Time Management

1
Time Management
Click here to enter

• 2004-2005

2
Instructions

• During this module use the following buttons at
  the bottom of each page to navigate your way
  through
• To move to the next slide click
• To move to the previous slide click
• To return to the home page click
• To return to the main menu click
• To return to a section menu click

Section Menu
3
Welcome

• Time is like money a precious resource
• Time Management is an essential skill to manage
  your resources either in the practice or at home.
  
• This Time Management programme has been developed
  with you in mind if you are looking to become
  better at managing your time, reducing
  interruptions and prioritising.

4
Objectives

• At the end of this on-line workbook you will be
  able to
• Minimise interruptions
• Implement the principles of time management
• Plan your day to maximise your time
• Prioritise activities using the Time Management
  Matrix to focus on the important things
• Use some of the hints and tips provided to
  enhance your own Time Management

5
Menu

• Instructions
• Importance of Time Management
• Impact of Poor Time Management
• Good Time Management

• Top 10 Time Wasters
• Principles of Time Management
• Summary
• Evaluation

6
Instructions

• During this module use the following buttons at
  the bottom of each page to navigate your way
  through
• To move to the next slide click
• To move to the previous slide click
• To return to the home page click
• To return to the menu click

7
Importance of Time Management

• Time Management is an essential skill in enabling
  you to
• Meet deadlines
• Plan your day
• Prioritise work
• Maintain a healthy work / life balance
• Focus your time on the important things

8
Impact of Poor Time Management

• Poor Time Management can lead to you
• missing deadlines
• spending time on things that arent important
• being interrupted to the point of not being able
  to get your work done
• working outside your normal hours to complete
  work that could have been completed during
  working hours
• spending time working when you could be spending
  it with your family/friends

9
Good Time Management

• Good Time Management is a skill you will be able
  to apply in your practice and home situations.

10
Top 10 Time Wasters

• Please click here to view a checklist of the Top
  10 Time Wasters
• Print this off and tick all of those you feel are
  appropriate to you
• Continue with this module to find out how to
  minimise these time wasters

11
Principles of Time Management

• In the previous section on Time Wasters we helped
  you to identify areas in your day to day life
  where your time may be wasted.
• The purpose of this section is to try and help
  you avoid these and manage your time more
  effectively.

12
10 Principles of Time Management

• 1. Develop a personal sense of time2. Identify
  long-term goals3. Make middle-term plans4. Plan
  your day
• 5. Make the best use of your time

• 6. Organise practice work7. Manage meetings8.
  Delegate effectively9. Make use of committed
  time10. Manage your health

Click on each of these to find out more
13
1. Personal Sense of Time

• There are several ways to develop a sense of
  personal time and find out where the main drains
  are on your time
• Keep a Time Log
• Review and Reflect

Section Menu
14
Keep a Time Log

• One of the best ways of doing this is through
  using a Time Log to record where your time is
  spent.
• You may wish to do this either on a daily or
  weekly basis or a combination of both.
• Please click here to view a template and sample
  time log.

Section Menu
15
Review and Reflect

• Using the Time Log reflect on the main areas your
  time is focused on and reflect on this using the
  following questions
• Why is the main focus of my time in these areas?
• Where should the main focus of my time be?
• Why am I spending a great deal of my time in
  these areas?
• What can I do differently to reduce time spent in
  these areas and increase time spent in the
  important areas?
• You may find it useful to record some of your
  conclusions and actions in your Personal
  Development Plan.

Section Menu
16
2. Long-term Goals

• When identifying your long-term goals you may
• wish to keep the following areas in mind
• Life planning - put this perspective and ensure
  that your life goals match in with your career
  goals
• Know your values - know what it is that drives
  you and how you can work towards achieving this

Section Menu
17
3. Middle-term Plans

• Middle-term plans should be set by
• Setting objectives
• Time budgeting

Section Menu
18
Setting Objectives

• Making middle-term plans revolves around setting
  personal objectives. These should be SMART
• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic/Realistic
• Time Bound
• Ensure that any objectives you set yourself
  comply with each of the above areas.

Section Menu
19
Time Budgeting

• In 'Personal Sense of Time' we introduced you to
  Time Logs.
• If you are planning to or have already started
  using a Time Log this may come in very useful for
  planning.
• Reflecting on the information you have gathered
  in your Time Logs will help you estimate the time
  involved in routine tasks.
• This in turn will enable you to manage your time
  and expectations for delivery of your tasks by
  referring back to the information that you have
  gathered.

Section Menu
20
4. Plan Your Day

• To help you become distracted during the day with
  non-priorities or interruptions you may find it
  useful to plan your day by
• Things to Do Lists
• Schedules
• Blocking out Quiet Time

Section Menu
21
Things to Do Lists

• Things to do lists which show what needs to be
  done and what the priorities are useful ways of
  keeping track of what you need to do on any one
  day.
• It also gives you a sense of achievement when you
  start to score off/tick off things on your list
  as you complete them.
• Please click here for a Things to do Template
  which you can save and/or print to use

Section Menu
22
Schedules

• These can either be paper or electronic and allow
  you to enter tasks, things to do, meetings and so
  on.
• They will also remind you of what needs to be
  done and when.
• If these are electronic they may also provide
  visual or audio reminders about tasks. For
  example, Microsoft Outlook has an electronic
  calendar which will remind you of tasks

Section Menu
23
Section Menu
24
Section Menu
25
Block out Quiet Time

• If you have important phone calls or need quiet
  time you might want to block this out in your
  diary and book space where you can get peace and
  quiet.
• If you are able to work from home this may be an
  appropriate solution, meeting rooms may be a good
  option as well.
• If you are unable to get away from your desks you
  might want to flag to your colleagues that you
  are having quiet time at a certain period during
  the day to help minimise disruptions. Make use of
  voicemail, answering machines or call divert to
  reduce telephone interruptions.

Section Menu
26
5. Best Use of your Time

• At what time during the day do you achieve the
  most?
• Answering a simple question like this can help
  you to plan your day around your most productive
  time.
• You may find that morning is the best time for
  hard work.
• Plan interesting work, meetings that you will
  find stimulating in your off-peak time to provide
  something to look forward to and give you an
  energy boost.

Section Menu
27
Impact of Fatigue

• Click here to look at a chart which shows how
  fatigue impacts on you at different times during
  the day.
• The best time to take short breaks is around 11
  o'clock and then 4 o'clock. You will also find
  that just before and just after a break you will
  have a spurt of energy.

Section Menu
28
Proneness to Fatigue
Section Menu
29
6. Organise Practice Work

• There are three easy ways to manage the work of
  the practice
• Keep Your Desk Clear of Clutter
• Maintain a good electronic filing system
• Maintain a good paper filing system

Section Menu
30
Clutter Free Desks

• If you find that your desk is turning into a
  filing cabinet or dumping ground for bits of
  paper and folders set aside time to clear it.
• Investing time doing this will save you time
  re-arranging your desk, filing and trying to find
  pieces of work.
• You may want to suggest that the whole practice
  operates a Clear Desk Policy where at the end
  of the day there shouldnt be any paperwork on
  desks

Section Menu
31
Tidy Files (Paper and Electronic)

• To help you quickly find information and help
  others find information in your absence it's
  important to keep all of your files in order.
• This is particularly important if you or other
  people within your practice work part-time.

Section Menu
32
7. Manage Meetings

• The main drains on time during meetings are
• Meetings Overrunning
• Subject of meeting being diverted to another
  subject
• Unnecessary meetings

Section Menu
33
Meetings Overrunning

• To prevent meetings overrunning
• Develop clear and well estimated agendas and
  circulate prior to the meeting.
• If you are chairing the meeting ensure that the
  agenda is adhered to.

Section Menu
34
Subject of Meeting

• Encourage people to raise items for the agenda
  prior to the meeting so that you can better
  manage the agenda and subjects being discussed.
• When chairing a meeting ensure that if the
  conversation is going off track you bring people
  back to subject as soon as possible to reduce
  disruptions.

Section Menu
35
Unnecessary Meetings

• Ensure that the most appropriate meeting method
  is used e.g. face-to-face meeting, telephone
  calls, video conference and so on to reduce
  unnecessary travel time.
• If the meeting has been requested by someone else
  ensure that you are clear about the purpose of
  the meeting and your role.
• If you feel that it is not appropriate for you to
  attend let the person know as to attend anyway
  would be a waste of your time and their time.

Section Menu
36
8. Delegate Effectively

• If you manage a team or are part of a team it is
  important to know when and how to delegate.
• This will help you balance your workload and that
  of your team by ensuring that team resources are
  used effectively to meet deadlines and targets.

Section Menu
37
Delegating Effectively

• The following list shows some of the skills you
  will need to effectively delegate your work
• Selecting the right people - matching available
  skills to the work.
• Training and developing people - through
  providing stretching opportunities and coaching
  support.
• Briefing and checking understanding - delegating
  requires very clear and concise briefings and
  time spent on this at the initial stage will reap
  rewards in the long-run.
• Standing back and supporting - it can often be
  very hard to let a piece of work that you have
  invested time and effort in go to someone else.
  However, to delegate effectively you need to be
  able to do this whilst providing the right level
  of support to the individual.
• Controlling in a supportive and sensitive way -
  don't be too demanding, controlling or
  overbearing.

Section Menu
38
9. Make Use of Committed Time

• Where you have committed time to something make
  sure you make the most of this time
• Travel time - keep this to a minimum by planning
  your route in advance so that you know where you
  need to be, how to get there, where to park (if
  driving) and how long the journey should take.
• Waiting time - when attending meetings make sure
  you are there on time (not too early and not too
  late) and encourage others to do the same to
  avoid time wasted waiting for meetings to start.

Section Menu
39
10. Manage Your Health

• Your health is the most important thing and the
  one you should invest the most time looking
  after.
• Poor Time Management can lead to poor health and
  so to maintain your health you need to
  effectively manage your time.

Section Menu
40
Tips for Managing Your Health

• Here are some tips you may want to keep in mind
• Get enough sleep - burning the candle at both
  ends over a period of time will lead to you
  becoming tired and irritable
• Commonsense diet - eating healthily and at
  regular times will help to boost your
  concentration
• Regular exercise - not only does regular exercise
  help to keep your body healthy it also helps
  reduce stress
• Holidays - holidays are one of the best ways of
  taking time out from work. Make sure that you get
  sufficient holidays during the year and try to
  take several days holiday at once to get the most
  out of your time away.
• Coping with stress - over a long period of time
  stress can cause physical illness. Some of the
  steps outlined above should help to reduce
  stress.
• Work-life balance - you know it's time to make
  changes to your work-life balance when you feel
  that work is controlling or taking over your
  life. Making small, simple changes can make a big
  difference.

Section Menu
41
Summary

• In this programme you have found out about the
  following
• The Importance of Time Management
• Top 10 Time Wasters
• 10 Principles of Time Management
• An example of a Time Management Matrix and how to
  use it
• Hints and Tips for managing your time better

42
Summary

• Please click here for useful hints, tips and
  quotes relating to Time Management

43
Evaluation

• To help us evaluate this programme and ensure it
  is meeting your needs, and those of other
  learners please complete this short evaluation
  form.
• It should take no longer than five minutes to
  complete and will help us to ensure that we have
  the right content in this on-line workbook.
• Please click here to access the evaluation form.
• Please complete and return the evaluation form by
  e-mail/post as requested at the end of the form
• If you have any other informal feedback about
  this programme please contact Carole Stoddart on
  carole.stoddart_at_nes.scot.nhs.uk