One of the hardest choices for Managers who have their own individual billing target is to relinquish their billing activities to train, coach and nurture their teams. More often than not, they are the highest individual biller out of the team, which is what got them the promotion in the first place. When the promotion came, their new KPIs may not have been clear to them and their managers.

Clarity at this point is critical as every billing manager needs to know how they will be measured. To grow successful recruitment teams, it's not enough to meet budget every month, quarter and year if the manager is doing the billing.

The secret to growing teams lies in being able to juggle your time effectively between your own business development/recruitment activities and coaching each individual team member in their professional development so they can become top billers and add to the team's bottom line.

Ask yourself as a manager:” what are my three critical tasks that will bring about the results, I need?”

As a manager, one of those tasks must be development of staff competencies, which requires, time, coaching, training and mentoring. Don't leave your staff members to their own devices if they are meeting /exceeding their budgets. These high performers can and will jump ship if you don't invest in them. Some managers manage by only addressing the non-performers and if not handled correctly, these people are often managed out rather than developed. The cost of attrition and brain drain should in itself be enough to stop this type of revolving door management.

If one of your critical tasks is to develop and coach your staff then you must schedule this activity into your diary. If you work 40 hours a week, look at how much time you are spending on your team now. Effective team and individual development requires you to spend time with them on a weekly basis.

Here are some suggestions to ensuring you manage your time for optimum results:

1. Weekly team meetings of 30-60 minutes duration, where you discuss how the team is going to date with the overall goal and more importantly what is required this week to keep the team on track. Many meetings rehash the past, but lack focus on the future. Likewise some focus on what needs to be done and what skills & resources are needed for the individual to perform those tasks.

2. Weekly 1:1 meetings with each individual team member of minimum 30 minutes, where you focus on them and what skills & resources they need to develop in line with their professional development plan. This happens regardless of their individual performances, so for high performers, you might ask them what is next for them e.g. learn presentation and speaking skills to enable them to ascend the management ladder or present to panels for major contracts. For non/average performers, you need to identify through developing your own coaching skills, what is actually holding them back; if they are 'stuck', what do they need to become unstuck and provide that to them.

3. Get your team members to write down their questions for when you meet with them. This allows for true coaching and cuts down of time wastage during the week through unnecessary interruptions.

4. Allocate at the beginning of the week time for your critical tasks i.e. if 4 team members then you need two hours for 1:1 meetings and say 60 minutes for the team meeting, so that's already three hours out of your week. Don't resent this time; this is imperative to grow the team and the business. Schedule it in. It is just as important as a client visit.

Remember that everyone has the same amount of time to achieve their results in, some people are just more aware of their critical tasks and ensure that these tasks are always done. Once you have your team developed and pumping, the combined efforts of everyone will far exceed what you can bill yourself. Good managers know this and spend even more time on coaching and training, so they can take themselves out of the billing equation altogether!