Frontline Management Institute Time Management Editorial - training courses Australia and global training services

The following article appeared in a variety of regional newspapers, courtesy of worksearch

Managing your time efficiently
11 Sep 2006

By Rachael Williams

In todays society, we are so busy with family, work and our social lives that people often forget that in order to fit everything in, we need to prioritise.

Time management in the workplace is a valuable asset to both the employer and the employee.

Larry Lucas, the director of the Frontline Management Institute (FMI), said that most peoples secret to successful time management is having a clear focus on what is important to them and the business they work for. Mr Lucas said focus on the important things first.

"Even if they are not immediately urgent, and you will be able to help minimise "fire fighting" where lots of important things have been put off until they too become urgent."

Mr Lucas recommended that people take time out from work at least once a day to organise their priorities.

FMI referred this taking the "helicopter view," where you rise above the immediate tasks that you are engaged in and look at what is important for your work. Where organisations use KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) people can align their choice of priorities to these KPIs.

Once you have organised a written list of important and not so important tasks you can then apply what is known as the 80:20 rule or the "Pareto Principle" named after the Italian economist who framed the rule.

The director of FMI said the economist found that the most important 20% of our activities lead to 80% of our results.

"For example, if you were in sales you may find that the top 20% of your customers account for 80% of your sales volume. Applying the 80:20 rule you would then spend 80% of your time on these. You can apply this rule to any type of work and it generally makes people more effective," he said.

Mr Lucas also said having a tidy environment helps in time management.

"One thing that can waste a lot of time is looking for documents in paper or electronic formats.

"Organise a good filing system both electronically and paper based and you will save a lot of wasted time. Documents are best filed as you go along, or at least daily or weekly. One thing that makes finding electronic documents hard can be the way they are named."

He said giving emails a clear title before filing so you can easily find them later.

Mr Lucas said when it comes to multitasking: doing two or more things at once, in his experience it depends on peoples preferences.

"It is rumoured that only women can multitask appropriately but I dont want to comment on such a delicate issue!"

FMIs top tips for Time Management are:

¨ Set clear goals and priorities

¨ Use a diary system to organise your time (either paper based or electronic

¨ Keep clear lists once a task is on the list you wont forget it

Support yourself with systems to organise your work. For instance, a tidy desk and filing systems, etc.

¨ Break down big jobs into small chunks and do them one step at a time

¨ Focus on important things even if they are not immediately urgent.

+61 2 9281 2635 or email fmi@managementcando.com

frontline management institute

fmi provides a range of services including:

Work Priorities training course	Time Management training course
Operational Plans training course	Conflict Management training course
Workplace Relationships training course	Effective Negotiation training
Team Effectiveness training course	Building Professional Confidence and Assertiveness training course
Customer Service Management training course	Improving Your Managerial Effectivness -Management Skills for Experienced Managers Training Course
Information Systems training course	Strategic Leadership for Results training course
Work Safety training course	Business Strategy training course
Continuous Improvement training course	Business Planning and Implementation training course
Manage Change and Innovation training course	Innovation and Continuous Improvement training course
Manage Projects training course	Creating a Mentoring Culture training course
Manage People training course	Improving Your People Skills training course
Workplace Learning training course	Powerful Presentations training course
Manage Budgets training course	Customer Service Skills training course
Management Skills for New Managers training course	Train the Trainer training course
Mentoring at Work training course	Tools to Sharpen Your Business Writing Skillstraining course
Coaching Skills for Outstanding Performance training course	Advanced Presentation & Facilitation Skills
Leadership for Results training course	Frontline Management Open Learning
Effective Delegation training course	RPL Processes for Frontline Management Diploma
Making the Transition to Supervision training course	fmi Diploma of Business (Frontline Management) BSB51004
fmi Certificate IV in Business (Frontline Management) BSB41004

All fmi courses can be run as an in-house course in your organisation

Associated websites of the Frontline Management Institute and Network One Communications Pty. Ltd.
www.frontlinemanagementinstitute.com.au www.frontlinemanagementinstitute.com	The main website for the Frontline Management Insititue (fmi) which provides a range of development and learning services, qualifications and products to organisations, managers, team members and individuals seeking to develop their skills and knowledge; particularly in areas of management
www.managementcando.com www.managementcando.com.au	The original website for the Frontline Management Insititue (fmi)
www.timemanagementtraining.com.au	The Frontline Management Institute's Time Management Centre offers a range of courses and services which combine established and proven principles together with innovative techniques
www.mentoringandcoachingtraining.com.au	The Frontline Management Institute's Mentoring and Coaching Centre offers a range of mentoring and coaching courses and services for organisations and individuals
www.businesstravellist.com.au	Businesstravellist is a one stop information resource for people who travel for business or on vacation associated with business travel
www.networkonecomm.com	Network One Communications Pty. Ltd. (NOC) specialises in designing training and communication programs to meet specific needs. NOC was selected to develop training programs and resources for thousands of people in the Sydney 2000 Olympics

Frontline Management Institute
Sydney Head Office
579 Harris St
Ultimo NSW 2007
Australia

t: +612 9281 2635
f: +612 9281 2641
e: fmi@managementcando.com

© Frontline  Management Institute 2007
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Upcoming Training Courses

September 2006

28,29 - Management Skills for New Managers

October 2006

5,6 - Manage People

16,17 - Manage Projects

19,20 - Manage Change & Innovation

November 2006

1 - Mentoring at Work

8 - Time Management SPECIAL OFFER

9, 10 - Management Skills for New Managers

13, 14 - Building Team Performance

March 2007

5 - Work Priorities

6 - Operational plans

14 -Effective Negotiation

19,20 - Management Skills for New Managers

21 - Time Management

26 - Customer Service Management

27 - Information Systems

28 - Customer Service Skills

29, 30 - Advanced Leadership Program 1 & 2