Corporate Archives

Are you struggling with time management for yourself and your team? Feeling overwhelmed by the ‘To Do’ list? You are not alone. So perhaps it’s time for a different approach?

One of the most common complaints I hear from managers is how busy they are and how much work they’ve got to do. Have we become afflicted by “death by to-do lists?” While we enjoy the advantages of technology, there has never been a time when we were so overwhelmed with social media and the expectation of instant communication. E-mails, text messages, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and the list goes on…

No doubt you’ve read a book about time management, attended a training session and used some sort of system to try to list, organize and prioritize all the things that you and the team have to do. Yet, somehow you probably feel like you still can’t get everything done. Perhaps time management is a waste of time?

So I wonder, should we be managing our time? Or is it better to think about how we manage our attention? Managing our attention allows us to work at our most productive. In doing so, we can achieve what matters the most. In turn, we can end each day knowing that we’ve done our best and made the most of the time that we have available.

5 Top Tips for ‘Attention Management’:

Be Clear
What are the most important tasks for the day? Get everybody in the team to begin each day by getting clear on this. Write it down, use it as a screen saver, whatever works best. Make sure that you keep checking back to this across the day.
Stay Focused
Now everyone knows what they need to do. Help them keep focused on this list during the day. Time block tasks, turn off the phone, don’t get distracted by the constant emails, etc (unless it’s their key job to do these things of course).
Manage Alertness
Teach the team how to monitor their alertness. Do they need to increase or decrease their alertness? Working in the zone of optimal attention enables everyone to work productively.
Take Regular Breaks
Regular breaks help everyone to stay focused, a bit of movement thrown in there also helps to manage alertness.
Manage your working environment
Where do you and your team do the best work? In silence? With music? Office too hot or too cold? Make sure you think about the environment and how this impacts on everyone’s work.

By Tania Barney, a registered Occupational Therapist with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC), UK.
Professional qualifications: B App Sc (OT), M App Sc (Health Sciences), University of South Australia.

A while ago, a new catchphrase started doing the rounds, namely that ‘sitting is going to be the next smoking’. And the more I think about it, the more I have to agree – unfortunately! We all know that smoking is bad for our health. It’s been linked with cancer, long-term lung disease and heart disease to name but a few. Smoking is thought to be the greatest cause of preventable death in the world. So can sitting really be as bad for us as smoking?

What is so bad about sitting anyway?
Experts are describing inactivity as one of the biggest challenges in health. A sedentary lifestyle has now been linked to heart disease, diabetes, cancers, obesity and poor mental health. Sitting for more than 4 hours each day has been shown to slow the metabolism and affect the way the body controls blood pressure, sugar levels and the breakdown of fats. Unfortunately, the effect is also found in people who class themselves as fit (such as those getting regular exercise), if they also spend long periods of time sitting.

Is sitting bad for business?
Sitting for too long (more than 4 hours a day) is bad for business too. As well to the cost of absenteeism due to sickness, prolonged sitting reduces productivity and performance too. When we sit for long periods of time, our level of alertness drops. As this happens, our efficiency takes a downward slide. Workers who use sit-stand workstations claim to be more alert, task-driven and positive. They also report higher energy levels, especially in the afternoon.

What Can You Do?

Here are just a few ideas to cut back on prolonged sitting, and improve productivity at the same time:

Have a regular break, get up and move about at regular intervals throughout the day. I set the alarm on my phone to go off every 30 minutes for a quick movement break
Try standing or walking meetings, these help to keep meetings short and efficient
Build movement into the day; for example, a lunchtime walk, taking the stairs or walking between meetings
Invest in a standing desk, or a sit-stand desk, so that you and your team can spend time standing each day

So, is sitting worse than smoking?
The number of people smoking has shown a steady decline. In 2013 it was estimated that less than 20% of the UK population smoked, the lowest level in 80 years. A survey by the British Heart Foundation found that 45% of women and 37% of men spend less than 30 minutes a day up on their feet. Almost 80% of office workers feel they spend too much time sitting down.

So while sitting may not be as ‘bad’ for you as smoking, there are certainly a lot more of us doing it! Let’s get creative about activities at the office!

By Tania Barney, a registered Occupational Therapist with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC), UK. Professional qualifications: B App Sc (OT), M App Sc (Health Sciences), University of South Australia.

Category: Corporate

Is time management a waste of time?

5 Top Tips for ‘Attention Management’:

Is sitting really the new smoking?

Who has benefited