Copyright Institute of Management & Administration Jan 2007If you are like most HR professionals, you're probably trying to do more in less time. There is an art and a science to succeeding at that: Manage your time and prioritize your work.
Although many are fond of the term "multitasking," the true time manager has a lot going on at once-but is able to focus on one thing at a time. Excel at time management, and you may even be able to work on a few more projects this year.
A new year is always a stressful time for HR professionals with payroll responsibilities, even if you are working with an outside payroll company. HRfocus likes the observations of Sarona Lee-Wilde, payroll manager with the Portland Public Schools System, who notes, "I find in talking with other payroll professionals that some bad habits-such as working nonstop, overscheduling, working before and after hours, and getting lost in e-mails-die hard."
Here are a few tips excerpted from Wilde's article, "Maximize Every Hour of the Work Day: Time Management Tips," that appeared in IOMA's special report, How to Become a More Influential Payroll Professional. These tips are fairly universal and can help any HR professional to become master of his or her time and to work "smarter, not longer":
* Use Outlook to schedule work and down time. Outlook (or your office's equivalent) has a method to remind you of tasks and/or meetings; it can be audible, visual, or both. Many use it to remind them of upcoming meetings. How about setting up a meeting or task called "lunch" and scheduling it with a reminder? Promise yourself to actually do something like take a break when the reminder pops up. You will be able to fortify yourself and make the most of the rest of the day.
* Eliminate back-to-back meetings. When it comes to back-to-back meetings, start a new trend in your office that others will thank you for once they get on board. Leave at least 15 minutes between meetings. In fact, schedule that time on your calendar, if you need to, so others don't think you are free. Use those 15 minutes to jot down anything you need from the meeting you just left. Then make sure you have everything you need for the next meeting.
* Set aside blocks of time for you. If your organization uses Outlook or a similar tool, colleagues probably schedule meetings with you quite often. They can know if you are available or not, but generally can't see what you are doing if you aren't free. Use this to your advantage. If you need time to get your own work done (which may include updating your project list or reviewing e-mail or voicemail), schedule time for yourself. That way no one else will schedule a meeting with you and you'll be able to get your work done.
* Set priorities before you leave the office. Even if you are worn out, behind schedule, or frazzled by the events of the day, go through your tasks and projects and outline the next business day. When you arrive at work that morning, you already know what to start on. Over the course of the previous night, your brain may even have worked out solutions to some unfinished business rather than pondering what it had to keep track of.
* Highlight important e-mails -and sort the others for later. Flag or colorize e-mails in your inbox. Many people use multiple folders to keep e-mails. Wilde's preference: Keep e-mails on screen if some action is required. She explains: "I know the way I am: Out of sight is out of mind. I work to keep my inbox to just over one screen full. Those items that require some action by me, I flag or color-code so that at a glance, I know which ones to focus on."
* Delegate some of your tasks. In looking at your list(s) of projects, perfect candidates for delegation include:
- Anything that could/would be a learning opportunity for someone else.
- Something you could do in your sleep if you had time, but that you can't do personally.
-A task you can explain quickly and easily.
- A project for which you know the timetable(s) involved.
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