One of the regular issues that crops up when I talk to fleet operators is that there is not enough time to carry out all the necessary fleet management activity. This is even before a fleet risk management initiative is started. Developing policies and procedures takes time. Implementing a risk management programme and moving forward with your driver culture takes even longer. Time management for busy fleet risk managers is an important skill to develop.
A Time Management Solution
Finding some more time in a busy week would be useful wouldn’t it? I know many fleet operators will be flat out right now but some fleet management and risk management teams may be having a little more time to plan. I’m going to suggest a step by step approach to finding more time. That additional time can be used to develop your fleet risk management approach. The following questions can improve time management for busy fleet risk managers.
What Is Your Ideal Use Of Time?
- What are the aspects of your role that you like the most?
- Delivering training?
- Consulting with colleagues and gaining feedback?
- Meeting with vehicle manufacturers to spec new vehicles?
- If you had more time available in your role, how would you like to spend it?
This isn’t the same as what you like doing most, this is the activity that would make you better at your role:
- Helping to win more contacts?
- Building more efficient operational procedures?
- Sourcing new suppliers of spares?
- Investigating collisions?
- How does your current work balance compare to your ideal?
- Are you spending too much time repairing vehicle damage caused by unnecessary collisions?
- Are you worrying too much about the number of claims being made against your fleet policy and the potential increase in insurance premium?
Think About Your Tasks
- What tasks do you perform that others could do the same or better than you?
- Are you carrying out admin tasks?
- Could you give these tasks to someone else? If you add up all the time you take on these tasks it could give you hours.
- What’s your highest return activity that adds the most value to the fleet risk approach?
Your highest value tasks could include:
- Making efficiencies in running the fleet through use of technology
- Providing training for drivers
- Managing the driving performance of employees through the use of data from in vehicle technology.
- How do you split your time between working on improving fleet risk management and actually on the day to day activities of being in the fleet office?
Do you get pulled into day to day tasks in the office that take up your time? Do you get to the end of the day and feel frustrated that you haven’t worked on the issues on your ‘to do’ list?
- What immediate changes do you need to make to get to your ideal work balance?
As you go through this thought process there will be activities that you immediately know you should delegate to someone in your team. Those are the quick wins and you can get to work on the delegation process.
Time To Get Practical
- Track 168 hours – the number of hours in your week
Once you’ve worked through your immediate actions, try to track all your activity through a typical week. Make a note of exactly what tasks you are spending time on. You may surprise yourself.
Think about the tasks, how long you spend on the tasks, what % of your time they take and how valuable they are.
- What is in your flow?
How do you feel about those tasks you are spending most time on? When are you in your flow? When you are completely absorbed in a challenging task you can be at your most productive. What are those activities that best suit you and make the most impact? Have a look at the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi https://positivepsychology.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/
- What are your top 3 TTAC’s – Tasks That Avoid Collisions
Out of those tasks that you know you need to carry out, which ones make a contribution to reducing risk? Which are those tasks that help prevent your colleagues having collisions in their vehicles? Is it training provision? Is it carrying out collision investigations?
Try putting a monetary value on these tasks!
It’s Time To EAT!
- EAT Your Way to Creating 3 to 5 hours a week!
What does EAT mean?
Eliminate
Automate
Transfer
Use this hierarchy to remove tasks from your diary. Stop carrying out the tasks if you can. If you can’t eliminate the task try to automate it. This could include using a third party driver licence checking system for example. If you can’t automate, transfer the task to a team member. This isn’t necessarily about your existing team, maybe you need to recruit another team member with the appropriate skills.
How Will You Use Your Time?
You should be able to find at least three additional hours a week by using this thought process. Three hours a week provides a lot of time to carry out valuable fleet risk management work.
If you need to improve your fleet risk management approach, join The Fleet Safety Academy. It’s designed to improve time management for busy fleet risk managers. You’ll be given a seven step process that you can implement in three hour a week chunks. Before you know it, you’ll have success in preventing your colleagues having accidents on the road. For further details, go to www.fleetsafetyacademy.co.uk
