ORGANIZING OTHER PEOPLE
Your first task is to organize yourself, but other people can help,
if you can guide and encourage them. They include your PA,
boss, colleagues, subordinates and outside contacts.
Your PA
A PA can be a great help: sorting incoming mail into what needs
immediate attention and what can be looked at later; managing
appointments within your guidelines; keeping unwanted callers
at bay; intercepting telephone calls; dealing with routine or even
semi-routine correspondence; sorting and arranging your papers
and the filing system for easy accessibility; getting people on the
telephone for you, and so on. The list is almost endless. Every
efficient boss will recognize that he or she depends a lot on an
efficient PA.
Your boss
Your boss can waste your time with over-long meetings, needless
interruptions, trivial requests and general nitpicking. Maybe
there is nothing you can do about this. But you can learn how to
avoid doing the same to your own staff.
On your own behalf you can cultivate the polite art of cutting
short tedious discussions. Such formulas as ‘I hope you feel we
have cleared up this problem – I’ll get out of your hair now and
get things moving’ are useful. And you might be able, subtly, to
indicate that your boss is going to get better performance from
you if he leaves you alone. It’s difficult but it’s worth trying.
Your colleagues
Try to educate them to avoid unnecessary interruptions. Don’t
anger them by shutting them out when they have something
urgent to discuss. But if it can wait, get them to agree to meet you
later at a fixed time. Try to avoid indulging in too many pleas-
antries over the telephone. Be brisk but not brusque. Try to
persuade them not to deluge you with unnecessary e-mails.
How to Manage Time 195