Office of Parent, Family, Community Engagement & Faith-Based Partnerships Time Management & Organization Skills Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons Presented by Julia Manokhina, SISL Program Manager Professional Development for School Improvement Support Liaisons

If Only I Could Have 36 Hour Day! Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons

How to Control the Use of Time Establish Responsibilities, Priorities and Objectives 1. Eliminate unnecessary and inappropriate activities 2. Plan & schedule the use of your time weekly and daily 3. Make optimum use of your peak energy time Share the work & delegate as much as possible Include room for unexpected events Eliminate or reduce as many distractions as possible Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons

Setting Priorities – the ABC Method Priority A – “Must Do” – these are the critical items. Some may fall into this category because of management directives, important job requirements, significant deadlines or opportunities for success or advancement. Priority B – “Should Do” – these are the items of medium value. Items in this category may contribute to improved performance but are not essential or do not have critical deadlines. Priority C – “Nice to Do” – this is the lowest value category. While interesting or fun, they should be eliminated, postponed, or scheduled for slack periods. Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons

Planning Tools Long Term Planning (over 1 week) :  Action Planning Worksheet  Milestone Chart  PERT Diagram Short Term Planning (daily and weekly) :  To Do List Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons

Activity for Practice Take 10 minutes to list everything you need to do this week. Use Weekly Planning Worksheet on p. 16. (Don’t forget to identify the priority of each item on your list.) Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons

Common Time Wasters Self-Generated Disorganization Procrastination Social Interaction Acceptance Perfectionism Risk Avoidance Environmental Visitors Telephone Calls Mail Waiting for Someone Unproductive Meetings Crises Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons

Dealing with Time-Wasters Disorganization  Organize your records (develop a filing system)  Organize your day Procrastination  Set a deadline  Do unpleasant tasks first  Set up a reward system  Break jobs in small pieces  Arrange for follow up  Do it now! Social Interaction  Conference Planner (p. 20) Acceptance  Stick to priorities  Learn to say “NO” Perfectionism  Expectations Risk Avoidance  Cost of Error Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons

Dealing with Time-Wasters (continued) Phone Calls and Visitors  Set a time for networking  Limit unnecessary interactions  When providing parent support, keep to the point.  Know how to end conversation without upsetting your caller/visitor. Mail  Distinguish between information items, action items, items to route to others and items to toss.  Handle each piece of mail once! Waiting  Limit the wait time  Use the wait time to catch up on things (reading, planning etc.) Meetings  Plan what you want to get out of the meetings  Contribute to making the meetings productive Crises  Contingency planning  Emergency Planning Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons

Take Home Activity Keep a daily time log (p. 37) for at least a few days in your typical week (not the PSSA week). Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons

Three Tests of Time 1.The Test of Necessity – be sure that each activity you are doing is actually necessary. This should help reduce your tasks to the essential elements. 2.The Test of Appropriateness – once essential tasks have been identified, determine who will do them. Sometimes the work can be split with other people. Doing it will share the burden between the members of the team. 3. The Test of Efficiency – Is the way you are doing something the best way to do it? Could doing it differently save you time? Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons

Getting the Most out of Technology A simple headset can help you free your hands when talking on the phone ParentLink can help you send phone messages Zimbra Calendar can help you keep track of your appointments Google Groups can help you stay in touch with your parents and community partners School website can help you share information with your students and parents Google Docs can help you collaborate Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons

Questions & Comments Thank You for Your Participation and Good Luck!!! Time Management and Organization Skills for School Improvement Support Liaisons