Work and Time Management Class

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
Rita Mae Brown

Introduction

Many feel overwhelmed with activity and under whelmed with results. How do you change? This class teaches techniques to take control of your time and your schedule in order to achieve the results that are desired both personally and professionally. Techniques to refine the way time and work are managed will be explored.

Who Should Attend

Knowledge Workers.
Managers
Supervisors
Office Managers
Administrative Assistants

Class

Being overwhelmed with activity is stressful. Being under whelmed with results is depressing. Learn how to change yourself. Learn how to change the way you schedule your time in order to get the results you want in your personal and professional life.

Identify what is important on the job. It does no good to do unimportant things more efficiently, so first of all one must identify what is important. The class will teach techniques for identifying priorities.

Learn how to create visibility for what needs to be done. Learn how to identify tasks that need to be done. Identify tasks that are recurring. Identify tasks that are important and urgent. Match tasks with priorities. Deal with the overwhelming list of tasks.

Techniques and tips for effectively using calendars, task lists, and contact lists. Thinking about the tools and how they effect the way work is done.

Learn to be aware of what task is being done in the present. Learn to ask yourself "Is what I am doing the priority task?" Get control of your present. Get control of your priorities. Get control of your time. Learn to be overwhelmed with results.

Course Outline

What is Time and Work Management?

"If you go on doing what you've always done, you'll go on getting what you've always got"
Dr. Lair Ribeiorm, Success is No Accident

It is changing work habits to be more effective.
Change requires identifying what needs to be changed and why it needs to be changed.
Exercise: Are you ready to change? Identify any area that should be changed in your work habits. Describe the negative results that will result if it is not changed. Describe the positive results if it is changed. Define one habit that can most directly lead to the change happening. Set a schedule to change that one habit for 28 days, the time it is understood to be effective for creating a new habit.

Setting Priorities and Values - Do the Right Thing

"If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you got."
Lee Iacocca

Identify what is important, and what is not important
Identify what is urgent, and what is not urgent
What is the difference between urgent and important?
What is the most important task I can be doing now?
Exercise: Create a list of the top three or four priority items in your job. Make sure your supervisor or manager agrees. Post these priorities near your work area. The first rule is to do the right thing.

Do the Right Thing Right

"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress."
Alfred A. Montapert

What is a process and what is process improvement.
Know what you are doing.
Do it better each time.
Exercise: Identify one process that you do regularly that can be improved. How can you measure to see if it is improved? Set a goal for process improvement. Improve the process.

Hints and Tips - Using the Tools

"Surveys have found that executives spend six weeks a year looking for files, phone numbers, and other information that has been misplaced, mislabeled, or misfiled."
Jan Jasper

Make what needs to be done visible - using Outlook as a tool for Work Management.
Communication management - using Outlook as a tool for effective e-mail.
Time management - using Outlook as a tool for time management.
Exercise: Exploring the conventional wisdom. Which of the following are true.
- Handle each piece of paper or email only once.
- File alphabetically.
- Use loose-leaf binders to keep papers.
- Use color coded filing systems.
- A clean desk is the best.
- Work on one thing at a time.

The point of change is the present: Visualize Everything working

"If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else."
Yogi Berra

Summary of lessons learned.
Be aware of what you are doing in the present
What is the most important thing that I can be doing now?
Exercise: Describe the goal. It is hard to change and become more effective if the change cannot be visualized.

About Your Seminar Leader

Les Bain has over 30 years of experience solving business problems using Information Technology. He has helped businesses improve their processes, their productivity, and their profits by crafting and implementing technology solutions on a wide range of networks and platforms including mainframe, midrange, and desktop. Les has managed large Information Technology organizations. He has consulted with companies in a wide range of industries.

Les also has the ability to improve work group capability through the development and integration of Personal Information Management tools and techniques. Les Bain helps individuals that are struggling to manage too many tasks in too little time. Les helps people improve their personal productivity and personal focus by the use of Personal Information Management tools and techniques. Les can help people use their calendars, their contact management tools, their tasks lists and their email communications to focus in on what is important and find breathing room during the day. Les has helped both individuals and small companies use these tools to improve focus and productivity.

Benefits of Attending:

The primary benefit of attending this class is to take some time to stop and reflect on time and work management and decide on some positive steps to make it better.

Focus on change and how to change
Identify priorities
Improve the processes
Use the tools effectively
Visualize the goal