Customer Support
A frequently asked question in property management training is, “As a training administrator, how can I help employees find time for on-the-job training?” In this 3 part blog series, we will address this question and provide you with 3 simple, yet effective steps to help you engage your learners to want to complete their training more effectively.
How to Make Time for Training in Property Management
Part 1 — Analyze and Assess
Making time for training in property management is one of the biggest challenges faced by multifamily property professionals. Despite knowing how critical training is for professional growth and operational success, finding the time to prioritize it can feel impossible. Property management employees often juggle full schedules with no room to spare, leaving little space to focus on personal development or team-wide learning.
This is a common frustration for training administrators who are tasked with implementing programs but frequently hear, “We just don’t have time.” The truth is, no amount of good intentions will create more hours in the day. However, by analyzing your current schedule and incorporating effective time management techniques, it’s possible to carve out those extra minutes you need.
In this first part of our three-part series, we’ll focus on how to assess your daily routines and identify opportunities to optimize your time. With the right strategies, those spare minutes can add up to real opportunities for growth — both for individuals and the entire property management team.
Let’s discover how to thoughtfully analyze and assess our schedules to help unlock hidden time in a busy schedule!
Time Management: 3 Areas To Analyze and Assess
Personal Reflection
The phrase “It starts with me” is one sometimes used in discussions on transformational leadership, and when it comes to making time for training in property management, the first and most impactful step starts at the top — with you, the training administrator.
While your days are undoubtedly packed with responsibilities, taking time to reflect on your own time management practices can set the tone for your team and create a ripple effect throughout the organization.
Prioritizing time for organization and planning isn’t just about managing your workload; it’s about modeling the importance of intentional time management. By demonstrating a commitment to carving out time for training, you send a clear message to your team that professional development is not just an afterthought but a strategic priority. This helps build a culture where training is seen as essential, not optional.
Investing in proactive planning now — whether streamlining your daily schedule, blocking time for specific training initiatives, or identifying low-value tasks to delegate — pays off in the long run. It reduces the chaos of last-minute scrambles and ensures training sessions are effective and sustainable.
When leaders reflect on and refine their own habits, they create a framework that empowers their teams to do the same, making time for growth even amidst the busiest schedules.
Identify “Time-Wasters”
The first step in making space for training in property management is identifying common “time-wasters” in an employee’s day. Even the most skilled and dedicated team members face universal time management challenges. These can include:
- Procrastination
- Inefficiency
- Duplication of efforts
- Unnecessary distractions
- Missed opportunities for delegation.
These habits and occurrences are part of being human and won’t ever disappear entirely, but they can be reduced with a thoughtful approach.
By identifying and addressing these patterns, property management teams can recover valuable minutes, turning wasted time into opportunities for growth and development.
Minimizing time-wasters is not about perfection — it’s about progress. Even minor improvements can free up time for more meaningful activities, such as focused learning and training sessions.
When employees have the tools to manage their time better, they’re better prepared to take advantage of training opportunities that help them excel in their roles.
Understand Daily Routines
To make meaningful time for training in property management, it’s essential to understand how employees spend their time during a typical day. Analyzing the daily routines of your team provides valuable insights into time management challenges and opportunities for improvement.
This process isn’t about micromanaging or policing employees — it’s about uncovering hidden inefficiencies and identifying ways to create more room for growth and development.
From leasing agents to maintenance staff, start by observing or discussing employees’ day-to-day responsibilities. If your organization is large, focus on a representative from each role. The goal is to pinpoint recurring time drains or inefficiencies that affect everyone in similar positions.
You can gather this information by shadowing employees, asking them to describe a typical workday, or having them maintain a simple time log for a day.
Key areas to assess include:
- Meetings: Are they too frequent, overly long, or lacking focus?
- Processes: Could paperwork or administrative tasks be streamlined?
- Task Duplication: Are multiple people handling tasks that only require one?
- Busy and Quiet Times: When are employees most or least busy?
- Energy Peaks and Valleys: When do employees feel most productive?
- Distractions: What do employees identify as their most significant interruptions?
- Repetitive Work: Are unresolved issues creating unnecessary, repeated tasks?
- Patterns: Do you see recurring behaviors or challenges that lead to lost time?
By collaborating with employees and addressing their time management challenges, you can create a foundation for integrating training into their schedules. This process doesn’t just benefit training efforts — it enhances overall efficiency, job satisfaction, and team performance.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Making time for training in property management first starts with understanding how time is used today. It may seem like an onerous task you don’t have time for, but it’s an essential step in creating a positive training culture.
And because 2 out of 3 employees say they will likely leave in the next year due to a lack of skills development opportunities, investing in your team is more important than ever.
By reflecting on personal habits, identifying common time-wasters, and analyzing daily routines, property managers and their teams can uncover hidden opportunities to create space for growth and development. These small, intentional changes not only make training possible but also improve efficiency, morale, and overall performance.
Yes, training multifamily teams in property management is hard, but here’s the best news: You don’t have to figure it out alone! More than 2,400 companies trust Grace Hill’s award-winning training, so you can be confident that you’ll have what you need to educate employees and reduce risk in your organization. And because our Learning Management System is easy to administer, you can focus on what matters most – satisfying residents!
While finding time for employees to complete training presents challenges, the positive impact it offers is well worth it. With the proper focus, even the busiest teams can find the time to invest in their future. In the next part of this series — “How To Make Time for Training in Property Management: Planning With Purpose — Part 2” — we’ll dive deeper into practical strategies for how to plan with purpose, prioritizing and scheduling training to ensure it becomes a consistent and valued part of your team’s routine.
