How to Use The Skill/Value Box to Master Time Management and Maximise Efficiency

When my clients come to me feeling burnt out and ready to give up, I can’t help but notice a pattern when we start analysing their business processes.

When they start their business, they willingly sacrifice their time to get their companies off the ground. Once the business takes off, they think they’ll start gaining that freedom back.

But guess what? Most of my clients end up getting tangled with the business processes, the expansions, the growing client base and many more. Instead of freedom, they find themselves getting more tied to the business and unable to enjoy the rewards.

If you feel the same way, then let me assure you that there’s a way to make things better. You have to manage your time wisely, learn how to prioritise the tasks you’ll focus on and delegate or eliminate the non-essential or unnecessary ones.

To do this, allow me to introduce a tool that I use with my clients - the Skill/Value box.

In this article, I’ll take you through 3 important steps to maximise efficiency in your business. I’ll explain what the Skill/Value box is, how you can use it to find your focus and how to interpret it to master time management.

Step 1: What is a Skill/Value Box?

A Skill/Value box is a grid that allows you to plot the different tasks you’re currently doing. Take a look at the illustration below.

This box serves as a framework to help you identify the tasks that are essential, non-essential and unnecessary in growing your business.

Skill refers to your expertise. It measures your proficiency in doing a specific task in the business. The higher the skill, the more proficient you are in that area.

Value refers to the impact that a particular skill has on the business. The higher the value added, the more profitable the business becomes.

As you can see in the grid, it shows different variations of how skills and values relate to each other. Let’s take a look at each quadrant.

High Skill + High Value

This quadrant should include tasks that use your strengths and add the most value to your business. For instance, as a business coach, the tasks I would list in this quadrant would include coaching my clients. Coaching is what I’m good at and it’s the skill that I focus on improving - which makes me an expert at it. Since my company is in the business coaching niche, this task adds the highest value to my business.

Low Skill + High Value

This quadrant has tasks you’re not yet proficient at but adds significant value to the business. In that sense, it becomes an area of growth for you. Think about the skills you know can grow your business but you’re not proficient at - like marketing, sales, management, planning and maybe even leadership skills.

I remember one client that I worked with. He was an incredibly talented accountant but he lacked the leadership skills to form and sustain a high-performing team. Although he knew what the clients wanted, he needed a team to help manage the increasing clientele of the firm. He couldn’t do that because he didn’t have the skills to lead and train his team. He came to me for help to develop his leadership skills to bring tremendous growth to his firm.

High Skill + Low Value

This quadrant may be hard to let go for some business leaders. Here, you’ll find tasks that you love doing because you’re very good at them. But these don’t necessarily bring a significant impact on the business.

Going back to my client who owned an accounting firm. He was very good at bookkeeping. But as the owner, he shouldn’t be focusing on that. It’s a task that should be delegated to the team he hired and trained. Don’t get me wrong. Keeping clients happy is important - but it’s not the job of the leader to take care of the details. A leader should be focused on the overall growth of the business.

You need to shift your focus to the more impactful tasks.

Low Skill + Low Value

The tasks in this quadrant are those that you should not be doing because they don’t add value to the business and you’re not proficient in it anyway. Although these may still be necessary tasks to keep the business running, that doesn't mean you have to do it yourself.

For instance, data management and administrative work. These are important tasks but let’s face it - they don’t bring much value to the growth of the business. They are necessary - so it’s better if you outsource these tasks. Hire a virtual assistant or freelancer to do these tasks instead. They can take care of calling clients and setting up meetings for you. This will free your time to do more high-value tasks to grow your business.

Step 2: Identifying Where You Add the Best Value

Now that you understand the framework of the Skill/Value box, it’s time to implement it. This requires you to be open and honest about your abilities so you can identify what you should focus on. Remember, the goal is to help you manage time better. Since time is a limited resource, you want to spend it on what brings the most impact.

The first step is to make a list of the skills you excel in - including those you enjoy doing. Everything that sets you apart and you’ve spent time developing, these are your core competencies. For instance, if you own a graphic design business, your core competencies could be creative design, project management, client communication and brand marketing.

Assess the value of these skills and determine how they contribute to the growth of the business. Don't just focus on the revenue side but also on what increases client satisfaction or improves business operations.

Then, start prioritising tasks. Look at the high-value tasks and prioritise them. Identify which tasks you’re proficient at because these are the tasks that you should spend the most time and effort on. Start plotting them on the Skill/Value box based on the skill level and value added to the business.

Step 3: Interpreting the Skill/Value Box

With the tasks listed in the box, it’s time to identify the tasks you should prioritise, develop, delegate and automate.

Low-value tasks: Delegate, Eliminate or Automate

Start with the low-value tasks. Those in the low-skill + low-value quadrant should either be delegated or eliminated. If the task is necessary to keep the business running smoothly, delegate it or find a program that can do it automatically. You can hire virtual assistants, writers or other skilled freelancers. There are also tools like QuickBooks to help with accounting tasks or Hubspot for email marketing campaigns.

The tasks in the high-skill + low-value quadrant should be delegated to competent individuals in your team. Since you’re skilled in these tasks, spend time training your team so they can do it just like how you would. Document the training so you don’t have to do it in person whenever someone new joins the team.

High-value tasks: Focus and Improve

Once you’ve dealt with the low-value tasks, it’s time to focus on the high-value activities. Those in the high-skill + high-value quadrant should be given sufficient time in your schedule. Usually, these are the tasks that only you can do so it has to be prioritised.

Those in the low-skill + high-value tasks are areas of improvement. Only you can do these tasks so find a way to develop the skills. Turn to a professional for help. If you need better leadership or management skills, go to a business coach. They can also help analyse your business to identify areas that need improvement. Business coaches can even help with the rest of your team. The more you train your team to be better, the more efficient and competent they’ll become in managing the business with you.

This frees your time to focus on what matters.

Use Time Management Tools to Improve Efficiency

The Skill/Value box is an incredible tool to improve your time management skills and business efficiency. By analysing your skills and identifying what drives the most value, you can focus on high-impact tasks without overwhelming yourself. You can also identify the tasks that can be delegated, automated or eliminated. This ensures no time or effort is wasted.

As effective as the Skill/Value box is, it’s an exercise that you should do regularly. As your business grows, the needs will also change so what’s high-value now may not have the same impact in the future. Review this now and then so you can update the tasks that you should be doing. Include your team in the process so they can help you identify areas that require improvement.

This is how you achieve and sustain business success.

Are you ready to take control of your time and maximise the potential of your business? Use the Skill/Value box. There are other tools that you can use to maximise efficiency. If you want to discuss your options, a business coach can help identify areas for improvement that you may be missing. Let’s talk. Book a complimentary 15-minute call here: https://www.butleradvisory.com.au/time-with-trent.