CEO of Agency Management Institute, serving 250+ marketing agencies to help their owners build profitable agencies that evolve and scale.
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Because you’re in a creative field, you probably “wing it” from time to time. But even if you’re gifted at improvisation, you shouldn’t make it a regular practice. Unfortunately, too many agency owners overlook that fact and pay the price, including me.
What stopped me from winging it? Each year, my company holds the Build a Better Agency Summit. It’s a huge commitment. I spent the week before our 2021 summit in four all-day meetings. This left me with practically no time to make last-minute decisions or tackle all the tasks involved in hosting a massive event. Originally, I was fine with the situation. I figured I’d just work until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. to get everything done. Then, several realizations hit me: First, I couldn’t perform at my peak. Second, I was making my team’s job unnecessarily difficult by pushing the edge of hard deadlines. Third, I was stressing out everyone because I wasn’t available.
The summit turned out okay. Still, looking back, it would have been better if I had managed my time better.
From ‘Winging It’ To ‘Winning It’
Time management might not be the most exciting topic to think about as a busy agency owner. However, it’s essential that you master it. When you control your time, you control several other factors: your efficiency, your quality of work, your anxiety levels and your professional reputation. No one wants to be seen as a leader whose procrastination keeps putting the business at risk or leading to missed opportunities.
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According to a study from Harvard Business School, exceptional CEOs steward their time well. Though they had to spend about 72% of their total time in meetings, they still were able to spend 43% on proactive, agenda-pushing tasks. Only 36% of their time was spent in reactive mode.
Are you ready to master your calendar and win back control of your time? Try implementing the following techniques:
1. Review your calendar right now.
Check your calendar. It’s probably filled with meetings, reviews, pitches and more. Though everything might seem reasonable at first glance, you probably have lots of items that could be removed or delegated. You might also have open spots that should be blocked off.
For example, I blacked out the whole week leading up to the start of this year’s summit. I wasn’t going to make people bend and stretch to accommodate me anymore. By protecting that time, I ensured that I was prepared and capable of giving the event 100% of my attention. The difference between this year’s summit and last year’s event was night and day.
2. Construct time guardrails.
It’s easy to get distracted as an agency owner. Suddenly, your calendar is packed again, and you’re starting back at square one. The way around this is to protect your time by setting up boundaries. You might want to make certain hours off-limits for work, for instance. These should be nonnegotiable except in the most extreme circumstances.
Be sure to alert the rest of your team of your boundaries. If you plan to be unavailable before 8 a.m., then employees need to know when they can reach out to you. Your clients also need to be made aware. If people try to violate or test your guardrails, stand firm.
3. Begin each week by organizing your time.
You have two choices: You can build your calendar yourself or let others build it for you. The former gives you power. So, start the week by organizing your responsibilities. The more on top of things you are by Monday morning, the less likely you’ll wake up overextended on Tuesday.
Project management tools can help if you find this task daunting or have trouble breaking your to-dos into micro-slots. Test drive several tech tools over a few weeks to see which one works best. Convey your findings to your team so they can improve their workflows, too.
4. Learn to prioritize.
A client wants to meet for just another “quick phone call.” You know calls with this client always end up taking an hour. Do you say yes? Maybe not. Maybe an employee could handle the call instead. Alternatively, you could try scheduling 30-minute check-ins with the client every two weeks to discuss matters.
Not everything is an emergency or requires instant action. Prioritize requests for your time based on whether they fit your role and goals. You’ll get better at turning down low-priority meetings and tasks if you’re not always available.
Just because you’re in a creative industry doesn’t mean you can’t be a structured, efficient leader. You’ll be amazed at how much more time you’ll gain when you master your calendar and stop winging it.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
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Author: Drew McLellan, Forbes Councils Member
