March 2008 Newsletter
Here is what we have in store for you this month:
Alan Evans from Airtricity, a world leader in renewable energy, tells us how he has improved his time-keeping skills since attending a ‘making time’ workshop
What was it that motivated you to attend the training on making time?
We have a lot to do and that can mean sometimes people are too busy to help others.
A key factor in being able to handle a large workload is time management so it was great to attend a course that dealt with these issues.
How has the training helped you to make more effective use of your time?
I am more organised. I used to rush in and get on with all the jobs in front of me without taking time to really list them in terms of priority and time. I get so much more done now simply by taking time in the morning to plan tasks. Planning is the key!
Which areas of your organisation would benefit most from efficient time-keeping?
One of the problems that we have is long-running meetings. When they run over time it can cause major problems. Listing the points that we will cover in terms of priority always helps to keep us within time as we can always come back to the less pressing issues if we are running over.
On a scale of 1-10, how important to your clients is it that your staff make efficient use of their time and why?
10 - It is as important as it can be! Any organisation that has poor time keepers will have low productivity. Ideally, staff should have all of their work organised into time sheets with at least half an hour to spare each day to allow for hiccups. This may seem impossible in some situations, but I cannot stress enough the importance of knowing what you will be doing for the entire day, and sticking to the plan, it is guaranteed to save hours in the week.
What is your golden rule for fitting everything in to the day?
Creating a ‘To Do’ list really works for me. When you remove each item and the list becomes smaller it gives you a good sense of achievement.
For more information on our making time workshop please click here or contact linzi@you-untld.co.uk.
Learn how to herd cats
Intrigued?
Herding cats is about managing challenging people at work.
This is the topic of our training taster workshop designed to give you a 90 minute taster of what we do every day. You'll meet some of the you:unlimited team, mingle with other training and HR practitioners and can discuss any specific training needs if you wish.
Apart from giving you a flavour of our training style, this workshop will also equip you with tried and tested techniques to help you improve communication with important and challenging individuals.
The next “Herding Cats” taster workshop will be running in central London from 9am – 11am on Wednesday 21st May 2008.
Spaces are limited, so if you are a Manager or HR & Training professional with responsibility for booking training contact linzi@you-unltd.co.uk or call on 020 7407 0044 and we’ll book spaces for you and / or a colleague.
Meow
Top tips on how to juggle your workload
1) Refresh. Before you start anything, take five minutes to clear your desk of clutter, junk mail etc. You are fighting a losing battle trying to organise yourself in a mess.
2) List. Write down your main projects and responsibilities. Now categorize them according to which have potential to create the most impact.
3) List again. Look over your list again and decide which ones have the greatest potential to advance your career.
4) And again. Have one final look at the list and decide which ones you would focus on if you only had half the time available to you.
5) Question. By now you should have a better idea of what is most important in your workload. Have you been prioritising correctly? How can you improve?
6) Prioritize ... no matter how much work you have on your plate. If you do it properly, it could save hours in the rest of your week.
7) Set times. Use your calendar for more than just reminding you what you need to do each day. Instead, list down what you will be doing each hour, and stick to it. It is amazing how much more you get done when you have set time frames.
8) Bite. There is a saying called ‘bite the frog’ which basically means ‘do the tough stuff now’. Putting off the jobs you don’t like until the last minute will only make them less appealing and increase your stress levels.
9) Bin it. Get rid of all the things on your list that are not benefiting you as much as they could. If you cannot bin them, then put them in a space that does not take priority.
10) Delegate. If there is any way that you can get some one reliable to take on the jobs that come at the bottom of your priorities list, then do it.
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