the effective time management - charlton …7 effective time management the 80/20 rule the 80/20...

EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

SHORT COURSE PROGRAM

2 Effective Time Management

Contents Section One: Getting Started ..............................................................................................................4

Workshop Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 5

Section Two: Making Time Count .......................................................................................................6

The 80/20 Rule .......................................................................................................................................... 7

Prioritising with the Urgent-Important Matrix ......................................................................................... 8

Being Self-Assured .................................................................................................................................... 9

Section Three: Setting Goals ............................................................................................................. 10

The Three P’s ........................................................................................................................................... 10

Create SMART Goals ............................................................................................................................... 12

Prioritising Your Goals ............................................................................................................................. 13

Visualise your Goals ................................................................................................................................ 14

Section Four: Planning ..................................................................................................................... 15

Using a Productivity Journal.................................................................................................................... 15

The Glass Jar: Rocks, Pebbles, Sand, and Water ..................................................................................... 17

Ready, Fire, Aim! ..................................................................................................................................... 18

Section Five: Procrastination ............................................................................................................ 18

Why We Procrastinate ............................................................................................................................ 20

Nine Ways to Overcome Procrastination ............................................................................................... 21

Eat That Frog! .......................................................................................................................................... 22

Section Six: Managing Crisis ............................................................................................................. 23

When Crisis Calls ..................................................................................................................................... 24

Creating a Plan ........................................................................................................................................ 25

Executing the Plan ................................................................................................................................... 26

Lessons Learned ...................................................................................................................................... 27

Section Seven: The Organised Workspace ......................................................................................... 28

De-Clutter ................................................................................................................................................ 29

Managing Workflow................................................................................................................................ 30


Dealing with E-mail ................................................................................................................................. 31

Using Calendars ....................................................................................................................................... 32

Section Eight: Delegating .................................................................................................................. 33

When to Delegate ................................................................................................................................... 34

Who Should I Delegate to? ..................................................................................................................... 35

Providing Instructions ............................................................................................................................. 36

Monitoring the Results ........................................................................................................................... 37

Section Nine: The Power of Ritual..................................................................................................... 38

What is a Ritual/Routine? ....................................................................................................................... 39

Example Rituals ....................................................................................................................................... 39

Using Rituals to Maximise Time .............................................................................................................. 41

Section Ten: Meetings ...................................................................................................................... 42

Deciding if a Meeting is Necessary ......................................................................................................... 42

Using the PAT Approach ......................................................................................................................... 44

Effective Agenda Writing ........................................................................................................................ 45

Staying on Track ...................................................................................................................................... 46

Was the Meeting Worthwhile? ............................................................................................................... 47

Section Eleven: Meeting Alternatives ............................................................................................... 48

Instant Messaging and Chat Rooms ........................................................................................................ 49

Teleconferencing .................................................................................................................................... 50

E-mail Lists and Online Groups ............................................................................................................... 51

Collaboration Applications ...................................................................................................................... 52

Section Twelve: Wrapping Up ........................................................................................................... 53

Words from the Wise .............................................................................................................................. 53


Section One: Getting Started Personal time management skills are essential skills for effective people. People who use these

techniques on a regular basis are the highest achievers in all walks of life, from business to sport to

public service. Making these skills part your daily routine will enable you to function exceptionally well,

even under intense pressure.

As you master these skills you'll find that you take control of your workload, saying goodbye to the often

intense stress of work overload.

At the heart of time management is an important shift in focus:

Concentrate on results, not on being busy

Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little, because they're not

concentrating their effort on the things that matter the most.

Time management training begins with setting goals. These goals are recorded, prioritised and may be

broken down into a project, an action plan, or a simple task list.

This entire process is supported by a skill set that should include personal motivation, delegation skills,

organisation tools, and crisis management. We’ll cover all this and more during this workshop.


Workshop Objectives By the end of this workshop, you should be able to:

• Plan and prioritise daily activities efficiently and in a productive manner

• Triumph over procrastination

• Effectively deal with crises

• Organise your workspace and workflow

• Efficiently delegate.

• Ritualise your workload

• Plan effective meetings


Section Two: Making Time Count Time management is about more than just managing our time; it is about managing ourselves in relation

to time. Practice and discipline will help you identify and focus on the activities that give you the

greatest returns. Investing in these time management activities will save you time, helping you work

smarter, not harder. It means changing habits or activities that cause us to waste time. It means being

willing to try different methods and ideas to enable you to make maximum use of your time.

This section will give you some tools to plan and prioritise effectively and make the most of the time

that you have.


The 80/20 Rule The 80/20 rule, also known as Pareto’s Principle Rule states that 80% of your results come from only

20% of your actions. If you consider this rule you will find it fits most things in our everyday life.

Here are a few examples of the 80/20 rule:

• Only 20% of the population own 80% of the wealth.

• Only 20% of employees are responsible for 80% of a company’s output.

• Only 20% of customers are responsible for 80% of turnover.

For most people, it really comes down to analysing what you are spending your time on. Are you

focusing on the 20% of activities that produce 80% of the results?


Prioritising with the Urgent-Important Matrix A useful way of prioritising your tasks as a team is to use an "Urgent and Important Matrix". This is a

particularly good tool to use at the beginning of a project as you can identify the tasks at an early stage

and disregard those tasks which are viewed as being not urgent and not important. For group planning

you could use the matrix on a flip chart and simply write the tasks on post-it notes and stick in the

relevant quadrants.

At the end of the process you will be able to devise action plans for the important and non-urgent tasks

and begin working on these straight away. The purpose of tackling the important and non-urgent tasks is

to ensure that these don't become important and urgent. If you spend all of your time concentrating on

the urgent and important tasks you will just be firefighting. You need to be proactive rather than

reactive.

• Important: These are activities that lead to achieving your goals and have the greatest impact

on your life.

• Urgent: These activities demand immediate attention but are often associated with someone

else’s goals rather than our own.

Below is a description of each of the quadrants.

• Urgent and Important: Activities in this area

relate to dealing with critical issues as they

arise and meeting significant commitments.

Perform these duties now.

• Important, But Not Urgent: These success-

oriented tasks are critical to achieving goals.

Plan to do these tasks next.

• Urgent, But Not Important: These chores do

not move you forward toward your own goals.

Manage by delaying them, cutting them short,

and rejecting requests from others. Postpone

these chores.

• Not Urgent and Not Important: These trivial interruptions are just a distraction, and should be

avoided if possible. However, be careful not to mislabel things like time with family and

recreational activities as not important. Avoid these distractions altogether.


Being Self-Assured At times, requests from others may be important and need immediate attention. Often, however, these

requests conflict with our values and take time away from working toward your goals. Even if it is

something we would like to do but simply don’t have the time for, it can be very difficult to say no. One

approach in dealing with these types of interruptions is to use a Positive No, which comes in several

forms.

• Say no, followed by an honest explanation, such as, “I am uncomfortable doing that because…”

• Say no and then briefly clarify your reasoning without making excuses. This helps the listener to

better understand your position. Example: “I can’t right now because I have another project that

is due by 5 pm today.”

• Say no, and then give an alternative. Example: “I don’t have time today, but I could schedule it in

for tomorrow morning.”

• Empathetically repeat the request in your

own words, and then say no. Example: “I

understand that you need to have this

paperwork filed immediately, but I will not

be able to file it for you.”

• Say yes, give your reasoning for not doing it,

and provide an alternative solution. Example:

“Yes, I would love to help you by filing this

paperwork, but I do not have time until

tomorrow morning.”

• Provide an assertive refusal and repeat it no

matter what the person says. This approach may be most appropriate with aggressive or

manipulative people and can be an effective strategy to control your emotions. Example: “I

understand how you feel, but I will not [or cannot]…” Remember to stay focused and not

become sidetracked into responding to other issues.


Section Three: Setting Goals

Settings personal goals are a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating

yourself to turn this vision of the future into reality.

The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what

you want to achieve (setting your expectation), you know where you must concentrate your efforts.

You'll also quickly spot the distractions that would otherwise lure you from your course.

More than this, properly-set goals can be incredibly motivating, and as you get into the habit of setting

and achieving goals, you'll find that your self-confidence builds fast.

Goal setting is a critical element to effective time management. According to Brian Tracy’s book “Goals”,

fewer than 3% of people have clear, written goals, and a plan for getting there. Setting goals puts you

ahead of the pack!

Remember: the past cannot be changed, and the future is the direct result of what you do right now!

The Three P’s Setting meaningful, long-term goals is a giant step toward achieving your dreams. In turn, setting and

achieving short-term goals can help you accomplish the tasks you'll need to achieve the long-term ones.

It is also important to make sure that all your goals unleash the power of the three P's:


• POSITIVE: Who could get fired up about a goal such as "Find a

career that's not boring"? Goals should be phrased positively,

so they help you feel good about yourself and what you're

trying to accomplish. A better alternative might be this: "Enrol

in pre-law classes so I can help people with legal problems

someday."

• PERSONAL: Goals must be personal. They must reflect your own dreams and values, not those

of friends, family, or the media. When crafting your goal

statement, always use the word “I” in the sentence to brand it

as your own. When your goals are personal, you'll be more

motivated to succeed and take greater pride in your

accomplishments.

• POSSIBLE: When setting goals, be sure to consider what's

possible and within your control. Getting into an Ivy League

university may be possible if you are earning good grades but

unrealistic if you're struggling. In the latter case, a more reasonable goal might be to attend a

university or trade school that offers courses related to your chosen career. You might also

pursue volunteer work that would strengthen your college applications.


Create SMART Goals

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

Specific - A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a

specific goal you must answer the six "W" questions:

Who: Who is involved?

What: What do I want to accomplish?

Where: Identify a location.

When: Establish a time frame.

Which: Identify requirements and constraints.

Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you

set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the

exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

Attainable - When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you

can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach

them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement

of your goals.

Realistic - To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able

to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your

goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently

easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest

jobs you ever accomplished seem easy simply because they were a labour of love.

Timely - A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there's no sense

of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? "Someday" won't work. But if you

anchor it within a timeframe, "by May 1st", then you've set your unconscious mind into motion to begin

working on the goal.


Prioritising Your Goals A common failure of goal setting is that people set too many goals. This goal setting activity gets you to

prioritise your goals.

You may find that you have many goals. However, working on all your goals at once will reduce your

focus and effort and probably overwhelm you with the number of tasks to complete.

This is a common cause of failure.

Instead of spreading yourself thin by focusing on several goals at once, invest your mental focus on one

goal, the most important goal right now.

Let’s take a closer look at your goals and prioritise them so that you can focus your time and effort on

those goals that are most important to you. A large part of goal setting is not just identifying what you

want, but also identifying what you must give up in your life to get it. Most people are unwilling to make

a conscious decision to give up the things in their life necessary to achieve their goals.


Visualise your Goals You can harness the power of creative visualisation to help you achieve your goals. It is a power you use

every day, whether you are conscious of it or not.

Health, success, money, promotion and possessions can be gained through creative visualisation. It does

not mean that everything will change overnight. Mental work is necessary. A change of attitude towards

life is a necessity. You need an open mind, concentration, the ability to visualise, and a lot of enthusiasm

and persistence.

Suppose your goal is to earn five thousand dollars. Build in your imagination a mental image of a check

for this amount, made out in your name. See it clearly as if it is really there. Arouse in yourself feelings of

happiness and satisfaction that you have received this check.

Emotionalising and visualising your goal will help you create the desire to materialise it into your life.

One of the best visualisation tools is a vision board. Simply find a magazine, cut out pictures that

resonate with the goal that you want to achieve, glue them onto a piece of poster board, and place that

board somewhere that you can view it several times a day.


Section Four: Planning A good measure of successful time management is being consistently productive each day. To achieve

this you need to plan and schedule your tasks at the beginning of each day. Many people use a daily

plan to motivate themselves. Having a daily plan and committing to it can help you stay focused on the

priorities of that day. You are more likely to get things accomplished if you write down your plans for the

day.

This section will offer some techniques to understand, plan and track your daily activities.


Using a Productivity Journal Prioritising and planning are excellent activities that will increase your productivity exponentially.

However, to be most effective, your priorities and plans need to be written down. We recommend

creating and using a Productivity Journal.

To start, get yourself a spiral notebook and label it as your Personal Productivity Journal or your

Professional Productivity Journal. (We recommend keeping a separate journal for work and for your

personal life, so you can focus on them at separate times, thus maintaining your optimal work/life

balance.) Label each page with the day and the date and what needs to be done that particular day. For

your professional journal, make sure to include what team member is involved in each task.

Next, prioritise each task in order of importance. Highlight the top three items and focus on those first.

Cross off items as you complete them. Items that are not completed should be carried over to the next

page.

A few tips for success:

• Take some time at the end of the day to start the

next day’s list. Then, in the morning, review the list

and prioritise.

• During the day, keep your journal with you to avoid

becoming side-tracked. Crossing off completed tasks

will give your subconscious mind a tremendous

amount of satisfaction. This will also help to

maintain your motivation to complete the

remaining items on your action list.

• If you find yourself moving uncompleted tasks over

into the following day, and the day after that, then

you need to ask yourself why that task is on your list

in the first place and what value it has in your life. If

you postpone a task three times, it does not belong

on your action list.


The Glass Jar: Rocks, Pebbles, Sand, and Water The story about the professor can be adapted to our working life especially time management. The glass

jar represents the time you have each day, and each item that goes into it represents an activity with a

priority relative to its size.

• Rocks: The general idea is to fill your glass jar first with rocks. Plan each day around your most

important tasks that will propel you toward achieving your goals. These represent your highest

priority projects and deadlines with the greatest value, often important, but not urgent tasks

that move you toward your goals. Remember these need to be placed first otherwise there will

be no room for them.

• Pebbles: Next, fill in the space between the rocks with pebbles. These represent tasks that are

urgent, and important, but contribute less to important goals. Without proper planning, these

tasks are often unexpected, and left unmanaged, can quickly fill your day. Working to reduce

these tasks will give you more time to work toward your goals.

• Sand: Now add sand to fill your jar. In other words, schedule urgent, but not important tasks,

only after important tasks. These activities are usually routine or maintenance tasks that do not

directly contribute to your goals.

• Water: Finally, pour water into your jar. These trivial time-wasters are neither important nor

urgent and take you away from working toward high return activities and your goals.


Ready, Fire, Aim! Most of us will have heard the saying, “Ready, Aim, Fire!” This may come as a surprise, but regarding

time management planning, it is better to think “Ready, Fire, Aim!”. This is because most people aim for

the target, and then they keep aiming at the target, but they never seem to fire. They get so caught up

with the planning that they fail to take action. This is just another form of procrastination, which we will

discuss further in the next section. It’s sometimes better to take a shot and see how close you were to

the target, that way you can adjust your aim.

• READY! Do not over-plan your goals. By the time you fire, the target may have moved.

• FIRE! Remember the 80/20 rule and just take action. Even if you don’t hit the bull’s eye, you’ll

probably still hit the target.

• AIM! Make new plans based on new information. Readjust your aim based on where you hit the

target.


Section Five: Procrastination Everyone procrastinates. We put things off because we don't want to do them, or because we have too

many other things on our plates. Putting things off, big or small is part of being human.

You can tell whether you need to do something about your procrastination by examining its

consequences. Procrastination can have external consequences (you get disciplined for late submission

of a report) or internal consequences (you feel anxious much of the time, even when you are doing

something that you enjoy). If you put off washing the dishes, but the dishes don't bother you, who

cares? When your procrastination leaves you feeling discouraged and overburdened, however, it is time

to act.

Procrastination means delaying a task (or even several tasks) that should be a priority. The ability to

overcome procrastination and tackle the important actions that have the biggest positive impact in your

life is a trait of the most successful people.


Why We Procrastinate There are many reasons why we tend to procrastinate, including:

• Don’t know where to begin.

• Waiting for the right mood or the right time to

tackle the important task at hand.

• Task feels overwhelming.

• No passion or desire for doing the work.

• Fear of failure or success.

• Poor organisational skills.

• Perfectionism - "I don't have the right skills or

resources to do this perfectly now, so I won't do

it at all"

Listed below are few tell-tale signs that you are procrastinating:

• Filling your day with low priority tasks.

• Reading an e-mail or request that you've noted more than once, without starting work on it or

deciding when you're going to start work on it.

• Sitting down to start a high-priority task, and almost immediately going off to make a cup of

coffee or check your e-mails.

• Regularly saying "Yes" to unimportant tasks that others ask you to do and filling your time with

these instead of getting on with the important tasks already on your list


Nine Ways to Overcome Procrastination Procrastination happens to the best of us. And we

rationalise our action, or lack of action in this case,

in so many ways.

The harsh reality is that procrastination is just a

nice way of saying avoidance. Why do we avoid

things? Simple - because we don’t enjoy them, or

because they take us out of our comfort zone.

So instead of succumbing to the dreaded beast –

try these tips for overcoming procrastination:

• Be honest about why you are avoiding the activity. Is it fear, is it that you don’t get on with

someone, is it because you have to deliver bad news and you’re not sure how to go about it?

• Commit to doing it at a certain time. Perhaps in the morning, so the task is out of the way.

• Prepare! If you need to have absolute quiet, switch off the phones for a couple of hours.

Whatever it takes – set yourself up for success.

• Just do it!

• Reward yourself when you are finished – but only when you are finished. Reward yourself by

going out for coffee afterwards, or taking a break.

• Appreciate the feeling of getting something done that would normally sit in your in-tray for

ages.

• Consider whether you should be doing the job you have. There are some things that we just

aren’t suited to, or that we don’t have the expertise for. If the things you avoid fall into this

category, consider outsourcing them to an expert.

• Delegate. If the task is important, ask yourself if it’s really something that you are responsible

for doing in the first place. Know your job description and ask if the task is part of your

responsibilities. Can the task be given to someone else?

• Delete it. What are the consequences of not doing the task at all? Consider the 80/20 rule;

maybe it doesn’t need to be done in the first place.


Eat That Frog! "If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog,

you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing

that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen

to you all day long!"

Let’s imagine that the task you least want to complete on

your to do list is the live frog. That is the task you should

complete first. Your frog is the task that will have the

greatest impact on achieving your goals, and the task that

you are most likely to procrastinate starting.

Another point to consider is if you must eat a live frog, it

does not pay to sit and look at it for a very long time! The more you procrastinate the more difficult it

will be to eventually eat it.

The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is for you to develop the lifelong habit

of tackling your major task first thing each morning. Don’t spend excessive time planning what you will

do. You must develop the routine of "eating your frog" before you do anything else and without taking

too much time to think about it.

Successful, effective people are those who launch directly into their major tasks and then discipline

themselves to work steadily and single-mindedly until those tasks are complete.


Section Six: Managing Crisis Your new improved planning and efficiency skills should reduce the number of crises, but the reality is

you cannot plan for everything. No one expects a true crisis to strike, especially when it directly affects

your business and your colleges.

You could be forced to act quickly in a difficult situation when you least expect it. The best way to

minimise damaging effects from a crisis is to have a well-developed plan of dealing with it.

This section will look at ways of dealing with a crisis when it does occur.


When Crisis Calls Our first instinct when a crisis hits, is to spring into action. There will be times that this approach is

correct but in most of operational business crisis’s you should move quickly and decisively, but carefully.

It is impossible to fix a problem until you can identify the

cause of it. You don’t want to jump into action based on

erroneous information and make the crisis worse.

Your first step is to gather and analyse the data surrounding

the crisis. Below is a list of questions you should find the

answers to.

• What happened?

• What were the direct causes?

• What were the indirect causes?

• What will happen next?

• What could happen next?

• What events will this impact?

• Who else needs to know about this?

Above all, take the time to do a thorough, proper research.

You will also want to identify the threshold time: the time that you have before the situation moves out

of your control or becomes exponentially worse. You may also find that the crisis will resolve itself after

a certain point of time.


Creating a Plan Once you have gathered the data, it’s time to create a plan. The best approach is to identify the

problem, decide on a solution, break it down into parts, create a timeline and allocate and communicate

the distribution of tasks.

Example

Problem: Find a new channel partner.

Solution: Create a channel partner matrix and implement.

Timeline: Must be complete within the next 4 weeks.

For larger plans try using project planning software like Microsoft Project.


Executing the Plan The greatest plan in the world is useless if it is not executed correctly. If the plan only contains a few

tasks and they all belong to you, then execution should be straight forward. Usually however plans

involve other people, materials and outside suppliers.

The key to successful execution of your plan is communication and the ability to be flexible should

circumstances dictate it. Make sure everyone involved with the plan is fully aware of what it is they need

to complete and by when. Have regular catch up meetings or arrange updates.

During execution, it is important to stay organised and on top of events to make sure that your plan is

updated and relevant.

Project Management is a vital skill to all managers and supervisors, if you find that you are regularly

expected to deliver projects it may be a good idea to attend a training course dedicated to this skill set.


Lessons Learned Once the crisis has passed comes probably the most

important and least completed phase of all. Learning from

the crisis!

We are all usually very relieved once a crisis has passed and

if we successfully dealt with, it should be cause for

celebration. But we have achieved nothing if the same crisis

arises a week later because we didn’t learn anything from

the experience failing to put in place safeguards or

contingency plans.

A contingency plan for our Bakery crisis could be as simple as

holding a spare fan motor in stock at all time.

You can even be prepared for disasters that can’t be predicted, such as illness, fire, or theft. In the case

of illness, for example, you could prepare a short contingency plan indicating who will be responsible for

your correspondence, projects, and general responsibilities in case you are ill for an extended period.

Make sure you share these plans with the appropriate people so that they can be prepared as well.


Section Seven: The Organised Workspace To effectively manage your time and to be productive each day, you must create an appropriate

environment. By eliminating clutter, setting up an effective filing system, gathering essential tools, and

managing workflow, you will be well on your way to creating an effective workspace.


De-Clutter Removing clutter is itself a time-consuming task, but a cluttered workspace significantly impairs your

ability to find things, and you will get the time back that you invest – and more! To retrieve materials

quickly, you’ll need an effective filing system that

includes three basic kinds of files:

• WORKING FILES: Materials used frequently

and needed close at hand.

• REFERENCE FILES: Information needed only

occasionally.

• ARCHIVAL FILES: Materials seldom retrieved

but that must be kept. For ease of

retrieval, organise files in the simplest

way possible. For example, you could

label files with a one or two word tag and

arrange the files alphabetically.

Once clutter has been eliminated and other materials have been filed, the effective workspace includes

only what is essential: a set of three trays to control the workflow on your desk (see the next topic),

standard office supplies, a computer, and a telephone. Everything else, except for what you are working

on now, can and should be filed where it can be retrieved as needed.


Managing Workflow How do you process the mountain of material that collects in your paper and electronic in-baskets? The

answer is one piece of paper, one electronic message at a time. Many time management experts agree

that the most effective people act on an item the first time it is touched.

Although difficult at first, the practice can

become habitual, and is made easier with the

four Ds:

• DO: If a task can be completed in two

minutes or less, do it immediately.

• DELETE: If the material is trash or junk,

delete it. Or, if it’s something that you

might use later on, file it, and move

on.

• DEFER: If the task is one that can’t be

completed quickly and is not a high

priority item, simply defer it.

• DELEGATE: If a task is not yours to do,

then delegate it.

Remember, to take the S.T.I.N.G. out of feeling overwhelmed about a task, follow these steps:

• Select one task to do at a time.

• Time yourself using a clock for no more than one hour.

• Ignore everything else during that time.

• No breaks or interruptions should be permitted.

• Give yourself a reward when the time is up.


Dealing with E-mail Electronic communication can be managed just as easily and as quickly as paper with the four D’s that

we just discussed. However, there are some other key ideas that will help you maximise your e-mail

time.

• Like other routine tasks (such as returning phone calls, handling paper mail, and checking voice

mail), e-mail is best handled in batches at regularly scheduled times of the day.

• Ask your e-mail contacts to use specific

subject lines, and make sure to use them

yourself. This will help you to determine

whether your incoming mail is business or

personal, urgent or trivial.

• Once you know the subject of the message,

open and read urgent e-mails, and respond

accordingly. Non-urgent e-mails, like jokes,

can be read later. Delete advertising-related

e-mail that you have no interest in, or which

you consider spam.

• Use your e-mail system to its fullest

potential. Create folders for different topics

or projects, or by senders. Most e-mail systems also allow you to create folders and add

keywords or categories to messages, which makes information retrieval much easier.

• Many e-mail programs allow you to create rules that automatically move messages to the

appropriate folder. This can help you follow your e-mail plan.

• Finally, don’t forget to delete e-mail from your trash can and junk folder on a regular basis.


Using Calendars As this workshop is focused on time management, probably the most effective and essential tool is the

calendar. As we are all aware, calendars come in all shapes and sizes but the most commonly used

calendar within your working environment will more than likely be software based.

It would not be impossible to cover all the features of the many systems available, so we will

concentrate on best practice.

The example opposite shows how colour

coding can help differentiate at a glance

different types of tasks. This example

offers a weekly view but it is usually very

simple to show monthly, quarterly or

annual views. Make sure you update the

tasks if their status changes.

A feature common of many software

based calendars, is the reminder. Make

sure you change the default notice to suit

the task, for example: If you need a

reminder to prepare for an important

meeting, receiving a reminder only 10

mins before is of no benefit to you.

Individuals with multiple responsibilities can benefit from an annual calendar organised by areas of

responsibility (e.g., budget, personnel, schedule, planning, and miscellaneous) may be especially

valuable.

Don’t forget the Productivity Journal that we discussed earlier. This can be a valuable tool for organising

tasks, identifying patterns, improving workflow, and recording work completed.


Section Eight: Delegating If you work on your own, there’s only so much you can get done, no matter how hard you work. As well,

everyone needs help and support, and there is no shame in asking for assistance. One of the most

common ways of overcoming this limitation is to learn how to delegate your work to other people. If

you do this well, you can quickly build a strong and successful team of people.

During this section we will look at the actual skills involved in delegating. If you are new delegation it can

feel like more hassle than it’s worth. However, by delegating effectively, you can expand the amount of

work that you can deliver.

When you arrange the workload so that you are working on the tasks that have the highest priority for

you, and your team are working on meaningful and challenging assignments, you have a recipe for

success.


When to Delegate Delegation is a win-win situation when implemented correctly, however that does not mean that you

can delegate just anything. To determine when delegation is most appropriate there are five key

questions you need to ask yourself:

• Is there someone else who has (or can be given) the necessary information or expertise to complete the task? Essentially is this a task that someone else can do, or is it critical that you do it yourself?

• Does the task provide an opportunity to grow and develop another person’s skills?

• Is this a task that will recur, in a similar form, in the future?

• Do you have enough time to delegate the job effectively? Time must be available for adequate training, for questions and answers, for opportunities to check progress, and for rework if that is necessary.

• Is this a task that I should delegate? Tasks critical for long-term success (for example, recruiting the right people for your team) genuinely do need your attention.

If you can answer “yes” to at least some of the above questions, then it could well be worth delegating

this job.


Who Should I Delegate to? Having decided to delegate a task there are some other factors to consider.

The factors to consider include:

1. Does the experience, knowledge and skills of the individual apply to the delegated task. • What knowledge, skills and attitude does the person already have? • Do you have time and resources to provide any training needed?

2. Does the delegated task align with the individual’s preferred work style?

• How independent is the person? • What does he or she want from his or her job? • What are his or her long-term goals and interest, and how do these align with the work

proposed?

3. What is the current workload of this person? • Does the person have time to take on more work? • Will you delegating this task require reshuffling of other responsibilities and workloads?

When you first start to delegate to someone, you may notice that he or she takes longer than you do to

complete tasks. This is because you are an expert in the field and the person you have delegated to is

still learning.

Be patient: if you have chosen the right person to delegate to, and you are delegating correctly, you will

find that he or she quickly becomes competent and reliable.


Providing Instructions Once you have worked through the above steps, make sure you brief your team member appropriately.

Take time to explain why they were chosen for the job, what’s expected from them during the project,

the goals you have for the project, all timelines and deadlines, and the resources on which they can

draw. Let them know how much supervision they can expect from you.

Use the following principles to delegate successfully:

1. Clearly articulate the desired outcome.

2. Clearly identify constraints and boundaries.

Where are the lines of authority, responsibility

and accountability? Should the person:

3. Include people in the delegation process.

Empower them to decide what tasks are to be

delegated to them and when.

4. Match the amount of responsibility with the

amount of authority.

5. Delegate to the lowest possible organisational

level. The people who are closest to the work

are best suited for the task, because they have

the most intimate knowledge of the detail of

everyday work.

6. Provide adequate support, and be available to answer questions.

7. Focus on results. Concern yourself with what is accomplished, rather than detailing how the

work should be done: Your way is not necessarily the only or even the best way!

8. Avoid “upward delegation”. If there is a problem, don’t allow the person to shift responsibility

for the task back to you: ask for recommended solutions; and don’t simply provide an answer.

9. Build motivation and commitment. Discuss how success will impact financial rewards, future

opportunities, informal recognition, and other desirable consequences.

10. Establish and maintain control.

In thoroughly considering these key points prior to and during the delegation process you will find that

you delegate more successfully.


Monitoring the Results Once we have delegated a piece of work, how we go on to monitor it is very important. This requires a

fine balance between overseeing the work and not micro managing it. If we have delegated correctly,

considering the criteria required to complete the task and then matched this to the team member with

the correct skills, we should have a degree of confidence.

At this point we must allow the team member to take on

the task feeling they have our complete confidence in

them. Offering your help whenever needed is a great way

of monitoring progress without seeming overbearing.

Another way to encourage growth is to ask for

recommended solutions when delegates come to you with

a problem, and then help them explore those solutions and

reach a decision.

It is important that you hold delegates to the original

schedule that you agreed upon. Congratulate them on

milestones accomplished and deadlines met. If deadlines

are missed, explore why. These investigations often provide

valuable lessons learned for both you and the employee.

Don’t be afraid to ask for progress reports. Remember, your job is to help the employee stay on track,

and to remove any barriers that are impeding their task.

Once the delegated work is delivered back to you, make sure you set aside enough time to review it

thoroughly. Only accept good quality. If you accept work that you are not satisfied with, your team

member does not learn to do the job properly.

Of course, when good work is returned to you, make sure to both recognise and reward the effort. As a

leader, you should get in the practice of complimenting members of your team every time you are

impressed by what they have done. This effort on your part will go a long way toward building team

members’ self-confidence and efficiency now and in the future.


Section Nine: The Power of Ritual For most people, the word “ritual” typically conjures up an image of a boring, repetitive life, with every

moment controlled and managed, and no room for spontaneity. Rituals and routines, however, can

actually help increase the spontaneity and fun in your life. Because routine tasks are already planned

for, you have more energy to spend on the tasks that will bring you closer to your goals and bring more

joy to your life.


What is a Ritual/Routine? The Dictionary defines a ritual as, “any practice or pattern of behaviour regularly performed in a set

manner.”

In fact, you can build any type of ritual in three easy steps.

• Identify the Task. Let’s say you want to build an exercise ritual.

• Identify the Time and/or Trigger. For example, perhaps you normally exercise right after work.

• Identify the Sub-Tasks. For you, perhaps your ritual involves going to the gym, getting changed,

stretching, doing 45 minutes on the treadmill, performing three reps of weights, and doing a lap

around the pool to finish things off. Then, you shower and go home.

Remember, a ritual shouldn’t be set in stone. Once you establish a ritual, it can be modified at any point

in time, depending on what works for you. With our exercise example, you could easily decide to

exercise before work or even at lunch and still use the basic task and sub-tasks.


Example Rituals Here are some rituals that many people find helpful in

maximising their time:

• Accomplish the “goal of the day.” Make it a

ritual to accomplish the “goal of the day.”

Choose a goal first thing in the morning.

Accomplishing one goal a day means

accomplishing 365 things a year that you want

to get done, no small feat.

• Work the “50-minute hour.” Here, the idea is

to take something off your list and work solely

on that one item for 50-minutes. After 50-minutes, you take a 10-minute break to get some

perspective and then start another 50-minute hour. This works even better if you have a clock

that is counting down the minutes of the 50-minute hour as it provides surprising incentive to

yourself to get whatever done in the 50-minutes.


Using Rituals to Maximise Time Once you have been using a ritual for a while, you may

find that you have bits of extra time here and there. For

example, you may find that by establishing an exercise

ritual, you finish five or ten minutes earlier because you

know exactly what you’re going to do at the gym. At the

end of the day, you may find that you have a half hour

or more of unexpected time.

This is where the “Trigger” part of rituals can come into

play. Instead of setting a specific time of day, you

choose a situation or an event that will cause a ritual to

come into play.

Some examples:

• During a break at work or at home, read for ten minutes.

• Take one minute to do some deep breathing and stretches.

• Take five minutes to clean off your desk or some other small area.

• Take ten minutes to update your Personal Productivity Journal.

• Set aside one lunch hour a week to do personal errands. Or, make a list at the beginning of each

week, and do one a day.


Section Ten: Meetings If they’re conducted properly, meetings can and will make you (and your organisation) function more

efficiently. However, few people look forward to meetings, and with good reason. Too many meetings

lack purpose and structure. However, with just a few tools, you can make any meeting a much better

use of everyone’s time.


Deciding if a Meeting is Necessary One of the most annoying things about meetings is attending one when it's not necessary. You'd be

surprised by how many of your weekly meetings can be eliminated when you decide to meet only when

it's necessary. Here are some tips for deciding if a meeting is worth your time.

• Has a Goal Been Set for the Meeting? Is there a purpose for meeting, a goal to achieve? Every

meeting should have an objective and if the one you've been asked to attend doesn't, consider

recommending that a memo or e-mail be sent instead.

• Has an Agenda Been Created Ahead of Time?

An agenda is the basis for an effective meeting.

Creating and distributing the meeting agenda

one or two days before the meeting begins gives

participants an opportunity to prepare for the

meeting. Having an agenda during the meeting

also focuses the discussion and helps your group

stay on track.

• Will the Appropriate People Be Attending? If

the appropriate people aren't present, then

important decisions get put on hold. It will also

take time to update key individuals on what took

place in the meeting they missed. It's better to

put the meeting on hold until all of the right

people can be in the room.

• Could the Information Be Covered in an E-mail or Memo? The purpose of most meetings is

sharing information and updating others. If possible, make an effort to substitute these types of

meetings with an e-mail or memo! Simply send one e-mail to all the people who would have

attended the meeting. This will save everyone time, they'll still be up-to-date on what's

happening and they'll be grateful for having one less meeting to attend that week.


Using the PAT Approach Consider using the PAT approach to prepare for and scheduling meetings.

• Purpose: What is the purpose of the meeting? State this in one short sentence. Example: “This

meeting is to review the new invoice signing policy.” This helps people evaluate if they need to

be there. It will also help you build the agenda and determine if the meeting was successful.

• Agenda: This is the backbone of the meeting. List the items you are going to

review/discuss/inspect. A good idea is to assign a time limit to each agenda item and identify

the person responsible to speak or mediate the discussion.

• Time frame: How long will the meeting be? At the very least set a start and end time. Also set a

duration for each item in the agenda. These should total to the overall meeting timeframe.


Effective Agenda Writing If you want an organised, structured meeting, you have to script it. Your meeting agenda should outline

the specific items to be discussed, the person responsible for leading each agenda item, the time

allocated to each item, any supporting information to be reviewed, the desired outcome of the meeting

and any preparation required. For your agenda to be really effective, you should distribute it (along with

any supporting information) a day or two before the meeting.

A meeting agenda should:

• ensure all participants are adequately prepared for the meeting

• ensure each agenda item achieves the desired outcome

• save time during the meeting

Below is one example of a simple agenda:

TIME ITEM PRESENTER

2:05-2:10 1. Agenda and Meeting Purpose Review Jill Smith

2:10-2:20 2. Review of Current Invoice Signing Process Joe King

2:20-2:40 3. Review of New Invoice Signing Process Joe King

2:40-2:50 4. Questions and Answers Joe King

2:50-2:55 5. Wrap-Up Jill Smith


Staying on Track Before the meeting, post the agenda on a flip chart, whiteboard, or PowerPoint slide. Spend the first five

minutes of the meeting going over the agenda and getting approval. During the meeting, take minutes

with the agenda as a framework.

ITEM ACTION ITEM(S) PERSON RESPONSIBLE DATE DUE

1. Agenda Review and Meeting Purpose

Review

N/A N/A N/A

2. Review of Current Invoice Signing

Process

Current process needs

to be archived

Jane Smith June 5

3. Review of New Invoice Signing Process New process needs to

be posted to

SharePoint

Joe King June 5

4. Questions and Answers Answer Sam’s question

about impact on server

Jane Smith June 1

5. Wrap-Up N/A N/A N/A

(Although this informal structure will be sufficient for most meetings, more formal meetings may

require more formal minutes.)

Your job as chairperson is to keep the meeting running according to the agenda. If an item runs past its

scheduled time, ask the group if they think more time is needed to discuss the item. If so, how do they

want to handle it? They can reduce the time for other items; remove other items altogether, schedule

an offline follow-up session, or schedule another meeting. No matter what the group agrees to, make

sure that they stick to their decision.

At the end of the meeting, get agreement that all items on the agenda were sufficiently covered. This

will identify any gaps that may require follow-up and it will give people a positive sense of

accomplishment about the meeting.


Was the Meeting Worthwhile? Following the meeting, send out minutes of the meeting, including action items, to all participants and

observers, and anyone else who requires a copy. Try and make it a ritual to document the minutes as

soon as possible, whilst the meeting is fresh in your mind. Action items should be clearly indicated, with

start and end dates, and progress dates if applicable. If follow-up meetings were scheduled, these

should also be communicated.


Section Eleven: Meeting Alternatives Face-to-face meetings are not always the best solution. In this section, we will explore alternatives to

meetings that can help you and your team save time and be more productive.

Don’t forget that even if you use a meeting alternative, you should still use the PAT approach that we

discussed earlier, take minutes, and distribute post-meeting notes and action items.


Instant Messaging and Chat Rooms Instant message applications and chat rooms can be a great alternative to meetings, especially if

meeting members are separated by distance.

Some things to remember:

• Make sure you have an agenda and stick to it.

• The chairperson’s role in keeping things on track is more important than ever.

• Set some ground rules at the beginning of the meeting to eliminate distractions such as

emoticons, sounds, and acronyms.

• Make sure you keep a record of the

meeting.

Some applications to try:

• Campfire

• Meeting Pal

• Microsoft Office Communicator

• Windows Live Messenger


Teleconferencing If more personal contact and real-time sharing is needed, try a teleconferencing system like Adobe’s

Acrobat.com, Microsoft Live Meeting, or Citrix’s GoToMeeting.

Most teleconferencing applications feature:

• Screen sharing

• Collaboration tools

• Interactive whiteboards

• Voice and text chat support

• Meeting recording capabilities (which can serve

as minutes)

Again, remember the PAT approach, and remember to

keep minutes and action lists.


E-mail Lists and Online Groups If your meeting group requires ongoing, interactive communication, rather than periodic face-to-face

gatherings, an e-mail list, forum, or online group can be an effective tool.

There are a few options for these online tools. If your organisation has the infrastructure in place, you

may be able to set up something on site. If your organisation doesn’t have such an infrastructure, there

are many free tools out there, including Google Groups, Yahoo Groups, and Convos.

A few things to keep in mind if you are going to use this sort of solution:

• Having a moderator is essential. These types of tools can quickly get out of control without

proper supervision. You’ll want to make sure members stay on topic and stay professional.

• Make sure you monitor the time spent on these tools. Setting a daily or weekly update or

delivery time might be a good idea.

• Just like a meeting, an online list or group should have a purpose and stick to it.


Collaboration Applications A more sophisticated electronic tool that can reduce the need for meetings is collaboration applications.

Systems like Microsoft SharePoint, Wrike, Pelotonics, Google Docs, and Basecamp can give users

interaction and collaboration tools from any location.

These sorts of tools may be most beneficial for project meetings, or situations where users need to peer

review each other’s work.

Once again, these tools must have their purpose clearly stated, and participants must make sure that

these time-saving tools don’t turn into time wasters.


Section Twelve: Wrapping Up Although this workshop is coming to a close, we hope that your journey to improve your time

management skills is just beginning. Please take a moment to review and update your action plan. This

will be a key tool to guide your progress in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. We wish you

the best of luck on the rest of your travels!

Words from the Wise Here are a few thoughts that we would like to leave you with, to accompany you on your journey.

• HARVEY MACKAY: Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't

keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it, you can never get it back.

• NAPOLEON BONAPARTE: Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action arrives, stop

thinking and go.

• BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: You may delay, but time will not.

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