Should Human Resource teams include Time Resource Managers?

Time is your organisation’s most precious resource. You buy 37 hours a week time from your employees. You recruit based on skills. Evidence of time management skills is vital. Time management is about self-discipline and self-awareness.  The most self-aware and self-disciplined employees are usually the most successful.

A team that spends its time wisely is more productive. Time management technology isn’t the answer, skills are. When I first started out on my career, I attended a time managment course and as part of the course all attendees received a filofax.

Many skilled and experienced managers still rely on pen and paper for taking notes,  creating to do lists and managing their diaries. Hand writing for example improves retention and learning.

Digital is a notorious time drain  and is addictive by design. Digital time managment tools can sap more time than save. Skills are what are required. Acquire the skills and then use digital or analogue to apply the skills.

As Harvard Business Review showed three particular skills separate time management success from failure:

  • Awareness: thinking realistically about your time by understanding it is a limited resource. Once that time is spent, it can’t be re-used.
  • Arrangement: designing and organizing your goals, plans, schedules, and tasks to effectively use time. Most employers set objectives for their employees. But in order to meet those objectives, employees need to learn how to allocate their time effectively and prioritise their workload.
  • Adaptation: monitoring your use of time while performing activities, including adjusting to interruptions or changing priorities. Time management is a dynamic process, proactivity is essential but so is reactivity, being able to adapt as priorities change.

At Yoga HR we have developed an e-learning course to develop your employees’ time management skills. We are confident that an investment in developing your employees’ time management skills will pay off. Further we are confident that a team that manages its time well will be happier and healthier.