Time Management Training and Dealing with the Recession

By Dale Byrd

Among the corporate seminars that I do, Time Management has been quite popular for many years.  Some of the greatest comments and compliments are when clients sometimes tell me afterwards that they have almost doubled their productivity in a typical day.  That’s obviously good news because as we all know that saving time saves money and reduces stress.

Right now, we are all faced with a deep recession.  How deep and how long it will last can’t be predicted with total accuracy, but the common problem that we continue to see is that with layoffs and cutbacks, existing employees have to do more work with less time and resources.  It’s the typical issue in any time of reduction.

Effective Time Management habits are vital in times like these.  The same can be said of computer training.  The other day I showed a client how to accomplish a task in 30 seconds that took them 2 days to do simply because they were unaware of a certain feature in the software that they were using. 

The key to profitability will always be that companies make sure to obtain the maximum amount of efficiency possible from their employees.  Of course we have a very good Time Management course available with lots of tips and tricks, but in this article I want to hit upon a few  tips that could enhance your Time Management effort.

The To Do List

This is maybe the most important part of Time Management.  Basically, it is your plan for the day.  You don’t need a fancy binder or planner.  A sheet of paper on a clipboard will do nicely.  It can be as simple as listing the top 6 things you need to do in order, or it can be more detailed by listing the top things that you wish to get done today, prioritizing the list, scheduling each item into time slots and moving forward with the plan. 

Yes, you will be interrupted and no, the To Do List isn’t something written in stone.  Be willing to be flexible.  Build in extra time if possible rather than scheduling yourself so tightly that you can’t allow for the slightest interruption. 

One survey found that highly successful executives always had one thing in common, they had a To Do List.  Of my students, the majority know that they should have one but when it comes down to doing it, they feel that they can’t afford to take the time to make one, thus handling the day’s events as they happen rather than in an organized manner.  The benefits of a To Do List will more than compensate for the time it takes to create such a list.

Interruptions

Interruptions are a common complaint and often the number one issue with clients and their time management efforts.  Remember that interruptions are always going to happen.  It’s how we deal with them that makes the difference.  One method is to have a policy, perhaps a department policy that no one is to be interrupted for a certain amount of time each day unless it is an emergency.  Another is to send an email to associates telling them that you are working on a special project for a couple of hours and not to interrupt unless it is an emergency.

The problem with interruptions is usually ourselves in that we don’t manage ourselves correctly.  If in the middle of something vital and someone wants our time, it is up to us to say no to the request or to defer it to another time.  Most managers I deal with say that if an employee will let them know that the project being worked on is more important, the manager will allow them to continue on it and wait on a less important issue.

Plan at Day’s End

Some books encourage you to plan your day at the beginning of that particular day.  I’ve found it more effective planning tomorrow at the end of today.  The reasons are simple.  Today’s events are still fresh on your mind and therefore you are less likely to forget important details.  Also, it helps you not wake up at 3 a.m. the next morning thinking about how you don’t want to forget an important task later at work.  Literally, it transfers your worries and thoughts to paper so that when you go home, you can actually go home and not have to think about work and “what if” you forget something important.

Lost Focus?

For those of you who feel overwhelmed and life becomes a blur with all you have to do, one method of dealing with a focus problem is to have just one project on your desk at a time and not a scattered pile of papers representing everything that has to happen today.

You might want to put various projects into stacks or file folders, but put them to the side.  On your desk, just have one job, focus on it, complete what you need to do, put it to the side, then grab the next job.  The effect is that you have a better sense of control and closure, which the brain needs throughout the day.  When we have a pile of scattered papers facing us front and center, we tend to feel overwhelmed, and the closure part of each project is diminished because after one job is done, we simply have 10 more looking us straight in the eyes.

While multitasking is sold as something to be proud of, in reality you can only focus intently on one thing at a time.  Misunderstood and misused multitasking has been the downfall of many projects that were filled with errors.  Multitasking takes skill and practice, but it will never replace the need to concentrate and focus on one situation when the stakes are high and accuracy, creative thought and quality are important to the project.

Time Management and other Business Skills Courses

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