Time Management Skills
How often do you have a plan for how you are going to spend your day but you aren't able to complete the tasks on your plan because of unimportant tasks, interruptions, or your own procrastination? Wouldn't it be great to be able to manage your schedule and your time while avoiding, or at least controlling, these time stealers? Learn the strategies to manage your schedule while still handling interruptions and demands on your time.
Meaning of Time
What time means to you and how to identify some of the ways in which you can manage it more effectively?
If you wish to become an effective manager of time you must first understand the nature of what you are attempting to manage. Time in this context is not to be defined philosophically. Most simply, it is of finite duration distinct from eternity. The expression 'time' in the English language as well as in other languages is used in different ways. Spend a few minutes writing down some ideas of what the following phrases mean to you:
- At the same time
- On-time
- Time off
- At times
- From time to time
- Timeless
- In no time
- Timely
- In time
A reflection on the above phrases will enable you to focus on the nuances of meaning that underpin their use in actual contexts. You have probably now got a clearer idea of time. Time in fact is an intangible concept or a paradox. You never have enough time but you have all the time that is available. It is a resource, but if you don't use it, it will disappear and you will never be able to catch hold of it, once gone. You can't increase its quantity, but you can ensure that you use it on things that are important to you.
You might have realized that time is a personal concept which means there is no right or wrong perception of time. Learning to manage time requires commitment and depends on how you approach various activities. Your approach will be influenced by the assumption you make about the nature of your work and the environment in which you live and work. Some assumptions will generally be more useful than others for managing your time effectively.
Meaning of Time Management
One of the most essential skills required by an effective manager and every professional relates to managing the time available and prioritize the long term and short-term goals.
Time management is a process of determining the quality and quantity of work output i.e. the effective utilization of time in performing various activities in the organization. Time management is the discipline of organizing, allocating, and controlling the time you use for activities in such a way that you achieve your desired results.
You as an employee have to perform your activities according to your job description. Your important duty is to see that all the activities are performed as per the job description and with the time limit assigned to the job. Time management will help you to perform your job more effectively and efficiently.
The flow of Time is Unidirectional
Like other resources, 'time' is also an important resource that has got a unique character of having a constant unidirectional forward flow. Time passed, cannot be regenerated nor it can be stored to be utilized later on when needed.
Adequate input of all other resources does not necessarily guarantee achievement up to expectation, if during the planning and implementing all possible efforts were not undertaken to complete the various component tasks in targeted time by effectively utilizing the same.
Why Time Management?
Time management is the discipline of organizing, allocating, and controlling the time you use for activities in such a way that you achieve your desired results. Time is a very valuable resource. The first step towards improving time utilization is to determine how available time is spent on different types of activities. Although managers understand that time is their scarcest resource, few actually take time to get a ‘birds-eye’ view of how they actually spend their time and keep a track of how the priorities they say are the most important fit with the actual way they spend their time. It highlights how to control your time so that you can optimize your productivity. Time management helps us to:
- To provide quality time to your responsibilities
- To decrease expenses through work transformation
- To see that all the staff spends their time as per the activities listed in their job description
- To measure the work output and facilitate quality customer focus
Time management is simply a way of using time effectively. Working faster or working longer are poor strategies for managing time. It is more sensible to identify your priorities and then choose the activities accordingly. In fact managing time is about managing yourself. It is about adapting to a given situation so that you can get the most out of your time for you to do this, you must accept that you can influence and ultimately control the environment in which you live and work. You must learn to spend your time wisely.
Related Links
You May Also Like
-
In this study of power, Raven identified five bases of power as coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expert. The 5 Types of Power can help you decide when it is appropriate to use a particular type of power in important situations. Leadership involves authority and it is very important for leaders to understand what type of power they're using.
-
Recognizing Stress & its Sources
As an individual, you almost certainly know what stress feels like. Stressors are events or situations to which people must adjust. Stressors may be physical or psychological in nature. The level of severity of stress is determined not merely by exposure but the intensity, duration, and frequency of stressors. The sources of stress are many. They arise from multiple areas both with the individual and from the environment.
-
Evidence of the medically damaging symptoms of work stress necessitates applying the treatment of stress management. Stress management is increasingly drawing the attention to the management experts not only as a remedial measure but also as a way to resource management. If the workplace can be made a little more lovable the increase in the achievement of the organization may be much time more. If group stress can be removed by introducing group discussions and recreational facilities a long-lasting team spirit may get developed.
-
Generating Ideas using Brainstorming
The brainstorming technique was developed by Alex F. Osborn in 1957 and brainstorming means where a team of members generates a large amount of alternative fruitful ideas on a specific problem without any criticism and then evaluates each idea in terms of their pros and cons. Brainstorming techniques fall into four broad categories: visioning, exploring, modifying, and experimenting.
-
Change & Culture of Innovation
Predicting the future is a tricky business but managers need to have a future perspective in order to take business advantage and remain competitive. They need to drive and introduce constructive change to the business of the enterprise. The first step to creativity and innovation is to drive a culture of Innovation. Managers need to focus on developing future mindset all the time to keep pace with the unfolding future.
-
Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity. The best time management techniques improve the ways you work. Time management refers to managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to the right activity. Learn more about the five steps for effective time management viz. study, identify, analyze, decide, and implement.
-
Teams are certainly very relevant and important elements in today’s high-performance organization but the important thing to remember as a leader is that we can’t simply rely on putting highly effective individuals together to make a highly effective team. Empowerment increases the effectiveness of the team and drives many intangible benefits both for the organization and the employees.
-
This style is characterized by leaders making decisions for others and expecting followers to follow instructions. The directive leader is adept at giving instructions, setting expectations, and establishing timelines and performance standards. However, it is possible for the same leaders to display both directive and supportive behavior as per the demands of the situation.
-
Team leadership theory is a recent leadership theory that does not discriminate between the leader and the other team members. The approach considers contributions from each team member to be critical for organizational success. This approach focused on the overall team effectiveness and team problems are diagnosed and action is taken to remediate weakness. This approach provides for taking corrective action when the leader deems necessary.
-
Tools for Developing Your Team
If a manager has too many weak spots in the talent of the team, the ability to empower the team members to independently execute the project is impaired. Assignments fall behind schedule or stretch out because the needed skills or knowledge are not in place when needed. To successfully execute important projects, hiring talented people, and increasing the talents of existing staff are most important.
