FREE online courses on Building a Winning Team - Managerial Inputs in
Development - Command Your Time
“Oh, call back yesterday, bid time
return”.
---Shakespeare, “Richard II”, III,ii
“The butterfly counts not months but moments, and
has time enough”. ---Rabindranath Tagore, “Stray Birds”.
As the pace of life and work
accelerate, it is becomingly difficult to accomplish things on time; the time
available never seems to be enough to get things done. Time is finite,
irreplaceable, un-storable and un-exchangeable. So the secret of managing work is to prioritize and do the
important things, and get them right first time! This means:
·
Time saving
·
Work shedding, and
·
Time budgeting
-
Analyze where your time is going by maintaining ‘time logs', to pin-point time
leakages, and plug them:
-
Telephone interruptions (filter through secretary), especially concerning work
delegated to someone else
-
Drop-in visitors (manage by appointment-book)
-
Open-door policy; fix timings /consultation
-
Handle papers only once
-
Learn to say ‘no' when warranted
-
Plan ahead and do the key things
-
Fix deadlines and stick to them
-
Keep it short and sweet…KISS
-
Exercise self-discipline; avoid gossip/ day-dreaming/ unplanned meetings /no
agenda
This
is mostly done by delegating, especially to staff trained beforehand for just
such an eventuality; some ways to shed / redistribute
work:
-
Ensure the staffer has the ability agree required results and standards
-
Give them power and authority do it in such a way that staff see it as a means
of developing, not handling overdue stuff you've been sitting on for too long;
don't make ‘Dirty Harrys'.
-
Avoid the bug of perfectionism; communication is all about getting the message
across clearly and getting the work done. Reserve your drafting overkill for the
Chairman's Annual Stockholder's Address!!
-
Choose things to delegate, within your own situation
-
Leave yourself to concentrate on 20% of work on which 80% of your effectiveness
hinges
-
Evolve simple spreadsheet to follow each delegated job closely; remember,
accountability remains yours!
This
involves planning use of your time by:
-
Keeping
time logs, diaries, planners, roll-over' to-do' lists; follow-up things
-
Divide work into easily manageable ‘time blocks'. Clear objectives save time and
confusion.
-
Enlist your secretary's help to control
-
Keep enough spare time for crises, impromptu staff coaching
-
Keep time for the boss, customers, or net-working with colleagues
Aim at
optimizing the usage of time today to manage tomorrow…and in developing your
people.
QUESTION:
1.Can we manage to do all our work.. and
more.. within reasonable time available to us? How does one go about achieving this?
2.What are the essential features of
time management? Please list out major time wasters and remedies to ‘save' time.
