Personal Effectiveness & Communication Flashcards
Time management is…
…the process of allocating time to tasks in the most effective manner
Effective time management involves attention to: (6)
- Goal / target setting (SMART)
- Action planning (Written)
- Prioritising
- Focus (1 thing at a time)
- Urgency
- Organisation (ABCD, batches, natural pattern)
The ABCD method of in-tray management:
Act immediately
Bin it (Worthless, irrelevant or unneccessary)
Create a plan to come back (To do, calendar, etc)
Delegate it to someone else
Time management can be improved by: (4)
- Plan each day
- Produce a longer-term plan
- Do no be available to all at all times
- Stay in control of the telephone
Prioritisation involves…
…identifying key results and key tasks
Must be done and must be achieved
A job is more important than other tasks if it satisfies 1 of 3 conditions:
- Adds value to output
- Comes from a high-priority source
- Potential consequences of failure are long-term, difficult to reverse, far reaching and costly
Manage time & organise work: 5 problems common to all managers:
- Procrastinating
- Delegating inefficiently
- Mismanaging the paperwork
- Holding unnecessary meetings
- Failing to set priorities
Work planning involves 4 steps:
- Establishing priorities
- Loading / allocation of tasks
- Sequencing tasks
- Scheduling
Digital means…
…of digits or numbers (binary format)
Analogue means…
…continuously variable signals
Developments in communication technology: (6)
- Modems and digital transmission
- Mobile communications
- Voice messaging systems
- Computer bulletin boards
- Videoconferencing
- Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
10 communication tools:
- Conversation
- Meeting
- Presentation
- Telephone
- Fax
- Memorandum
- Letter
- Report
- Videoconferencing
The effect of office automation on business:
- Routine processing
- Paperless
- Management information
- Organisation structure (Branches)
- Customer service
- Homeworking & remote working
Coaching is where…
…a trainee is put under the guidance of an experienced employee
5 steps to coaching:
- Establish learning targets
- Plan a systematic learning & development program
- ID opportunities for broadening knowledge and experience
- Account for strengths and limitations of trainee
- Exchange feedback
NB: Not that coaching focuses on…
…achieving specific objectives
Mentoring is…
…a long-term relationship in which a more experienced person acts as a teacher, counsellor, role model, supporter and encourager to foster individual personal and career development
Mentoring differs from coaching in 2 main ways:
- Mentor is not usually the protege’s immediate supervisors
2. Mentoring covers a wide range of functions (not always related to job performance)
A coach vs a mentor:
A coach needs to be an expert in the field
A mentor is often drawn from other areas; opens lines of communication’; usually a senior position
Counselling is…
…a purposeful relationship in which 1 person helps another to help himself
…a way of relating and responding to another person sot hat that person is helped to explore his thoughts, feelings and behaviour with the aim of reaching a clearer understanding (of himself, a problem or of one to the other)
NB: Note that counselling is non-directive…
…the individual decides what is to be achieved and how
Benefits of counselling:
- Prevent under-performance
- Demonstrate commitment
- Give confidence and encouragement
- Contribute to employees’ problems
- Comply with obligations (harassment)
The counselling process has 3 stages:
- Reviewing the current scenario
- Developing a preferred scenario
- Determine how to get there
A personal development plan is…
…a clear developmental action plan for an individual which incorporates a wide set of developmental opportunities, including formal training
Self-development is…
…personal development, with the person taking primary responsibility or their own learning and for choosing the means to achieve this
A systematic approach to personal development planning: (6)
- Select an area for development
- Set a SMART learning objective
- Determine how to move towards objective
- Formulate a comprehensive and specific action plan
- Secure agreement to your plan
- Implement your plan
Conflict arises from: (4)
- Competition for power and resources
- Own goals, interest and priorities
- Differences and incompatibilities of personality
- Work methods, time scales and styles
Difference and competition can be positive; only negative if:
- Poor / limited communication
- Poor coordination
- Status barriers
- Pressure from work demands
Problems working with someone: Try the following:
- Communicate
- Negotiate
- Separate
6 management responses to handling conflict:
- Denial / withdrawal (under the rug)
- Suppression (smooth it over)
- Dominance (win-lose)
- Compromise (negotiating)
- Integration / collaboration (Group effort)
- Cooperative behaviour (joint problem solving)
Limits of ability and authority to resolve issues:
- Beyond your authority
2. Beyond your ability
A grievance occurs when…
…an individual thinks that they are being wrongly treated by their colleagues or supervisors when working relationships break down
Formal grievance procedures: 3 steps
- Explained to aggrieved’s immediate boss
- If unresolved, referred to the next level of management
- Also reported to the personnel department
During a formal grievance procedure, it is important that you are…
…honest and fair
Communication may take the following forms:
- Giving instructions
- Giving / receiving feedback
- Exchanging ideas
- Announcing plans / strategies
- Comparing results against plan
- Rules and procedures
- Communication about structure and job descriptions
Communication patterns of networks: (Leavitt)
- Circle (each member - only 2 others in the group)
- Chain (each end cannot communicate)
- The Y
- The Wheel (X)
Environmental scanning is…
…the process of gathering external information, which is available from a wide range of sources
Environmental scanning can include such sources as:
- Government
- Bureaux (Reuters)
- Consultants
- Newspapers and magazines
- Reference works
- Libraries / info services
- Extranets (EDI)
- Internet
Data is…
…raw material for data processing
…consists of numbers, letters and symbols
…relates to facts, events and transactions
Information is…
…data that has been processed
…meaningful to the person who receives it
Planning: Once a decision has been made
Plan how to implement the steps
- Available resources
- Time scales
- Likely outcomes under alternative scenarios
Controlling: One a plan is implemented
Control actual performance
- Whether proceeding as planned
- Unexpected deviations
- Corrective action
8 qualities of good information:
- Accurate
- Complete
- Cost-beneficial
- User-targeted
- Relevant
- Authoritative
- Timely
- Easy to use
Levels of information in an organisation
- Strategic
- Management / tactical
- Operational
The formal communication process:
- Encoding (Verbal, pictures, diagrams, numbers)
- Medium (Conversation, letter, noticeboard)
- Feedback (Test understanding)
- Distortion (Lost in translation)
- Noise (Distractions and interference)
Desirable qualities of communication systems:
- Clarity (Jargon)
- Recipient (Clearly identified)
- Medium (Reaches the right audience)
- Timing (Has to be timely)
Effective communication is (7)
- Directed to appropriate people
- Relevant to their needs
- Accurate and complete
- Timely
- Flexible
- Effective in conveying meaning
- Cost-effective
Advice for good listening:
- Be prepared to listen
- Be interested
- Keep an open mind
- Keep an ear open for main ideas
- Listen critically (Assumptions, omissions, bias)
- Avoid distraction
- Take notes
Barriers to communication:
- Distortion (omission)
- Misunderstanding
- Non-verbal signs
- Overload (too much info)
- Hear only what you want to
- Differences in background
(Distorted Messages Never Overcome Personal Differences) - Status
- Jargon
- Suspicion (no expert power)
- Priorities
- Selective reporting (sifting)
- Use (make decisions on a hunch)
- Timing (no immediate use = forgotten)
- Opportunity
- Conflict
- Personal differences (age, background)
- Secrecy
- Handling bad news
