1. Time Management Presented by: Noelene Bradley Bursar Conference 2015

2. About me…  I have been a School Business Manager for almost 13 years and previously worked for 13 years in the banking industry in South Africa.  I have worked alongside 6 Deputy heads and 7 Head teachers in my time at Rivermead.  I am married with 2 children and in my free time I support my husband in his Electrical Business. I enjoy the outdoors, love to travel and crochet.  I understand and appreciate all the never- ending tasks involved in this role.

3. Food for thought  Time management is a skill which, like typing or riding a bicycle, can be developed with practice and repetition.  Successful people do things differently to unsuccessful people – a common trait of successful people is that they are good time managers.  Habits take practice.  The key is self discipline – Time management is self - discipline in action.  Winners use their time well.

4. Key ideas  Goals – what is it that you want to accomplish?  Ask yourself these questions: what would be your goal if you won the lottery? Or if you only had 6 months to live? What would you dare to dream if you were assured you would not fail?  These questions will help you to understand what you would spend your time on and what you would place value on, who you would spend your time with? Create an opportunity for our goals and activities to be congruent with our values.  Goals have to be written down. They can then be reviewed at any time and altered if priorities change – pin them up somewhere as a reminder.

5. Organised Plans of Action  This is a key to success in achieving goals, as actions without planning leads to failure, underachievement, frustration, time wastage, anxiety and stress.  List activities into a plan on a daily basis and then prioritize the activities.  The ability to set a goal and make plans for accomplishment is a master plan for success.  A plan will help you to accomplish more in less time.

6. Priorities  Work on the important few rather than the trivial many.  Sort tasks into order of relevance and work on the vital tasks first.  By accomplishing important tasks, you will experience a greater sense of achievement which will boost your self esteem.  Other people’s emergencies may not necessarily be your top priority.

7. Analysis  Make a list for the week on the Friday before and a list for each day, the day before.  You will be 25% more productive when working from a list as it gives you a track to run off.  Gives you a good sense of where you are in your work as you can see clearly what tasks are more important than others and what can be delegated to others.  Ask yourself: what is the most valuable use of my time at the moment.  Always seek the top priority tasks that will make an impact on the future.

8. Concentrate  Concentrate on one activity at a time and stay with it until the end – single handling.  It doesn’t matter if you spend all day on that one activity – you will feel like a winner when you have completed a high priority task.  Set priorities in order: A – must do – top priority – do this first B – should do next C – nice to do if you have completed A’s and B’s D – Delegate these tasks E – Eliminate – if it is not worth doing, don’t do it  Choose goals, set priorities, choose activities, schedule the plan, implement the action plan.

9. Deadlines and Rewards  Motivate yourself with a specific reward when a task is completed.  When working off a list, tick items off – it creates a great sense of accomplishment and success.  A number of successful days lead to a feeling of achievement and happiness.  Create a sense of urgency by setting realistic but strict deadlines.

10. The Time Log  Where is your time going?  If you don’t know, keep a log. This will help you to see how you spend your time and will focus your time according to your action plan.  Successful people know how they spend their time and measure time in mornings/afternoons or better still in blocks of hours or half hours  Self discipline is crucial to allocating our time in order to achieve our goals.

11. Procrastination  Positive procrastination is where we procrastinate on low priority tasks – good.  Negative procrastination is where we procrastinate on our most important goals.  Are we always doing what is urgent instead of what is important?  How can we avoid negative procrastination: 1. Say to yourself “Do it now!” “Do it now!” 2. Break big tasks down – like slicing a salami and work on a series of smaller tasks (i.e. Budget). 3. Have a sense of urgency- act quickly – don’t drag the job out for longer than you need to. 4. Identify the priority and get the job done.

12. Delegate  Whatever can and should be done by someone else, should be delegated.  The key to delegation is clarity – be very clear on what you want done, write it down, pick the right person to do the work, be clear about what you want done and by when.  Don’t assume anything – check they understand what is expected and review the delegated task to ensure it is done correctly and on time.

13. Meetings  Meetings are an effective business tool but potentially a waste of time.  Meetings should have a purpose, an agenda so that conversations do not go off track, and should start and finish on time.  Deal with important items listed first, and if you have discussed or heard everything relevant to you, ask to be dismissed, don’t waste time in a meeting that you do not need to be in.

14. Interruptions  Two major interruptions are the telephone and walk in visitors.  If you are working on a large piece of work, don’t answer the phone or have calls held or let them go to an answer phone.  Do not accept sales calls unless you are genuinely interested in reviewing a system or looking to purchase that item.  People are time wasters and will waste your time if you let them. If someone walks into your office, stand up and stay standing – they will not then sit down and you can usher them to the door if necessary. If they stop by, and ask if you have a minute, and you are busy on an important task, say no, but that you will get back to them later, they will go on and waste someone else’s time.  Avoid the stress of pandering to others who do not care if they are wasting your time.  Regarding telephone calls – make clear notes of what is said so that you are clear about expectations.

15. Key Result Areas  What key result areas have you been hired to accomplish? Ask yourself:  Why am I on the payroll? What results are expected of me? What contribution am I expected to make? What are the core functions / goals of my job?  If you don’t know what they are then you need to see your line manager and ask for their input. Give a list of your functions and ask which ones are central to your role and will have the greatest impact on the business/school. Ask so that you are clear on this – Know what your key result areas are. This will lead to you working on the key areas that you have been employed for. If you supervise staff, make sure that they know what their key result areas are so that they will know what is important in their job.

16. Batching Tasks  Do all tasks that relate to each other together i.e. invoicing, phone calls etc.  You will be more effective and take less time by concentrating on similar tasks.

17. Neatness  Don’t use your intelligence to combat for untidiness.  Your work station or desk should be clean and tidy – it increases productivity.  Sort out your desk in this way:  T – Throw it out  R – Refer item to someone else  A – Action – put your action items into one folder to work on.  F – File – create the filing system that works for you and keep filing up to date.  Then work on all items in your action folder.  If you are not working with it – put it away – keep order.  Stand back from your desk and ask yourself – who works at a desk like this?  If very messy – you may think the person is disorganised… is this you?

18. Chunks of Time  Allow time for important tasks. Successful people develop a habit for allowing for chunks of uninterrupted time.  Rise early, Work later or longer (although this isn’t always productive).  Differentiate between administrative and creative work and allow time to work on each individually.

19. Work Simplification  Look out for ways to do things faster, cheaper, easier. Share ideas with other teams in school or other schools. Share best practise – don’t re-create the wheel. Get more done in the same time.  Work longer – but ensure its productive!  Work faster.  Do fewer – but more important things.  Do jobs that you do best – where are your talents?  Make fewer mistakes – re-work is a frustrating waste of time.  Do things together – use teamwork – put people together to complete a project.

20. Say NO!  Learn to say no to tasks that do not contribute to your goals.  Do not do things out of obligation. If you feel pressurised, then ask if you can think about it first and get back about it, buy time to assess if you can fit this additional task in. If you have considered it and cannot help out – say no!  By learning to say no you will save many hours of working on projects that don’t contribute to your goals.

21. Balance  What is the purpose of good time management?  Enhance and improve the quality of your life.  Improve the quality of your relationships with your spouse, children, parents etc.  Creates success when establishing who your priorities are – don’t be so preoccupied with your job that you ignore those that you love and those that love you, your health, energy, spiritual well being and your development.  Keep your life in balance by creating habits that will facilitate a happier you!