Effective Time Management

Prof J Philip President XIME

Managing Time

Nothing else perhaps distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time. Unless he manages his time effectively, no amount of ability, skill, experience or knowledge will make an executive effective. - Peter Drucker

Time - A Unique Resource

Time is a unique resource. It cannot be accumulated like money . It cannot be stored like raw material. We are forced to spend it, whether we like it or not at a fixed rate of 60 seconds every minute. It cannot be turned on or off like a machine. It cannot be replaced like a man. It is irretrievable. What is lost is lost. What is lost is part of our life.

Time Management For Effectiveness

Effective Executives, in my observation do not start with their tasks. They start with their time. And they do not start with planning. They start by finding out where their time actually goes.

Pareto Time Principle

The trivial many situations or problems 20% of the results 80% of the time expended

80% of the results The vital few situations or problems

20% of the time expended

Proportion of Managing and Operating Work At Various Management Levels

Chief executive officer Executive manager Managing (delegating) Operating (doing) 70% 90% 10%

Middle manager

30% First-line supervisor

Adapted from Ralph C Davis, the fundamentals of top management

The Managerial Time cone

Analysis of management function by organizational level

Top management Plan Middle management

Control

First line supervisors

Direct

R Alec Mackenzie

Typical Managers Time Management

Routine

Crises

Waste creativity

Typical Managers Time Management

Routine 65% Crises 20% Waste 10% Creativity 5%

Important vs Urgent
You must continually ask yourself what are the most important and profitable things I can do with my time. One problem is that most important things are seldom urgent and most urgent things are seldom important. The tricks is to identify such important- but- noturgent things and assign them time. Peter Drucker

Investing Time
Have you ever stopped to think- what an hour of your time is worth. If not, you should. Treat time exactly as it where money, in a sense it is. Truly effective executives seek ways to invest their time in ways that will pay handsomely in the future. Merely putting out fires seldom does this. The profitable activities are goal seeking and growth activities. That is, activities which increase your effectiveness and that of your organization.

Fragmentation of Time is Unproductive

Most of the tasks of the executive require, for minimum effectiveness, a fairly large quantum of time. To spend in one stretch less than this minimum is sheer waste, one accomplishes nothing and has to begin all over again. To be effective every executive, needs to be able to dispose of time in fairly large chunks to have small dribs and drabs of time at his disposal will not be sufficient even if the total is an impressive number of hours.

The Ability to Persevere

The ability to concentrate- to persevere on a course without distraction or diversion Is a power that enabled men of moderate capabilities to reach heights of achievement that have eluded the genius.

Effective Time Management A few propositions

Most things that waste our time can be traced to our own management practices and not externally imposed. Effective time management is really effective personal management. Perfectionism is a sure way to procrastination. An hour of planning normally saves three to four hours of activity. The practice of quite hours in office is an effective approach to time management.

Setting priorities means saying no to some important projects.

Delegation is an effective tool in time management.

Single shot handling of papers and decisions is an effective approach to time management. Over management of subordinates can be time wasting and most managers tend to over manage.

Some of the habits that we have formed in the early part of our careers could be the worst enemies to effective time management.

Time Demands on You

BOSS IMPOSED

SYSTEM IMPOSED

YOU

COLLEAGUES IMPOSED

SUBORDINATES IMPOSED

Time Analysis
Routine tasks Key tasks Crises Supportive tasks Wasted Trivial items Creative Crises Wasted Creative Meetings Telephones Correspondence Reading Planning Visitors Inspection/ Supervision Fire fighting

Time Analysis What Happens to Ones Time

Fragmentation Tyranny of the urgent Very little time for planning/thinking/creativity Heavy subordinate demand of time Lack of staying power( jumping from one to another) Goes almost the same way every day. We can control time if there is will.

Role of Time

Time is limited know where it goes Put time targets for important tasks Time for recruiting Training Evaluating Time for subordinates Time for organization Do we have the right one Time for customers Time for creativity

Some Simple Actions

Call your customers once in a while Study your competition Abolish/modify old forms & procedures Check your discretionary time Walk around once in a while Casual & informal talks with employees

Organizing Oneself

Have a plan for the day First things first, one at a time Single-shot handling of paper and decisions wherever possible Bulk handling Delegate Making strengths productive Office layout and facilities Meetings with appointments Quiet hour Ask every quarter: What has been my distinctive contribution ?

First Things First

Effective executives know that they have to get many things done- and done effectively. Therefore they concentrate their own time and energy as well as that of their organization on doing one thing at a time and on doing first things first

NAME

Plan for the day

Date.

To do list

To delegate

To control/ follow up

1.
2. 3. 4. 5.

SUB I

SUB II

6.
7. 8. SUB III

7-S Framework

STRUCTURE

STRATEGY

SYSTEMS

SHARED VALUES

SKILLS

STYLE

STAFF

MEETINGS

Ask any group of managers in any country in the world to list their three most time-consuming activities. Give them a few moments to reflect and discuss the question. Invariably meetings will appear among the three.

One experienced executive said, the biggest waste of time in our company is our top management meeting on Monday mornings. We dont know where we are going or why, so we never know when we arrive. We do know it is Monday and we always meet on Monday. What I cant stand is an aimless, meandering meeting. Alec Mackenzee

Why, Who, When and Where

First and perhaps most commonly, meetings are called for purposes of coordinating activities, exchanging information, and building morale. Second is the participative, problem-solving, decisionformulating meeting. An offshoot of this might be designated the risk-sharing meeting, covened for the sometimes hidden purpose of sharing the risk of an unpopular, chancy, or difficult decision. Many meetings should not occur at all. Among them are those a manager calls because he is unable or unwilling to make a decision. Another inappropriate reason is a compulsion toward over communication; these are meetings for sake of meetings. Mackenzee

Have you Encountered any of the following

(Please tick the SIX most common ones)
Purpose of the meeting not clearly defined :..... Members are not familiar with the subject due to lack of advance notice : Excessive discussions on unimportant details : No one in control of the meeting : Wandering from the point :.. Meeting drags on :.. Too tight control by the chairman :. Holding back by members lacking in confidence :... Meeting monopolized by one member :... Excessive elaboration by the conference chairman :..... Discussion continues on a point after it has been agreed :... No real conclusions are reached :... You thought your time was wasted :.. Delay in agreeing on the minutes when circulated :.. Decisions are reversed after the meeting :

ECONOMETER
A Danish firm invented an Econometer. Its purpose is to indicate the cost of a meeting in dollars. As the meeting drags on the meter runs up heavy bills as an electric meter or taxi meter will do. After the meeting is over, one could do a cost-benefit analysis.

Managing time in meetings

Hold your meetings only when you must Plan, plan, plan for the meeting Thoroughly identify objectives, know what the results are to be Set a specific time schedule for the meeting to follow Start and end the meeting on time Encourage participation in the meeting, but allot a specific limited amount of time for each person to comment Stay in control of the meeting you lead

Stick to the prepared agenda and objective of the meeting. When topics start to wander from the agenda pull the group back into the main stream Make sure you do come to the meeting well prepared. Use a check list to be sure that you have all the necessary materials, notes, supplies etc. Limit the number of people in the meeting. Invite only those who are really needed to attend the meeting. This helps every one to save time.

MEETINGS (TWO MAJOR CATEGORIES)

FILTER MEETINGS AMPLIFIER MEETINGS

IN AMPLIFIER MEETING PEOPLE BUILD ON THE IDEAS ALREADY AVAILABLE

Dos and donts for conference leaders

Make a good beginning Remember good discussion means participation Use good questions Good discussion should be progressive Maintain control over the conference Developing sportsmanship amongst participants Avoid experting of ideas and opinions Make a good ending

Failure rate of meetings

Indeed very high! The most important cause is the poor training/preparation of the chairman The members could also be equally guilty!

Thank you

TIME MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

QUESTIONAIRE ON TIME MANAGEMENT

1/1999

NAME OF THE ORGANISATION: ..... 1) On an average, how many hours of extra work (over and above the normal working hours) do you put in every week? _____________ 2) On an average how many days in week do you have to stay late in the office / factory? _____________ 3) On a typical working day, how does your time get distributed? Please indicate in percentages: % if time spent_ * Telephones _____________ * Meetings

* Reading books, journals etc. relevant to your profession ________________ * Handling correspondence ________________ * Crisis management / fire fighting ________________ * Others (specify) ________________ Total: ============== 4) What percentage of time now spent in meetings can be saved by better management of meetings including cutting down unproductive meetings _______________

100%

5) When you return home after the days

Very

6) Pick from the list given below 6 items which you consider to be the biggest time wasters in your organisation (Tick against the items): 1. Confused responsibility and authority ] 2. No objectives or priorities [ 3. Multiple bosses [ 4. Poor coordination [ 5. Understaffed [ 6. Overstaffed [ 7. Untrained Staff [ 8. Inadequate support from subordinate executives . ] 9. Poor teamwork [ 10. Poor delegation [ ] ] ] ] ] ] [ ] [

13. Visitors 14. Meetings 15. Fire fighting / crisis management ] 16. Under and unclear communication 17. Socializing ] 18. Snap decisions 19. Indecision / Procrastination 20. Decisions by Committees ] 21. Inflexible Rules / Procedure 22. Excessive paper work 23. Poor / Inadequate Office equipment 24. Poor layout of Office / Factory

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