Time Is An Essential But Scarce Resource

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Time is an essential but scarce resource. Time is irrecoverable because every minute spent is gone forever, it is limited because we have only 24 hours in a day and it is dynamic because it is never static. Time Management is not about getting more things done in a day, it is about getting the right things in an effective way. When you know how to manage your time, you automatically gain control over your time. Through the concept of time management you can decide what is important in life, both at work and at home. (Ojo and Olaniyam, 2008)

Today, when we speak about time management, it has been broken down into a number of categories. The main idea of time management is that if you can spend more time doing things that are important, it is very likely that you are going to be successful at whatever you are trying to achieve.

Nevertheless, there are always going to be some distractions and time wasters that tempt us away from being most productive. We need to find our biggest time wasters and find the best ways how to eliminate them.

This research will help you evaluate your current time management practices. You will explore how and why you want to manage your time more effectively and discover what your time management priorities are. To become successful in managing your time, there are some skills you need to develop, these are: prioritizing, avoiding procrastination, setting goals and delegating. (mindtools.com, 2013)

CHAPTER 2: Trucking Time

Tracking time indeed has become possible because new technologies help us transmission the increasing amounts of complex data that we need to get the work done, to communicate with friends and to organize the increasing volume of information that we constantly receive. Thus, we can be far more productive than maybe any other generation before us. Since we have so many tools that help us in our aim to manage our time, enhance efficiency, and better organize our lives all it takes is to be open to changes and challenges.

We can take an example of secretaries, whose job is to handle correspondence, answer phones, screening calls, providing remainders of deadlines and appointments. However, today with help of technological tools, in many companies managers type their own correspondence, answering their own phones and voice mail messages, making entries in their calendars, and setting priorities without the help of secretaries. These are the new ways of doing things today where it is required from us to be open to new changes.

An example that describes the new challenges we face can be computers that have long hailed as a time-saving devices yet have proven sometimes to be just the opposite. The excuse of being unreachable no longer applies as we have voice mails, pagers and cellphones that keep us in touch with people wherever we are. We can just think about a romantic evening planned with an expected urgent call?! In this regard, being productive, having qualitative leisure time and our peace of mind is only possible if we are open to change and willing to adapt to new opportunities. (Mancini, 2003)

Time Management Style

For Time Management to work to your advantage it is important to know your time management style. According to Francis, there are five styles individuals should identify with: Achievement Management, Casual Management, Crisis Management, Precision Management and Social Management.

Achievement Management

Here we have individuals who measure their success by how much things they do. They are characterized by the inability to say "No", accepting more and more projects which can get very overwhelming. The bad side of this style is that there a lack of follow through but the good side is that others are seeing you as dependable and helpful. For Achievement Management style is any kind of lists that help in tracking the individual’s overcommitted schedule recommended.

Casual Management

Here we have individuals who are procrastinators, in other words, the thief’s of time. They are characterized by factors such as lost track of time and not wanting to be told what to do. The bad side of this style is the tendency to miss deadlines or to leave things unfinished but the good side of this style is that casual managers think with their "right brain" and tend to be more creative. For Casual Management style, time lines and alert systems are recommended.

Crisis Management

Here we have individulas who deal with each event in their life as it is the top priority. They are characterised by the tendency to take on several projects all at once and by the inability to prioritise. The bad side of this style is that things become easily stressful or boring and the good side of this style is being able to work well under time pressure. For Crisis Management style, visual reminders and and time block scheduling are recommended.

Precision Management

Here we have individuals who measure their success on how perfect they do things. They are characterised by working with things that consistently require high quality which can get less efficient when time is not long enough. The bad side of this style that managers become preoccupied with some fixed things rather then focusing on the tasks at hand and a good side of this style is being seen as someone who is detail-oriented and highly capable. For Precision Management style, effective tool such as day planners are recommended.

Social Management

Here we have individuals who are the social butterflies of the world. They are characterised by great talks and less achievemnts, also called the chit-chatters. The bad side of this style is losing track of time and forgeting about the task at hand and the good side of this style is great communication skills. For Social Management style effective tools such as alerts are recommended. (Francis, 2010)

The Environment

In order to work more productive, to get more things done in a day we need to look at the environment we work in. To avoid some environmental time wasters that impacts our ability to get things done we should spent some time in evaluating the environment. This is important because it makes huge difference in the amount of work you are able to complete on a day basis.

One environmental time waster is the Email Notifications. For instance, if you get notifications of new email messages every ten minutes it makes a constant flow of interruptions. The problem is that every time you stop yourself in what you are doing when interruptions occur. The best would be to minimize these kinds of interruptions because they take u a lot of time and energy. If you are working in an environment where emails need to be checked frequently, set up your computer to notify you hourly; in this way messages can be checked manually between automatic notifications. Another environmental time waster is when you are out of the office for customer meetings. There is sometimes extra time on your hands when going to business trips. To use the travel time in a wisely day you can utilize books on tape to stay current in your field or if some delays happen , you can prepare by such occurrences by carrying work or reading materials with you.

Since no one experiences the same time management challenges it is important that you spend some time reflecting about the factors that impact your productivity. It is recommended to analyze when you are able to work most efficiently and what happens when you feel you are getting off track. When all environmental time wasters are identified you can start taking steps to reduce their impact from your environment. (White, 2011)

Where does Time go?

Our reality is that every individual has 24 hours in a day and nothing about that can be changed. Looking at these 24 hours we can immediately subtract 16 hours for sleeping and working time. Doing a simple math on it, we get 8 hours programmed for eating, physical activities, personal hygiene and family. To find some extra time apart from these activities is not easy. (highmarkbcbs.com, 2011)

One way to find some extra time is to make a list with "must do" items and a list of "extra" items you would like to do. After it, check if there are some possible time wasters in those activities and hopefully you can find some extra time in your day.

Another way is to find a system that works best for you whether it is a paper and pencil or the latest technical gadget. This is important because relying on memory alone can lead to information overload and eventually can cause some extreme stress issues.

Furthermore, even if you think that you allocate your time effectively, an inventory of how much time you spend doing various activities may reveal a surprise or two. One useful exercise would be for few days to write on paper or to type on your smartphone activities and time you spend in doing them. When you have the information an analysis of your time allocation experiment results should include:

The two most time-consuming activities in your daily work life

The two most time-consuming activities in your personal life

The two activities most surprising to you in how much time they consume

The two most surprising to you in how little time they consume

An honest appraisal of which activities you feel should consume less of your time

An honest appraisal of which activities you feel should consume more of your time

After this assessment you may find that you need a renewed or decreased emphasis on various factors that affect your time management approach. (Mancini, 2003)

CHAPTER 3: Prioritization

Prioritizing effectively means the ability to see what tasks are more important and by which tasks you are giving more of your attention, energy and time. According to C. Ray Johanson, "Prioritizing is the answer to time management problems- not computers, efficiency experts, or matrix scheduling. You do not need to do work faster or to eliminate gaps in productivity to make better use of your time. You need to spend more time on the right things…."

Because we have different management styles we also tend to prioritize differently. In the following you will find five prioritizing options that can be applied to different individual styles. (Time-Management-Guide.com, 2002)

The ABC System

The ABC System is about recognizing what criteria should be used in setting priorities. This system works by writing a capital letter "A" on items or tasks that have a high value; writing a capital letter "B" on items or tasks with medium value, and finally writing a capital letter "C" on items or tasks that have a lower value.

The "A" items marked, the once with highest value should be done first and "B’s" and "C’s" should be saved for later. In that way you may get the most out of your time. Depending on your point of view; the "A" items generally stand out clearly in contrast to the less important items B’s and C’s. Moreover, ABC’s are subject to change because today’s A may become tomorrow’s C, while today’s C becomes tomorrow’s A and so on. The ABC priorities should be set continually, considering the best use of your time right now. (avinashblog.com)

The ABC System of prioritizing things gives you an advantage of stripping away emotions we have about each task. For instance, doing your monthly expense report may be the last thing you want to do but giving it an A priority the night before might be just what you need in order to put it in process. (Mancini, 2003)

The Inventory System

The Inventory System is another variation of ABC system by and the mainly difference is that Inventory system is results-oriented. It differs from the ABC system because it assumes that you learn the most by reviewing how you handled the day, than applying what you learned to the next day’s behavior. Here, it is assumed that the post-activity analysis represents a more realistic, behavior-changing, feedback-oriented approach to dealing with life then does value-seeking.

For instance, you take what you want to establish at the beginning of your day and then you compare what actually you have accomplished at the end of the day. In this way you are able to find your current successful methods and what kinds of changes would improve your current activities. Inventory system approach is not really a time saving system but it can generate time-saving behavioral changes. If you want to change your behavior according to what you learn from it, through the inventory system the result will surely be time spent in a better way. (Mancini, 2003)

The Payoff System

The Payoff System is for individuals who think of time in terms of financial value. "What’s the payoff?", according to Stephanie Winston is an important question to ask yourself when prioritizing.

The term "Time is Money" was declared 200 years ago, a long tradition of viewing time as a sort of currency. Thinking about money in terms of time is a measurable thing because after all, we spend time, don’t we?

For example volunteering to chair a committee to improve the employee-employer relationships at your firm at first glance may not seem to be really beneficial. However, it is going to payoff for you in the long term because solutions that emerge from that committee might have an effect on you personally if problems arise between you and your superiors.

One last thing to remember about the Payoff System is that both you and your company most can benefit from the efficient use of your time. When you find yourself wasting time it is good to ask yourself questions how much you make in dollars and cents, per hour. In this way you can measure the value of your time slipping away in actual monetary terms. (Mancini, 2003)

The Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle has been founded by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto in 1895,. He found that people in his society seemed to divide naturally into what he called the "vital few", the top 20% in terms of money and influence, and the "trivial many", the bottom 80%. Later on, Pareto discovered that virtually all economic activities are subject to the Pareto Principle as well. (selfgrowth.com)

In business the value of Pareto Principle means the following:

20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results

20% of your customers will account for 80% of your sales

20% of your products and services will account for 80% of your profits

20% of your tasks will account for 80% of the value of what you do

The numbers do not have to be "20%" and "80%" exactly; they can also be "90%" and "10%" or "90%" and "20%". The 80/20 rule is just a rough guide about typical distribution but most things in life (effort, reward, and output) are not distributed evenly- some contribute more than others.

For better understanding of the Pareto Principle in the following graph you can see how things are not distributed evenly. For example out of 5 things, perhaps one will be "effective". That effective idea, person, or task will result in majority of the impact of the group (the green line). To be on the red line where everything contributes equally does rarely happen. The key point about this graph is that most of the things are not 1/1, where input equals output. (betterexplained.com, 2012)

Graph 1. Pareto Principle

Despite the popularity of the Pareto Rule there are some misconceptions about it as follows.

Mathematical Application

In mathematical applications sometimes when pie charts are drawn with a large portion labeled as 20% and the rest 80%. Adding it up to 100% is not what the rule is about; inputs and outputs for instance are not the same thing and cannot be drawn into the same pie chart.

Literal Application

Literal mathematical interpretation sometimes argues that if you keep applying the 80/20 Rule by eliminating the 80%, eventually you will end up with nothing. This cannot be true because the Pareto Principle suggests that tasks which create most results should be prioritized and whatever time is left after it can be spent on the less productive 80%.

For making the Pareto Principle work it is important to resolve today that you are going to spend more and more of your time working in those areas that can make a real difference in your career and less and less time on lower value activities. As Stephen Covey said: "You have to divide what your highest priorities are and have the courage-pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say "No" to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger "Yes" burning inside. The enemy of the "best" is often the "good"." (janegarber.com, 2012)

Covey’s Time Management Matrix

In his book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", Stephen Covey developed a management model called Time Management Matrix. Covey’s Matrix shows how you can divide up all your workplace tasks according to two criteria: how important they are-the vertical axis on the diagram, and how urgent they are-the horizontal axis on the diagram. As a result we get a system of four quadrants which are the keys to your effective time management performance. (managementrainlearn.com, 2012)

Stephen Covey introduced his time management matrix over 20 years ago. It became actually more relevant today than it was before due to the omni-present technology and the pace of modern life spending up, in other words, today, we fall much more easily to the "tyranny of the urgent". (positive-change-tools-for-succes.com, 2012)

Here is how the time management matrix works:

Quadrant 1: Urgent and Important Tasks

In the top left side of the time management matrix quadrant we have urgent and important things to do. Usually these are tasks which call for emergency, crises, and pressing deadline driven problems and they call for our immediate attention. How we get into this highly important and urgent quadrant is through our inability to face up to doing things on time, also called procrastinating things to the last minute. Stephen Covey likes to call this quadrant the "firefighting" tasks.

Quadrant 2: Not Urgent but Important Tasks

In the top right side of the time management matrix quadrant we have important but not urgent tasks to do. Usually these tasks are including the time we need for personal health and development, unhurried "quality time" with others (colleagues, customers, family), prevention work, thinking time (planning time and preparation time), and clarifying our values. We get into this quadrant when having tasks that are not pressing but, if we do them, will ensure fewer, if any problems down the line. Stephen Covey likes to call this quadrant the "productive" tasks.

Quadrant 3: Urgent but Not Important Tasks

In the bottom left side of the time management matrix quadrant we have urgent but not important tasks to do. Usually these tasks are personal "drop-in" callers, answering every phone call and going through junk emails. We find ourselves in this quadrant when we allow things to interrupt our working lives because we believe that they are more important than other tasks. Stephen Covey likes to call this quadrant the "distractions" tasks.

Quadrant 4: Not Urgent and Not Important Tasks

In the bottom right side of the time management matrix quadrant we have not important and not urgent tasks to do. Usually these tasks are unlimited web browsing, socializing around the coffee machine, and attending unnecessary meetings. We find ourselves in this quadrant mainly because we are used to like doing things that we do not need to do. Stephen Covey likes to call this quadrant the "time-wasters" tasks. (managementrainlearn.com, 2011)

Figure 1. Covey’s Time Management Matrix

We all have found ourselves in a situation when we are asked to prepare an important presentation for the next board meeting. Having only few days to put the presentation together, our workload already being high, and we have also a number of urgent tasks on our day plan can get very stressful. We become anxious, unable to concentrate and everything around seems to be distracting. The Time Management matrix can help you in thinking about priorities, and determining which tasks are most important and less important.

How to prioritize tasks using the Time Management Matrix?

To prioritize tasks well, first step is to list all the activities and projects that you feel you have to do. The second step is on a scale of 1 to 5, assign importance to each of the activities. Then, after evaluating the importance on those activities- evaluate their urgency. Each item on the matrix should be plotted according to the values you have given. Final step is to schedule priorities according to the matrix strategies described below:

The urgent and important activities are the ones that you could not foresee and others that you have left to the last minute. The ones that you could not foresee such as crises, than you will need to reschedule other tasks. The ones that you have left to the last minute could be avoided through planning ahead.

The urgent and not important activities are the ones that stop you achieving your goals such as interruptions from other people. Here, you can schedule time when you are available to others and eventually you will be able to concentrate on your important activities for longer periods of time.

The not urgent but important activities are the ones that actually can help you in achieving goals and completing fully your tasks. According to Covey, this is the best place to be because spending your time here will make sure that urgent activities do not occur at all. However, there should be some time reserved in your schedule to deal with unforeseen problems.

The not urgent and not important activities are the ones that do not contribute to your own desired outcomes. When you are clear about your objectives and boundaries also others will not ask you to do the "not important" things in the future.

In addition to the Time Management Matrix, measuring and competing urgent and important element in the matrix has been attributed to both former US President Eisenhower and Dr. Stephen Covey. Eisenhower’s quote is perfectly summing the concept of the matrix, also called the Eisenhower Principle. (mindtools.com, 2012)

"What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important"

CHAPTER 4: Procrastination

It is said that procrastination is the thief of time. We all have found ourselves putting off important tasks over and over again. Many people procrastinate from time to time but there are also people who are chronically affected by procrastination. These people usually have problems fulfilling their potential and problems in managing their careers. Thus, it is important to recognize: when you start procrastinating, understand why it happens, and take active steps to overcome the matter of procrastination.

What is Procrastination?

According to psychologists, procrastination lurks almost always some hidden fear or conflict that urges people to put things off. When you are responsible to achieve certain things you have a multitude of opposing emotions that serve to short-circuit your action. Even when you think that your fear or conflict is gone, it is, however, still there- both in the real world and in your sub consciousness making stress and, ultimately, it threatens your success. (Mancini, 2003)

Why do People procrastinate?

People procrastinate depending on their personalities and the tasks they have to do. In a given situation it is important which of these two factors- task or personality is relevant so that the best approach of overcoming the reluctance can be met. Examining the picture below, we can find which typical causes of procrastination time management experts have identified. (Mancini, 2003)

Internal Forces

Fear of change, fear of failure, addiction to cramming and tendency to overcommit are the four causes that primarily inner rooted. They usually come from the procrastinator’s physiological roots, for instance the fear of failure for some specific task. Eventually these kinds of individuals procrastinate on any task at which they might fear to fail. To figure out if you are one of those procrastinators whose procrastination is embedded in their personality by the following questions the answer should be "Yes".

While in school, did you usually cram before a test?

Do you often put off returning a call to someone you do not like, even if is important?

Do you wait until you have dental problems to see your dentist?

Have you had an unintentional late finance charge in the last three months?

Do you wait until a deadline looms before beginning important projects?

External Forces

Unpleasant tasks, overwhelming tasks, unclear task flow and unclear goals are the four causes usually happen because of external reasons. Here, even if you do not see yourself as a procrastinator, you will become one due to the environment which can impose procrastination on you. An external cause of procrastination does not mean that there are no psychological reasons behind, there must be some. But when the environment imposes unpleasant or overwhelming tasks, unclear goals or task flow it becomes reasonable that people want to postpone the inevitable. (Mancini, 2003)

How to stop procrastination?

According to Mancini, there are eight factors that cause procrastination. In the following we will identify those eight factors and give strategies how to overcome them.

The task seems unpleasant

If this reason is the only one for not doing the task then you should know that you are a typical because it’s the most commonly given reason for procrastination. Here we have five strategies that may help in overcoming the first factor:

Do it the first thing in the day.

The night before, place the task where you can’t miss it.

Find somebody else to do it.

Make an advantage/disadvantage list.

Use the "measles" approach

The task seems overwhelming

Here we have tasks that you would like to accomplish but it is so huge and overwhelming that you just don’t know where to start. Here we have three strategies that may help in overcoming the second factor:

Divide and conquer-breaking the task into smaller units.

Find a solidarity place to do it- avoiding interruptions from others.

Ride the momentum-keep going as long as your concentration stays strong and fresh. But stop when you need a break.

The task flow is unclear or unplanned

If this is the reason for procrastination then it probably means that you are disorganized with your plans and tasks. Here have the TQM (Total Quality Management) approach developed by W. Edwards Deming in 1940s that may help in overcoming the third factor.

Among all of the TQM processes, none is more relevant to time management than flowcharting. In the flow chart, proponents tackle each project by visualizing its flow. An example of flow chart icons is as follows:

An operation: Something is performed or produced.

A test of decision: Something is judged; the answer, often yes or no, results in decision.

A document: Something is put down on paper.

A line connector: The flow chart runs out of space and connects with a circle on the next line.

An end or start: The flowchart begins here or ends here.

A direction: The process flows in this direction

An example of customer order:

Figure 3. Customer order taken from International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management (2003)

Examining the flowchart of the above example you might try to apply the TQM method to any projects you might face in your life. Flowcharting often leads to significant time savings that might otherwise have been spent later trying to rein the details of an increasingly complicated project. (emeraldinsight.com, 2003)

Your goals are unclear

When your goals are unclear then make general goals into specific goals by reminding yourself what it is, specifically, that makes the goal a goal. Moreover, goals should not only be specific, in some business decisions they should also be measurable. For instance, saying that "Our sales will increase significantly" is less specific and measurable than saying, "Our goal is to increase sales by 12%."

You fear change

For some people, doing things same as always seems to be a safe thing to do. However, facing change became an inevitable thing in today’s world. Here we have three strategies that may help in overcoming the fifth factor of procrastination:

Change your physical environment

Change your routines and patterns

Do nothing- very soon you will get bored and change will be the only thing you want

You fear failure

The fear of failure happens even to the most confident and successful people. Thus, some things are putted off for a while, and sometimes even forever. The most fear of failure according to studies is the fear of public speaking. It goes so far that some people are more afraid of a failed speech then of their own death. To overcome the fear of failure we may listen to Truman Capote who said: "Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor." And more famously, Franklin D. Roosevelt said: " The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

You tend to overcommit

People become overcommitted usually because they cannot say "No" or because they have some personal desire to please or have a broad range of interests. Because it is impossible to do all the things, in future, you better think before volunteering to take on new commitments. First you should look at those commitments you have already made but you have not completed yet. The procrastination will come if you put new commitments before completing the ones still pending.

You are addicted to cramming

It is important to understand that doing something at the last minute may be much more expensive than doing it just before the last minute. Last-minute work can cause mistakes and there will be no room left for unexpected demand that may come up. Ways to overcome cramming have been already mentioned (flowcharting, measles approach, dividing and conquering, and so on) the key thing is to convince your-self that cramming is dangerous and should be eliminated. (Mancini, 2003)

CHAPTER 5: Establishing Goals

Why it is that some people seem to accomplish so much more in the same amount of time? The answer is that those people are goal-oriented and are accomplishing much more in the course of their day.

One interesting thing about goals is when you are goal-oriented, you no longer watch to the clock and waiting for the day to end. The clock rather becomes an instrument that you use to ensure that your goals meet the required deadlines. Another valuable thing about goals is when we base our performance on reaching goals during the day; we can eliminate the things that waste our time. It is important to determine which goals are the right ones to achieve and which tasks should be avoided due to distraction. Moreover, we should not think of goals as if they are same as the activities we have-there is a difference. Goals are the tasks that are important for your success whereas activities are doing your job a bit easier but are not essential to your success. First goals, then activities! (ehow.com, 2012)

For instance, if you are currently making 5 dollars/hour and you cannot cover your expenses it probably means that your goals need to be making more money. Choosing goals wisely will help you make decisions to make better use of your time. For goals to be achievable it is good to focus on 6P’s. Goals should be prioritized, positive, performance oriented, practical and personal. (alcwebmarketing.com, 2011)

Make SMART Goals

Creating SMART goals is an excellent way to quantify and prioritize goals so that they can become a regular part of your time management routine.

Smart goals are: SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ATTAINABLE, REALISTIC, and TIMELY

Specific

Specific goals is said to be easier to accomplish then general goals. These are the six questions that need to be answered when setting specific goals:

Who is involved?

What do I want to accomplish?

Where is the location?

What time should it be done?

Which requirements and constraints are there

What is the purpose, benefits?

Measurable

Concrete criteria should be established in order to measure the progress towards the goal accomplishment. It is important to stay on track and reach the deadlines. Here also we have questions that should be asked:

How much?

How many?

How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable

When setting goals, the attitudes, skills, abilities and financial capacity should be checked. In that way you can figure out what are the ways in coming closer to the set goal. If everything is wisely planned, you can attain any goal you have set.

Realistic

Goals should be realistic in terms of the objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. High goals are not hard to achieve because they have strong motivational force whereas small goals is harder to achieve due to lower motivational force.

Timely

Not less important, the time for goals should be grounded. A time frame for the goal might be next week, next month, in the year 2015 and so on. Putting an endpoint gives you a great target towards which you can work for. (Arina, 2010)

CHAPTER 6: Delegation

According to Harold Taylor, delegation extends results from what you can do to what you can control. When delegating there is more time for urgent tasks and it allows you to plan more effectively by reducing the pressure of too many deadline driven projects. Good delegation is also a tool of developing and educating your staff. Bad delegation on the other hand can be very dangerous, however, it is better to have one, even improper one. Delegating wrong can take you a lot of time and it can mess up your staff’s time as well. Many people when delegating like to say "Take care of this task". You do not say take care of this and that, and then come when you need some financial resources for my approval. This is not a way of proper delegating- there is no trust involved. The right way is to give your staff members responsibility, authority and all the resources they need in order to accomplish the task. (Taylor, 2010)

To whom can you delegate?

You can delegate to all people who are downward, whom you manage and supervise. Even though you can delegate to everyone who is down you, it does not mean that it is a good thing to do. In order for delegation to work effectively you need to choose the right person to whom you want to assign the responsibility. First thing when delegating is targeting the right person for the work that has to be done.

It is also possible to delegate sideways to people who are more or less equal to you in the level of authority. For example, you have great writing skills, and your colleague is a master of phone skills. You may consider swapping responsibilities if there is enough flexibility in your company to do so. Delegating to your colleague is not a time wasting thing because he or she may always return the favor another time back to you.

Finally, it is also possible to delegate upward, especially when someone from up assigns you a responsibility that shouldn’t be yours. However, it should be done in a very diplomatic way because delegating upward may be risky. If the task is really outside your area of expertise, everybody will benefit if you find someone better suited for the task. Additionally, delegating to your boss can sometimes be the smartest thing you can do.

The key steps when delegating

Identify the task to be delegated

After you have freed up your mind with the decision made to delegate the task, to identify the task should be the easiest of all steps to do.

Trace out, on paper, the assigned project’s flow

This step depends on the task, if it is an easy one than there shouldn’t be any difficulties in assigning the projects flow. However, if it is a complex one you may deploy the flow chart from the TQM approach discussed earlier. A Delegation flowchart can be a great help in tracing the assigned project’s flow. Additionally, you should keep a record with tasks delegated and dates given for the status review and completion.

Find the right person

Flowcharting the tasks can serve as a base for finding the right person for the task. Here it is important to be open-minded and confident to the unique talents and aptitudes of the people you work with. In this regard, the better you are at finding those talents of those you manage- the more successful you will be at delegating.

Explain the assignment

Give a brief explanation of the task that has to be done and encourage questions. The best is to sit down with the person to whom you have delegated and walk through your flowcharts steps.

Explain the benefits

Because everyone is concerned with their own interests in the task the best is to make a liberal use of benefits language.

Specify your standards

It is important when delegating to specify the quality and accountability you want to receive. The person to whom you are delegating needs to know that the task will remain incomplete until the highest expectations aren’t met.

Discuss deadlines

When having deadlines we get some sense of how high the priority of the task is. It is important by delegation always to set deadlines, including the intermediary status review dates. An effective way of motivating the person you are delegating to is through empowerment and shared responsibility.

Establish a reporting method

Establishing a reporting method of the task can be done by articulating your expectations to the person you delegate to. In that way you will ensure professional, responsible, and orderly feedback.

Encourage questions

If the person to whom you delegate is not forthcoming with questions, do a comprehension check; have the person summarize the assignment.

Conduct unscheduled status checks

An unscheduled status check is a flexible way of controlling as the project unfolds. You should feel free to drop in on anyone because you may have to adjust procedures and goals if necessary.

Evaluate results

In evaluating results you should ask questions such as:

Did the person meet the deadline, if not, why?

Did the person achieve all goals and met the expectations?

Was it the right p[person for the task?

Praise/Suggest improvements

If the delegation was successful, congratulate your-self and give credit to the people to whom you have delegated. If the delegation was not a success, recognize the effort and suggest improvements for the next time. (Mancini, 2003)

CHAPTER 7: Conclusion

Now that we are at the end of this research paper, we can see how our time gets wasted because we never thought of managing time in an effective way. Effective time management will not only improve your productivity, it will also make your work easier and help you in prioritizing and accomplishing important tasks that guides you towards the goal accomplishment. The benefits you want to have in future depend on what you do with your time now. Remember that you cannot control your time, but you can control what you do with your time. The main purpose of this paper was to give us a clue what actually wastes our time and to give us solutions to save time as much as possible. However, goals, schedules and any kind of lists are incredibly helpful tools but only if we actually use them. Regardless of the time management strategies you use, take some time to evaluate how they work for you. In this way you may check if you are really accomplishing the most important tasks. If you find that the time management strategies that you have chosen are not effective than reconsider them and select the ones that work best for you. The ABC system is a practical and familiar way to prioritize your daily activities. If you are driven by results, the inventory system may be an attractive option for you. But if you are driven by monetary payoffs it will bring you a measurable precision. If you want to have unexpected and fascinating insights to various priorities than you should use the Pareto Principle. And if you want to be occupied by activities that are important but not urgent then the Stephen Covey’s time management matrix best will work for you. It is very hard not to procrastinate, but if you have learned to control the tendency to procrastinate then you have taken a large step toward using the time more effectively. When establishing goals, taking time for it may at the first glance seem as time wasting but there is nowhere time more wasted then when sitting and doing nothing, when there are no goals. For having effective delegation skills the best is to follow all the 12 steps explored to ensure that you and the people to whom you delegate understand them. As with all precious resources, time is a scarce resource. Now it is on us and our wisdom in making the most out of it.