Productivity Tips Newsletter
For Better Results, Goals & Success

THE GULAS GROUP HAS PERFORMED NUMEROUS PRIORITY MANAGEMENT WORKSHOPS THIS YEAR. ONE POINT IS PERFECTLY CLEAR TODAY AS IT WAS 16 YEARS AGO WHEN WE BEGAN. WORKPLACE DELEGATION IS A CONTINUING CHALLENGE FOR MOST ORGANIZATIONS. SO THIS MONTH WE THOUGHT A TIP FROM DR. PETER HONEY ON HOW TO TURN SETTING DEADLINES WHEN DELEGATING CAN BECOME A VALUABLE LEARNING EXPERIENCE

SETTING DEADLINES
By Dr. Peter Honey

Giving people deadlines is a common, and necessary, activity for any manager. The fascinating business of getting results through other people inevitably means that you need to know completion times for delegated and allocated tasks. (Delegated tasks are ones where you are accountable; allocated tasks are ones where someone else is accountable.)

Attitudes to deadlines vary enormously. In some organizations an agreed deadline is sacrosanct even if heaven and earth have to be moved to meet it. In other organizations deadlines are not taken seriously and there are few adverse consequences for missing them. In macho set-ups imposing impossible deadlines is often a ploy used to sort out the 'men from the boys'. In more enlightened working environments, deadlines are always agreed taking other commitments and priorities into account.

There is much to learn from deadlines, whether agreed or imposed, and each time you set one with a subordinate you are unwittingly providing him/her with a learning opportunity. Examples of lessons learned are:

• to speak up assertively and refuse to commit to an unrealistic deadline (you get the deadlines you deserve)
• to give the earliest possible warning and re-negotiate a deadline which, for unforeseen reasons, is going to be missed
• how right Northcote Parkinson was when he said 'work expands to fill the time available for its completion'
• the different effects, some motivating some demotivating, of tight deadlines
• how necessity is the mother of invention
• how impressive it is to take the initiative and volunteer a self-imposed deadline (even better if you stick to it)
• self-insights into the tendency to procrastinate if a deadline is too lax
• to ask questions and establish the reasons for a deadline
• how to negotiate and reach a win-win deadline that suits all parties
• how to build in margins for error and the unexpected and therefore make it easier to meet deadlines
• how personal credibility is enhanced if work is occasionally delivered ahead of time.

It is intriguing how an ostensibly mundane activity such as setting deadlines can be a seed pod with the potential to germinate so much learning. The comforting thought is that whether you set tight or lax deadlines, or even no deadlines at all, your people will learn something from it. The only question is - is it what you want them to learn?

These articles are taken from Peter Honey's best selling paperback now in its fourth reprint, 101 Ways To Develop Your People, Without Really Trying!

A special event is taking place this August 17th from 11 AM till noon at your desktop. Ted Gulas will be presenting a one-hour preview on Working Smart with Microsoft Outlook. This preview class will be presented over MS Meeting so the seats are limited. If you're interested please register there is no cost and you will receive some powerful tips on how the Priority Manager process of managing over 16 essential workload skills can and will supercharge the output from your Outlook Software. Register NOW!

Our next public class for Working Smart with Outlook is September 1, 2005 in Huntsville Alabama.

Here is a brief example of the lessons learned form Working Smart with Microsoft Outlook:

DELUGE@WORK.COM:

Ding Dong... "You've Got Mail", says your computer. Do you:

a) Immediately open the message, read it and reply;

b) Read it and do nothing; Read it do nothing; Read it....

c) Get stressed ?

If you answered b) or c) you are one of the many millions around the world who are being swept away by the digital deluge. The average office worker now spends about three hours a day sending and receiving some 150 e-mails. For many, the amount of data sent to each other via e-mail exceeds voice traffic. We now e-mail more than we talk!

Here are Priority Management's top three best practices to help you manage your Inbox:

1. Clear your Inbox every day - don't let it become a catch-all folder for everything you are working on.
2. Read items just once, and answer, delete or move them to project specific folders.
3. Set up rules for your Inbox, that will automatically file, delete, highlight, forward or prioritize incoming and outgoing messages.

Call your local Priority Office and ask about the Working Sm@rt with Outlook or Lotus Notes one-day program!

Our next public class for Working Smart with Outlook is September 1, 2005 in Huntsville Alabama.

Go to these links to learn more:

REGISTER FOR OUR SEPTEMBER 1, 2005 at NEW HORIZONS LEARNING CENTER IN HUNTSVILLE

• Working Sm@rt with Microsoft Outlook

• Working Sm@rt with Lotus Notes

• Working Sm@rt with GroupWise

• To see our complete curriculum go to Training Curriculum