“No. Is a full sentence” - Michelle Benson
In this episode, I sat down with Mark Hughes, founder of mch positive impact and Michelle Benson founder of Culture of Philanthropy to talk about strategies and philosophies around effective time management. Mark and Michelle bring a wealth of experience from their individual careers to the discussion. They’ve never met before but you wouldn’t know from the instant rapport they had for the episode which allowed us to delve into both theoretical and practical takeaways plus some great book recommendations to help you manage your time.
1. Why values are important
The importance of understanding your values in order to help you decide where to direct your time came up on a number of occasions. Don’t be afraid to use your time as a negotiation tactic with those who are asking you to complete tasks and practically show people how long certain tasks take. If the hours in the day just don’t add up then this means the expectations on your job are unrealistic and this needs to be flagged.
2. 'Virtual' you
Our modern way of working presents both challenges and opportunities but something I had never considered is how you can make “virtual you” work to your benefit. Spending some time in the morning on a platform like LinkedIn can help build both your personal brand and awareness of your organisation whilst you are cracking on with all of those day-to-day tasks. This is particularly useful if you’re in fundraising or a role that requires you to build relationships and really sell the aims of your charity.
3. Solutions to takeaway
Practical solutions were smattered throughout the conversation with Michelle and Mark but some of my favourites were: creating a crucial list, a recurring list and a to-do list; making yourself a visual schedule; pairing yourself up with a time-management buddy; and, making sure you always allow yourself a 10% cushion whenever mapping your time out.
We hope you enjoy this episode.
Related episodes that you may be interested in:
E257 - The four day working week with Bernadette Murphy -
E245 - Internal process efficiency with Mark Kemp -
E242 - Increasing the capacity and confidence of fundraisers with Dr Beth Breeze -