Time Management and Personal Effectiveness

(*6 CPD credits)

Managing your time effectively potentially increases productivity, reduces burnout and
improves professional and personal satisfaction. With increasing pressures on clinicians
there is a need to develop these skills. The focus of this interactive day is very much on the
tools and strategies to use to become more organised and manage your time effectively. It
offers lots of practical hints and tips to take away and use straightaway in all aspects of your
life, personal and professional. We include sessions on developing self-confidence and
assertiveness and self-reflection to complete the day.

Learning Objectives
By the end of the course participants will be able to;

1. State the four quadrants of Time Management and recognise how this is used to classify
tasks by urgency and importance to focus on important but non-urgent tasks.

2. Identify six principles for effective time management.

3. Participate in an exercise to identify and set long and short-term goals for their personal
and professional lives.

4. Describe practical steps to take to plan tasks, schedule important dates or activities and
be more organised including decluttering.

5. List simple techniques to use to avoid non- important interruptions.

6. Explain the 80/20 rule and how it can be applied to delegate less productive tasks.

7. List four ways to build self confidence.

8. Describe six strategies for assertiveness , how and when to apply them.

9. Recognise the importance of reflection in learning.

10. Describe what reflective practice is and identify a framework to use to record your
analysis.

Programme
09:00: Welcome, registration and coffee.
9:30: Introduction to Time Management Theory: The TM Quadrant and the four types of
tasks we all must do: urgent and important – not urgent and important – urgent and
unimportant – not urgent and unimportant. Which is the most troublesome in the long run?
10:00: The 6 principles of good time management:

• Goal setting
• Organisation
• Planning
• Scheduling time
• Prioritising
• Delegating

10:15: Goal setting: An exercise in which attendees will learn to set long and short-term
goals for all aspects of their lives, personal and professional.
11:00: Personal organisation: How to get organised, declutter, and get all important work
materials within arm’s reach.
11:15: Planning: Throw away all post-it pads, envelopes, and pieces of paper. Instead, use
one master list for every week to be updated as required.
11:45: Scheduling: Buy an inexpensive wall-planner and plan in your work and leisure
activities so that you are never caught out by assessment deadlines, forgetting birthdays or
anniversaries.
12:00: Avoiding interruption: You can reduce your non-important interruptions by 50% by
using a few simple techniques: sit out of the eye-line of passing colleagues, be polite but
firm with interrupters, offer to discuss later.
12:15: Delegation: Learn when to delegate by applying the 80/20 rule and how to delegate
by giving authority complete tasks. Substitute money for time – have your groceries
delivered, pay someone to mow your lawn.

12:30: Lunch.

13:30: Developing self-confidence and assertiveness

Self-confidence assessment questionnaire. Why do we often believe ourselves to be less
able than we really are? Self-confidence can be developed like any skill, using the four
confidence-builders -mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and
managing emotions.
Assertiveness techniques : the six types: clarification, basic, empathetic, discrepancy,
negative feelings, and consequence. We look at assertion strategies and how and when to
apply them.

14:45: Refreshment break.

15:00: Reflective practice and writing.

Reflective practice: what is it and how to do it. Dewey’s (1933) origins of reflection. The
characteristics of reflective doctors – open mindedness, responsibility and
wholeheartedness. The importance of reflection in learning , The structure of reflective
practice in medicine: Mamede and Schmidt’s model: deliberate induction, deliberate
deduction, testing hypotheses , openness to reflection , meta-reasoning. Getting started:
Reflective writing – beginning a reflective journal, reflective journal starter sentences critical
thinking matrix and how to use it.

16:15: Question & answer session, reflection, summary and close by 16:30.

*application for accreditation by The CPD Certification Service pending.

Further details
The fee for this course is £199:00; there is the option to make a 20% deposit to secure your
booking and pay the balance no later than 8 weeks prior to the course date. Please note
this deposit is non-refundable should you be unable to take up your place.