TIME MANAGEMENT

LEARNING OBJECTIVES1. What is time management? What are it’s benefits?2.Elements of time management3.Components of time management• Planning : SMART GOALS, Urgent - Important Matrix• Organizing & Scheduling : Action- Priority Matrix• Delegating• Managing Interruptions• Control

4. Individual differences in time management5. Common time wasters6. Some tools for time management7. Additional Tips

WHAT IS TIME MANAGEMENT?

• The art of arranging, organizing, scheduling and budgeting ones time for the purpose of generating more effective work and productivity is known as time management.

• It involves exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities with the focus to increase effectiveness, efficiency and productivity

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?Organizational Benefits• Improved Productivity• Better performance in terms of on time delivery to clients• Increased profitability through better use of human and non-human

resourcesIndividual Benefits• Better work life balance• Reduced stress and related complications

THINGS TO KEEP IN MINDBeing busy and productive is not the same.

If you are occupied doing things that do not contribute to your goals , you are busy. However if you are occupied doing tasks that contribute to your goal, you are productive.

Time management aims to help you be more productive – achieve maximum results with the available time.

ELEMENTS OF TIME MANAGEMENT

BE AWARE OF YOUR TIME

BEING AWARE OF YOUR TIME WASTERS

BEING AWARE OF YOUR PRIORITIES

SELF MANAGEMENT

MANAGEMENT OF YOUR PERSONAL RESOURCES

GOAL SETTING AND MEASURING ACHIEVEMENT

PLANNING

COMPONENTS OF TIME MANAGEMENT

Planning Organizing DelegatingManaging

Interruptions

Control

PLANNINGFailing to plan is planning to fail.

• A plan is a road map set in real time to reach an objective through the use of defined resources.

• To begin the planning process you need to identify your goals. Without a clear direction your everyday life will feel like an aimless journey. A purpose will relieve you of activities that are not essential.

• The goals can be :

Strategic Goals – long term goals that require more than 3 years to

complete

Tactical Goals – medium term goals that require 3 -12 months to completeOperational Goals – short term goals defining exact actions to be taken. Their span may range from a few hours to a few days

S.M.A.R.T. GOALS• When deciding your goals, it is essential that they are S.M.A.R.T. This

means

Specific – It should answer the questions of what, where, how and when

Measurable – This is essential to evaluate your progress towards the goalAttainable - It should give you an affirmative answer to the question ‘ Do I have the resources or the capacity to procure the resources for the goal?

Relevant – Is the goal important to you and your long term plans?

Timely – What is the time span within which you wish to achieve the goal?

THE URGENT-IMPORTANCE MATRIX

For effective planning you need to understand the difference between ‘Urgent’ and ‘Importance’• Urgent task demand immediate attention. However just because a task is

urgent , it does not automatically become important as it may not directly impact your goals.

• Important tasks are those that directly impact your goals. However they may not require immediate attention. However important task can become urgent if left undone

The urgent important matrix helps you get over the habit of focusing on urgent activities irrespective of whether they are important or not. It helps you keep enough time for what is really important.

USING THE URGENT IMPORTANT MATRIX

1 •List down all the activities and projects that you feel you have to do.

2 •Make sure that you include all the tasks that take up your time at work, even if you feel that the task is unimportant.

3 •Now use a scale of 1- 5 to assign importance to each activity, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest

4 •To identify if the task is important or not – analyze if the task helps you achieve your goals

5 •Next determine the urgency of each activity, after you have assigned importance to the activity.

6•As per the assigned importance and urgency, see where the task falls in the importance – urgency matrix. Schedule your tasks by assigning strategies for each quadrant

THE URGENT – IMPORTANT MATRIX

Urgent Not Urgent

Important Q1 – Quadrant of Manage

Crisis, Deadline driven projects, Pressing Problems

Q2 –Quadrant of leadership and quality

Prevention of crisis, Relationship Building, Planning, Recognizing

Opportunities etc.

Not ImportantQ3 – Quadrant of deception

Interruptions, some meeting/mails/reports/calls etc.

Q4 – Quadrant of wasteTrivia, Busy and not productive work, time wasters, pleasant activities etc.

PLANNING AND URGENT – IMPORTANT MATRIX

Urgent Not UrgentImportant

Q1 - Eliminate – Keep few tasks here, finish such tasks as soon as possible

Q2 - Spend Most Time Here as these tasks greatly contribute to your goals and you have enough time to do them well

Not Important

Q3- Spend some time here but not a lot as these tasks ask for immediate attention but do not directly contribute your goals.

Q4 -Avoid such tasks as far as possible as they simply take away your time , resources and energy from tasks that actually work towards your goals

ORGANIZING AND SCHEDULING

STEPS IN ORGANIZING• Prioritize all tasks to figure out which task are important/ not important

and urgent/ not urgent.• Next block out all the tasks that need to be completed as per their due

date- the most important first and moving on to the less important.• Next high light all important milestones and due dates.• Now map out the time required to achieve each task by working back

ward from the due date. Ensure you give adequate time for your top priorities.

• Check to make sure that you have kept adequate breaks at strategic periods.

ORGANIZING AND SCHEDULING • Initially planning may seem hard but with practice it becomes easier• There are a few considerations you need to keep in mind when

developing a schedule. Ask yourself the following questions:1. What are the goals I have set for myself?2. What approach do I need to adapt to reach these goals?3. What tasks are more important than the others?4. How much time will each task require?5. What time of my day is best suited to do each activity?6. What provisions do I need to keep my schedule flexible to allow for

unexpected things?

ACTION PRIORITY MATRIX

USING THE ACTION PRIORITY MATRIX

1• Make a list of all the activities you would like to

complete.

2• Score all the activities based on their impact from

0 for no impact to 5 for maximum impact

3• Next score all the activities based on their

required effort from 0 for not effort to 5 for maximum effort.

4• Use the matrix to decide to either complete the

activity or drop the activity based on the matrix

DELEGATING

DELEGATING• Delegating involves entrusting responsibility and authority to others who

may be better at performing a particular task than we are or might save time, while holding them accountable for their performance.

• Delegation has 3 elements• Authority – the power and right of a person to use and allocate resources

efficiently , to take decisions and give orders to get the work done. Authority must be well defined and the individual must be aware of the scope of their authority. Authority always flows from top to bottom.

• Responsibility – The duty of a person to complete the task assigned to him. Authority should be accompanied by an equal amount of responsibility.

• Accountability – A person is held accountable for the tasks assigned to him/her. Accountability cannot be delegated.

DELEGATION FLOW CHART

If no, Plan and Accomplish it

If YES

If no – Consider DelegatingIf yes

If no – Resist and DumpIf Yes

Does this need to be

done?

Does this need to be

done by me?

Does this need to be done now?

Do it!

STEPS OF EFFECTIVE DELEGATION

1 - Clarify your goals and objectives2 - Decide what goals and objectives can be done by someone else

3 - Select the right person4 – Organize the tasks being delegated

5 – Give clear instructions and request feedback6- Set deadlines and ask for reports

7 – Support and monitor

8 - RECOGNIZE

MANAGING INTERRUPTIONS

TYPE OF INTERRUPTIONS

Over Socializing on the Job

• Unnecessary meetings

• No fixed break times

Telephone interruptions

• Ineffective prioritization

• Spam calls and mails

• Overly long calls and emails- ineffective communications

Poorly Run Meetings

• No specific agenda

• Lack of planning

Drop in visitors

• Cluttered work place

• Extended work breaks

Procrastination

• Waiting / Delays• Ineffective

delegation

MANAGING INTERRUPTIONS

Manage your phone and emails :Delegate calls that you don’t need to take personally to a subordinate, terminate calls once the

business is done, set a rotation of team members to handle calls, clear out your email from time to time etc.

Managing Drop – In Visitors :Learn to say no in a polite way, Don’t have too many extra chairs in the work space as people don’t

tend to hang around if they need to stand etc.

Manage your Work Space – Declutter your desk , file your documents etc.

Managing your documents – Define how long you need to keep them, Arrange file materials

logically, Facilitate easy access to materials etc.

CONTROL

REVISIT AND REVISE YOUR SCHEDULE

• It is extremely important to check whether your plan is working and check how you are actually using your time.• This will help you identify the deviation between your planned schedule and your actual followed schedule.• You then need to alter your schedule or your actions and revise your plan for better time management.However before you revise your schedule you need to ask yourself the following questions:1. Are you making progress?2. Which tasks did I successfully complete and which ones did I fail to accomplish?3. Did your energy level match the energy level for the designated task?4. How much stress did you suffer?5. What are your most common time wasters and how much did you procrastinate if at all?

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN TIME MANAGEMENT

Achievement Management

•This style describes people who measure their success based on how much they take on. Such people cannot say no and often get over whelmed by the amount of work they have.

•Such people are viewed to be dependable and helpful and often fail to complete tasks

Casual Management

•This style describes people who procrastinate. Such individuals have a tendency to believe that they will get the work done when they have the time but often tend to lose track of time.

•Casual mangers tend to think with their right brain and are hence often more creative but on the downside they have a tendency to miss dead lines or leave projects unfinished.

Crisis Management

•Such individuals have a tendency to consider every task as a top priority task. Such people tend to take on several tasks at once since they can’t decide their priorities and hence several projects get started and few get finished.

•Such individuals work well under pressure and deadlines motivate such people.

•They however get stressed easily and are easily distracted.

Precision Management

•Such individuals can be described as perfectionists. They consistently deliver high quality work but the high quality is usually delivered at the expense of a lot of time

•Such individuals are detail oriented and highly capable

•However they often tend to waste a lot of time an energy due to the outrageous amount of effort put of each an every project

Social Management

•Such individuals are socially very active and would rather ‘talk’ than ‘do’

•They often loose track of time as they busy themselves chit chatting the hours away.

•Such individuals have excellent communication skills , generally make great contributions in brain storming sessions and can effectively get their ideas across.

•However they often waste a lot of time in meaningless converstation

WHICH ONE ARE YOU?

TIPS FOR VARIOUS TIME MANAGEMENT STYLES

Achievement ManagementTo help with their overly committed schedules such individuals can benefit from • To Do Lists• Supply Lists• Committee Lists• Event Lists

Casual ManagementSuch individuals can benefit from • Timelines to help remind them of

their deadlines and how much time they really have

• Alert systems like alarms or electronic reminders to remind them of tasks they have put aside from time to time

Crisis ManagementDifferent type of visual reminders can be used to remind what is coming down the pipeline and to help them be focused.

Visual reminders can be • Desktop calendar• AlertBlock scheduling can be used to set aside the time that is needed for each task.

TIPS FOR VARIOUS TIME MANAGEMENT STYLES

Precision Management• Day planners can help such

individuals keep a track of time by staying focused on the big picture as it helps to block out time allotments.

Social Management• Portable alarms like wrist watch or

mobile alerts can help remind such people to keep their interactions short and get back to the task at hand.

COMMON TIME WASTERSLack of

PlanningBeing

unorganized

Procrastination

Perfectionism

Interruptions

Not saying ‘ No’

Stress and Anxiety Depression

Attempting too much

Procrastination

Meetings without agenda

No clear deadlines

Inadequate Resources

Shifting priorities

Fear of failure

Tiredness or inability to

concentrate

SOME TOOLS FOR TIME MANAGEMENT

Planners Calendars To – Do Lists

Activity Logs Diary

ADDITIONAL TIPS• Take ActionDon’t wait for the perfect weather, time or conditions. They don’t exist. Energize yourself and start working on that purpose.• Overcome ProcrastinationIdentifying the cause of delays is the first step. Find a solution. Review your real priorities and don’t postpone unpleasant tasks.• Stop MultitaskingJuggling multiple tasks has its limits and leads to too many things being started and nothing finished. This is consistently counterproductive and unhealthy in the long run.• Set DeadlinesSetting a due date is simply a way of budgeting your time and accomplishing more.

THE END.