Managing Time and Workload
A “Time Flies-on-the Wall” Documentary
Adapted with acknowledgement from: Peterson LC (1997).
Time Management for Library Professionals. Katharine Sharp
Review, No. 5, Winter. http://mirrored.ukoln.ac.uk/lisjournals/review/review/5/peterson.html (Accessed: 19/06/2009)
Overheard in the Office…
David: “Coming for a coffee,
Gareth?”
Gareth: ‘Love to, David but I
just can’t spare the
time…much too busy’
David: “Too busy? Aren’t we
both working on the same
projects? Sounds like you
need me to share some
pearls of wisdom from my
latest course….on Time
Management!”
Come into my office….and we’ll have a
“chat” [BTW: you’ll do the listening!]
“All managerial and
supervisory jobs face
time management
challenges. Working
here in a library is
even more
challenging – as a
service we are prone
to “drop-ins” which
make for interruptions
and disruptions”.
The Importance of Time
Management
• “Time challenges increase frustr-a-tion and
decrease job satis-fac-tion (Sounds like a rap
doesn’t it? Make you want to dance..?)
• Anyway…choosing appropriate time
management strategies can enhance your life increase work productivity, bolster self esteem,
and create more time for personal pursuits
• Different strategies suit different people – what
works for you may not work for all (or indeed
any) of the staff you supervise.”
“ To “time manage” effectively
consider the two “Es”
• Efficiency - means finding the best way to do a
particular job, whatever the job might be.
• Effectiveness - means examining a range of
tasks, selecting the most important to be
completed, and then completing them.
– Efficiency means doing the job right, while
effectiveness means doing the right job.
(Berner, 1987, p. 272)
• Whatever time management strategies you use,
you must prioritise the most important tasks,
and complete them in a timely manner”.
‘But, David, there are only 24 hours
in a day!’
• But Gareth – it is not about working
harder, it is about working smarter individuals and organisations could
accomplish more in the same amount of
time by eliminating time wasters and
increasing productivity.
• The average American worker wastes 45
percent of the day (Gothberg & Riggs,
1988, p. 131).
Identifying Time Wasters
• “The first thing that you
need to do is identify
wasters”
• ‘That’s easy…there’s Tim
and Dawn for starters’
• “No Gareth, I mean time
wasters – look at this
table and see what I
mean…it presents the
Top Five Time Wasters
for Academic and Special
Libraries (Gothberg,1988,
1991)”
Top Time Wasters
Academic Special
Meetings
Attempting too much at once and
estimating time unrealistically
Telephone interruptions
Drop in visitors
Inability to say no
Lack of self discipline
Inadequate, inaccurate or delayed information
Crises (personal and/or staff)
Lack of, or unclear communication
or instructions
Cluttered desk and personal disorganization
3
1
1
5
4
5
2
3
4
-
2
-
<Enter Narrator’s Voice>
• Point for Reflection: Dear MOVES Participant
we would like you to:
• Look at the full list on the previous slide and
identify your own personal Top Five Time
Wasters [You might wish to consider whether
new candidate “wasters” connected either with
Email or the Internet would now appear on an
updated version of this list]
– Meanwhile our Tock-umentary continues…..
‘Thanks for our useful chat
yesterday, David’
• “No sweat, Gareth. I
thought I would follow
it up today with a brief
discussion on time
management
strategies…..
• ….Have you got five
minutes to spare?”
‘Yes, I suppose I should have…..but only if I can
learn to say “No” to drop in visitors!!’
Time Management Strategies
1. Be proactive and concentrate on important
activities you can influence or change
(Covey, 1989)
First, create a personal mission statement – (though
this might seem a little “naff”† it gives you a
broad perspective of your priorities). What are
your “must dos”? Having a clear idea of what is
important helps you choose what to do and
gives you a sense of achievement when you
complete it.
† “naff” is an English word for something viewed as useless/ridiculous.
According to our Anglo-Australian Dictionary the nearest Australian equivalent is
…..naff!
2. Create a matrix with 4 quadrants
Quadrant One:
Important and Urgent
Quadrant Two:
Important but Not Urgent
Quadrant 3: Not
Important and Urgent
Quadrant 4: Not
Important and Not
Urgent
<Enter Narrator’s Voice>
• Point for Reflection: Dear MOVES
Participant we would like you to consider
the following question:
• In which of the four quadrants in the
previous slide should you be spending the
MAJORITY of your time?
Answer: Quadrant Two!!!
• Did you answer Quadrant One? - Many people
spend too much time in Quadrant One which
reinforces a crisis mentality.
• Other people spend too much time in Quadrant
Three because they incorrectly think these
urgent issues are also important.
• Many people use Quadrant Four for “escape”
because even though these activities are neither
urgent nor important, they tend to be easy.
• The best place to spend the majority of your time
is Quadrant Two because these are effective,
important activities that reflect your priorities.
To recap:
• “Focusing on Quadrant Two empowers
people to spend time on important and
effective activities. It also enables people
to balance their lives around activities that
are meaningful and rewarding for them.
When people make a conscious effort to
include these important goals in their
schedules, they are using their time well”.
3. Identify specific strategies to
alleviate specific time wasting problems
e.g. Meetings - Run meeting effectively: distribute agenda
ahead of time; let members know in advance what input
they need to provide at meeting; start and end on time;
focus on agenda items; stay on target; set time and
purpose for next meeting, and write minutes immediately
e.g. Delegation - assign other tasks to appropriate staff
members to decrease number of tasks manager
attempts individually. Focus on high priorities and
provide subordinates with opportunity for growth and
learning from their increased responsibility. Delegation
can be used to manage interruptions - telephone calls
and drop-in visitors.
Other time management strategies
• Address issues such as handling paper,
managing crises, and organising the physical
environment.
• E.g. Physical environment – an administrator
noticed that his boss was making frequent trips
to his office each day to consult certain files. He
suggested that the relevant files be transferred
to his boss’ office. She was able to consult the
files when required and he could also access the
same files on an irregular basis when required.
In Summary
• Specific strategies should reflect individual's
mission statement, priorities, goals, and unique
time challenges.
• Time management is an individual choice of
applicable strategies: "to be effective, time
management must be personal…librarians must
adopt and adapt the suggested techniques to fit
their own situations. No particular methodology
or technique works universally" (Cochran, 1992,
p. 11).
“Now how about that coffee?”
‘Uh – I suppose so – as
long as it is instant!.......’
‘…….And I don’t suppose I
could rearrange my
physical environment to
save me walking down
the corridor all the way to
the kitchen?”
References and Further Reading - 1
• Berner, A. (1987). The importance of time
management in the small library. Special
Libraries, 78(4), 271-276.
• Cochran, J. W. (1991). Time management
handbook for librarians. New York: Greenwood
Press.
• Covey, S. R. (1989). The seven habits of highly
effective people: Restoring the character ethic.
New York: Simon & Schuster.
References and Further Reading - 2
• Gothberg, H. M. (1991). Time management in special libraries.
Special Libraries, 82(2), 119-130.
• Gothberg, H. M., & Riggs, D. E. (1988). Time management in
academic libraries. College & Research Libraries, 49(2), 131-140.
• Peterson LC (1997). Time Management for Library Professionals.
Katharine Sharp Review ISSN 1083-5261, No. 5, Winter.
http://mirrored.ukoln.ac.uk/lis-journals/review/review/5/peterson.html
(Accessed: 19/06/2009)
• Raney, C. (1988). Time management in the elementary school
media center. North Carolina Libraries, 46(1), 18-21.
• Whittaker S, Bellotti V, and Gwizdka J. Email in Personal Information
Management. Communications of the ACM. January 2006 49 (1)
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~jacekg/publications/fulltext/Email_and_
PIM_WhittakerBellotti_Gwizdka_CACM_49_1_2006.pdf (Accessed:
19/06/2009)
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