Time Management: controlling ‘Time Stealers’ and drains on your time
We recently ran a time management training course that was dramatically interrupted when the door flew open and a young man entered and shouted, ‘Quick, there’s a problem with the shutters.’ Chairs flew back and five of the eight managers present rushed out of the room. They returned, rather sheepishly, a few minutes later convinced that the apparent, but as it turned out non-emergency was just the result of a couple of apprentices with too much time on their hands. It took some time for the training to get back underway, although there did follow a useful discussion on what might be learned from what had happened.
What was agreed was how easy it is for us to have our time stolen and plans disrupted by those who (either mischievously or well-meaningly) choose to do so. If anyone shouts emergency, people will react, probably wisely, but if we as managers allow or even enable a culture of everything being done as ‘a matter of urgency’ then things can get out of hand. So much so that every other conscientious member of staff is faced with a problem that is not easy to resolve – ‘How do I re-evaluate urgency on my own terms? Am I even allowed to do so? Does my work have any place or priority in the grand scheme of things?’
If we as managers use variations of the word ‘urgent’ regularly, perhaps misguidedly, as a way to motivate or enhance staff performance, then we can end up creating an atmosphere where only things deemed urgent have any sort of importance. Good managers should do the opposite and try to manage staff, customers, and even their own bosses to recognise that importance and apparent urgency can be very different things, and seemingly unimportant tasks or tasks with a lower priority do still have their place in the overall strategic playing out of business and commerce.
A department of a large engineering business had, back in the 1980s, two designated types of job – standard and urgent. Managers then decided another level of urgency was needed as ‘urgent’ didn’t quite cut it sometimes. So they introduced a ‘Super Category’ type of job. This was soon followed by a ‘Super Cat 2’ and then a ‘Walk Through’ category that trumped all others. Nobody ever had the time to do standard jobs, and so they soon all disappeared. All jobs were now at some level of urgency. Madness!
Time Management Training from Total Training Solutions
To learn more about ‘time stealers’ and how to prevent your time leaking away during the day, you can try our one day Time Management course, either as an individual or a group. Our Time Management training course will help you organise your day better and achieve more with less effort, and is aimed at those working at all levels, but especially those who are looking to either enhance their current management skill or aspire to become a manager or supervisor some day.
Need a little more help with getting more done with the limited time you have at work? We are here to help. Check out our ever-popular Time Management Course from Total Training Solutions.
Our Time Management course can help you with:
- How to be both efficient and effective
- Achieving a satisfactory work-life balance
- Taking control of paperwork, the phone and e-mail
- Handling interruptions and procrastination
- Prioritising work effectively (so everything important gets done)
- And much more
The course can be tailored to you as well, so you can focus on resolving the time management problems which are most impactful to you.
