Guidelines presentation time management guidelines
Category: HRM
Delegation
Delegate whenever possible — downwards, upwards and sideways.
Delegate tasks but do not abdicate them. If it is your task, you still have the final responsibility
Agree the reviews, which are part of the delegation process.
Do not keep interfering with your subordinates’ work.
Always make the instructions for the tasks you delegate complete a clear and ensure that they have been understood.
Always give or agree on a final completion date.
Concentrate personally on those tasks the success of which depends on you.
Find new tasks and new ways to delegate. This saves time and develops your staff.
Arrange for decisions to be made at the lowest realistic level.
Discipline
Time Management is 99% self-discipline.
Recall your Mission, Aims and Objectives. Do you really want to achieve them?
Do the unpleasant task first, or as early as possible.
Stop being the “nice guy” all the time. Learn to say “no”.
Make sure you do the job right the first time. Every time you have to re-try, you are wasting time.
How open is your “open door” policy?
Avoid procrastination. Get on with the job.
Avoid all those time wasters.
Set yourself personal deadlines for most tasks and stick to them.
Do one thing at a time.
Always have something to do, even if it is constructive relaxation.
Always be on time yourself.
Meetings
Conduct effective meetings.
Allocate both starting times and finishing times wherever possible.
Always ask yourself — “is the meeting necessary?” “is this the most effective way?”.
Make your meeting agenda mean something. Do not just have a “shopping list” which does not tell the members whether they are to discuss, to decide, to recommend, etc.
Stick to the meeting agenda as far as possible.
Are the right people attending the meeting?
Have you got everything ready for the meeting and have all the relevant papers been sent out beforehand.
Define and state clearly your objectives for the meeting and stick to them.
If you are attending and speaking at another person’s meeting, try to obtain a definite entry time.
Planning
Plan your time. Do not let time control you.
Leave time for the unexpected.
Have the things you need constantly, together in one place, close to hand.
Assess your work (Projects, Tasks, Post, Etc.) and allocate priorities.
Arrange and allocate your jobs into categories “A”, “B”, “C”.
Do the “A” jobs yourself and try and delegate the “Bs” and the “Cs”.
Stick to your daily work plan.
Select your “PERSONAL” and “BEST” times at work to get he jobs done. Plan to do your most important jobs in these time periods.
Chop a big task down into smaller, more manageable pieces.
Estimate the end time for a task, not just the starting time.
Always ask the questions: — “what”, “who”, “why”, where”, “when”, “how”.
Reading
Read only what you must.
Increase your reading speed/comprehension rates.
Learn how to scan important items.
Telephone Control
Master your telephone techniques.
Plan your telephone calls by grouping your calls instead of making individual ones.
If possible arrange a specific “call back” time. do not just say “i will ring you later” or even worse “please ring me later”.
Cross-index your telephone directory as follows: — Name as one Entry.
— Organisation as the other entry.
When speaking on the telephone to the other person get straight to the purpose of the call. It is pleasant to socialise but it wastes a lot of time.
If there are a number of telephones in the office ensure that the phone system will permit you to answer any incoming calls from any telephone point.
Travelling
Do not leave it to the last minute before you set off on your journey.
Plan your visits to obtain the maximum benefits.
Use travel time as “thinking” time.
Use train time to: — Read
— Write
— Discuss
— Brainstorm ideas with yourself
Consider having a car phone.