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Effective Time Management: Prof J Philip President XIME
Effective Time Management: Prof J Philip President XIME
Managing Time
Nothing else perhaps distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time. Unless he manages his time effectively, no amount of ability, skill, experience or knowledge will make an executive effective. - Peter Drucker
Time is a unique resource. It cannot be accumulated like money . It cannot be stored like raw material. We are forced to spend it, whether we like it or not at a fixed rate of 60 seconds every minute. It cannot be turned on or off like a machine. It cannot be replaced like a man. It is irretrievable. What is lost is lost. What is lost is part of our life.
Middle manager
Control
Direct
R Alec Mackenzie
Routine
Crises
Waste creativity
Important vs Urgent
You must continually ask yourself what are the most important and profitable things I can do with my time. One problem is that most important things are seldom urgent and most urgent things are seldom important. The tricks is to identify such important- but- noturgent things and assign them time. Peter Drucker
Investing Time
Have you ever stopped to think- what an hour of your time is worth. If not, you should. Treat time exactly as it where money, in a sense it is. Truly effective executives seek ways to invest their time in ways that will pay handsomely in the future. Merely putting out fires seldom does this. The profitable activities are goal seeking and growth activities. That is, activities which increase your effectiveness and that of your organization.
Most things that waste our time can be traced to our own management practices and not externally imposed. Effective time management is really effective personal management. Perfectionism is a sure way to procrastination. An hour of planning normally saves three to four hours of activity. The practice of quite hours in office is an effective approach to time management.
Some of the habits that we have formed in the early part of our careers could be the worst enemies to effective time management.
SYSTEM IMPOSED
YOU
COLLEAGUES IMPOSED
SUBORDINATES IMPOSED
Time Analysis
Routine tasks Key tasks Crises Supportive tasks Wasted Trivial items Creative Crises Wasted Creative Meetings Telephones Correspondence Reading Planning Visitors Inspection/ Supervision Fire fighting
Role of Time
Time is limited know where it goes Put time targets for important tasks Time for recruiting Training Evaluating Time for subordinates Time for organization Do we have the right one Time for customers Time for creativity
Organizing Oneself
Have a plan for the day First things first, one at a time Single-shot handling of paper and decisions wherever possible Bulk handling Delegate Making strengths productive Office layout and facilities Meetings with appointments Quiet hour Ask every quarter: What has been my distinctive contribution ?
NAME
Date.
To do list
To delegate
To control/ follow up
1.
2. 3. 4. 5.
SUB I
SUB II
6.
7. 8. SUB III
7-S Framework
STRUCTURE
STRATEGY
SYSTEMS
SHARED VALUES
SKILLS
STYLE
STAFF
MEETINGS
Ask any group of managers in any country in the world to list their three most time-consuming activities. Give them a few moments to reflect and discuss the question. Invariably meetings will appear among the three.
One experienced executive said, the biggest waste of time in our company is our top management meeting on Monday mornings. We dont know where we are going or why, so we never know when we arrive. We do know it is Monday and we always meet on Monday. What I cant stand is an aimless, meandering meeting. Alec Mackenzee
First and perhaps most commonly, meetings are called for purposes of coordinating activities, exchanging information, and building morale. Second is the participative, problem-solving, decisionformulating meeting. An offshoot of this might be designated the risk-sharing meeting, covened for the sometimes hidden purpose of sharing the risk of an unpopular, chancy, or difficult decision. Many meetings should not occur at all. Among them are those a manager calls because he is unable or unwilling to make a decision. Another inappropriate reason is a compulsion toward over communication; these are meetings for sake of meetings. Mackenzee
ECONOMETER
A Danish firm invented an Econometer. Its purpose is to indicate the cost of a meeting in dollars. As the meeting drags on the meter runs up heavy bills as an electric meter or taxi meter will do. After the meeting is over, one could do a cost-benefit analysis.
Hold your meetings only when you must Plan, plan, plan for the meeting Thoroughly identify objectives, know what the results are to be Set a specific time schedule for the meeting to follow Start and end the meeting on time Encourage participation in the meeting, but allot a specific limited amount of time for each person to comment Stay in control of the meeting you lead
Stick to the prepared agenda and objective of the meeting. When topics start to wander from the agenda pull the group back into the main stream Make sure you do come to the meeting well prepared. Use a check list to be sure that you have all the necessary materials, notes, supplies etc. Limit the number of people in the meeting. Invite only those who are really needed to attend the meeting. This helps every one to save time.
Make a good beginning Remember good discussion means participation Use good questions Good discussion should be progressive Maintain control over the conference Developing sportsmanship amongst participants Avoid experting of ideas and opinions Make a good ending
Indeed very high! The most important cause is the poor training/preparation of the chairman The members could also be equally guilty!
Thank you
1/1999
NAME OF THE ORGANISATION: ..... 1) On an average, how many hours of extra work (over and above the normal working hours) do you put in every week? _____________ 2) On an average how many days in week do you have to stay late in the office / factory? _____________ 3) On a typical working day, how does your time get distributed? Please indicate in percentages: % if time spent_ * Telephones _____________ * Meetings
* Reading books, journals etc. relevant to your profession ________________ * Handling correspondence ________________ * Crisis management / fire fighting ________________ * Others (specify) ________________ Total: ============== 4) What percentage of time now spent in meetings can be saved by better management of meetings including cutting down unproductive meetings _______________
100%
Very
6) Pick from the list given below 6 items which you consider to be the biggest time wasters in your organisation (Tick against the items): 1. Confused responsibility and authority ] 2. No objectives or priorities [ 3. Multiple bosses [ 4. Poor coordination [ 5. Understaffed [ 6. Overstaffed [ 7. Untrained Staff [ 8. Inadequate support from subordinate executives . ] 9. Poor teamwork [ 10. Poor delegation [ ] ] ] ] ] ] [ ] [
13. Visitors 14. Meetings 15. Fire fighting / crisis management ] 16. Under and unclear communication 17. Socializing ] 18. Snap decisions 19. Indecision / Procrastination 20. Decisions by Committees ] 21. Inflexible Rules / Procedure 22. Excessive paper work 23. Poor / Inadequate Office equipment 24. Poor layout of Office / Factory
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