What is time management?

Headcount Time management is the process of organising and planning how to divide your time in order to achieve specific agreed deadlines within the allotted timeframe. The idea behind time management is to work smarter, not harder so you can get more done in less time. Failing to manage your time efficiently leads to high levels of stress and in many cases, a failing of your requirements.

 

As seen in many workplaces including our own, people can often be busy, but not effective. Sadly, poor time management results in employees working in a complete frenzy of pushing from one task to the next leaving their attention divided between so many different tasks, that they become ineffective at what they are so desperately trying to achieve.

 

This doesn’t of course mean that everyone who is working long hours is necessarily poor at time management, there are instances where you could be the best planner in the world, however if the workload is more than a person can handle, it doesn’t matter how well you plan, you will always end up behind.

Is it a skill or a talent?

Firstly it’s important to understand that a talent is something you are born with, while a skill is something you learn and practice. In the world of time management, it is both a skill and a talent.

There are those who are born with the natural talent of being able to manage their time as well as others without having to even think about it. They see the bumps down the road and where the conflicts will appear by just taking a small look at the problem. They are also able to see the clear path on how to resolve it. These are the lucky ones who often end up in these types of career paths

because it comes naturally.

 

That said however, it is also very much a skill that can be learnt, but it requires a lot of practice and self-control.

So how do I know if I have this as a natural talent?

Let’s start this off by having a look at how you view you own time management skills. There is a quick quiz saved in the below location for you.

 

I would like you to complete the quiz twice. The first time you complete it, please answer the questions with what you believe the right answer would be in a perfect world. Please save this as – NameSurnamePerfectWorld.

 

I would then like you to complete the quiz again, but this time I want you to complete it with how you operate – so not the ideal solution, but rather how you work as an individual. Please save this as NameSurname

 

LINK

 

The password to open the quiz is F@nt@123.

 

Once completed, we can have quick chat around your own time management.

Tools required for time management.

So now that you have some ideas around how you manage your time, let’s have a look at some of the most effective tools we have in order to manage it better.

 

Goal Setting (Q 6, 10)

1. While it may sound like a silly thing to do, it’s actually one of the most important items you need to start with. You need to know what your end goal is, so you know how to then map the best path to get there. In our working environment we do have the day-to-day tasks which take up most of our time, however, as a future leader you will be expected to run additional projects as well as complete your job. In order to be able to manage these projects, you need to be able to set the goal of what needs to be achieved and then map out the most efficient way to get there.

 

Prioritization (Q1, 4, 8, 13, 14, 15)

1. This is one of the skills you are going to have to work at until it becomes second nature. Being able to prioritise work is vital for time management. Priority is in essence deciding which task is the most important one to get through and then weighing up the other factors before you proceed.

 

1. Keep in mind that to be able to prioritize a task, you must understand it. For example, if I were to ask you to please prioritize which is more important – taking the juice out the fridge, or placing the pie on the table? How could you possibly answer this without the context of understanding the tasks. It is therefore of the utmost importance that when you look at allocating the priority of not only your work, but the work of those around you, that you either understand it, or you ask enough questions until you do.

 

Managing Interruptions

1. A study was done that recorded that it takes on average 23 minutes to refocus on a task after an interruption. What’s more, if the interruption moves your focus to a new item, it can in effect drive a multitasking factor which can sap you brainpower and actually drop your IQ by 10 points.

 

1. It’s also very important to understand what we mean when we talk about interruptions. When we lose sight of the task at hand, this is often a distraction, but when we are pulled from the current task to deliberately draw our attention to another task – this is an interruption.
   1. It’s also important to note that depending on your job, some interruptions are part of our jobs. Taking into consideration the job at hand – Payroll Manager – this is to a large extent a support role to your staff, meaning part of your role is being accessible to your staff to provide guidance and direction on their required roles. When they require support it is therefore important to be able to stop your task so assist with theirs. This can however be overwhelming at times as there is so much to get done.
   2. The key to managing interruptions is to understand them and to try to plan for them. So let’s review some tips on how to do so.

 

• Keep and Interruptions Log
  1. This may sound like a tedious task, however it’s not one to be performed each day. The idea is to keep a log for a week or two and track down who, when, why and validity of the interruption. This will give you a better view of who needs what and when, so you can try and plan in the future for such items.

 

1. Hold Routine Meetings
   1. This is where the morning workflows come into play – this is a great forum to try find out who needs your help today so you can block out the time to assist. Even better is to see who might need your help tomorrow or the next day. The more you plan, the easier it becomes.

 

1. Set available and unavailable times
   1. This may sound impossible, but it’s actually achievable if you communicate effectively. Letting the team know you are allocating time from 10:00 – 11:00 and 14:00 – 15:00 to help with queries means unless there is an urgent problem, they will keep all questions to a specific time which then gives you time to get through your work.

 

1. Learn to say no
   1. I think most of Axiomatic tends to follow the same trend of just saying yes to every request, every meeting, every query, ever chat. The problem is that when you say yes to everyone, you end up producing work that’s not acceptable to anyone. Saying no doesn’t mean you are unwilling to assist; it does however mean you are managing your workload effectively and you know the limits. There is also nothing wrong with letting a client or colleague know that while you are unable to assist right now, you will confirm by COB today on when the required task can be closed out. People are just people, if you manage their expectations well, they will be happy. The important aspect to remember here is that when you set a deadline, you stick to it. This builds confidence in you and will allow you the option in future of setting a future deadline that others will buy into as they know your word is good.

 

• Set boundaries.
  1. In today’s world it’s impossible to plan for or avoid all interruptions. There is always a quick call, quick chat, quick whatever that people will ask from you. You can be in the middle of a hectic work moment, and your boss or client can call asking for 2 minutes of your time. In our environment, we tend to always say yes, even when we don’t have 2 minutes to spare. One way of trying to mitigate this one, is to set the boundary upfront that states – yes sure we can chat however I only have 5 minutes to spare, after which I need to close the call and finish up what I am working on. You then also need to enforce this. If the conversation spans for longer than the agreed timeframe, you need to politely highlight this and then suggest a time to reconvene and close out.

 

Scheduling

1. As I am sure you are starting to see with the trend of time management, the more you can plan for your day, the more effectively you can manage your time. Having a breakdown of exactly what is going to happen in your day would mean you could plan it down to the last second – sadly the interruptions and adhock tasks being added is actually where the stress and drama comes from. The above points talked to how to manage your time with items you were not aware coming, so let’s spend some time on managing the tasks you do know are coming.

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

We talk a lot in the above about how to plan for the future and how to deal with the interruptions that come into play, what we don’t talk much about is how to adapt when an entire project takes a nosedive.

 

What do we mean by a nosedive – below are be a few different scenarios:

1. We have planned out our month, and either one of multiple clients issue their input late.
2. One of the steps in the process gets delayed by an internal issue, perhaps compliance has identified an issue which needs more time to resolve.
3. Banking should have been done by a certain time, but the banking system is bombing the file which is not allowing us to close the task out
4. Your administrator is off sick on a critical day of processing.

 

The above are just some examples of what could go wrong, but in the real world, the list is so much longer – which means we need to be prepared for everything.

 

Sounds a bit impossible doesn’t it – how can you prepared for every possible outcome when you don’t have any idea on what is coming and when. If you were to structure out a plan A – Z, firstly you would spend all your time planning and none of the time doing, and secondly, you would have so many plans, you would lose track of what is going on in the present.

 

One of the big factors that then comes into play is experience. Do you recall your first day on the job at Axiomatic? Remember how everything was new and everything took so long to complete as it was all being absorbed by your brain. Remember how many mistakes you made before you started getting

more right than wrong? Remember how many times you had to ask for help to make sure you were understanding what you needed to do?

 

Taking on a leadership role is much the same – you can learn and prepare for a good percentage of the job, but there are just some areas where only in that moment of chaos, will you see how you cope.

 

I am sure by now you are starting to get that bit of a prickly feeling down you neck that realises, oh dear – when the drama hits and there is no room for error – I am on my own……right?

 

Wrong, while there is a lot you will work out on your own along the way, the main factor to remember in these moments of crisis is that asking for help is not a failing. It is in fact an opportunity to watch and learn how to handle the situation.

Asking for help

Think back to watching any movie or series set in the medical industry. First your newbies learn in theory about the body and how it operates. Then they move to the hospital where they observe and learn from those who have done it before, and then slowly but surely they start to take sections of the work to do it themselves. Overtime their confidence grows and they start to make their own decisions about what needs to happen. It doesn’t mean they always get it right….but every error they make, they also make sure to learn from.

 

This is how you need to view the leadership program – its preparing you for the theory of the work, the practical is where you need to watch and learn.

 

While most people are aware they can ask for help there does seem to be a block that gets dragged in the way by some of our Axiomatic culture. The culture that states that everyone is working flat out all the time and therefore has no time to help – the culture that says we are the best by miles tends to leave you feeling a bit nervous about asking for help as surely being the manager means I should already have the answer…..

 

The fact is that being the person who keeps asking all the questions might make you feel like you are behind the others, but in fact what it means is you are the one willing to go the extra mile to make sure you understand all aspects of your job so you can do it to the best of your ability.

 

There is a clear line in the hierarchy which we do try and stick to:

Payroll Administrator – Payroll Manager – Operations Manager – BOD

 

Looks great on paper right – so easy to follow, but the problem happens when the query is urgent, and the next person in the chain is not available. Those are the times when you need to step up your game and realize that it is the responsibility of every single person working in Axiomatic to be a support structure for you.

 

Let’s talk through a few scenarios and see how you would deal with the

following items:

1. Your client has missed their deadlines for submission of their initial input. What do you do?
2. Your client sends their input in to you 4 days late but has insisted you still hit pay day for the month. What do you do?
3. Its 15:30 and you have just started checking a clients payroll which is due out at 17:00 today (COB) you are seeing what looks like multiple errors on the payroll – what do you do?
4. Mrs Y is a new employee at Axiomatic who has started on your team – What do you do with her on the 1st day she is at Axio – how would you run this first day with her?
5. Rosalind from Takealot just called – none of her employees that were supposed to be paid today were paid – what do you do?
6. You are in the middle of signing off one of your payrolls for today – one of the other members of this leadership program calls you to say she is completely swamped and needs your help to get her 5 payrolls out tonight. You have 3 left to close out yourself – what do you do?