Time Management Foundations For Success On A New Team

I once started an entirely new career with my dream company (McKinsey), and it sucked the minute I started it. Even worse, before joining full-time, I interned at the company and had a blast! Full time was a pain though and it was the travel. And it hit me immediately - the moment I took that first 5AM Monday Uber to the airport! One problem was I didn’t understand myself enough to know I wouldn't like being away from family that much. And I didn't adjust my schedule and expectations as well as others did. Over the past weeks, many friends (with young kids) have been going back to travel and into the office. Many going to new roles and new teams, and I sense some might need to make some adjustments. The solutions for me at McKinsey were right in front of me. And I overlooked them for a while. Here are 3 foundational time management tips to help one in a new environment:

1. Set time norms (for yourself and team). Communicate what you value, what gives you energy, your work-from-home, travel schedule, your expectations of after-hours work, communication. Take the lead and bring in your manager. I know, not easy. But any good manager and team will be happy talking to or setting norms on any of these. You can deploy all your time management skills, strategies, and tools in the world but if you don’t communicate your working style with your team and adjust, you will be on an island figuring out what went wrong. (I never set any real norms even though I could have. I just thought I should put my head down as a new comer. Bad decision.)
2. Block dedicated time during team meetings to discuss norms. Discuss what went well, what didn’t with norms. If your boundaries have been breached somehow, be flexible, but point out the specific instances and remedies during norms discussion. Be open and transparent. (I just went with how my teams discussed things. Not until I managed teams I became really comfortable with this. Not good.)
3. Set strong boundaries using your calendar. Block off your calendar and make it extremely clear to your team things you value. E.g., if you need family time during work time, block that hour and color code it red. No one touches it. If you need to meditate at 4PM, block it using your calendar and make it public. Boundaries and work life balance are strongly interlinked. The stronger your adherence to the boundaries, the better your life is. (I let others fully dictate my calendar. Not happening again.) Set these foundations. Build things that work for us on top. Let’s go! Downloadable Summary ?