Time Management Techniques At Workplace

Time management technique applied to any workplace can result in increased efficiency of an individual as well as an organization. Often a lot of time and energy is wasted at workplaces in unimportant or small tasks. Our efforts shall always be directed to get maximum output within the time span available to us. Trivial and unimportant issues consume most of our time and we end up with hardly any time to devote on really critical tasks.

If you find yourself and your organization in such a situation, it is a high time to correct the process by adapting time management techniques at workplace. Some of these time management techniques are well known but often neglected. In fact, these techniques are aimed at changing the basics of work culture. They are not external applications to be used as and when required.

Organize your workplace

Major part of our workplace is filled with many unwanted and non-required stuff that stays around without contributing to our efficiency. Have a look at your desk. Unnecessary printouts, papers, documents, notes, etc get scattered all across, creating an unmanageable place that takes more time to search for a required document.

Clear the clutter: Get rid of the things that are no way contributing towards the smooth functioning or helpful in simplifying your tasks. On a larger scale, our workplace is occupied by many things, devices and furniture that are there just for the sake of it. Visibly, it gives a cluttered view that affects by blocking our thought process and confusing our decision making. Sort them out and keep only those that directly support and are essential for the functioning or blend easily with the workplace.

Know your KRAs: This is an absolute must for those who value their time and efforts. Before starting any task or job, you must know your Key Result Areas. These are the areas you should be concentrating your efforts on. Any work that falls outside these parameters is a waste of your time and energy. KRAs are your guideposts. All other work is time snatcher that will eat into the chunk of your work schedule without resulting in increased efficiency. Knowing your KRAs clearly and following them shall make more time available to do your core jobs. KRAs will certainly be different for each person in the organization, depending upon his area of work and level in hierarchy.

Plan in advance: Once you know your KRAs, plan your work at least a day, if not more, in advance. Decide time schedule for every job of the day. While planning in advance, understand the requirements those jobs may demand. Make prior provisions to cater for those requirements. Do not get stuck at the last moment. Do your homework, get the details in advance. So that, when the job needs to be done, you can get head on into it till it is done. This shall avoid any time wastage. Be prepared to accommodate any last minute inclusions in to-do list and emergencies that crop out of nowhere. If they are not dealt in time, they can wash out all your time management techniques.

Set priorities for the day: While planning for each day in advance, set priorities that abide by the KRAs. These priorities shall take precedence over all other tasks throughout the day. Prioritization of tasks clearly indicates about how much time can be spent on each task at hand. Priorities shall be set for each individual as per her KRAs. Distribution of tasks also shall be very clear, so that no time is wasted everyday in deciding who is going to do what and when. The role each person is going to play in the team should be understood clearly by the every member of the team; so that job prioritization and automation is achieved swiftly.

Simplify by automation: This is the age of information technology. Thankfully, technology has come to help us in whatever we endeavor. At workplace, adapting to the latest technology can save us a lot of time by automating certain tasks and processes. Automation can take the burdens of data management, communication and organization off our shoulder. If you spend a lot of time in doing one particular task repeatedly, search for a technical solution. There are plenty of technological automation solutions available. Such automation will spare a lot of time that is often wasted in delegation and description.

Watch out for time-wasters: There are a plenty time wasters at our workplace. Surprisingly, most of these are ‘authorized’ time wasters like, frequent discussions, detailed instructions and unnecessary brainstorming sessions. Most of the times this happens if the members are not aware about the tasks they are supposed to do and if the instructions are not clear about what is to be done. Implementing the above mentioned steps shall eliminate these.

Other than these, our workplaces often have chatter boxes. Avoid them. Period. Other time wasters may look as negligible as going to water cooler more frequently, searching for the required documents too often because of bad documentation process, glancing through or interfering in others’ works out of curiosity, etc. but they consume considerable amount of time and create a lot of disturbance to on the job people.

Pondering over all these time management techniques at workplace and taking corrective measures will make plenty of time available to cater to the tasks that matters and are bound to increase overall efficiency of the workplace. Try them and you would see the real difference in your life.

Article by Sanjeev Raspaile

Photo Credit- Didier-Lg