Diploma in Management Module 1

Personal Effectiveness
Unit 2

Time Management

Unit 2

Time Management
Unit objectives
When you have completed this unit you will be able to: identify your maintenance and productivity key result areas analyse the way in which you are currently spending your time plan your time using established, maintenance, productivity and flexible time segments prioritise your workload identify and deal with the people and things which steal your time

Taking control of your time

The first step to managing your time is careful planning. This involves identifying: the amount of working time you have available each week the number and type of job-related activities which you need to undertake each week the amount of time which you spend on each activity This process will enable you see how much time is spent each week on which activities. You should be able to see if you are spending too much time on routine tasks like, for example, paperwork and travelling, and too

Resource Development International Ltd (RDI) 2009 Diploma Module 1 Personal Effectiveness

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little time on productive tasks such as, say, selling, designing or networking.

Your key result areas

Every job has a number of key result areas. These are the areas within a job where the job-holder is expected to produce specific (and often measurable) results. For example: A trainer might have the following key result areas: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Training design Training delivery Training evaluation Client liaison Paperwork and administration Keeping up to date with the latest training initiatives and current management thinking

A hotel manager might have the following key result areas: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Setting and monitoring the budget Setting and achieving room occupancy targets Setting and achieving targets for bar and catering sales Setting and achieving standards of customer care Recruiting, leading, appraising and monitoring staff

Key point

Every job consists of a mixture of maintenance key result areas and productivity key result areas. Maintenance key result areas are the tasks which have to be done in order to keep things ticking along and moving forward. They include: - dealing with routine correspondence - preparing schedules and work rotas

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- travelling to see customers and clients Productivity key result areas are the tasks which create profit or add value to the business. They include: - preparing proposals for new business - meeting customers and clients to secure an order, pitch a new proposal or conduct negotiations - creating new designs and products - devising new plans and strategies The activity which follows will give you an opportunity to think about your key result areas, and the segments of time which you currently allocate to each. 1. Begin by listing, in the spaces below, the key result areas in your job. (Most jobs have between three and seven key result areas although it is possible to have more or less than this.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. 10.

Personal activity

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2.

You have now identified your key result areas. Your next task is to divide the large wheel below into segments; one segment for each of your key result areas. When dividing the wheel, make sure that the size of each segments reflects the amount of time you currently spend on each key result area. For example:
Dealing with customers

Monitoring staff

Attending to paperwork

Division of time spent on your key result areas

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You may find that some of the segments on your wheel are out of balance. For example, you may see that you are spending too much time travelling and dealing with paperwork, and too little time monitoring staff and budgets, planning ahead or making new contacts. 3. Finally, divide the wheel below into segments which represent the ideal balance of time that you would like to spend on each of your key result areas.

Activity feedback

Personal activity

Do you need to increase or decrease any segments of time on your wheel? Are you spending more time on maintenance tasks than you are on productivity tasks? Are you so busy with productivity tasks that the maintenance tasks are slipping behind?

Key question

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If so, how can you redress the balance? For example, can you delegate some of your maintenance tasks to other people? Delegation is covered in the Leadership Skills module. You are the only person who can take control of your time even though other people may want to do this for you!

Key point

Planning your time

Once you know: how much time you have available the key result area tasks which have to be completed within the time available you can then begin to plan your time. The first step is to divide your weekly calendar into: established time segments These are for the regular, established activities and tasks which you know you have to make time for each week or month. For example: - Monday of each week, 9 a.m.10 a.m. meeting with customer services manager to discuss customer service reports from the previous week - Wednesday of each week, 4 p.m.5.30 p.m. team meeting - Thursday of each week, 10 a.m. onwards marketing meeting - Last Friday of every month, 3 p.m. board meeting

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Often these established time segments are the ones over which you will have to compromise the most for example, if the board meeting is at 3 p.m. on the last Friday of every month and your presence is required, then you will have to be there.

Key point

maintenance key result area time segments These segments of time should be dedicated to the key result areas of your job which are routine and which do not add profit or value to your organisation. For example: - 1 hour each day for answering letters and dealing with general correspondence - 30 minutes each day for monitoring production schedules - 30 minutes each day for making telephone calls - 30 minutes each day for dealing with e-mails - 1 hour each week for talking to team members - 1 hour each week for checking team sales figures productivity key result area time segments These segments of time should be dedicated to the key result areas of your job which are productive, creative and ultimately profitable for your organisation. For example: - 2 hours each week preparing new training programmes for clients - 12 hours each week delivering training programmes to clients - 3 hours each week identifying and making contact with new clients - 3 hours each week contacting and visiting established clients flexible time segments The best way to plan for crises and problems is to leave a small amount of free time in your diary which will enable you either to: - handle crises and problems when they occur

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or to: - devote time to specific projects for which you are accountable Segmenting your working week in this way means that you should be able to see, at a glance, how much time has been allocated to which tasks. This will help to take control of the time available to you. Figure 1 is an example of how you could set up your diary, allowing for established, maintenance, productivity and flexible segments.

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Figure 1 Dividing your time into segments

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Personal activity

The best way to begin planning your time is to take an overview of each month. This way you can see at a glance how much time has to be allocated to those activities which are pre-planned and pre-arranged. Once the established time tasks are marked into the calendar it then becomes easier to see how much time is available for maintenance, productivity and unexpected events. Check through your diary for next month and, on copies of the weekly planner given below, mark in segments of: established time set aside for those activities which are pre-planned, usually involve other people, and cannot be avoided maintenance time dedicated to those activities which are regular and routine productivity time allocated to those activities which are creative, are productive and move you and your organisation closer to goals and targets flexible time time slots which can be used to deal with problems, crises, unexpected events and requirements, or your personal projects for which you are accountable Make sure that you write in the appropriate dates on the planner.

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Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

10

10

10

10

10

11

11

11

11

11

12

12

12

12

12

Weekly Planner

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Key point

Aim to complete a monthly planner for each month of the year. Use copies of the weekly planner given above, enlarging them if necessary, and write in the dates. Mark in your time segments and then pin the charts to your office wall. This will provide an at-a-glance overview of your monthly commitments and will help you to plan your daily diary much more easily. The established time slots involve other people. Once you have marked these slots in, how can you make sure you plan sufficient productivity segments to enable you to work on your own personal projects, which have either been delegated to you or will help you to achieve your own goals and ambitions?

Key question

Checklist

Planning your time

Your working week should be divided up into chunks of time: established time, which is for those activities which usually involve other people meetings, discussions, appointments etc. maintenance time, which is for those activities which are routine and regular and which help to maintain the status quo dealing with correspondence and telephone calls, giving instructions, travelling to see clients etc. productivity time, which is for those activities which require your personal attention and which will help move you closer to achieving your own and your organisations goals preparing and delivering presentations, taking part in negotiations, working on special projects or on tasks which have been specifically delegated to you flexible time, which is for those activities which are unplanned and unexpected dealing with problems and crises, making special visits which have been requested by clients or senior managers, handling complaints etc.

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Prioritising your tasks

Prioritising your workload is vital if you want to make sure that the urgent and important activities are completed on time. Just about every task can be classified as: urgent and important important urgent neither urgent, nor important

Urgent and important

The building is on fire. Your task is to evacuate it immediately. The deadline for delivery to the client is tomorrow. Failure to meet the deadline will result in a 5,000 loss to your organisation. Your task is to ensure that the goods are produced and packed ready for delivery by the deadline. The board meeting is at 5 p.m. on Friday of this week. Your task is to complete the financial projections report so that you can present the figures to the board.

Urgent
By 5 oclock this afternoon (because the money-saving special offer ends tomorrow at noon) you have to decide whether you want a replacement chair with or without arm-rests. By tomorrow you have to choose the final colour scheme for the main office (because the decorators start work next Monday and they need to purchase the materials you require). By the day after tomorrow you need to give the human resources department the dates when you will be away

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from work on holiday (because the holiday rota is being finalised and printed on Monday).

Important
You have three months in which to choose a new accountancy practice to deal with your organisations accounts. You have ten months in which to carry out appraisals with each person on your team. You have fifteen months to decide on the early retirement package which is to be made available to members of staff aged 52 or over.

Neither urgent nor important

Some time this year you need to think about choosing new furniture for the canteen. By Christmas you need to decide whether or not to renew your organisations subscription to the company which delivers fresh flowers each week. Before next summer you need to make sure that everyone who is entitled to a free parking space has the appropriate up-to-date documentation.
Checklist

Prioritising your workload

1. 2. 3. Check through your diary, your monthly forward planning sheets from the last activity and any Lists of Things to Do. Make a list of every task which requires your attention. Go through the list and decide whether each task is: - priority 1 urgent and important a key task with a fast approaching deadline, which will move you and your organisation closer to goals and targets to be done immediately

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- priority 2 important but not urgent a key task with a deadline some time in the future, which will move you and your organisation closer to goals and targets to be done in good time to meet the deadline - priority 3 urgent but not important; or neither urgent nor important to be done after priority 1 and 2 tasks or to be delegated to someone else For more information on delegation see the Leadership Skills module. 4. 5. 6. Work on and complete the tasks in priority order; 1 and then 2. Delegate the priority 3 tasks, or work on them last of all. As you take on new tasks, make sure that each one is prioritised and added to your list. As each task is completed, cross it off your list. That way you can see what you are achieving and how much progress you are making. Every three or four weeks sit down with your list and evaluate your progress.

7.

The next activity will help you to make a start with prioritising your workload. 1. 2. In the chart below list the tasks which are waiting for your attention. Decide whether each task is: - urgent and important - important - urgent - neither urgent nor important

Personal activity

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3.

Alongside each task note down a deadline date by which you intend to complete it.
Priority 1. Urgent and important 2. Important 3. Urgent 4. Neither urgent nor important Deadline for completion

Task

Task 1:

Task 2:

Task 3:

Task 4:

Task 5:

Task 6:

Task 7:

Task 8:

Task 9:

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Your list of tasks and the way in which you prioritise will, of course, be relevant to your job and the requirements of your organisation. Do try to return to this activity at some time in the future say in two or three months and check to see whether or not you have achieved the deadlines you set for yourself. Make sure that you regularly review your progress. If you find that some tasks maybe, for example, the neither important nor urgent are not being attended to, take positive action to remedy the situation before they transform into urgent tasks which need to be done straight away.

Activity feedback

Key point

Dealing with time thieves

Time thieves are the people and things that steal your time and leave you feeling stressed, exhausted and anxious because you have spent time on them and not on the urgent and important tasks you had intended to deal with. Some examples of time thieves are: other people who: call into your office for a chat because they have managed their time effectively, and are now looking for ways to pass the time are trying to deal with problems and crises of their own and who turn to you for help and advice conveniently forgetting that you have your own problems, crises, and urgent and important tasks which need attention keep you talking on the telephone because they have time on their hands arrange appointments and activities for you without consulting you first you, when you: allow paperwork to pile up on your desk

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lose documents, reports and other important papers and then waste time hunting for them allow colleagues to delegate sideways, and subordinates to delegate upwards back to you agree to do too much; take on too many tasks; consent to unreasonable deadlines procrastinate because you feel unable to make a decision
Personal activity

Who are your top five time thieves? Think carefully about the people on your team who steal your time. List their names below (or on a separate sheet of paper if you prefer) and, alongside each name, note down what you could do to solve the problem. 1. Solution

2. Solution

3. Solution

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4. Solution

5. Solution

Dealing with people who steal your time

Unexpected visitors: Let people know when you are available for drop-ins and consultations maybe between the hours of eight and nine in the morning, or perhaps between four and five in the afternoon. Make it clear that if people want to see you at any other time they should either (1) telephone you first to see if it is convenient, or (2) speak to your secretary or personal assistant, or (3) make an appointment. If people do call into your office unexpectedly then: - stand up - do not invite them to sit down (they are likely to take this as an invitation to settle in) - explain that you can give them five minutes but, if they expect the matter to take longer than that, then they should return at 3 oclock, tomorrow morning, or whenever is suitable for both of you Before making telephone calls, note down what you want to say, ask or find out. By all means be pleasant and

Activity feedback

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sociable but, if the conversation goes on and on, be prepared to take the initiative and end the call. You can say something like Its been good to talk to you, Mike, and Ill deal with these queries straight away and get back to you in a couple of days, which is pleasant, yet businesslike and to the point. Meetings: Prepare in advance: Gather together all the documents and information you need for the meeting. Arrive in good time and be ready to get down to business. Focus on the agenda items and do not bring up interesting but irrelevant topics. Be prepared to reach a decision and, if the majority vote goes against your point of view, make your position clear keeping it brief and to the point and then accept defeat gracefully. Dont try to prolong the meeting just because you dont like the decision. Dont allow other people to steal your time!

Key point

Activity feedback

Tips to save time

Paperwork: Try to handle each piece of paper letters, memos, invoices, reports, journals etc. only once. The first time you handle a piece of paper ask yourself: - can I deal with this? (If so, do it, there and then.)

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- can I delegate this to someone else? (If, so do it, there and then.) - can I dump this? (If so, bin the item straight away.) Do your very best to avoid stacks of paper which you intend to deal with later on. Aim to keep your desk (and the rest of your office) as clear, tidy and well organised as possible. Ideally you should know where everything is, and should be able to find whatever you need more or less straight away. (Looking for files and documents is both stressful and time wasting.) Delegation: If you have delegated a job to someone else, unless they are experiencing severe problems, support and help them, but do not allow them to delegate the work back to you. You asked someone else to carry out the task and they agreed. That was the deal and, even if they dont like the job, or dont want to do it, there is no need for you to take the work back unless, of course, you really want to or have to. Impossible workload: Learn to say No ! Learn to set realistic schedules and deadlines. Learn to delegate where possible. For more information about communication and assertiveness skills, see the Effective Communications module. Procrastination and indecision: Dont delay starting big or important tasks just because they seem too big or important. Make a start and do some work on these kinds of tasks every day. If you do some work on a regular basis then even the largest jobs will be completed. But if you never start, they will never get done. Prioritise everything you have to do. Do not do the most enjoyable or least important tasks first just to get them out of the way. You may find that days go by like this without ever tackling the important jobs; and the neither urgent nor

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important tasks can, over time, suddenly become urgent. At the start of every day make a list of the tasks you have to do. As each job is completed, cross it off your list. That way you can see how much you have achieved, and how much still has to be done. The following morning update your To-do list.
Checklist

Managing your time

Divide your working week into time segments: established time for activities which involve other people, meetings, discussions and so on maintenance time for routine tasks paperwork and phone calls productivity time for tasks and projects which will move you and your organisation closer to goals and targets flexible time for dealing with one-off or unusual situations or problems Prioritise everything you have to do: Important and urgent tasks take you and your organisation towards goals and targets, and they have a close deadline these are priority 1. Important but not urgent tasks take you and your organisation closer to goals and targets, but have a distant deadline these are priority 2. Urgent but not important, or neither urgent nor important, tasks are priority 3. Make sure that you do not spend your days on priority 3 tasks because they are easier, faster or more enjoyable to work on.

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List everything you have to do: Write down, at the beginning of each day, all the tasks which require your attention. As each job is finished, cross it off the list. As new jobs and tasks require your attention, add them to the list this process will help you to keep track of how much you are achieving.

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