One of the most consistent problems I have seen with young black professionals is the lack of time management or poor time execution. Let's keep it real, this problem is often at the heart of the career and professional development challenges for many of us.
Over the years as a consultant and now as a director and executive at Howard, I believe poor time management is often the core issue that has kept many African Americans from gaining business opportunities, receiving promotions, gaining the respect of their peers, and importantly the respect of leaders in their organizations that struggle in considering them as key "go-to people."
Remember there are 3 basic time masters:
- Sloppy-always late or inconsistent - They always drain others in getting your part done!
- Mediocre-time management that most think is OK. - You are just another face in the crowd, most will see your contributions as just doing your required job, nothing special.
- Executive- You are always a cut above, prepared-in advance, early to meetings, excellent quality is your trademark. Top executives love working with people like this.
Be known for getting the job done! Look at a few of these tips:
Always know the complete scope of a project or task before starting out--Some people have made a career in college and now professionally in waiting until the last minute to even begin reviewing the scope and key components of time sensitive tasks. Slow starters always create drama for everyone when they need assistance from others to get their sloppy and poorly executed part done. Also poor quality is usually the trademark of people who never appropriately scope out their time sensitive tasks and projects. People who start off late, drain others in getting the job done, and turn in sub par work eventually are labeled in top organizations as a "liability" ---being shown the door is always close at hand.
Set realistic timelines of tasks. Don't promise things you can not deliver. It is better to establish reasonable and mutually agreed timelines when planning to deliver tasks, than trying to be "a star" and over promise and under deliver.
Use your PDA, Blackberry, Trio etc., to document , review, and give alerts for due components, tasks and deliverables. Share and facilitate buy-in with others that are involved.
Develop a timeline for effective teaming, identifying, defining, and completing of tasks. Share timeline with all, and check in with others in advance to ensure all team members are "on task." Always build in flexiblity for potential delays.
Start doing your part on time. Stop blaming others for not getting started, because you were waiting on them to return your call, or to provide some data etc. Always find a way to communicate with others for materials or information needed, while moving forward in anyway possible to complete the task at hand.
Build in flexible time to your timeline. Stuff happens...lets face it. For me it is always the copier demon, or the printer demon--for some of you it is your server demon, or a traffic demon--we all have a few demons that always seem to wage personal wars on us, prepare for them, plan for them don't let them win! Plan to have documents and task done in time so that unplanned delays can be effectively managed without hurting the quality and timeless of your work.
Manage interruptions. Whether they are time consuming emails that are not a priority, unscheduled phone calls from people (ask them to schedule a follow-up time), needy friends and family, or just chatty people who are notorious for draining your time--- you must learn to say no--in a professional manner of course, schedule more appropriate times, and deal with first things first.
Always build in time to review documents for quality and lack of mistakes. When people make it a happen to start late or finish late mistakes are usually a problem.
Take extra steps if necessary to get the job done! This may require coming in early and staying a few minutes late to ensure the job gets done and to maintain a solid standard of excellence in your work. Trust me you will feel much better in getting a job done on time and receiving the rewards and praise; than being late, turning in work with mistakes and receiving criticism... and maybe the door.
Sometimes your career comes down to a few key opportunities. make the most of them, manage your time so you can always deliver tasks with excellence and on time. We will definitely revisit this topic in the future.
See some additional excellent advice and quotes on time management at http://www.alice.org/Randy/timetalk.htm a website developed by Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon University.
Kim R. Wells
No comments:
Post a Comment