Priorities Time Management Skills Time

¶ … Priorities

Time management skills

Time management is a very vital skill especially when performing a given task or when managing events in an organization or workplace. Each and every job description or activity is always time bound therefore to avoid failure, time management should be given utmost seriousness. After assessing my ability in time management using the time management personal profile tool, all the results was a clear picture of how I manage my time. According to Pfeiffer (1995), the results brought out the following concerning my time management capabilities;

Attention to time: Divergent

Type of focus: Detailed

Approach to structure: Loose

Style of processing: Parallel

Strategy of action: Proactive

Among the results, some of the dimensions that are important to me include Attention to task, approach to structure and style of processing.

Under the attention, to work category, in most scenarios, my desk is messy and though I might be remembering where I kept a certain document, I still spend more time retrieving it. Sometimes I find myself swayed off topic or from what I was concentrating on the moment I hear something exciting, this has an effect on consistency of my work as it disrupts the flow of whatever I was doing, and I have to re-do most of my previous work in order to maintain my output standard.

Under the approach to structure category, I am loose as my results as indicated. This is shown by; hating meeting and attending as few as possible and always comfortable attending meetings late. I like jotting down any idea or information that I come across on any paper that I have with me, and this creates piles of papers of different sizes on my desk which sometimes becomes hard to sort.

Am also parallel, when it comes to style of processing dimension, normally, I do or perform many tasks at the same time such as talking on the phone while reading a report. This sometimes is a set back because I get to do many things at a go, but some in the short run will have to lag behind and sometimes not be as perfect as they would have been if I had concentrated on one of them.

Relationships with the other dimensions

Most of these dimensions are either directly or indirectly related to one another. For example, as per the results produced, attention to task and approach to the structure are linked in the following ways; due to my habit of writing down points or information that I come across on any piece of paper, this has made my desk be messy and uncontrollable, but when asked, I will assume I know where everything and what every piece of paper has on it. Also by being loose at what I do, shows how am not committed to serious matters such as meetings as I can attend late or even leave before they end.

For my scenario, Attention to task, approach to structure and strategy of action, are also related in the following ways; I mostly like writing down ideas that come into my head on pierces of paper while attending to other matters such as phone conversation, listening and contributing in meetings, among others. These papers in turn are left on my desk hence causing overcrowding of papers on it which take more time to retrieve information on them.

Areas that need improvement in my time management skills and recommendation

I need to change the following; my attention to task from divergent to convergent, my approach to structure from being loose to tight, and lastly my strategy of action, from being proactive to reactive. The following changes can assist me to improve on my time management skills. They include, arranging of leaflets and files in an orderly manner for easy retrieval, attending a meeting on time, concentrating on a specific job or duty and making sure I do not let them pile, avoid multitasking it whatever am doing is so involving. All Improvements can be achievable by giving my work a priority and being organized (Pothukuchi, 2008). This will enable me to work at the right schedule without wasting time and avoid wasting time caused by disorganization at work.

How understanding of different time-management styles can be beneficial in managing the work priorities of a group.