Six Sigma Blogs

Books about time management can be found at nearly every bookstore. It is a popular topic that has piqued the interest of many for a long time. Although the titles may be different, each attempts to contribute contemporary thoughts on improving productivity. The demand for these is driven primarily because many lack the skills needed to be effective time managers, especially in the workplace. It is worth mentioning a few of the more popular ideas that many successful time managers have found effective in the workplace.

Email can be a black hole, sucking time away from you. It doesn’t have to be this way. Successful time managers schedule times during the day when they will read email. Whether you have a day planner or an electronic calendar, schedule hour periods two or three times during the day when you will read your email. People know how to reach you for emergencies. Touch your email once, creating a task for later, addressing the issue immediately, or generating that meeting. Take action on an email as soon as you read it. Keep your responses very brief. Do not reply to the same topic more than twice. At this point pick up the phone and resolve any lengthy details.

Attempting to work on multiple things at once is a skill many refer to as multitasking. Although many believe this to be effective, it is actually counterproductive. Many studies suggest that although one may think they are faster, the amount of work being completed is less than if they focused on one task at a time. Many top managers have improved time management skills by working on one thing at a time. They avoid making mistakes that increase the time needed to complete tasks.

Watch an organized person and witness what they do at the beginning of each day. What you will see is a 15-30 minute review and prioritization of the day’s tasks. These few minutes each day can save you many precious hours. People effective at managing time can accomplish more in a day using a task list than someone who just goes with the flow. Why? Because they minimize disruptions knowing what little time they have to complete the tasks.

Distractions during the day can prevent you from accomplishing your goals. Although not all interruptions can be avoided, they can be managed effectively. First, plan some contingency time during your day for those unexpected disruptions. For those employees that may not respect your time as much as you do, speak with them politely but assertively. Help them know how and when it is best to communicate with you so that you can devote time to your scheduled tasks and meet their needs. Finally, let your phone work for you, not the other way around. Utilize voice mail for those times that are scheduled for key tasks.

AlliedTime can help you get yourself and employees on track and on time, so be sure to visit for a great selection of affordable and reliable time clock and time management systems.

Conducting time studies to maximize the efficiency is a common practice in many hospitals not only in the United States, but also in other countries. The traditional way of logging in details of a particular job makes use of pens, papers and stopwatches. In order to make data collection more efficient, however, you might want to take a look at Time Study RN, which is a tool made specifically to help nurses specify the details on how they use their time at work.

Hospitals usually conduct work measurement initiatives, including time studies, to determine the areas in which they can improve and also to ascertain that their standards are maintained by their workforce. To make sure that such initiatives are not done haphazardly, a convenient, easy to use and accurate data collection tool, such as the Time Study RN, is crucial.

The conventional way of collecting data for work measurement and time studies is generally ineffective. You really cannot rely on nurses to remember to log in their accomplished tasks regularly on top of the tons of duties that they have do in a day. Thus, in order for your data collection to be successful, you need to ensure that you provide tools or devices, such as Time Study RN, which will make things easier for nurses. Besides, you do not want such initiatives to hamper the main duties of your nurses, which is to provide the best service they can offer to patients.

This old fashioned way of gathering work details, however, may not be able to supply accurate and reliable information. No matter how many consultants your hospital hires, if you still rely on old (and somewhat inefficient) data gathering techniques, there is still a possibility that the result of the study will not be as helpful in reaching the goals and objectives that your institution has set.

Another benefit of using this time study tool for nurses is its flexibility. Since the tasks and responsibilities of one hospital department are different from another, you need an information-gathering device that you can easily customize or tailor-fit to your goals and objectives. With the help of this device, you will surely be able to have a better understanding of the challenges faced by each of the departments in your organization.

If your institution is interested not only in effectively gathering information, but also in coming up with a reliable, accurate and complete measurement and analysis of the performance of each nurse in your hospital, you would not hesitate to use Time Study RN.