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HANDLING INTERRUPTIONS - PART 1
If you follow your time budget and work on priority items off your "To Do" list, you will make maximum use of the time available to you. You won't accomplish every task you can identify, but you will accomplish the most important. But you must follow your plan. To do so, you must handle interruptions - anything that will cause you to depart from your plan. Unexpected phone calls, drop-in visitors, and business crises are all notorious interruptions. Here are some general rules to follow to minimize interruptions.
Plan for Interruptions
No plan is ever perfect. Therefore, it is wise to plan for some interruptions. When working out your time budget, set aside an hour or so each day to deal with the unexpected. Try increasing your estimates of time to complete each task by 10 or 20 percent to allow for interruptions. When you delegate a task - particularly when a person is first learning the task - set a target date for completion of the task a day or two prior to when the task must be completed. The extra time will give you a chance to review the work and accomplish any required revisions.
Manage Your Telephone Usage
While your telephone can be a big time saver, it can also rob you of much of your valuable time. To manage phone usage, do the following:
• Set aside telephone time. Make or receive phone calls only during these hours.
• Have someone screen your calls. Have them take messages except from those key individuals you need to speak with immediately.
• Avoid the temptation to respond to telephone messages in the order they were received. Instead, review all of your messages once or twice a day and return calls in priority order. Whenever possible, delegate the task of returning a call to someone else.
• Carry a cellular phone in your car and use time in transit to make some of your calls.
• If you just need to send a message, confirm an appointment or anything else for which a two-way exchange isn't necessary, try faxing a short message rather than making a phone call.
• Equip your phone system with a switch that allows you to turn off the bell on your office phone. Route all calls through your receptionist.
• When you call someone, be pleasant, but tell them you don't want to waste their time, so you'll get right to the point of the call.
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