The what

If you’re sending someone on a course on time management, you expect them to learn about the skills of time management. However, we all have different areas that need improvements. A typical course on basic time management will include:

• creating ‘to do’ lists
• prioritizing
• paper management
• meeting management
• telephone management
• dealing with interruptions
• using ‘down’ time
• delegation.

The more advanced time management courses will cover much more, including creating time logs, linear and lateral time management, time plans and many other things. If your member of staff just needs to get organized by planning their day better, some of this may be rocket science.

People do not attend a training programme and come back and put everything into practice. If you’re lucky, one or two things will change – the next chapter will deal with how to optimize this.

So – what do you need them to do most? If you can think this one through and then discuss it in a way that encourages the trainee to agree, or even suggest themselves, what the key focus for them will be from this course, you’ll be onto a winner!