CEO?
(The author is CEO of Legalwiz.in. Views expressed are personal.)
