Academic Leadership

Academic Leadership: Fundamental Building Blocks

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The TRAF System

The system is quite simple. Basically, once you have very briefly reviewed any

communication or piece of information, there are four things you can do with it. The

TRAF system helps you to set priorities and get your head around all of the information

and communication passing through ‘your intersection’.

Action Notes

Review •^ Review by skim reading only all emails and documents looking for the main

point.

• Are you ccಬd in or are you the main recipient?


• Think about why it has come to you (if indeed there is a reason).


• If a document is sent directly to you and takes more than 5 minutes to read,
  put it immediately into your ಫActಬ folder.


• Remember: donಬt let his pre-TRAFing stage take over or youಬll never get
  through the paperwork.

Toss •^ Delete from your email inbox; throw hard copies of papers into the recycle bin.

• This action should be applied to anything that is not immediately valuable to
  you as Academic Coordinator or to others involved in the program.


• Generally, we donಬt ಫtossಬ enough information ದ remember that if itಬs vital you
  can usually retrieve it.


• But never toss anything without even briefly reviewing it first. Look at the
  subject heading for clues.

Refer •^ Refer to others only information or communication that you know is relevant to

themದavoid contributing to a traffic jam at someone elseಬsಬintersectionಬ.

• Set up an email distribution list for your ಫprogram teamಬ. Forward email
  messages of relevance to the group to this list.


• Donಬt send messages to a list if they are of relevance to really only one or two
  people on the list.


• Attach post-it notes to hard copies with a brief explanation as to why you have
  sent it to that person.

Act •^ Information or communication that requires your personal action ದ^ no one else

can do this.

• These items should go into an email ಯTo Doಬ folder or a hard copy tray or
  folder.


• Make a notation re the timeline for action and regularly ಫsortಬ and reorder the
  priority order of items in your in folders.


• Record actions on a ಫto doಬ list with a due date beside them. Never rely on
  memory alone.

File •^ File documents that you know will be of relevance later on.^

• Make a notation on the document itself regarding the file it should go into.


• Put it into a ಫFilingಬ tray or folder.


• Set aside time each week to file documents in this folder or tray.