Did You Miss the Managing People, Time and Pressure Workshop?

1st June, 2011 - Posted by bethcurl - No Comments

Last week we ran a very successful Managing People, Time and Pressure Workshop and for those of you who missed it here are a few of our top tips.

Managing Time and Work

• Be as proactive as you can in your attitude to managing your time. Plan as much of your work as you can and keep 20% of your time flexible to deal with the unexpected.
• Believe that  you can control your workload and your time and you will find that you can! As Henry Ford said”If you believe that you can or you can’t, you’re right.”
• Invest your time in the tasks that will yield the greatest value.
• Set yourself clear objectives every day, every week, one, three and six months and a year. Include some long term personal development objectives.
• Prioritise your workload using the Importance versus Urgency grid. First Priority Tasks are Both Important and Urgent. Second priority tasks are Important but not yet Urgent, so make sure you set aside time to work on these. Keeping ahead on these Category Two tasks is the secret of a well organised and low stress life! Category Three Tasks are Urgent but Not Important, so get these done quickly or get someone else to help with these. Priority Four Tasks are Not Urgent and Not Important, so you shouldn’t waste your time on these!
• To plan your projects and workload, you need to ask
• “What tasks have to be done?”
• By Whom?
• By When?
• How long will each task take?
• Schedule the tasks, working forward from now and backwards from the deadline, to create a project plan.
• Involve other people in making the plans and share plans with other stakeholders.
• Take action and monitor progress with the plan.

Working With Others

Of course we don’t work alone and whether you work with colleagues or clients in projects, or whether you are responsible for achieving work through other people, there are many other skills you need. So on the workshop we learnt about motivating, delelgating, giving and receiving feedback, being able to say “NO” appropriately and manage expectations. We explored how we can speed up our decision making and used the Myers Briggs Type Inventory to understand how people differ in their working and decision making styles. We worked on making meetings effective and practised  behaviours that make meetings productive and timely. In the afternoon of Day 2 we learnt how to identify and manage stress in ourselves and others and we finished the day by making large Traffic Light Poster Action Plans - things to stop doing, keep doing and start doing. 

So do you wish you were there? If you would like to attend this workshop later this year, please do send us an e-mail and we can discuss dates with you.