9 Responses

1. here’s a suggestion
   Ginny
   I was asked by a company to run an in house time management event for a team. I did some research with them as to the actual problems they faced and I ended up running a process mapping workshop on their processes and getting them to do downstream impact analysis on two case studies. They found it much more valuable than the “granny…this is an egg” they had originally been expecting. This may not be appropriate in your instance but it might give you food for thought
   Rus
   (PS you say that it is YOU who find the Time Management programme boring…do the delegates?)

2. Exercise
   I have a great Time Mgt: Exercise, in-tray which I’m more than happy to send to you. It’s about an hour long and gets the delegates to assume the role of a new Mgr, armed with a folder full of emails, tasks, meetings, requests etc.. to deal with, with a 16 question section at the back. It’s amazing how everyone prioritises differtly, takes about an hour to run. Have you also tried http://www.trainerslibrary.com they have a fantastic Wedding Planner Time Mgt: exercise which I currently run, great fun and gets the message accross.
   Email me for the in-tray exercise if you’d like a copy.

3. Elaboration request
   Russell
   Sounds interesting but please could you elaborate. I am not really sure what you mean

4. Time Management with a difference
   Ginny, I recently delivered time management training based around Steven Covey’s work (First Things First / 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). This approach focuses on the principles underpinning good time management rather than the nuts and bolts of doing it (However you may need to include something on the use of planning tools so that they can apply what they’ve learnt). This approach went down well with the delegates. Also, if you are familiar with NLP, you might consider introducing delegates to the concept of times lines – always good for a bit of a wow factor.

   Best Wishes

   Linda

5. Some resources that may help
   Dear Ginny

   There are many links to resources that may help you on http://www.nickheap.co.uk Please help yourself.

   I ran a load of Time Management courses some years ago that went well and certainly were not boring. I asked people to list their concerns about time on a chart each starting with “How to.. ” Everything you could imagine came out.

   I then got the group to proritise these and then asked people to share the tips and techniques that they used to deal with each item.

   This nearly always created a lively discussion. People learned lots from each other. The course was never the same twice. I picked up tips I could pass on in later runs – and talking about it made “Being too Busy” discussable in the organisation.

   We also ran it in intact teams so people could look at how to stop making work for each other – very useful!

   I have a write up and if you want a copy, please contact me.

   Best wishes

   Nick

6. THE BEANS EXERCISE
   I do a version of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. When doing habit three I use a scenario that contains all the tricks that the people must then apply to a week planner (after having run a session for people to share their success secrets for time management). I find lots of good learning happens when they have to do it. I also try and include actual examples of bad practices from the workplace which usually results in a few “ahs.” I start the session by using a big jar which I fill up with a few whole oranges/apples/tennis balls (priority, not urgent events) before filling the jar with kidney beans which represent the time wasters etc. to get across how important it is to be proactive and holistic in one’s approach to time management. I get one of the participants to relate an average day to the group to get a bit of interactiveness. It works well. The jar idea is in Covey’s book “First Things First.”

   Stephen Roberts
   Johannesburg, South Africa

7. Time management exercises
   Buffy, I too would be interested in the in-tray exercise you speak of – as I’m looking for fun activities to put into my time management course.

   Ginny:

   I find people are much more focused on time and action planning when you involve their whole day, not just their work day – so adding in a wheel of life activity, where they plot in a wheel sections that they spend their time on, such as healthy, family, friends, work, travelling, holidays etc. They then do another pie chart under the heading, my ideal wheel of life – and note the areas they have expanded or reduced, and then allow them to work in small groups to suggest ways they can all help each other achieve a small change.

8. Exercise
   Angela, if you email me directly at

   [email protected] I’ll happily send you the exercises.

   many thanks

9. time management
   Hi guys

   can anybody please help me with the in tray exercise for time management. I tried usingBuffy’s email id , but the mails aare bouncing back.

   Thanks.

   pooja