Time Management and Organizational Skills

Welcome!Facilitator: Tracy LaycockTrainer and instructional designer for BriljentFacilitating classroom training and webinars for 20 years.

Supplemental ResourcesCCLC Web siteLeadership Academy Courses in On Course

Working in Different Environments

Different Working EnvironmentsCentral OfficesMain or Satellite OfficesVirtual Offices

Working in Different EnvironmentsBenefits of EachCentral officesMain or satellite officesVirtual offices

Working in Different EnvironmentsChallenges of EachCentral officesMain or satellite officesVirtual offices

Increasing EfficiencyHow can you increase your efficiency each day?

Reducing Stress

Causes of StressWhat causes stress?Internal sourcesExternal sources

What is stressful for you?

Effects of Stress

Reducing StressReduce your stress through:Time ManagementOrganizationDelegation

Planning and Prioritization

Organize and PrioritizePrioritize your tasksWhere do the majority of your tasks fall on the chart?

Organize and PrioritizeQuadrant IImmediate Attention Required

Organize and PrioritizeQuadrant IIRequires attention, but not yet critical

Organize and PrioritizeQuadrant IIINice to do

Organize and PrioritizeQuadrant IVThese activities are time eaters

Increase EffectivenessAfter organizing and categorizing tasks, prioritize tasksDevelop new skillsTime SenseGoal SettingTime PlanningRecognize ProcrastinationCelebrate your accomplishments

Organize and PrioritizePlan your work, then work your planThe to-do listAssess your tasksPlan for the unplanned

Technology and ToolsMicrosoft Outlook Basics to Manage Your DaysE-mail managementCalendar managementTask management

Technology and ToolsE-mail ManagementCreating foldersSetting rules

Technology and ToolsCreating Folders

Technology and ToolsCreating Folders

Technology and ToolsCreating Folders

Technology and ToolsCreating Folders

Technology and ToolsSetting Rules

Technology and ToolsSetting Rules

Technology and ToolsCalendar ManagementSetting an appointmentUpdating and deleting an appointment

Technology and ToolsSetting an Appointment

Technology and ToolsSetting an Appointment

Technology and ToolsInviting Others to the AppointmentAdd comments or instructions here

Technology and ToolsUpdating and Deleting an Appointment

Technology and ToolsTask ManagementEnteringColor coding

Technology and ToolsEntering Tasks

Technology and ToolsEntering Tasks

Technology and ToolsEntering Tasks

Technology and ToolsEntering Tasks

Technology and ToolsFlagging E-mails

Thank you for your time.We look forward to your participation in future webinars. Remember to access the CCLC website or the Leadership Academy Course in On Course to find resources and a link to a survey about this session.

****Organizations provide a variety of work environments for their employees.

A central office is usually the corporate office of an organization. Leadership and administration are usually housed here. Staff commutes to and from work and each person has a specific work area. An example is the vocational rehabilitation (VR) central office in the State Office building, as well as many of the employment service providers corporate offices.

A satellite, or sometimes called main office, is an extension of the central office. The reason this office is sometimes referred to as a main office is because most staff members never visit the central office and, to them, this is their main office. It is not viewed as a satellite office. For others, however, it is seen as an extension of the central location and only visited on occasion.Regardless, this office is put in place so that staff members can be closer to customers/consumers. The best example of this type of office is the local VR field office. Another great example is an employment service provider office located in a county other than where the corporate office is located. The satellite office is able to provide services to consumers who live outside of the corporate office catchment area.

Virtual offices can be many things. Sometimes this office is in a workers home in a separate room, or maybe on the kitchen table. Some virtual offices may even be at a nearby coffee house, or at a desk in a local WorkOne. Working virtually entails any arrangement that separates an employee from his or her manager and coworkers.

There are many statistics available about the number of individuals who work remotely. Imagine the difficulty in gathering this data. One sources research cites that up to 40% of the working population works from home at least part of the time with 102,000 of those workers being federal employees.

Regardless of the work environment, there are benefits and challenges to each environment. Lets start by looking at the benefits of each type.*Corporate offices:May become aware of information more quicklyAssigned to a specific work areaSatellite offices:More opportunity for direct communication from leadership or managerMore opportunity to connect to coworkers.Virtual offices:Consumers cannot just drop in the officeCreate your own schedule do what you want to do when you want to

*What are some challenges to working in each working environment?Central offices:Being too close to the office politicsBeing at the center of it all and getting caught up in issuesSatellite offices:Consumers can drop by unexpectedlyEasy to become distracted when everyone is in the officeVirtual offices:Miss out on impromptu discussions about projects/cases with other team membersLack of socialization with coworkersPotential for technical issues

This webinar is designed for you, the virtual worker. We will cover various timemanagement and organizational skills to help you be as effective as possible in yourvirtual worlds.

*We all know there is a set amount of hours in each day to get our work done. We all also know that there are certain people or things that can steal minutes and even hours from your day that take you away from your work. These time stealers can take many forms like too many meetings, no opportunities for delegation, telephone interruptions, demands from others, procrastination, or poor follow-up. You can control some time eaters, and cannot control others. Examine your day and identify the time eaters that you can control. Work to eliminate them to make each minute count.

Ask yourself: Can I control this time eater? If I can control it, what will I gain if I eliminate or reduce it? What steps will I need to take to eliminate this time eater? How will I know when I am starting to see results?

Another way to use your time more effectively is to accept the events in your life that you cannot control. Focus your energies on the events at work that you can control.

We may become stressed if we cannot complete all of our work each day. Lets look at some ways to reduce stress in your life. **Often stress comes from outside sources: Major life changes good and bad Work Relationship difficulties Financial problems Being too busy Children and family

Not all stress is caused by external factors. Stress can also be self-generated. Common internal causes of stress include the following: Inability to accept uncertainty Pessimism Negative self-talk Unrealistic expectations Perfectionism Lack of assertiveness

What's Stressful For You?What's stressful for you may be quite different from what's stressful to your best friend, your spouse, or the person next door. For example:Some people enjoy speaking in public; others are terrified.Some people are more productive under deadline pressure; others are miserably tense.Some people are eager to help family and friends through difficult times; others find it very stressful.Some people feel comfortable complaining about bad service in a restaurant; others find it so difficult to complain so that they prefer to suffer in silence.Some people may feel that changes at work represent a welcome opportunity; others worry about whether they'll be able to cope.

http://helpguide.org/mental/stress_signs.htm*Too much prolonged stress can be harmful to us. Lets look at some effects of stress. *Time Management Schedule (but dont over-schedule), list, and prioritize tasks.

Plan each day. Planning your day can help you accomplish more and feel more in control of your life. Write a to-do list, putting the most important tasks at the top. Keep a schedule of your daily activities to minimize conflicts and last-minute rushes.Prioritize your tasks. Time-consuming, but relatively unimportant tasks can consume a lot of your day. Prioritizing tasks will ensure that you spend your time and energy on those that are truly important to you.Say no to nonessential tasks. Consider your goals and schedule before agreeing to take on additional work. Take the time you need to do a quality job. Doing work right the first time may take more time up front, but errors usually result in time spent making corrections, which takes more time overall.Practice the 10-minute rule. Work on a dreaded task for 10 minutes each day. Once you get started, you may find you can finish it.Evaluate how you're spending your time. Keep a diary of everything you do for three days to determine how you're spending your time. Look for time that can be used more wisely. For example, could you take a bus or train to work and use the commute to catch up on reading? If so, you could free up some time to exercise or spend with family or friends.Take a break when needed. Too much stress can derail your attempts at getting organized. When you need a break, take one. Take a walk. Do some quick stretches at your workstation. Take a day of vacation to rest and re-energize.

Organization Make a place for work and personal tasks in your schedule. Plan daily for short-term goals and plan weekly or longer for larger goals. Organize your physical space. There's a direct relationship between clutter and stress; more of one causes more of the other. When you are surrounded by piles, it's hard to relax, to feel at peace, to be contented with your living or working environment.

Delegate Are there some things you can delegate to consumers?**Stephen Covey describes a high-level prioritization scheme in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In this scheme, tasks are categorized by four quadrants:

QI Important and Urgent

QII Important, but Not Urgent

QIII Not Important, but Urgent QIV Not Important and Not Urgent

Think of a party that you have planned. There are numerous tasks you must complete for the party to be a success. As we discuss each quadrant, think about where these tasks may fall.*Quadrant I Important and Urgent. This quadrant include a crisis, pressing problems, deadline-driven projects, and meeting preparations. These should be completed today. If these are not done today, there will be serious repercussions.

Important and Urgent Party Task:

You are having a very large party at a local venue. The day before your party, the building catches fire and burns down. You now need to immediately locate a new venue for your event. This task is important because you need a place to have the party, as well as urgent, due to the party occurring the next day. This requires your immediate attention, or the party will not be a success.

*Quadrant II Important, but Not Urgent. (Preparations, Presentations, Planning, Relationship Building, True Recreation, Empowerment) These should be done soon. It would be nice to do these today; but, they can be put off for a later time. If these are not completed, nothing significant will happen.

Dr. Covey notes that highly effective people make time for the QII activities, and that doing so can reduce the time spent in other quadrants.

Important, but Not Urgent Party Scenario:

It is two months before your big party. You need to order invitations, and have made an appointment with the local stationary store. This is an important task, but at this time, it is not urgent.

*Quadrant III Urgent, but Not Important. (Interruptions, some phone calls, some mail, some reports, some meetings, many proximate pressing matters, many popular activities) There is not a set time frame. These are nice to do items. If these items are not done, nothing significant will happen.

Urgent, but Not Important Party Scenario:

Three days before your party, you decide that it would be really nice to have 300 handmade party favors ready for your guests. Because it is so close to your party date, this is an urgent task. However, if you do not complete this task, nothing significant will happen. You will still have a nice party, and your guests will not know the difference. *Quadrant IV Not Urgent and Not Important. (Trivia, busywork, junk mail, some phone calls, time thieves, escape activities) These items are your time eaters.

Effective people stay out of Quadrants III and IV because, urgent or not, they are not important. They also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II, which is the heart of effective personal management. Our effectiveness takes a quantum leap when we start doing the things in Quadrant II on a regular basis.

Not Urgent and Not Important Party Scenario:

You have two weeks until your party, and decide that you would like to add another food item to your menu. You already have enough food ordered, and this item is not needed. Since you have plenty of time, this is not an urgent matter. Also, if you do not add this item to your menu, there are no significant consequences, making the task not important.

*Everything in your life cannot be a priority.Prioritize your tasks. Within the categories, rate the tasks by what must be done first, second, etc.

Time Sense This is a skill of estimating how long each task will take.Goal Setting Where do you want to be at the end of a set time period?Time Planning Outline ahead of time the work you need to do in a specific time frame.Recognizing Procrastination This comes frequently disguised as an excuse (need a bigger block of time, more information required, need inspiration, etc.).

What did you get done? Dont focus on what you DIDNT do; focus on what you DID do.

http://extension.missouri.edu/explorepdf/hesguide/humanrel/gh6653.pdf*Time management statistics show that 15 minutes of planning saves an hour in execution and improves the quality of your work. Many people say that a plan is no use, as their work day is too fluid for planning. A plan gives you direction, a backbone of what you want to complete, and having a plan does not mean you cant change it.

http://www.effective-time-management-strategies.com/time-management-statistics.html

The to-do list has stood the test of time.

Assess your tasks by priority (more in a few slides).

Planning for the unplanned leave room in the schedule for traffic, a difficult client, or an unexpected deadline or issue.*Technology allows the virtual work environment to exist. Lets take a look at Microsoft Outlook, an application that is available to you. It can help you to work more efficiently by helping you manage your time and stay organized.

Microsoft Outlook is not just a vehicle for e-mail. This application contains many features to help organize and prioritize your e-mail, calendar appointments, and tasks. *Lets talk about two tools that can help you organize and prioritize your e-mails. They are creating folders and setting rules. *Creating folders can help you organize your e-mails. You can create folders for specific individuals and move e-mails from these individuals to these folders. You can also create folders by category, topic, or events, and move e-mails for quick retrieval . Some examples of folders by category may be policy, meeting minutes, vehicle modification, billing, referral process, plan development, and administrative information.

If personal folders are permitted on your system, you can also create these to store e-mails you would like to keep. If you need assistance setting up personal folders, ask a coworker or your supervisor; or, you can also contact your IT Support Contact at the Indiana Office of Technology (IOT) if you experience a technical issue.

To create a new folder, click the New drop-down menu.

*From the New drop-down menu, click the Folder option.

*A Create New Folder dialog box appears. Type a name for the folder and select the folder in which the new folder should be stored. Click the OK button.

*Once folders are created, they appear under the folder they were created in on the All Mail Items list on the left side of the Mail screen. You can move e-mails to the folders manually, or set a rule for e-mails to be placed in the folder automatically.

For step-by-step instructions to create folders , refer to the IIDC Outlook Basics PowerPoint or the Outlook Options Quick Reference Guide located on OnCourse.

*You can set rules to recognize incoming e-mails and place them in folders automatically.

To start, click the Tools drop-down menu from the Mail screen.

*Select the Rules and Alerts option and follow the steps in the dialog boxes.

For step-by-step instruction for setting rules, refer to the IIDC Outlook Basics PowerPoint or the Outlook Options Quick Reference Guide located on OnCourse.

*Next, we will cover some basic calendar features to help you stay organized. Well quickly cover how to set an appointment and how to update and/or delete an appointment. *From the calendar view in Outlook, click the New drop-down menu. *Select Appointment from the list. *The appointment screen appears. Type in the appointment topic, location, date, and time. You can also add comments or instructions in the white panel of the screen. If you want to invite others to the meeting, click the Invite Attendees button and enter the e-mail addresses of the invitees. Click the Save & Close button. The appointment appears on your Outlook calendar.

If you invited attendees, they will receive an e-mail with the appointment request. They can accept or decline the appointment and you will receive notification of their attendance status.

*To update a meeting, double-click on the appointment marker on your Microsoft Outlook calendar. The appointment screen will open. Make the necessary changes to the appointment and click the Save & Close button. If you want to remove the appointment, click the Delete button.

If you invited others to the appointment and make changes to the appointment, follow the same steps we just discussed and click the Send Update button that replaces the Save & Close button. The appointment attendees will receive notice of the update. To cancel the appointment, click the Cancel Meeting button. Then, click the Send Cancellation button that replaces the Send Update button.

For step-by-step instructions to create appointments, refer to the IIDC Outlook Basics PowerPoint or the Outlook Options Quick Reference Guide located on OnCourse.

*Entering tasks in Outlook can create an electronic to do list. Tasks can also be color coded to help prioritize or categorize them.

You can also flag e-mails and move them to your task list to help you remember to respond to them.*To add a new task to your to-do list, open the New drop-down menu on the Tasks view. *Select Task from the list. *Type the information on the Task screen. To color code the task, click the Categorize button, choose a color, and click the Save & Close button.

*The new task appears on the To-Do Bar on the right side of the To-Do List view. Notice the color categorization next to the name of the task.

Heres a helpful tip: you can color code e-mail and calendar items too. Highlight the e-mail or calendar item and click the Categorize symbol in the Outlook tool bar.

You can also use your task list to help you keep track of e-mails that require responses or actions. Lets see how. *Simply highlight the e-mail that you want to flag. Click the Flag icon on the Outlook tool bar, and select when you want to follow up on the e-mail. The e-mail will appear on your task list with the day you selected to complete the follow-up.

For step-by-step instructions to create tasks and flag e-mails, refer to the IIDC Outlook Basics PowerPoint or the Outlook Options Quick Reference Guide located on OnCourse.

*That concludes our webinar today.

Thank you for you time and we hop you will join us on future webinars.

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