|
Manage your Time
Following Tips will help you in Understanding Time &
Analysing Time
1. Set aside time each day to review and prioritise demand on your time.
2. Take a small chunk of a difficult task, and deal with it straight away.
3. Think through your day while making your way to work
4. Always delegate your tasks that are not time-effective for you to do.
5. Split your working day into chunks of 30 minutes each.
6. Review your time log to assess your work efficiency.
7. Allow for some thinking time in your schedule.
8. Estimate how long a task will take you, and see how accurate you were.
9. Update your time log as often as possible-memory is often unreliable.
10. Break down long term plans into weekly and daily action plan.
11. Draw a flow chart of your career, and plan where you want to go next.
12. Ask for a second opinion if you cannot prioritise competing tasks.
13. Identify conflicts of priority between you and your boss.
14. Find out whether your colleagues priorities conflict with your own.
15. Classify all work engagements in your diary according to their importance.
16. If your schedule is full of A-tasks, then delegate or redefine them.
17. Alter priorities continually in line with changes or new information.
18. To keep discussions short, avoid open-ended questions.
19. Ensure that you have some quiet time every day.
20. Do not be afraid to leave the phone hook.
21. Time your physical and mental peaks so that you know how long they last.
22. Keep some energy for home life and leisure activities after work.
23. Suggest working flexible hours to improve company productivity.
24. Choose a diary that looks good and that you will enjoy using.
25. Always keep your pen in your diary for noting information and dates.
26. Use coloured pens to denote tasks of varying importance.
27. Set realistic deadlines. A deadline is meant to be helpful, not a major cause of stress.
28. Delegate enjoyable tasks as well as unpleasant ones
29. Reward yourself when you meet your deadlines
30. Plan your diary no more than one year ahead.
31. Make sure you do at least one thing every day that you enjoy.
32. Read a passage by your favourite author last thing at night.
33. Concentrate on your colleagues' and clients' positive attributes.
34. Use an organizer to list weaknesses, and then plan how to combat them, one by one.
35. Keep your desk clear of everything but the current job in hand.
36. Beware of self-sticking notes. They are easily lost.
37. Clear up daily. Never leave a mess for the morning.
38. Highlight key points on paperwork to speed up rereading.
39. Position a clock in your office so it is visible to you and to visitors.
40. Review your filing system at least every few months.
41. Set up a filing system that will grow with you and your business.
42. Go through your files regularly and discard documents that you no longer need.
43. File papers with no obvious home in a folder labelled " Miscellaneous".
44. File only essential documents that will be referred in future.
45. Ask your secretary or a colleague to screen incoming phone calls for you.
46. Pick up the phone to indicate the end of a meeting.
47. Do not sit down if you are followed into your office.
48. Place your chair out of view if your door is open.
49. Throw away any information that you think you do not need.
50. Keep all chance meetings short by standing- it will then be easier to get away.
51. Copy information only to those who need to know.
52. Stop subscriptions to magazines you no longer read.
53. Remove magazine and newspaper articles you wish to keep, and file them for reference.
54. Assess each piece of information for its relevance to current projects.
55. Keep only essential reading on your desk.
56. Think before you interrupt anyone. Their time is as valuable as yours.
57. Call a meeting only after considering other options.
58. Do not make assumptions about work colleagues.
59. Take a deep, relaxing breath before you make a phone call.
60. Avoid distractions when taking on the phone. Focus on what the caller is saying.
61. When making a phone call, have another project to hand to work on in case you are kept waiting.
62. Tell people when they can call you, and note the time in your diary.
63. Reroute your calls when you want to avoid interruptions.
64. Never delay dealing with any written material-it will just mount up.
65. Underline key phrases in reports you have to read.
66. Skim-read the headlines in your daily newspaper.
67. Keep essential reference material separate from your other documents and papers.
68. Clear unwanted documents from your computer once a month.
69. Consider carefully your computing requirements.
70. Keep your e-mail messages short, and address them accurately.
71. Encourage people to express views, even if they are contrary to yours.
72. Ask a colleague to interrupt "urgently" if a routine meeting lasts over an hour.
73. Keep meetings short by listening rather than talking.
74. Allocate a specific amount of time to each subject on an agenda.
75. Encourage people to attend only the parts of a meeting that concern them.
76. Remind everyone what was agreed at a meeting in a follow-up memo.
77. Before travelling, assess whether the trip is necessary and cost-effective.
78. If possible, fit everything you need to take into one small piece of hand luggage.
79. Take work to do in an airport lounge in case of delays.
80. Set your watch to the local time at your destinations.
81. Check how much your hotel charges for phone calls before making any.
82. Find out whether you need adapters for your electrical equipment abroad.
83. Take two or three short holidays instead of one long one.
84. Schedule regular time off to pursue your hobbies and leisure interests.
85. Aim to experience something new everyday.
86. Maintain high expectations, and people will live up to them.
87. Persuade others of your case using facts, not emotions.
88. Take an interest in what others are trying to achieve.
89. Hearing is not the same as listening. Learn to listen.
90. Make sure you define objectives clearly when you delegate a task.
91. Reserve some time for the task that you only can do.
92. Keep a checklist to help you monitor the progress of tasks that you have delegated to others.
93. Reward good work generously, and chastise in moderation.
94. Set precise and realistic deadlines for tasks that you delegate.
95. Try not to allow colleagues to distract you with unimportant issues.
96. Hold meetings in colleagues' offices, so you can leave when you need to.
97. Set aside special times when your office is open to all.
98. Visit colleagues only when you have more than one issue to discuss.
99. Be aware of your boss's working patterns, and try to adapt to them.
100. Ask about your boss's home life-it will help to build up a relationship.
101. Remember that time is perfectly democratic. Nobody has more or less of it than you.
Tips for Effective Leadership
1. Always strive to preach quality and practice improvement.
2. Ensure that you involve all staff members in quality improving schemes.
3. Always be on the lookout for chances to learn valuable lessons.
4. Take a refresher course if you need to brush up on rusty skills.
5. Use coaching sessions to learn as well as teach.
6. Set an example to your staff by being trained yourself.
7. Use projects as way of learning more about other disciplines.
8. Make friends with people in different departments, and get to know how they operate.
9. Think carefully about the best way to behave in every situation.
10. Concentrate on getting things done, not on trying to show that you the one in charge.
11. Keep a checklist of key leadership duties and ensure that you do them.
12. Always look beyond the detail and consider the bigger picture.
13. If you are resisting change, ask yourself why.
14. The greater your expertise, the more authority you will have.
15. Always work on and build upon your own strengths.
16. Put all your ambitions down on paper to help you realize them.
17. Understand what you are doing in order to achieve your aims.
18. Never accept any weakness as one that you cannot correct and cure.
Leading Others:
19. Take time to get your bearings in anew job-but do not take too long.
20. Actively seek the views of your team members.
21. Avoid appointing candidate simply because you are short-staffed.
22. When recruiting team members, look for their growth potential.
23. Take into account the feelings of staff when promoting internally.
24. When a referee has reservations, always probe more deeply.
25. Ask candidates what they did really well in their previous jobs.
26. Ensure there are no interruptions during interviews.
27. See that new recruits are welcomed and fully supported.
28. Make sure that any instructions you give are clear and concise.
29. Encourage people to approach you if things go wrong.
30. Act quickly when you learn of any real problems.
31. Insist that staff tell you all the news, good or bad.
32. Use crises as an opportunity to develop people.
33. Remember that delegation boosts morale and builds confidence.
34. Never keep work simply because you do it better.
35. Set high targets in agreement with your delegates.
36. If time pressure increases, ask if you are delegating enough to others.
37. Check regularly and informally on progress of delegated tasks.
38. Keep an open door for all your delegates.
39. Intervene fast when the delegates cannot cope.
40. Make sure that everybody knows what must always be left to you.
41. Talk honestly with your staff and you will get honest answers in return.
42. Take steps to get accurate reports of team opinions.
43. If all feedback is positive, you may not have been told the whole truth.
44. Be prepared for misunderstanding of what you are trying to achieve.
45. Encourage groups to achieve by setting high but realistic targets.
46. Always be ready to allow others to take the lead when appropriate.
47. Remember that everyone thinks in a different way.
48. Seek to defuse emotion before tackling issues.
49. Treating everyone equally will avoid causing resentment.
50. If decisions can safely be taken quickly, always do so at once.
51. If you ask for advice from any co-worker, expect to act on it.
52. Seek to turn the impossible into a target that you can achieve.
53. Expect setbacks, and always have contingency plans fully prepared.
54. Cut your losses fast if failure is truly inevitable.
55. Ensure that team members share the same goals.
56. Encourage competitions between ideas, not individuals.
57. Boost a team's effectiveness by training members in new skills.
58. Ask people if they have enough responsibility.
59. Do not accept the opinions of others on team abilities.
60. Allow new people and teams to prove how good they are.
61. Reward real merit openly, but never appear to have any favourites.
62. Give people a time for meetings and always keep the appointment.
63. Keep discussions informal whenever possible to ease staff relationships.
64. Never hide behind the closed doors of private offices.
65. Use meetings to take decisions as fast as possible, not to delay them.
66. Ask only relevant people to meetings to keep the numbers down.
67. Allow staff to stay away if they feel they have nothing to contribute.
68. If you are in the chair, do not use the position to be dictatorial.
69. Keep meetings to the shortest time needed to cover a brief agenda.
70. Keep it simple and look first for the easy solution.
71. Regard problems as opportunities for team learning.
72. Consider an issue from every possible angle.
73. Look for the positive side of any negative situation.
74. Ensure you have all the facts before taking action.
75. Find ways of showing people that you trust them to act effectively.
76. Never refuse a request without careful thought.
77. Reward success with praise as well as material recognition.
78. Always be loyal to your people in any public situation.
79. If you have to criticize someone, do so in private.
Inspiring excellence
80. Never seek to get results by bullying people beneath you.
81. Use discipline sparingly, but make it swift and effective.
82. Keep the "carrot" visible but he "stick" in hiding.
83. Share responsibility for mistakes and failures, and analyse errors so you can prevent them next time.
84. Write down your ambitions, and revise them periodically.
85. If your vision seems unattainable, simply intensify your efforts.
86. Keep vision and mission wording brief, clear, and prescriptive.
87. Give statements to others to check before you finalize them.
88. Make people see that it is everyone's job to generate ideas.
89. Try to implement suggestions, as long as they will cause no harm.
90. Make sure ideas are challenged with respect and not with contempt.
91. If unsure about whether or not you should pass on information, do so.
92. Ensure that your messages reach all members of staff.
93. Make sure that you encourage staff to participate in decision-making.
94. Always keep your mind firmly on the outcome that you are seeking.
95. Encourage people to seek clarification if they are unsure about any of their objectives.
96. Make the outcome measurable if at all possible.
97. Get staffs fully involved in achieving the ultimate objective.
98. Let your staff know exactly what you expect from them.
99. Use appraisals to develop your staff, not as ends in themselves.
100. Do not gamble, but back your own best judgement in going for results.
101. Keep up-to-date on the progress of competitors.
Compiled
by my wife Mrs Rekha Pandey, Sr Personnel Officer (Welfare), CCL, Darbhanga
House, PGDPM (XISS) Ranchi-834001,India.
|
