If you have several phone calls to make, do them all in a burst.
When you start a piece of work, try to finish it without interruptions. If you have to finish it later, you will lose time picking up where you left off.
Arrange your breaks at times when you cannot work effectively.
Plan some time for discussing routine matters with your colleagues. Then you avoid interrupting each other all the time.
Learn to say ‘No’ and get used to asking yourself ‘Am I the right person for this job?’
Monitor how you use your time, and make conscious changes to your behaviour.
Stress and fatigue are rarely caused by the things you have done, but by the thought of what you haven’t done!
Make a habit of finishing the main job of the day before you go home.
IF YOU HAVE AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR:
Establish at the start why they have come to see you and stand when they enter the room, so that they also remain standing.
If it's necessary for you to deal personally with them suggest a later meeting, at your convenience and whenever possible, suggest a meeting in their office.
Set time limits to your discussion and avoid engaging in small talk.
If you have a secretary/PA, agree a clear policy about who can have access to you and whom they should deal with.
If you really can't get them out of your office, leave the office yourself!
RESEARCH, ANALYSE, PLAN AND SET, EVALUTE:
- Always define your objectives as clearly as possible.
You cannot achieve what you want if your goals have not been set. To be successful you have to have the ability to work out what you want to achieve and then have written goals which can be reviewed constantly. Long term goals should impact on your daily activities and be included on a "to do" list. Without a goal or objective people tend to just drift personally and professionally
2. Analyse your use of time.
You can do this by constantly asking yourself "What is the most important use of my time, right now?" It will help to focus on 'important tasks' and stops you reacting to tasks which seem urgent (or pleasant to do) but carry no importance towards your goals.
- Have a plan.
I am a firm believer you cannot achieve your goals without a plan. Most people know what they want but have no plan to achieve it except by sheer hard work. Do a yearly plan which should also be reviewed daily and reset as your achievements are met. Get into the habit of making lists constantly, it enables you to stay on top of priorities and helps you to remain flexible to changing priorities. This should be done for both personal and business goals.
4. Action plan analysis.
Problems always occur, the value of a good plan is to identify them early and seek out solutions. Good time management enables you to measure the progress towards your goals because "What you can measure, you can control". Always try to be proactive rather than re-active. Time management (or self-management) is not hard to understand, but unless you are committed to building the techniques into your daily routine you'll only achieve partial (or no) results. I once heard someone say "I tried time management once and but it didn’t work for me". The more time spent planning your time and activities the more time you will have for those activities. By setting goals and eliminating time wasters (and doing this everyday) you will have extra time in the week to spend on the people and activities most important to you and your company.
b) What are the consequences of poor time management in terms of managerial effectiveness?
Always failing to meet objectives
Develop poor delegation techniques, which will increase workload and decrease your productivity rate.
Will demotivate not only yourself but also your employees, ensuring their productivity rate also decreases.
Lowers quality as well as quantity.
Total ineffective management of yourself can only mean ineffective management of others as well.
End up fire fighting rather then fire prevention
Allows less time to develop new areas or projects
Increase of stress levels within management and all personnel
Unsatisfied customers, less business, failing company!
The Seven Habits
From: The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic, by Stephen R. Covey, Simon and Schuster, 1989.
1. BE PROACTIVE. Between stimulus and response in human beings lies the power to choose. Productivity, then, means that we are solely responsible for what happens in our lives. No fair blaming anyone or anything else.
2. BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND. Imagine your funeral and listen to what you would like the eulogists to say about you. This should reveal exactly what matters most to you in your life. Use this frame of reference to make all your day-to-day decisions so that you are working toward your most meaningful life goals.
3. PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST. To manage our lives effectively, we must keep our mission in mind, understand what's important as well as urgent, and maintain a balance between what we produce each day and our ability to produce in the future. Think of the former as putting out fires and the latter as personal development.
4. THINK WIN/WIN. Agreements or solutions among people can be mutually beneficial if all parties cooperate and begin with a belief in the "third alternative": a better way that hasn't been thought of yet.
5. SEEK FIRST TO BE UNDERSTANDING, THEN TO BE UNDERSTOOD. Most people don't listen. Not really. They listen long enough to devise a solution to the speaker's problem or a rejoinder to what's being said. Then they dive into the conversation. You'll be more effective in your relationships with people if you sincerely try to understand them fully before you try to make them understand your point of view.
6. SYNERGIZE. Just what it sounds like. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In practice, this means you must use "creative cooperation" in social interactions. Value differences because it is often the clash between them that leads to creative solutions.
7. SHARPEN THE SAW. This is the habit of self-renewal, which has four elements. The first is mental, which includes reading, visualizing, planning and writing. The second is spiritual, which means value clarification and commitment, study and meditation. Third is social/emotional, which includes service, empathy, synergy and intrinsic security. Finally, the physical element includes exercise, nutrition and stress management.
