Time Management Course

Course Content

We tailor all our courses to reflect the needs of the delegates.

We will include many of the exercises listed below and any additional material that the trainers feel is relevant.

Introduction

We'll start the day with a light-hearted and energising warm-up exercise designed to highlight commonalities among delegates.

Delegate input

We'll begin with discussion about the time management issues delegates face.

Delegates will be asked to identify the key challenges they face and the things they find difficult so that the day can be shaped to their needs.

A Day in the Life

In pairs, and with reference to your time log, we'll ask you to outline your typical day.

This is an awareness building exercise to help delegates to gain a sense of what they do in a day and the pressure additional requests may place on their time management.

Seeing Time Differently

Einstein's theory of relativity or... it's all in the way you see it

Why do you think it has to be that way?

In this light-hearted exercise, we'll look at the worst case scenario by creating a time management catastrophe.

What would happen if you...?

Reality Check

In this section, we'll give you the chance to consider just how real your beliefs about your time management dilemmas are.

Change

Delegates will identify the three things they'd like to change about their time management.

Priorities

How do you juggle priorities in a way that gets everything done?

Having time to stop and think is often the biggest problem!

In this part of the course, we'll offer our filling the vase and the end of the line strategies.

These are two quick and easy techniques you can use to prioritise tasks. They take just a few minutes to do but can give you a handle on which job should be done first.

The "V" of Well-being

So now we know what our priorities are, all we have to do is stick to them, right?

Sometimes that's the hardest part of all.

Here, we look at what goes on for you both emotionally and physically when you're overloaded and the consequences for your professional and personal life.

Then we'll offer a simple and practical time management tool to help you stay at your most effective.

Procrastination

Here's where we take a look at the cousin of getting overloaded at work - procrastination.

Sometimes we immerse ourselves in the little jobs because they're easier, while letting the bigger, more important tasks, get the better of us.

You will develop an awareness of your diversionary tactics and personal motivators and learn how to use the latter to tackle tasks head-on.

It's a useful skill to develop and can mean the difference between getting things done and eternal time wasting!

Planning

What's the plan for making sure things happen?

We'll look at a number of tools and techniques for planning tasks and scheduling events so that the relationships between different tasks are recognised.

You'll gain an understanding of how a delay in one area affects other areas (known as the critical path).

We'll also explore the merits of planning both forwards and backwards.

Eating Elephants

Even with the best will in the world, and the best plan, sometimes things just seem too big and overwhelming to get started.

Using the 'chunking down' time management technique, delegates may eat that elephant after all.

Time Bandits

How often do we get to the end of a day and find that our time has been whittled away by little things?

This is where we out the time bandits and look at how to manage them more effectively.

Working in pairs, you'll spend time looking at your time bandits and hooks.

Saying No

How do you handle that tricky art of saying no?

We'll explore some of the techniques that will help you say no, often without ever using the word.

We'll use situations identified by delegates when they said yes instead of no to establish what could be done differently in future.

We'll also look at which techniques fit different people's management styles.

Delegating

One frustration is delegating something that then doesn't get done.

What do you do?

Here we look at a variety of ways to delegate to others in a way that is empowering and empathic to the delegate.

Action

We assume that having delegated something to someone, we will be clearly understood, and can turn our attention to our next task.

In reality, what we say and what we mean are often different from what someone hears and what they do!

Delegates will have a go at creating their view of the ideal delegation cycle.

The Next Step

You'll identify what you'll do differently next time.

You'll make a seven-day commitment based on the three important changes you identified at the beginning of the day.

You will identify what will stop you putting this into practice and what support you need going forward.

We will give out Impact Factory documents to support the course.

You'll get copies relevant handouts to remind you of the coursework.

Ongoing Support

Two weeks after the course one of your trainers will call to see how you are getting on.

You will have email and telephone access to both of your trainers.

You'll also have access to a course web page containing

• Handouts used during the course
• New supportive material
• Impact Factory PDF documents
• Recommended reading
• Links to our favourite videos

Time Management Course