Thank you to everyone who sent me feedback following the launch of Flourish.  I had comments about the rather formal photo, so I promise not to use this until I get a new one done; it is on my ‘to-do’ list for January! 

Talking about ‘to-do’ lists, I thought that at this busy time of the year, it would be good to come back to that favourite subject of time management with some tips to help you, if you wish you simply had more time.  And if you’re struggling to get busy managers to embrace the good practices of Investors in People, this month’s feature looks at how to achieve this without them seeing it as ‘extra work’.

We have some interesting features planned in the coming months – recruitment and selection, appraisals and change management.  If there are any topics that you would like to see featured, please do let me know.

In the meantime, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Best wishes,

Annette

How’s Your Time Management?

At this time of the year, I confess I am heard to say ‘if only I had more time’.  Applying the techniques of good time management comes in very handy.  The key questions to ask yourself are ‘does time manage you or do you manage time’?  Are you in control of your time? 

What steps can you take, as a busy person, to ensure that you are in control of your time at work at least?  Well, here are some simple steps:

1. Get into the habit of regularly reviewing your time and ask if you could have used it to better effect.  One way of doing this is to keep a time diary log, i.e. a record of how you spend your time each day.  This can be a real eye-opener!  If you would like to have a go at doing this for yourself, you can find a free one on the Resources page of my website – click here to download it.

2. Make a ‘to-do’ list each day and feel satisfied at ticking things off when you have achieved them.  It is from the ‘to-do’ list that you can determine your priorities.

3. Take control; if you don’t have enough time to achieve all the things that you would ideally like to achieve, something has to give.  This will mean that you can’t simply work through each task spending as much time on it as you would ideally like.  On tasks that are a lower priority, you need to cut corners, i.e. reduce the time you spend on it.  Use a priority system of ‘urgent/important’ to determine where this time saving can be made.

4. Avoid interruptions by going somewhere where you are less likely to be interrupted.  If you work in an open plan office, try using something symbolic to let people know that you are not to be disturbed.  It could be a sign on your desk or you could try wearing a silly hat – one client took to putting on a set of devils horns; it may have looked daft but did the trick!

5. Look at what you have to do and think hard about what you can delegate, i.e. give someone else responsibility for part of your job.  Yes, of course it is quicker and easier to do it yourself and it always will be, but you will never progress from the vicious circle if you don’t let go.  A little time spent now on training someone to do a part of your job will be an investment for the future. 

6. Avoid procrastination, i.e. putting off things until tomorrow that you’re not looking forward to doing (writing those Christmas cards perhaps?).  If you have a big or difficult task, remember the question ‘How do you eat an elephant?’  In bite size chunks.  So, do a little bit of the job today to get started and you will soon be underway. 

You can use all these good habits at home in your preparations for the run up to Christmas – you should see my to-do list!  If you want more help, then there are a few things that I would recommend:

1. Read the Time Management Pocket Management book

2. Watch Video Arts ‘The Unorganised Manager’ parts 1 and 2

3. Attend HJA’s Bite Size Time Management workshop – just a half-day that covers all the key essentials that a busy person needs.  See ‘events’ below.

Details of all these resources can be found on the Resources page of my website – just click here.

Investors in People

Continuing of our theme to help busy managers, I have come across three instances in the past month where clients have asked for help with the same basic dilemma.  How do you get managers who are already busy to take on responsibility for the planning, implementation and evaluation of their team’s learning and development, without it being seen as additional work?

Well hopefully, managers, team leaders and supervisors won’t disagree that they are the best person to assess performance, work out what a staff member needs to learn and to assess the improvements in performance following a development activity.  The key therefore to avoiding extra work is to build the planning and evaluation of training into existing processes.  Here are some examples and useful tips:

1. Use your existing performance review and appraisal systems to identify training needs and establish priorities – try using a rating system of must/should/could. 

2. Help your managers to collate training and development needs for their team through the use of a simple spreadsheet so that they can see what resources are needed – time, money, people and so on.  They can also use the same spreadsheet for evaluation – kill two birds with one stone.

3. Use your existing management meetings to discuss training needs and training results and outcomes.  This doesn’t have to be every month – putting it on the agenda once a quarter or every six months may be all that is needed.

4. Try replacing your traditional evaluation forms with a question in the review or appraisal form to ask how training or development activities have assisted performance. 

If this isn’t enough, you may need to get your managers together to share good practice and work out what will work for them without creating extra bureaucracy.  They may come up with the same list as I have given, but at least they will have ownership as it has come from them.  I can facilitate a session for you, if you need extra help.

Managing Team Training and Development (without the paperwork)

A two hour session for managers – morning or afternoon – £225 + VAT (This can also be run as an early morning 8 – 10am session, at lunch time from 12 – 2pm or as a twilight 4 – 6pm session, as a special request, for £250 + VAT).

Special Offers

Investors in People Desk Top Review – find out how you measure up in a half-day meeting. £250 against the recommended fee of £350 – for January only!

Events

Train the Trainer - "new date" - 5th February 2008 at The Deddington Arms Hotel  – full day £225 + VAT including all handouts and refreshments.  Book before 31st December to receive £25 discount.  Final bookings by 15th January 2008.

Introduction to Team Leadership – new date of 30 January 2008.  This workshop is for all those new to management or team leadership.  The workshop is filling-up fast so please get your bookings in.  Full day workshop with all the trimmings for only £225; follow up coaching session £160.  Book both (recommended) for £350!

Time Management Bite-Size workshop – half-day 13th Feb £105 – book before end Dec – only £95 per person; three or more people £90 per person.