time management tactics

Making Your Outbound Calls
By planning your outgoing calls carefully, you can make sure that you deal with all of the necessary issues as efficiently as possible. Managing your calls in this way helps you to look more professional as you can ensure that you have all the necessary information to hand. This can be one of the most effective time management tactics.

Set aside a specific time each day to make your calls,
Make a list of who you need to call,
Prioritize, that is call the most important first,
Draw up a brief agenda for each call by preparing your call log,
If a number is engaged move on to the next call,
Try to follow your agenda by referring to your call log, and
Make sure that you cover all points and make notes on your call log.

It is often better to arrange to call back rather than wait for the other person to call you when they return. This enables you to stay in control and to add the call to your next batch, rather than be interrupted. Avoid being left on hold. If your contact is on another call, arrange to call back when you are planning to make your next batch of calls. However, if your call is important and you are finding it difficult to contact the other person, then you should try to make an appointment to call back. This can be done by speaking to either their secretary, PA or to one of their colleagues. Ask them to put a note in the person’s diary. This will make them aware of the importance of your call and should encourage them to make time to deal with it.

Classify Inbound Paperwork
Many people feel overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork they receive; time management tactics can help again! If you don't have a system for coping with it, you run the risk of missing something important. When you pick up a piece of paperwork you should aim to classify and action it immediately. You will need to set up a system for this, which should involve categorizing the material and taking the appropriate action. For example: Mark those items that relate to your key goals and priorities, Schedule time for dealing with them and add them to your to do list. File items that need to be kept for reference. Skim these and add a "throw away" date on the front page before filing them. Forward items that require the attention of colleagues. Add any necessary annotation and pass these on immediately.

Throw away items that have no relevance to your goals
Avoid the temptation of keeping items that will only generate clutter and require more of your attention in the future. If you think that this approach sounds rather drastic, then you could try marking each item of paperwork with a small cross each time you handle it. You may be surprised at how many crosses accumulate before the item is eventually either: read properly, filed properly, passed on or thrown away.

Design Your Workspace for Efficiency
You should organize the objects in your workspace to suit your own way of working. Only file close at hand those items that you refer to regularly, and keep a separate filing cabinet for items that are referred to rarely. You should take the time to set up a well thought out filing system suitable for your own way of working. Once you have developed an efficient filing system it will save you time every single working day. How you classify the information that you need to file will depend on your job, but the important thing is that the information is categorized in an unambiguous way and that the files themselves are clearly labelled and organized in a logical way. Try to keep your desk as clear as possible. This is particularly important if you receive a lot of visitors who will form an impression of your efficiency, based to some extent, on your workspace. It will be very difficult to convince a well-organized outsider that your untidy workspace is the product of a well-organized mind. Organize your workspace to suit your own way of working. Files should be clearly labelled and organized in a logical way. A tidy workspace gives visitors a favourable impression.

Managing Electronic Documents
If you have access to a scanner, then scanning documents and filing them electronically can be a great time saver. Once you have scanned a document, check the electronic copy for quality and completeness and throw the original away. You should have a well-organized system of directories and folders on your PC for filing information. Use clear and unambiguous directory and file names. It can be useful to add your own information to each document you file, including information such as: who sent it to you, when you received it, which project or piece of work it concerns and a delete by date.

If, at a later date, you can’t remember the name of the document or where you filed it, you can use the Windows built in search functions and search for keywords like the sender and the project. If you have ever deleted a document that you later found you needed, you'll know that trying to recover the information can be a great time waster. The best solution is to set up a parallel directory structure on another disk drive. You can then periodically search for delete by dates and move these files into this "backup" directory. This will prevent your main directories from filling up with old files, but means that you can still recover them if needed. If you set up your document directory structure under a master directory, this makes backing up your files very simple, as you can copy the master directory onto a central server or a laptop with only one copy instruction.

TOP <PREVIOUS NEXT>