How To Get Time On Your Side

Time equals money is a much repeated cliché, but for the training officer it is certainly a message to be taken to heart. At the end of the day the whole purpose of his job must be to ensure that employees achieve as much as possible during the working day. Staff are sent on a variety of courses to bring this about—computer courses can be in fashion so everybody is sent off to learn to control a desk top computer. Maybe there is a course in salesmanship or bookkeeping, customer relations, typing or business French which would produce greater efficiency. But it is easy to overlook the crucial area of time management itself—particularly because we see so many examples of poor management every day, it is easy to feel that it is an inevitable part of office life. There is the sales executive trying to get hold of a plumber to mend his burst pipe, the secretary coping with the receptionist's boyfriend problems, or the assistant product manager organising the new telephone systems (and we all know how long that can take!) They may be normally conscientious and efficient workers but they have one thing in common—none of them are making the best use of the time they have available.