Got Time To Read This?

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Time Management

Competency: self-development

Who benefits: individuals, coaches, organizational consultants

Consultant Usage: coaching, training, consulting for organizational effectiveness

What’s it about? I had the pleasure recently of coaching a young woman who has exceptional technical skills along with an extraordinary set of skills we attribute to high emotional intelligence.  Her bosses, direct reports and peers sing her praises.  So what is the issue here?  She struggles to find time to do everything on her plate. 

With a little probing I discovered she didn’t even know where the plate was.  She was receiving lots of professional development opportunities, but nowhere in the mix was the obvious: If you are going to give someone lots to do, give them some time management skills to be more effective doing their increased workload.

So today’s posting is dedicated to all of you out there who are feeling time challenged and want some insight.

Surprisingly, Harvard is the place to start.  With all the “high level stuff” coming out of Harvard Business School and its publishing arm, they produce some good rubber-meets-the-road publications for managing time.

Harvard Business Essentials: Time Management (2005) focuses on personal productivity such as goal setting, prioritizing, and delegating.

If you are a leader at any level and haven’t done so, you must read William Oncken’s HBR Classic, Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey.  I read this article early in my career and it is still one of the best articles I have ever read.  The newer reprints have additional information.

McGraw-Hill Publishing has a book and booklet worth a look.  The more comprehensive of the two and the one I prefer is Getting Organized at Work: 24 Lessons for Setting Goals, Establishing Priorities, and Managing Your Time (2008).   It covers all the basics in the way I would want them covered.  If you don’t have time for the book, there is a booklet Time Management 24 Techniques to Make Each Minute Count at Work (2007) that may be worthy of a look.

If you are more in the mood for a training class or two, a two-day introductory course is offered all the time and almost everywhere (which tells me a lot of people are looking for time management skills) by the American Management Association.  The course is simply titled Time Management and it is described as getting more of the right things done.

“Is your work managing you or are you managing your work?”  That is the introduction to a more sophisticated program that focuses a lot on how to get energized and focus your energy on what is really important.  Getting Things Done: A Path to Personal Productivity is developed from a book of the same name.  David Allen is the author and the instructor.

Finally, a course highly recommended to me by a trusted colleague: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, again a course developed from a book.  The author and presenter is Marshall Goldsmith.  His credentials are long and impressive.  His book is has been a best seller.  This course is designed for people who see themselves getting promoted.  The focus is on developing successful work habits.

So there are but a few of your many options.  Remember, “I don’t have enough time” is an excuse.  We all have the same amount time.  We each have all there is.  It is about how well we use it.  So what is the best use of your time right now?

(Note to my new friend: Stop reading this posting and get back to working on your “A’s”!  )

Catch you later.

 

[tags]managing time, managing energy, time management, monkey management, goal setting, prioritizing, delegating, delegation, bill bradley, william bradley,  bradley[/tags]

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.