Seven Deadly Sins of Time Management

A time management workshop for busy library peeps

Time management isn’t sexy…

…but it is necessary.

jturner@georgialibraries.org@lawlesslbrarian

THE 7 DEADLY SINS

Failure to internalize organizational goals

Deadly sin #1

Pop Quiz

Work with your group

and jot down as many of

your library’s strategic

plan goals as you can

recall.What is your library’s

mission statement?

List as many of your

library’s organizational

values as you can recall.

• Implement technology strategies that increase efficiency, service, and responsiveness to the community.

• Provide a dynamic, current collection of resources in popular formats designed to meet the needs of the community both now and in the future.

• Create a customer-focused environment in all aspects of library service delivery

Strategic Goals

• Create and promote a public image of the library as a vital, dynamic, customer-friendly and essential source of information, life-long learning, cultural enrichment and civic involvement.

• Provide the necessary infrastructure and public access to meet the library needs of a growing population.

• Provide a welcoming, safe library environment that reflects the community’s changing needs.

• Strengthen existing partnerships and develop new collaborations with schools, agencies, businesses,

• community organizations, and individuals to maximize service to the community.

Strategic Goals

The Bartow County Library System provides all citizens of the county with resources and services to help meet their informational, educational, cultural, and recreational needs. The library system is the primary self-directed learning resource for the county and offers extensive literary collections, current and reliable reference collections, and exciting children's collections that encourage citizens to develop an interest in reading and lifelong learning.

Mission

• Quality Service• Learning-Centered• Intellectual Freedom• Universal Accessibility• Innovation• Communication• Collaboration/Teamwork• Positive Attitude

Values

Failure to set personal goalsDeadly sin #2

Why is it important to set goals?

Career

Financial

Education

Family

Artistic

Attitude

Physical

Pleasure

Public Service

Personal needs

Library needs

Creative Traction

Lifetime Goals

Five Year

One Year

Six Month

One Month

Backward Goal Setting

Gravitational Goal Setting

Tasks I love Tasks I loathe

Tasks I love Tasks I loathe

Personal Life

Professional Life

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-bound

SMART Goals

Exercise: Backward or Gravitational Goals?

Failure to prioritizeDeadly sin #3

Covey Quadrant

• Crises• Pressing problems• Deadlines

• Preparation• Prevention• Values clarification• Relationships• Empowerment

Necessity Quality

Deception

• Email• Phone calls• Meetings• Popular activities

Waste

• Busy work• Time wasters• Escape activities

• System-wide initiatives• Department/branch projects • Organizational teams/committees• Fielding daily communication• Daily job responsibilities from job description• other daily job responsibilities not in job description• Library association/community involvement

30 Day Snapshot

How do your priorities map?

Balanced

Focused

Flexible

Team player

Knows role

SMART goals

Scheduling

Adapts work

Quadrant 2 Person

Requirements Characteristics

Daily Doldrums

Failure to manage distractionsDeadly sin #4

What’s Broken?

Desk Office Workload

Team Div. Org Hood

Every surface covered with clutter

Layout is not conducive for working with others

Saying “yes” to everything keeps me in a state of perpetual backlog

Short-term priorities are not clearly articulated

Highly competitive environment where dept heads compete for limited resources

Past grudges interfere with getting things done

The house next door is in disrepair and negatively affects my property value

Dual monitor setup creates a wall between me and visitors in my office

Old projects are still on my current projects board

Inefficient use of email and task lists makes it difficult for me to stay current

Team members don’t respect each others’ time, leading to permanent crisis mode in office

Lack of communication between dept heads in my division

No current CE needs assessment

My house is on a septic tank and the county is in no rush to put the neighborhood on sewer

No clear sense of organization anywhere (corkboard, desk, bookcase, etc)

Slow Internet connection speed makes it difficult to complete online projects

Not doing enough far-reaching, bigger impact projects for GA library community

Projects could be managed better (often unsure of who is responsible for what, when will action items be complete)

Imbalance of the division of resources

Several people in the neighborhood are active, but there are no sidewalks for joggers

Not enough filing space for legacy documents

Too many presentation/ speaking requests

Lack of space to fully deploy a Mac/PC environment

Giving to procrastinationDeadly sin #5

Functional

Dysfunctional

Short-term

Long-term

Chronic

Types of Procrastination

Why do people procrastinate?

Procrastination=Delayed Workflows

Acquisition Cataloging Processing Shelving Public Services

What methods have you used to combat procrastination?

Two Birds

• List the tasks you are currently putting off.

• Remove two from the list by doing them now!

• Plan and set a schedule for the rest.

• Reward yourself when the tasks are complete.

• Punish yourself when tasks are not completed on schedule.

4 D

• Don’t do it

• Do it

• Delegate it

• Defer it

Nuclear Option

• No working late

• No taking work home

• If it doesn’t get done during work hours, it doesn’t get done.

Taking on too muchDeadly sin #6

Everyone is a negotiator.

Sometimes, you just have to say..

… but how should I do it?

What are your main challenges in saying no? What are some canned phrases you could use to say no in the workplace?

Failure to take care of yourselfDeadly sin #7

Thank you!

Jay Turner

jturner@georgialibraries.org

Twitter: lawlesslbrarian

Handouts for This Workshop

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9W4J84EBjUMZGFocDFoOC1tcUk/edit?usp=sharing