Increasing Efficiency

This workshop combines traditional time management strategies and techniques with tools used for project management. Participants develop strategies for effectively managing their work and their team’s work, balancing priorities, and making efficient use of time. They learn to focus on the key causes of work overload and how to prioritize and create more manageable workloads.

Workshop Goals:

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be better able to:

• Identify priorities and prioritize work – set effective goals
• Spend more time on their important tasks
• Help their staff focus on important tasks and meeting specs
• Assess and monitor their and their staff’s use of time; identify areas for improvement
• Plan and manage their time and work environment to address competing demands more effectively
• Recognize and reduce/eliminate interruptions and other time wasters
• Delegate work and clarify/negotiate expectations for performance
• Plan and manage complex tasks and projects

Workshop Agenda:

Morning:

• Understanding the nature of time
• Goals of time management
• Analyzing your day
• Prioritizing tasks

Afternoon:

• Stopping time stealers: phone, e-mail, meetings and interruptions
• Developing good organizational habits
• Planning and managing work
• Improving communication related to task and performance
• Delegating effectively
• Key steps for managing complex tasks or projects
  1. Clarifying goals and specifications
  2. Planning and scheduling action steps – timetables and action plans, setting realistic deadlines
  3. Monitoring and reporting on progress/status to be sure the goals are met, and that problems will be identified and addressed
  4. Anticipating, prioritizing and solving problems
  5. Evaluation and reflection – did I get the job done (did I meet the customer’s needs/demands) and what did I learn from this?

You are being constantly asked to do more and more due to increased demands and staff cutbacks. Learn how to analyze and identify priorities in a way that can help you negotiate with your supervisor to make better use of your time. Also learn strategies to get the most productive work done in what may be a high pressure and chaotic environment. This program presents practical strategies that will have you working smarter and more satisfied the very next day!

Workshop Goals:

Upon completion of this workshop, you will be better able to:

1. Identify priorities and negotiate how to prioritize your work
2. Assess and monitor your use of time; and identify areas for improvement
3. Effectively address competing demands
4. Recognize and reduce time wasters
5. Better manage interruptions, emails and phone calls
6. Clarify and negotiate expectations for performance
7. Plan and manage complex tasks/projects

Workshop Outline:

• Goals of time management
• Analyzing your day
• Clarifying and negotiating priorities
• Stopping time stealers / Handling interruptions
• Dealing efficiently with email and phone calls

Five key steps of work management:

1. Clarifying goals and specifications
2. Planning and scheduling
3. Monitoring progress
4. Anticipating, prioritizing and solving problems
5. Evaluation and reflection – did the job get done? done well? what can I learn?

This course can be a full or half-day program. It can be divided into a time management and work management component and run as two half-days. Each component can also be compressed into a one-hour webinar or conference presentation touching on highlights of the key concepts.

Meetings are a way of life in many organizations. Unfortunately, many meetings end up being counter-productive, reducing rather than facilitating productivity. Krieger Solutions’ program presents a thoughtful, easy-to-use method for designing and facilitating productive meetings.

There is a science to running effective meetings and it begins with careful planning before the meeting. The single most important component of this is a well-structured agenda. The agenda outlines the content, process, targets and timeline of a meeting. The other key skill is group facilitation strategies that keep the process on track and keep the people engaged.

Workshop Goals:

By the end of the workshop, you will be better able to:

1. Plan an effective meeting, including:
   • Developing successful agendas
   • Preparing for the meeting
   • Determining alternatives to meetings
2. Lead an effective and productive meeting, including:
   • Facilitating group dynamics
   • Maintaining an effective process and pace
   • Dealing with difficult behaviors
   • Recording a meeting/taking minutes
   • Effectively concluding a meeting
   • Evaluating meeting effectiveness

Workshop Outline:

• Define what a meeting is and its purposes
• Explore alternatives to meetings
• Plan a meeting:
  • Agenda development – content, structure and strategy
  • Other preparation – materials, key actors, communication, room set up
• Manage the meeting:
  • Understand meeting/group dynamics
  • Role of the leader – working the agenda/conducting the business
  • Utilizing helpful people; roles other participants play
  • Dealing with difficult people /disruptive behaviors
• Effectively conclude and follow up a meeting
  • Summarizing as you go
  • Note taking/dealing with minutes
  • Planning next steps

This can be a full or half-day program. Participants have a workbook that they use throughout the class to design a real meeting using concepts taught in the program. The full day program allows time for facilitation practice as participants lead and debrief meeting simulations. The program can also be compressed into a one-hour webinar or conference presentation touching on highlights of the key concepts.

Time is a limited resource. We’ve all got just 168 hours in each week. Learn strategies to make the most effective use of your time. Identify people and situations that waste your time and find ways to intervene effectively. Learn planning and organizing strategies that will increase your productivity. E-mail is one of the biggest time stealers – learn quick tips to better manage your e-mail.

Workshop Goals:

Upon completion of this workshop, you will be better able to:

1. Identify priorities and negotiate how to prioritize your work
2. Assess and monitor your use of time; and identify areas for improvement
3. Effectively address competing demands
4. Recognize and reduce time wasters
5. Better manage interruptions, emails and phone calls
6. Clarify and negotiate expectations for performance

Workshop Outline:

• Goals of time management
• Analyzing your day
• Setting priorities
• Stopping time stealers / Handling interruptions
• Dealing efficiently with email and phone calls

This is half-day program. It can be paired with stress management for a nice full day program. It can also be compressed into a one-hour webinar or conference presentation.

 

Some people are quick to make decisions while others deliberate indefinitely.  Decisions often get made under stress and can have unintended negative consequences. There are a range of critical thinking styles and differences in style can interfere with decision making in an organization. Decision making is best viewed as the core of a problem-solving process.

This workshop present powerful strategies for forging effective decisions that will have broad support.  We examine the elements of an effective decision, how it fits within the problem solving process, the key steps to problem solving and making good decisions, and how to follow through on a decision to maximize success.  This workshop applies to senior leaders, line supervisors and line staff.  Everyone in an organization is making decisions all day, every day!

Workshop Goals:

You will learn how to:

• Make decisions based on a structured problem-solving process
• Present ideas that are coherent, logical and well-structured
• Engage others in the decision-making process
• Identify and overcome barriers to decision making and critical thinking
• Apply critical thinking and decision making skills to work assignments

This program presents a strategic guide and practical tools for using critical thinking skills to analyze situations, identify hidden assumptions and make effective decisions. You will also learn how your individual thinking style impacts your approach to decision making, and how to use this understanding to work more effectively with groups making decisions.

We address key strategies to enable deliberate critical thinking about everyday situations without getting bogged down in complex analyses. The tools presented are simple and practical. You will receive a detailed handout to serve as a reference and a short workbook that you will use in class to apply the tools and skills presented to actual problems.