Time management – tips, techniques and planning June 2015 Time management – tips, techniques and planning

What are we doing this morning? Identifying why time management is important Identifying your work preferences Working with the time management grid Identifying time bandits and how to deal with them effectively Strategies for managing those emails Identifying when and how to delegate tasks Action planning for improved time management

Activity 1 Identify 3 reasons why time management is important What would you like to improve regarding your time management skills? 10 minutes

And now for something very different….

10 ways in which time management goes wrong Keeping too many things in your head Doing whatever grabs your attention next Doing efficiently that which need not be done at all Spending too much time on low priority items Inadequate or poor planning Disorganised/distracting environment Attempting to do too much Always saying yes! Not managing inflow Confusing activity with productivity

Time management techniques What do you currently use? Are they effective/not effective? What are their advantages and/or disadvantages?

Time preferences - planning Do you plan or go with the flow? Planners – how do you feel when you have to leave things undecided or make changes at the last minute? Go with the flow – how do you feel having to account to others for what you are doing and when?

Time preferences Your preference will influence how you want to spend your time Both planning and going with the flow have their strengths but you need to be aware that working with others you need to be flexible Pressure to be planners and planning is a key task in time management If you need to be responsive to others you may not be able to plan you whole day ahead of time Having a fixed plan can sometimes make it difficult to take advantage of new opportunities

Time preference – time of day Are you a lark or a night owl? How can you make use of this preference in managing your time? make best use of the time when you are most effective and do the tasks which require greater effort Larks – tackle the busier more challenging issues in the morning leaving admin tasks till later in the day Night owls – break yourself in gently to the day and do your admin tasks in the morning and leave the more challenging tasks till later in the day when you are performing at your best

Not important/Not urgent In order to manage our time effectively we need to know what we have to do Urgent/Important Not urgent/Important Crises Fire fighting Unplanned activities Major projects Planned tasks Urgent/Not important Not important/Not urgent Emails Interruptions Other expectations Socialising Pleasant distractions

Another way of looking at this…

QUALITY & PERSONAL LEADERSHIP And one more way! Urgent Not urgent Important NECESSITY Your key action Manage Activities Crisis Deadline driven activities “True emergencies” Pressing problems Last minute preparation QUALITY & PERSONAL LEADERSHIP Focus Preparation and planning Empowerment Relationship building Delegation Not important DECEPTION Use caution or avoid Meeting other people’s priorities and expectations Frequent interruptions Most emails, some calls Urgency masquerading as importance WASTE Avoid Escapist activities Busy work Junk mail Some emails Some calls

Activity Which jobs or tasks do you wrongly promote because your manager gives them to you List the important jobs you do because your staff ask you to do them List the jobs and tasks you do and like doing List the jobs you do urgently because you like the person asking List the tasks and jobs you start but do not finish

Understanding a little about how we work in a team

Dealing with those time bandits! Who and what are your time bandits? There are many time bandits in the workplace Unexpected interruptions Outbound phone calls Procrastination A cluttered and disorganised workplace System issues Staffing issues

Activity – how can we manage those time bandits

Email management Turn off the email alerts Use identifiers in email subject line Urgent FYI Action Check your emails at specific times of the day

Delegation Some tasks: Must be delegated Should be delegated Could be delegated Can’t be delegated

Activity – delegation of tasks

KISS matrix Keep Improve Start Stop

Action planning Objective Tasks   Tasks What do you need to do to achieve the objective Success criteria How can you identify your success Timeframe By when do you need to achieve the tasks Resources What resources you need for each task

Any questions?