September 2019
Featured Article
Managing Time
By Don Gruenbacher, Kansas State University
In a position that serves as the intermediary between faculty and upper administration, efficient use of your time is critical in order to remain effective as a department head. There are many tools available to you for managing your time wisely, and each of us must find the right balance of those that fit our own styles.
Prioritization is a fundamental element in managing your time effectively, as your position will ultimately consume all of the time that you make available. For your high and medium priorities, you will want to ensure that you or someone to whom you delegate is working on those items. It is often necessary to wait on the low priority items to see if they either: 1) go away, 2) get resolved by someone else, or 3) rise in priority.
Before attempting to manage one’s time effectively, it is important to know how you are currently spending your time. Keep track of how you spend your time for a week or two using a level of detail that is most important to you. Categorize your time use to determine which items are consuming more time than you feel is appropriate, and then you can develop a plan to address those specific areas. As an example, you may find that you spend over six hours a day reading and responding to email. If that feels excessive to you, set specific times for checking your email each day and respond to the most important emails first. You will often find that others will provide answers, making a response from you unnecessary. If you do limit your email hours to specific times of the day, it is important to communicate your plan to your key constituents (faculty, staff, dean, etc.).
Many department heads find it is essential to allocate a block of daily or weekly time to accomplish key tasks. For example, 8:30-10:30 a.m. daily could be one possibility. It would allow you to resolve any immediate issues with faculty, staff, or students first thing in the morning and dedicate a solid block of uninterruptable time to addressing your major items for the day or week. The key is to make sure it is uninterrupted time as possible. It is important to let your faculty and staff know you are blocking out that time, and they will almost always completely respect that decision as it also helps them to plan and deal with issues. If you are in your office, it is probably advisable to keep your door closed to truly maintain that uninterrupted block of time by deterring faculty and staff who tend to knock as they are entering.
On the flip side, scheduling regular time with staff, an assistant department head, or committee chairs may be necessary to ensure you get that important time with those groups or individuals. This will help you to maintain critical communications with the strategic department groups that keep the department running smoothly.
Finally, there is the seemingly unlimited list of meetings that always end up on your calendar. Deciding what meetings to attend and which can be given a lower priority can be very strategic. We have all known administrators who seem to just go to meetings all day long and a few who magically avoid meetings on a regular basis. Although there is little flexibility in attending meetings your dean schedules, you do have flexibility on two other ends of the spectrum. At the institutional level, there always seems to be an endless opportunity to attend meetings. Observe how many and what other department heads are attending a particular meeting to help determine its true importance and impact on your department. At the departmental level, closely evaluate how many meetings you have with smaller groups. Perhaps these can either be reduced or you can delegate an assistant department head or similar person to represent you.
A number of other great time-saving recommendations from [1] that haven’t already been discussed include the following:
- Make a to-do list every day and follow it
- Establish goals
- Keep your desk organized
- Train your support staff to help you save time
- Utilize time-saving devices
- Learn to be straightforward with others
- Learn to say no
- Don’t try to be a perfectionist
- Get out of your office
The key aspect of all of these time management techniques is to:
- develop a plan that addresses your priorities;
- communicate that plan to your key constituents;
- periodically analyze your time management effectiveness and adjust accordingly.
Finally, always be open, honest, and forthright with the Dean and other administrators. Generally that will carry you through tough times.
[1] The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey, Simon & Schuster Inc., 1990, ISBN 0-671-70863-5.
[2] Are Your Lights On?; How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is, Donald C. Gause and Gerald M. Weinberg, Dorset House Publishing, 1990, ISBN 0-932633-16-1.