TIME MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY

SYNOPSIS: Company leaders and economists alike have recently voiced concerns about productivity. Simply put, how can organizations become more efficient in their operations? The issue has consequences not only for an organization’s bottom line but also for an individual’s bottom line: the elusive work/life balance. The key to these challenges is the effective management of workflow, time, people and processes.

This course will equip you with key principles and methods to better manage your time. We start by identifying where you are now and where you want to be, and consider practical solutions for how to get there.

In this comprehensive day’s training, you will discover proven methodologies for realistic goal setting, results-based planning and techniques to take your personal productivity and effectiveness to a higher level. The course caters for all levels of responsibility within the work environment, to support the achievement of business outcomes.

Participants will be offered an opportunity to share problematic situations with a view to solving productivity issues for the long term, through active discussion and learning how to develop new habits and break old ones. Simple, practical and effective ‘take home’ tools will assist individuals in the development of effective time management and organization skills.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

• Assess your current approach to time management
• Identify productivity bottlenecks and the cause of time management issues through environmental mapping
• Practice proven goalsetting techniques that target the short, medium, and long term
• Manage priorities to maximize your return on investment of time – focus on the activities that give you the greatest returns
• Identify and map out systems and processes that will leverage your time in your existing work environment
• Learn best practices in organizing work
• Develop a personal time management system and action plan

COURSE CONTENT

Setting the scene                                  

• Understand the difference between efficiency and effectiveness
• Determine your measures of productivity
• Decide on your compelling reasons to become more productive
• Identify the 4 generations of time management

Analyzing your situation

• Identify how and why you operate the way you do
• Recognize your productivity bottlenecks
• Use the circle of influence model to assess your situation

 Setting goals

• The basic S.M.A.R.T. goal model
• Going beyond S.M.A.R.T. to A.I.C.I. goals
• Looking past the immediate: how to create goals for the short, medium and long term

 Managing priorities

• Applying Pareto’s Principle and Parkinsons Law to priority management
• The 4 quadrants of time management: identifying the urgent from the important
• The value of “not to do lists”
• Using the 4 Ds method: delegate, delete, decide, do

Setting up systems and processes

• Mapping your work environment to identify improvements
• How to put in place timesaving methods for repeat tasks
• Learning from highly organized people and job roles

Action planning

• Using the start, stop, continue model to take the first steps
• 5Ws and 1H: 6 steps to ensure you follow through
• Personal commitment agreement

TARGET AUDIENCE: This course is relevant for all people looking to improve their productivity and task management effectiveness in the workplace. This could include management levels, directors, sales employees, general administration, EAs, PAs and database analysts.