Wherever you search the internet for business coaching advice today, you’ll find page after page of suggestions for improving your time management skills. This is perhaps understandable when you consider the high-stress, fast-paced, constantly connected business environment we work in. And yet, it is precisely such an environment that cries out for improved energy management as one of the best leadership skills you can learn.

Flying in the face of the almost universally accepted time management mantra for effective leadership is this claim, from the folks at Medium Publications:

“Time management is not really an effective way of boosting productivity. Instead, leaders and managers should learn how to manage their energy levels.”

As author Tamara Mrak explains, “The fact stands that we all have 24 hours available – no more and no less. Productivity, getting things done, was erroneously linked to the way we organize these 24 hours, 8 of which (at least) are devoted to work. However, a few pertinent observations challenge the time management myth.”

While such a claim may seem far from the mainstream, a site no less prestigious than the Harvard Business Review is echoing the same sentiments; that effective energy management offers far more benefits than time management training as a leadership skill.

“The core problem with working longer hours is that time is a finite resource. Energy is a different story. [And] energy can be systematically expanded and regularly renewed by establishing specific rituals – behaviors that are intentionally practiced and precisely scheduled, with the goal of making them unconscious and automatic as quickly as possible.”

Benefits of Improved Energy Management Skills

Regardless of how often you smash your latest To-Do List – regardless of how productive you are – it’s not uncommon for such productivity to take a toll on leaders: physically, mentally, and emotionally. This often leads to exhaustion, declining levels of engagement, increasing levels of distraction, high turnover rates, and profound dissatisfaction.

As the HBR article explains, “Most large organizations invest in developing employees’ skills, knowledge, and competence. Very few help build and sustain their capacity – their energy – which is typically taken for granted. In fact, greater capacity makes it possible to get more done in less time at a higher level of engagement and with more sustainability. (Emphasis added.)

“To effectively re-energize their workforces, organizations need to shift their emphasis from getting more out of people to investing more in them, so they are motivated – and able – to bring more of themselves to work every day. To recharge themselves, individuals need to recognize the costs of energy-depleting behaviors and then take responsibility for changing them, regardless of the circumstances they’re facing.”

Managing Your Energy is One of Your Best Leadership Skills

As a leader, managing your own energy, and that of your team, will make you more effective in both the short- and long term. The following is a list of energy management skills you should develop to be a better leader:

• Identify your daily high-energy period, and those of your team – Each of us have a time of day where we are more energetic – and less so. Tackling the most demanding tasks during high-energy periods in your day will enable you to focus more effectively and save time.
• Energy levels affect relationships – Low energy levels can lead to frustration and short-tempered responses to others’ needs. If you’re feeling burned out because of an excess of work with too little energy, you will also be less patient and empathetic. By managing your energy more efficiently, you can avoid these negative effects on relationships with team members and with your peers.
• Schedule daily energizing activities – While some people find exercise innervating, others find it exhausting and choose meditation to re-energize. Knowing what works best for you is time well spent, making you a better leader, while enabling you to complete projects more accurately and with more creative ideas.
• Schedule recovery time into your days – It’s not unusual to wish you could “take a moment” to refocus, even in the most trying of times. When you’re feeling drained, taking a few minutes to re-energize will allow you to return to the task at hand with a more positive mindset and increased productivity. Planning recovery time into your days will not only make you more productive, it will also make your work more satisfying.
• High-energy thinking is clearer thinking – It is not the case that all of your energy must be spent on physical activity. Being in tune with your energy needs can lead to changes in how you think; making positive experiences out of even negative outcomes. Such positivity will also affect those around you, helping your team to focus on their energy and use their time to get the most done at their most energetic moments.

If you become more mindful of your energy needs, and you manage your energy well, you’re likely to become far more productive. As a result, you will also become a more effective leader.

If you would you like to learn more about how to develop the best leadership skills you need to be a more effective leader, and the enhanced use of emotional intelligence in the workplace, my Free Leadership Webinar may be exactly what you need.