. Cheryl Crumb & Associates .

Time Management

Background Situation

The client was a non-unionized ISO 9001 company which designed and manufactured customized automotive equipment. The workforce of approximately 50 was relatively young and while skilled in technical training, they had received little education in the “softer” skills of people/time/commitment management. Their customers’ key careabouts were quality, price, and delivery and customers were willing to pay a premium to speed up the schedule. After being awarded business, a project manager is assigned and this individual funnels the work to team leaders responsible for design, electronics and assembly. The three team leaders need to learn to work as a team, and to define, plan, execute and close the project.

Learning Objectives and Content

A recent study asked “what would make you happier in this new millennium?” The number 1 answer was: more time with family. Contrary to predictions about free time increasing, there’s been a 20% increase in working hours in the last decade and a 32% decrease in leisure time. In this Knowledge Economy the best productivity tool we have is our brain, yet we have difficulty staying focused.

All employees received 6 hrs. training emphasizing time management. They performed a job analysis testing activities (what they were doing) against objectives (what they were trying to accomplish) to determine if they were helping them reach job objectives. They identified activities that paid off in high performance and targeted how to shift activities with low payoff. Additionally, they looked at their jobs to distinguish progress tasks (tasks which move you toward a position which is fundamentally better than the current position) from maintenance tasks (tasks which move you toward a position equivalent to one you have been in before). Additional course content covered:

Managing importance and urgency
Prioritization techniques
Dealing with time-wasters
Planning for crises

Learning Process

The project/team leaders spent an additional day on cycle time reduction and identifying the non-value added activities that consume up to 95% of most processes. Project leaders selected a process in breakdown, mapped it, identified the wastes and created suggestions for improvements to reduce cycle time.

Length

6 hours




		Time Management Background Situation The client was a non-unionized ISO 9001 company which designed and manufactured customized automotive equipment. The workforce of approximately 50 was relatively young and while skilled in technical training, they had received little education in the “softer” skills of people/time/commitment management. Their customers’ key careabouts were quality, price, and delivery and customers were willing to pay a premium to speed up the schedule. After being awarded business, a project manager is assigned and this individual funnels the work to team leaders responsible for design, electronics and assembly. The three team leaders need to learn to work as a team, and to define, plan, execute and close the project. Learning Objectives and Content A recent study asked “what would make you happier in this new millennium?” The number 1 answer was: more time with family. Contrary to predictions about free time increasing, there’s been a 20% increase in working hours in the last decade and a 32% decrease in leisure time. In this Knowledge Economy the best productivity tool we have is our brain, yet we have difficulty staying focused. All employees received 6 hrs. training emphasizing time management. They performed a job analysis testing activities (what they were doing) against objectives (what they were trying to accomplish) to determine if they were helping them reach job objectives. They identified activities that paid off in high performance and targeted how to shift activities with low payoff. Additionally, they looked at their jobs to distinguish progress tasks (tasks which move you toward a position which is fundamentally better than the current position) from maintenance tasks (tasks which move you toward a position equivalent to one you have been in before). Additional course content covered: Managing importance and urgency Prioritization techniques Dealing with time-wasters Planning for crises Learning Process The project/team leaders spent an additional day on cycle time reduction and identifying the non-value added activities that consume up to 95% of most processes. Project leaders selected a process in breakdown, mapped it, identified the wastes and created suggestions for improvements to reduce cycle time. Length 6 hours