Planning and Prioritising

Until we can manage time, we can manage

nothing else

- Peter Drucker
Management Guru
Table of Contents
Planning and Prioritizing ......................................................................... 1

Appendix: Solutions to Check Your Understanding ........................... 28

 Planning and Prioritizing

Planning and Prioritizing

Session Overview
The Planning and Prioritizing session explore the skills that are helpful in interacting with others at
workplace together with time management techniques. It explains the importance of understanding
the given tasks, and completing it efficiently without any errors. In addition, it emphasizes the need to
be organized using the 5S principle.

Session Objectives
Explore the various strategies of effectively utilizing the available time
Create an action plan to manage time
Identify your role and responsibilities in carrying out your work
Identify the need to plan and organize your work to achieve targets and deadlines

Session Breakup
S.No. Duration
Section
(Minutes)
1 Introduction to Time Management 05
2 Time Stealers 05
3 Overcoming Procrastination 03
4 Setting SMART Goals 02
5 Creating Activity Logs and To-Do Lists 05
6 Assigning Priorities to Activities 05
7 Creating an Action Plan 05
8 Effective Scheduling 02
9 Understanding and Managing Tasks Efficiently 15
10 Organizing Your Workplace 05
11 Check Your Understanding 05
12 Summary 03
Total 60 minutes

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Introduction to Time Management

Time is the most valuable resource and needs to be managed properly to utilize its full benefits. Poor
time management prevents you from completing your work on time, thereby causing you a lot of
stress. By managing time properly, you can organize your work systematically and relieve yourself of
stress caused by overload of unfinished work. For managing work, you need to establish and agree
your work requirements with your supervisor, team members etc.
Most people consider time management as the simple concept of maintaining a diary and planning
activities. However, besides maintaining a diary and planning activities, effective time management
also helps you to schedule and prioritize your activities.
Often, people do not realize that they are dealing with big and small project with the same technique.
While the drawbacks of the technique get highlighted in large projects, so do their personal
inefficiencies and mistakes. Just like you cannot deal with grownups and children alike, you need to
work more responsibly when the size, demand, problems, and payoffs of a situation grow.
To handle such situations effectively, you need to manage your time well. You need to develop a new
personal sense of time. You need to analyze how, where, and why you are spending your time at
present, and how would you like to spend it? Next, you need to reallocate your time to produce better
results.
Time management helps you in several ways. For example, it helps you to:
Plan each day efficiently
Reduce stress
Set and work towards achieving long-term goals
Get rid of activities which waste time
Reduce time pressures
Find time for creative thinking
Find time to relax and enjoy life
There are several techniques that you can use to manage time effectively. Some basic techniques for
time management are:
Avoid procrastination: Procrastination is the habit of putting things off for a later date. As
a result, work piles up so high that any amount of effort does not seem to be enough to get
it finished. To avoid this problem, resolve not to postpone what can be done today.
Delegate work appropriately: Delegation means transferring the initiative and authority to
another person for performing a task. Delegation saves your time and helps in developing
the skills of subordinates. Do not do the tasks that your subordinates are supposed to do.
Delegate as much as you can so that you can use your time for doing tasks that require a
higher skill level.
Learn to say No: People often make the mistake of saying yes to everything they are
asked to do without actually analyzing whether they have time to do it. You might find it
difficult to refuse somebodys request for your time. However, you need to learn to decline
their request politely, but firmly. Effectiveness at work depends on knowing what not to do.
Over-commitment can cause you a lot of stress and can be harmful for your health.
However, saying no might not be possible all the time. In such a case, you might try
saying I have other commitments or I am sorry, even if I want to, I would not be able to
squeeze it in my already tight schedule. As a best practice always analyse your job role
and work within the limits of your job role.

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Set up a routine: People usually like to do things when and how they feel like doing them.
Although, this gives them a lot of freedom, it wastes a lot of time and energy. To avoid this
problem, set a routine for doing certain things at a certain time daily and in defined time
duration. Then stick to that routine every day.
Divide large tasks: Large tasks should be broken into a series of small tasks. By creating
small manageable tasks, the large task looks more achievable, thus reducing mental stress
due to enormity of the task. Also, it is easier to delegate smaller independent tasks to your
team so that your workload is reduced and the work gets done. Also, you may take
guidance from appropriate people where necessary.
Define goals: It is difficult to manage your time effectively if you are not clear about your
goals. If you are clear about your goals, you will be able to prioritize your tasks in terms of
importance and urgency.

Time Stealers
For effective time management, you need to know which aspects of your personal management need
improvement. Sometimes you agree to take on things which have no benefit to you in the long run.
You do it only to help a friend in need or at times to avoid monotony of work, or maybe just because
you think you will be able to pull it off without wasting time. However, each and every distraction from
your schedule costs you time and reduces your efficiency.
The distractions or interruptions that reduce your efficiency are termed as time stealers. Time stealers
squeeze out time from your important scheduled projects, leaving you with lesser time and more
work. This, in turn, can make you overworked and stressed. Some common time stealers are:
Personal e-mail: Do not use valuable work time to send and receive personal joke-sharing
or other distracting e-mails. Sending and receiving personal e-mail messages during office
hours exhibits poor work ethics and causes a lot of distraction from your scheduled work.
Plan to check your e-mail two or three times a day only. Allot time in your schedule for
answering important e-mail messages. Use a good spam filter to avoid junk mail and delete
unnecessary e-mail to keep your inbox light. Archive project-related e-mails under the name
of the project. This will help you find an important e-mail when required.
Telephone calls: Long telephone calls are a big wastage of time. Do not make or receive
unofficial telephone calls during office hours. Use voice mail message to let people know
you will return their call at a particular time during the day. Let people who answer the
phone for you know that you cannot be interrupted during defined working hours. Return the
call if it is important. Promotional or sales calls need not be returned.
Peers and colleagues wanting some files or report: Help your peers and colleagues
understand that you are involved in a high priority project and are pressed for time. Give
them a time at which they can get their questions and issues answered. In case the files
required are urgent and serve as dependencies for the completion of another project, you
must help. Set firm boundaries when people come to chat with no clear business purpose.
Internet browsing: Be careful about being drawn in by the Internet. Doing some research
on the Internet can lead to distractions such as online shopping or browsing through
interesting sites that are unrelated to your current project. The Internet can be a huge
distraction, while at the same time a necessity. Learn to draw a line between the two. Set
an alarm to remind you to get back to your project work. You can also devise pop-ups on
your computer to remind you about slipping timelines periodically.
Other projects: Sometimes when you are working on one project, you suddenly remember
an important task or a new idea related to another project. In such a case, do not jump to
the other project the moment you remember the task or get the idea. Instead, make a note
of the activity/idea and plan to do it at some other time. Getting up to work on the other
project can be a way of procrastinating.

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Personal disorganization: Organize your workspace properly. A messy office can drain
you of energy because you are never able to find things you need for your work at the right
place. Make sure the place you are working is relatively clear of unessential materials
before you start working. Schedule a cleaning time on your calendar.
Long meal times: Avoid long lunch breaks. You just need time to eat and stretch before
you come back to work. Too long a delay before resuming work may hamper your focus
and add distractions.
Frequent tea/coffee/smoke breaks: Avoid frequent tea/coffee/smoke breaks. Frequent
breaks hamper your focus and may be a sign of procrastination. Moreover, frequent breaks
are a sign of poor work ethics.
Office/restroom gossip: Avoid office/restroom gossip as much as possible. Gossips only
waste your time and distort your professional image.
Meetings: When attending a meeting, keep a track of time. If you feel that your active
participation is not required in the meeting, excuse and update yourself on the meeting
later. If the meeting is regarding a new project discussion, you must let your boss know
about the deadline of your current project and ask him whether the existing project or the
new project should get precedence. Play safe and let your boss decide the priorities.
Meetings without a proper agenda are a big wastage of time. To avoid wastage of time due
to such meetings, the person who organizes the meeting needs to:
Prepare an agenda and send it to all the members required for the meeting. If
appropriate, the names of the people responsible for reporting on each agenda item
should be mentioned.
Inform all the members about the date, time, and location of the meeting well in
advance. Members, who cannot attend the meeting, should inform the organizer of
their unavailability and send the status of the tasks assigned to them. The organizer
can then present the status on behalf of the absent members.
Come early, and if necessary, set up the meeting room and arrange hand-outs.
Begin the meeting on time.
Circulate an attendance sheet. This will help keep track of members who were absent
in the meeting without prior information.
Reiterate the agenda and seek approval from all.
Set clear time limits, if necessary.
Request a member to take minutes.
Ensure that when tasks are being assigned, specific dates are set for their completion
and each member knows what his/her specific task is.
Summarize the discussions.
Prepare a report.
Follow-up on action items.
Some common techniques people use to avoid time stealers are coming to office early and working
till late in the night. The reason they state for this is that they get little or no distractions during these
periods due to absence of colleagues, boss, meetings, and office gossip. However, they dont realize
that in order to avoid time stealers in office, they are stealing time from their family and disturbing the
work-family balance.

Overcoming Procrastination
Procrastination can be very harmful. It tarnishes your professional image and also causes you a lot of
stress by requiring you to do a lot of work in very little time.

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Realize that you are Procrastinating

If you are honest with yourself, you probably know when you are procrastinating. Although
procrastinating as such is not bad. Many times we put off certain tasks which are not that important,
so that we may finish other more important tasks. This is actually good prioritizing. For times when
you are not able to realize that you are procrastinating, there are some indicators. If you find yourself
in any of the following mentioned situations, you can be sure that you are procrastinating:
Your to-do list is filled with all routine tasks that you would do even if not listed.
You read an e-mail more than once without starting work on it or deciding when you are
going to start work on it.
As soon as you sit down to start a high-priority task, you want to have coffee first and check
your e-mail once again.
An important item appears on your to-do list every day without being finished or even
touched upon.
You are known in the office to help anybody and everybody at any time of the day or night.

Analyze Why You Do So

Once you realize that you do put things off that you should be focusing on right now, you may now
want to find out why you do so. Some people might be putting important tasks off for a more
enjoyable, interesting, and easier task. For others, there might be an underlying fear of not knowing
the best way to do the task, even worse, this fact being discovered by all. Some might also fear
failure.
Generally, people who are in the habit of procrastinating, keep themselves busy during the entire day
doing things the right way, instead of doing the right things. It happens because they do not
understand the difference between urgent and important tasks and jump straight into getting on with
important tasks that aren't actually urgent. Sometimes their actions are driven by what they think is
right or by people who demand the loudest. In either way, by doing this, they have little or no time left
for the urgent and important tasks, despite the unpleasant outcomes this may bring about.
Another common cause of procrastination is when you feel overwhelmed by the task and do not know
where to begin. Alternately, you may even doubt that you have the skills or resources you think you
need to do the task. Instead you decide to do task that you know you're capable of handling.
Unfortunately, the big task doesnt go away. With time, it just gets bigger and more difficult to
complete in the little time available.
Another common cause of procrastination is waiting for the right mood or the right time to tackle the
important task at hand. Ironically, that time never comes. Other causes of procrastination include:
Lack of motivation
Unrealistic expectations
Search for perfection
The effort of analyzing why you procrastinate needs to be repeated in each situation to know the
different reasons of procrastinating. It is only then that you might think of suitable ways of handling
each such reason for putting things off.

Plan to Get Out of It

If the reason behind procrastinating is lack of motivation, it means that you just might not want to do
the task for no good reason, and you would also not delegate it to someone. Then you need to find
ways to motivate yourself. You can use the following techniques for motivation:
Reward yourself after completing each task. This will act as a booster and give you
confidence of taking up more such tasks.

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Ask your colleagues to keep telling you about their progress with their projects. This will
exert the required peer pressure on you and motivate you to finish the task. This is one of
the most effective techniques for improving motivation.
Keep reminding yourself of the problems that will arise if you put the job aside to be piled up
again.
If you are putting off starting a project because you find it overwhelming, you can break the project
into a set of smaller, more manageable tasks which you may find more doable. Then start completing
small tasks. This initial feeling of achieving small tasks may help you overcome the burden of the
bigger project.
By overcoming procrastination, you make the most of the opportunities open to you. In the process,
you also relieve yourself of a lot of stress due to pending or incomplete and piled up work.

Setting SMART Goals

To start managing time effectively, you need to set goals. When you have a destination, it is only then
that you can figure out the best way to reach it. Without proper goal setting, you will fritter away your
time on a confusion of conflicting priorities.
General perception about goal setting is that it takes a lot of time. Moreover, people tend to think that
when their goals are in their minds, why they should waste time in writing them over. But what people
fail to understand is that the effort spent in writing their goals and planning how to achieve them
strengthens their focus and confidence.

What are SMART Goals?

SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, realistic, and time bound. These are
difficult and challenging goals which lead to a better performance. For example, a goal such as I
have to do my best today is less effective and challenging than saying I have to beat my best
performance till date. Difficult goals work on two aspects. They exert a little healthy pressure on you
by raising expectation levels which help you to motivate yourself to do the job as per the expected
level. Secondly, on achievement of difficult goals, the feeling of accomplishment is much more
pronounced. This boosts you up for achieving other such goals in future.
Let us now discuss the five main characteristics of SMART goals in detail. SMART goals are:
Specific: Goals should be clear, specific, unambiguous, non-confusing, and non-vague.
Goals should be clear enough to state the exact expectation from the person. This avoids
misunderstanding about requirements and expectations. When a goal is vague, the result
may not be in line with the requirements. For example, a goal such as Review a document
in 2 hours is more specific than a goal such as Review a document quickly.
Measurable: Goals should be measurable and must also clearly state the reward on
achievement of the goal. When you know what is expected, you can use the specific reward
as a source of motivation. To improve your or your team's performance, set clear and
measurable goals. Some examples of measurable goals are "Reduce defects by 15%" or
"Resolve customer complaints within 24 hours".
Achievable: Goals should be achievable. A goal should not be something that no one has
ever been able to do before. A goal that you know you will surely fail to achieve will
de-motivate you and cause you a lot of stress. People are best motivated by challenging,
but achievable goals. For example, a goal such as Write a 20 page whitepaper in three
days is achievable, however, a goal such as Write a 20 page whitepaper in 10 minutes is
not achievable.

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Relevant and realistic: Goals should be relevant when seen as a part of the big picture.
For example, setting a goal for yourself to keep Sunday free for family will prove relevant
only when you actually spend quality time with your family and not just sleep the whole day
off, using the goal to get away from office work. Goals should also be realistic. Realistic
goals are practical and not aspirational. For example, you may want to increase your
business by 200% to become at par with a leading benchmark in the business world. This
goal is surely achievable but it is not realistic. It might very well serve as an organizational
goal. A realistic goal would be to achieve 100% by the end of the year and 200 % in the
next 3 years. Realistic goals are always viewed with respect.
Time bound: Goals should always be time bound. Having a time limit for the completion of
a task ensures commitment and planning to achieve it. For example, a goal such as Create
a presentation on goal setting in one hour is a time bound goal, whereas a goal such as
Create a presentation on goal setting is not a time bound goal. While setting time-bound
goals, remember the following points:
Keep sufficient time to meet the goal.
Provide enough time for practicing or learning any new skills required for meeting the
goal.
Keep adequate margin for delays due to unavoidable circumstances.

Creating Activity Logs and To-Do Lists

Once you have your goals in place, you need to take the next important step towards effective time
management. In other words, you need to analyze your current usage of time and consciously plan to
use your time more effectively. To analyze your current usage of time, you can create activity logs.

Creating Activity Logs

Activity logs are very useful in analyzing how you actually spend your time. The first time you use an
activity log you may be shocked to see the amount of time that you waste in unimportant activities.
You can use the given format for logging your activities.

Time Activity Duration Energy / Priority value

Description emotional state (high/ medium/
(high / medium low)
/low)

Without modifying, try to note down everything that you do in a day, whether it is checking mail,
having coffee, or lunch break. The best way to do so would be to log activities when you start or finish
them.
While recording activities, also note whether you feel, alert, tired, energetic, bored, stressed, guilty,
satisfied, or happy. Do this periodically throughout the day and try to map it to the activities. For
example, if you join your colleagues for a third cup of coffee during the day, you might feel guilty of
leaving work for a coffee break under peer pressure.
After honestly recording your daily activities in the log, you can now analyze them. You may find that
you spend large amount of time doing jobs that do not contribute to any of your official tasks.

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You may also discover that while you are most energetic in the mornings, that time of the day is
generally used up in having coffee, office gossip, or checking mails. By the time you start work, you
may notice that you feel tired and take another break for coffee. Often peer pressure results in more
coffee breaks and leave you guilty and stressed as you discover that time is running out fast.
Use your analysis to help you set aside extra time in your day by applying the following suggested
solutions:
Avoid doing personal activities such as sending non-work e-mails in your official time.
Schedule your most challenging tasks for the times of the day when your energy is at its
peak. This way you can ensure high productivity and save time.
Try to minimize the number of times a day you switch between types of task. For example,
read and reply to e-mails in blocks once in the morning and once in the afternoon only.
Reduce the amount of time spent on activities which may harm your career more such as
participating in office gossip which acts as a major distraction from work. Now that you have
more valuable time in hand, allocate it wisely to a list of activities that need to be
accomplished in a master to-do list.

Creating a Master To-do List

A master to-do list gives you a big picture of all the tasks that you want to accomplish. It helps in
freeing your mind of a lot of clutter and improves memory because you need to write everything down
on paper. It also greatly helps you identify the most important tasks from the less important ones. To
create a master to-do list:
Keep a notepad nearby so you can write the tasks as they occur to you.
Empty all the to-do's in your head onto a piece of paper.
Do not worry about priority, importance, or time frame for completing.
Ensure that the list is exhaustive.
To build a smart to-do list, always remember to note the tasks to be done and not events to be
organized which will be your responsibility and not a task in hand. For example, if you have to
organize a welcome party for your colleague, do not make it a task in the master to-do list. Instead,
break the event into little do-able projects which, in turn, constitute of smaller tasks.
To organize the party, you need to know a few details of your colleague such as his name and joining
date. To have this information, you will have to call up James in the HR division. So, the task would
be to call up James in HR for finding details of your new colleague.
Now, you should categorize your master to-do list under meaningful categories such as, telecons, pay
bills, shopping, interviews, etc.

Creating a Daily To-do List

Once you have created your master to-do list, you can create a daily to-do list with the help of the
following guidelines:
Create separate lists for work and home related tasks.
Ensure that you have not more than 10 items on each list.
Include not more than 2 large or difficult tasks on each list.
Leave room for unlisted urgent items that might just pop up during the day.
After creating the daily to-do list, use the following guidelines to use it effectively:
Complete the tasks in order of their importance, finishing the most important first.
Ensure that all your important tasks are finished before you take up the next less important
tasks.

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Be realistic about how much you can accomplish in a day.

Schedule times for completing specific activities whenever possible.
Move unfinished items to another day and re-evaluate the priority. Unfinished items may be
an indication that you had too many items on your list.
Create artificial deadlines to avoid procrastination.
Take short breaks in between for rest.
Plan your tasks according to your high and low energy periods.
Make liberal use of memory joggers, such as alarms and sticky notes.
Delegate household responsibilities to members of the family by asking them to help you
out.
Delegate some work in office to your team members.
Outsource jobs to an independent contractor or freelancer, if required and if allowed by the
organization.

Assigning Priorities to Activities

Prioritizing a list of your to-do activities is extremely important. Without it, you may work very
hard, but you wont be achieving the results you desire because what you are working on is
not of strategic importance.
Most people have a to-do list as a collection of things that need to get done. You might be
working on your to-do list from top to bottom, from bottom up, from easiest to hardest, or in
any other way you desire. However, to work efficiently you need to work on the most
important, highest value tasks first. This way you will not get worked up scrambling to get
something critical done as the deadline approaches. To prioritize your activities:
Decide time limits for each task. Decide which of the items on your list must be done today,
this week, this month or even this year. Those with the shortest time limits will obviously
come at the top of your list.
Consider how the priorities on your activity list will affect the activity lists of others. For
example, if Joe is waiting for your month-end figures before he can complete his monthly
report for the boss, then it might be prudent to give this task a top priority even if you have
given it a longer time limit.
Consider the negative consequences of not accomplishing an activity on your list. Do this
with every item on your list and determine which items warrant top priority by deciding
which consequences you can or cannot live with.
Consider the benefits of accomplishing each activity on your list. If completing the company
business plan or putting together a presentation for your boss is a deciding factor for your
appraisal, then by all means give those items a place of honor on your list.
A priority consists of two elements, urgency and importance. To prioritize the activities on the basis of
urgency and importance, you can use the time management grid.
The time management grid is a simple diagramming technique that helps you choose which activities
to prioritize and which to drop to make the most of your time and opportunities. All the activities in
your to-do list can be listed in one of the quadrants in the time management grid.

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The time management grid contains four quadrants:

Quadrant 1: This quadrant contains activities that are both important and urgent. It
represents a fire fighting situation because it contains activities that need to be dealt with
immediately and urgently.
Quadrant 2: This quadrant contains activities that are important but not urgent. It
represents quality time. Although the activities here are important, and contribute to
achieving the goals and priorities, they do not have to be done right now. As a result, they
can be scheduled when you can give quality thought to them. A good example would be the
preparation of an important talk, or mentoring a key individual. Prayer time, family time, and
personal relaxation/recreation are also part of Quadrant 2.
Quadrant 3: This quadrant contains activities that are not important but are urgent. It
represents distractions because it contains activities that must be dealt with immediately,
despite being unimportant. For example, when you answer an unwanted phone call, you
have to interrupt whatever you were doing to answer it.
Quadrant 4: This quadrant contains activities that are neither important nor urgent. It
represents time wasters because the activities in this quadrant can be completely avoided
and the time spent on these activities can be utilized for doing some productive work. At
times, meetings can also fall into this category if they do not achieve anything or you do not
contribute to them.
Most people are driven by the concept of urgency and not importance. As a result, they spend most
of their time doing activities that fall in Quadrant 1 and always find themselves fighting a fire.
To manage time effectively, you must consciously strive to maximize Quadrant 2 time. Allocate time
in your diary to carry out these tasks when you are at your best. Doing so can reduce the amount of
time taken up by fire fighting quadrant 1 activities because many quadrant 1 activities would have
been quadrant 2 if they had been done earlier.
You can also seek to reduce time spent in Quadrant 3 by improving your systems and processes for
dealing with distractions, and you can seek to eliminate as much as possible of quadrant 4 activities,
by either not spending time on these things, or by trying to make them more productive. For example,
driving can be quadrant 4 if the time is unproductive, but there are a number of ways of making this
time productive. For example, you can use driving time for activities such as planning, listening to
music, praying, and learning new skills with an audio course.

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Creating an Action Plan

By now you would be comfortable working on to-do lists. They are good for keeping track of a small
number of tasks. But if most (or some) of these tasks are project size, they might have to be broken
down into activities, sub-activities, and tasks, and keeping track of these could be difficult without a
proper action plan.

Developing an Action Plan

Your to-do list might have varied tasks of different types and sizes. Each of these tasks may require a
different approach to tackle it. For example, consider the following to-do list:
Call Jimmy for Monday notes on Psychology.
Buy a birthday gift for Nancy.
Paint the house fence.
Help mom with grocery shopping.
Finish the freelance project for Carltons.
The preceding to-do list is a mix of tasks and projects. Tasks can be completed with a single action
item but projects may require division into sub-tasks and may also need multiple steps for completion
of a single task. For example, in the preceding list, paint the house fence and finish the freelance
project for Carltons are projects involving multiple tasks that will require an action plan to complete
the work.
When you include such projects in the to-do list, you tend to give them high priority because of their
size. As a result, the entire day might be spent in accomplishing these two tasks only because of
various sub-tasks involved. On the other hand, if you start with smaller tasks on your to-do list, you
end up making no major progress with the bigger projects during the day. In either case, your to-do
list would have certain back log to be dealt with the next day.
This can be a serious problem in a job where you need to make progress on many different projects
at the same time, and this is exactly the situation most senior managers find themselves in. This is
where action plans are useful.
An action plan is a document that helps you manage time by incorporating goals, schedules,
priorities, and delegation all in one document.
To create an action plan, you need to perform the following steps:
1. Identify: Identify all things, big or small, personal or professional, urgent or not, that you
think may require your attention and involvement and note them down as an inventory. Also
include your personal goals in the list. Empty your mind of all ideas or projects you want to
start onto and put them on the list. It helps to relieve your mind of a lot of stress caused due
to remembering these ideas and tasks day after day. Preparing your first such inventory
may take a couple of hours, but that would be time well invested to organize your life.
2. Prune: Pruning means weeding out the things that do not concern you and therefore, do
not require your intervention. Delete all such items from the inventory.
3. Organize and prioritize: To organize and prioritize the activities in the inventory, you need
to perform the following steps:
a. Observe the inventory of tasks closely and group tasks of the same project or activity
under a name indicating that big project or activity. For example, painting the house
fence and renovating the bathroom may come under the project, Home Improvement.
Similarly, you may be required to attend a technical training and impart the same
training to your peers. Both these tasks can be grouped under the project, Training.
Ensure your personal goals are separate individual projects.

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b. Review the categories or projects thus formed and assign them each a priority rating
from A to F, A being the highest priority and F the lowest. Remember to rate your
personal goal projects at A rating.
c. Embed your projects into an action plan. It is useful to create your action plan as a
document on your computer. This makes it easy to update the action plan on a regular
basis. The action plan should have three parts:
I. Project Catalog: Lists all the projects you are involved in and all the tasks that
contribute to those projects. It is a master list that can be referred to once in a
week or as required, but not daily.
II. Next Actions List: Reflects all the small individual actions you have identified to
take your projects ahead. To create your next actions list, you need to identify
tasks from your high priority projects in the project catalog and compile them
separately in the form of a next actions list. The next actions list can contain tasks
belonging to different projects. Try to keep your next actions small and
achievable. This will help you gain momentum and give you a feeling of being
productive during the day. If you have complex next actions, break them into small
parts. For example, if you have to write an article, then you can break this action
into parts or sub actions such as, research, planning, writing, verification, and
editing. Next, you can include the research as your next action for the day and
keep the rest of actions in the project catalog. Now prioritize all your actions on
the next actions list by assigning them a priority from A to F, A being the most
important.
III. Delegated Actions List: Shows actions or projects that need to be delegated to
other people. To create the delegated actions list, you need to identify the tasks to
be done by other people and note the persons name against the task, along with
schedule of the deliverables.
4. Work on your action plan: While working on your action plan, you will have to refer to the
next actions list many times in a day. The delegated actions list also needs to be referred to
quite often because close monitoring is required to ensure timely completion of the
delegated tasks. However, the project catalog part of the action plan can be referred to only
once a week or as required, but not daily. You must review your action plan periodically, for
example, every Monday. Archive the actions you have completed last week and add new
actions from the project catalog into the next actions list. Keep the action plan flexible and
keep updating it by adding new projects/actions.

Effective Scheduling
After understanding your priorities and your goals which define what you aspire to do with your time,
scheduling is where you can make these aspirations meet reality. Scheduling is the process by which
you look at the time available to you, and plan how you will use it to achieve the goals you have
identified. A carefully made schedule:
Gives you a fair idea of how much you can achieve with your available time.
Ensures that you use this time optimally.
Provides adequate time to high priority things.
Provides some time to manage interruptions.
Minimizes stress by avoiding over-commitment to others.
Enables you to provide adequate time for your personal goals

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To create a schedule, you need to perform the following steps:

1. Identify the available time for work. This will depend on the nature and timing of your job.
2. Review your action plan closely. Verify if you have included tasks such as regular team
meetings, meetings with your boss, problem solving of your team members, and training
your team. If not, include them now.
3. Schedule your most high priority tasks listed in the action plan.
4. Schedule some time for interruptions. This will prove extremely useful when you have those
unexpected contingency situations when you are required to help leaving all priority projects
aside. By accommodating time in your schedule for interruptions, you give yourself the
flexibility to rearrange your schedule to react effectively to urgent issues.
5. Revisit your schedule once again to see if you would want to change anything in it.
You will be able to improve upon your scheduling with experience and time. Effective scheduling may
also be possible by leveraging the opportunities to delegate work to the maximum.

Understanding and Managing Tasks Efficiently

What is Expected of Me?

Scenario
Ankita and Raman have joined Global Hunt Teleservices Pvt. Ltd as Process Associates. On the first
day of their job they meet their supervisor- Amit Sharma. Both Ankita and Raman have to go through
three day training under Amit. After introduction round, Amit explains to them a few things that they
will be learning during the first day of their training programme. He discusses in detail the three most
important expectations from an employee:
Following the companys code of conduct
Adhering to the companies policies and procedures
Producing good quality work
Whenever Sachin Tendulkar played a cricket match, he would always take care of the following three
expectations:
Code of conduct: Sachin Tendulkar never used foul language or gestures even if he was
dismissed at a low score or even a score of zero runs. In fact he is well known for his gentle
behaviour.
Adherence to policies and procedures: Sachins coach has always praised him stating
that he never missed any of the practice sessions. Sachin has never been part of any illegal
activities such as match fixing, which are forbidden by the International Cricket Council.
Sachin never rebelled against the cricket board.

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Good quality work: He has always shown good quality work and was also awarded the
Bharat Ratna for his contribution to the game of cricket.

Following the Code of Conduct

The code of conduct defines the standards of conduct, principles, and values that must be adhered to
by every employee of an organization. The code of conduct also specifies certain workplace
behaviours, which should be exhibited by every employee of the organization. Code of conduct helps
in creating a positive workplace culture, by encouraging certain acceptable behaviours and
discouraging certain unacceptable behaviours. The employees must adhere to the code of conduct
even when they are on leave, at work, or outside of their usual work environment, e.g. attending
workshops, trainings, or conferences.
Code of conduct encompasses the:
1. Good practices one should display at workplace
2. Principles that one should abide
3. Values one should exhibit
Some of the key points listed in a typical code of conduct may include the following:
1. Dress Code: In the absence of an official uniform to be worn by the staff, the prescribed
dress code for most IT organizations is decent formal or casual, together with appropriate
shoes, I.D. card, and mild makeup (for females).
2. Working Hours: Punctuality is an important quality of a professional. It shows ones
enthusiasm to report to work and respect for other peoples time. In most IT companies, all
process associates/agents/executives have to put in 8 or more hours of log-in time. Log-in
time is the time when one is assisting the customers. Log-in time does not include the break
time.
3. Break Times: Break times allow the employees to refresh themselves by removing the
monotony of work. However, the breaks should not be too long. One should adhere to the
allowed number of breaks. This includes one meal break and two short breaks including
bio-breaks (break to go to the washroom). Note that, the break time is decided by the
organization and one should follow it without any deviations.
4. Work Place Etiquette: A positive work environment should be maintained, where all
employees treat each other with respect and courtesy. Also employees should keep an
open mind and graciously accept constructive feedback from supervisor in order to maintain
smooth & healthy work relationship with others.
5. Respect and Cordiality: It is expected that employees treat each other with utmost respect
and cordiality. Too much familiarity and closeness with certain individuals must be viewed
with utmost objectivity and professionalism.

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6. Avoiding Loitering and Gossiping: To maintain a professional ambience and work

atmosphere, employees should avoid loitering or moving about in other persons work
station to chat, wait, or stand by during work hours. Horse playing or gossiping inside the
office premises is strongly discouraged.
7. Use of office equipment, tools and supplies:
a. Use of the Telephone: The use of office telephone should be limited to making client
calls and other business-related calls. Prolonged usage of the office telephone for
personal use is strongly discouraged as this goes against the code of conduct and
ethics of any organization. As a general rule, official calls must be answered within the
first 3 rings with a positive disposition and warm greeting.
b. Use of Cell Phones: Making unnecessary personal calls or sending texts during
working hours is very much discouraged at workplaces.
c. Office Supplies: Day-to-day office supplies necessary for the internal operations i.e.
bond papers, ball pens, staple wires, paper clips, scotch tapes, folders and envelopes,
etc. are to be used with utmost prudence. Such supplies should not be used for
personal purposes. For internal files, use of recycled papers is strongly encouraged.
d. Care of Company Property: Every employee is the custodian of his things and is
responsible for the care of assigned office furniture, equipment, machines, etc. As a
rule, such properties are to be handled with much care as one would care for his own
because its damage or breakdown would cause disruptions on work and entail extra
cost on the organization. Computers, calculators, printers, fax machine, documents,
printed materials and supplies i.e. pens, paper and the likes are considered company
property and must be kept properly and used prudently.
8. Safety And Security Control: Desk drawers and cabinets should be locked after office
hours to avoid any loss of important company property and documents. Employees should
immediately bring to the attention of the Administrative Officer / Office Manager any faulty
electric wiring for immediate repair. Computers should be shut down and plug extensions
should be turned off after work. Electrical cords of printers and other office equipment
should never be left along the aisles. To provide a safe and healthy work environment,
smoking is prohibited inside most office premises. Never smoke in areas where a no-
smoking warning is present.

Adhering to Policies and Procedures

Gives
direction What must
be done

Policies and Procedures

Policy: A policy is a statement that reflects the moral, ethical, and legal position of an
organization with regards a particular issue or activity.
Procedures: Procedures are clear, practical steps to be followed consistently in order to
meet some policy statements.

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As an employee, you need to be thorough with the policies and procedures of your organization. You
also have to work in line with your organizations policies and procedures. Failing to adhere to the
policies and procedures may create a bad experience for both the customer and the organization. It
can also harm the reputation of the organization.
Some of the general policies in an organization are:

Employment Policy
This may include:
1. Recruitment
2. Joining formalities
3. Induction and training programs
4. Probation / Employment confirmation
5. Job title description
6. Remuneration
7. Salary reviews / Performance reviews
8. Incentive plan
9. Statutory deductions
10. Incapacity of employee
11. Termination
12. Consultant Hiring

Attendance and Leave Policy

This may include:
1. Work schedule
2. Holidays per year
3. Types of leave

Employee Benefits Policies

This may include:
1. Insurance
2. Personal accident insurance policy
3. Employee referral policy
4. Employee referral bonus
5. Travel policy
6. Relocation policy
7. Awards, reward and recognition program
8. Hardship bonus

Confidential Information
All information derived or disseminated within the organization is considered confidential
information unless so indicated. Being entrusted with such information, the employees
should practice prudence and integrity in disclosing the said information. As a general rule,
computers, emails, soft & hard copies of data, and other software are solely intended for the
organizations use. All employees are discouraged from accessing or duplicating files
without authorization.

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In addition, confidential Information is any information not known to outsiders that has value
to the company or whose premature disclosure would help competitors or be harmful to the
company. It also includes information obtained from others that the company is obligated to
keep confidential. Examples of Confidential Information include:
Actual and forecasted financial results
Ideas
Design data and information
Processes, formulae, systems, programs and compilations
Research and development
Information regarding finances
Actual or potential customer lists
Plans
New product information
Strategies
Information regarding legal proceedings
Market share data
Confidentiality of various undertakings: All intellectual properties i.e. program manuals,
books, contracts, documentations, etc. obtained in the course of ones work are to be kept
confidential and may not be lent or shared to outsiders during and after the work
engagement.
In addition, there are some other types of polices, such as Incentive Policy, Travel Policy, Relocation
Policy, Confidential Information etc.
Please note: Policy and Procedures are specific to an organization. You may refer to the following
links for further information.
Planning and Prioritizing_Reference_Links:
1. http://www.tollgroup.com/company-policies
2. http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/about/policies/
3. http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/media/codeofconduct.pdf

Producing Quality Work

A doctor provides a good service if he/she is able to:

Correctly diagnose the illness
Provide complete cure and satisfy the patient

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A barber/beautician provides a good service if he/she is able to:

Provide the required service as asked by the customer. (For example, a haircut, a facial,
body massage etc.)
Satisfy you with the service.
Similarly, you will also be required to provide quality work at your workplace. The work that you do
should be:
Complete: Your work should be complete in all respects. For example, your supervisor has
assigned you to complete the sales report by end of day. Now it is your responsibility to
complete the report with all the desired information. Also, you have to provide complete
solution to your customers. Providing incomplete solution and asking the customer to visit
or call again for further resolution is not a good practice nor it is acceptable.
Error Free: Your work should not contain any errors, such as incorrect data or other
information. In addition, you will have to provide accurate solution to customers and also
accurately note down the information given by the customers. For this you have to listen
attentively to your customers.
Standard and Satisfaction: Satisfying your customers with your product or service is very
important for the success of your organization. Satisfied customers always provide a good
feedback to others and speak volumes about the good quality service you provided.

Organizing Your Workplace

The Need to be organized

Having a clean and friendly workplace is a very important. A workplace that is cluttered and
unpleasant gives the impression of an overload of work and a lack of care. On the other hand, a clean
and well organized work place gives a feeling that all work related tasks are well organized. A clean
and tidy workplace helps you achieve your targets in less time as you need not waste time in
searching for essential things. Your workspace is like your personal space and it reflects your
personality.
You should keep your office space in an orderly fashion, even while you are busy with duties. A clean
office makes a great impression on clients, fellow office workers, and the supervisors. Make sure that
everything has its place and that when you are done using something; put it back where it belongs to.

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Taking a few minutes to tidy up the workplace on a daily basis is a lot easier than allowing a big mess
to accumulate and then cleaning it up once in a while.
People usually clean their houses when they are expecting guests as a gesture to welcome them.
Also, during Diwali time, all Hindu families clean their houses and remove clutter to welcome goddess
Lakshmi. Similarly you will not feel good if you are offered an untidy place in office full of unwanted
and dusty items. If you get an untidy and unorganized place, you may feel that your position is not
important in office and therefore, no effort has been taken to clean and organize it.
A clean and tidy workplace makes you feel good and is the first step towards better time management
at work. Also it speaks volumes about your personality. Your desk serves a purpose; it should enable
you to process, store, and get to whatever you want, quickly and easily. Its important to remember
that your work desk's purpose is to help you to do your work. The condition of your desk limits or
supports your ability to do your work effectively and efficiently.
Generally in the IT-ITeS industry, you would be required to work in shifts. Lets say you are working in
the morning shift from 8 AM to 5 PM and after you leave, another employee will use your workstation
in the evening shift. Leaving an untidy and messy workstation will not leave a good impression about
you.
Also, your colleague will find it difficult to locate important items while he or she is assisting
customers. Wont you get irritated if your colleague leaves the work desk for you in a messy
condition?

Wise Use of Resources

Customers contact companies by using resources such as, telephone, email, online chat, fax, and
instant messages. Also, companies provide these resources to the employees so that they can
perform their job of assisting customers and provide them the desired solution and information.
Companies spend a lot of money on procuring and maintaining these resources. Some resources
such computer and other electronic equipment consume electricity while in operation.
Therefore, it is very important to use these resources in a prudent and sensible manner.

Computers
Unplug computers when not in use:
You should always switch off your computer when you are not using it. In this way you
will save a lot of energy.
Turn off the monitor if you aren't going to use your computer for more than 20 minutes.
Turn off both the CPU and monitor if you're not going to use your computer for more
than 2 hours.
Avoid screen savers:
Note that screen savers are not energy savers. Using a screen saver may in fact use
more energy than not using one.
Organize files and folders:
By organising your data into files and folders, you can easily find the files you need
instead of hunting through folder after folder, or scanning through a long list of search
items.
When you look through the list of the files on your computer, check the date on which
each file was last modified. If you notice that a file has not been modified for over a
year, you should consider whether you need to update the file, achieve it, or discard it.

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Avoid misuse of Internet facility:

Never misuse your official Internet facility for personal use. By doing personal tasks in
the office hours, you will be wasting your time and delaying the office tasks. Also,
organizations have strict policies and want their employees to follow those policies.

Office Telephone
Avoid putting customers on hold for long.
By putting customers on long hold, you waste valuable time of your customers and
also their impression about your organization. You also increase the phone bills and
generate extra cost for your organization.
Avoid personal calls:
Do not make personal calls with your office phone number as this creates a bad
impression on others.
Do not make personal calls with your office phone number as this disturbs your
colleagues.

Office Stationery
Use both sides of paper:
As far as possible, use both sides of paper to print information to avoid wastage of
paper and ink.
Practice efficient copying:
Before photocopying material, check for the number of copies you require.
Reuse old papers or one-side printed papers as notepads:
Old, used sheets of paper can be used as scratch-pads to note down information or
important points.
Minimize misprints:
Before giving a printout, always check for page margins, page layout etc. This will
prevent re-prints and wastage of resources.
Shred unwanted paper:
Shred unwanted pile of papers if you do not wish you use them again. This will
minimize unwanted clutter from your work place.
Avoid colour printing:
Colour printouts are costlier than black and white printouts. Therefore, take colour
printouts only when its absolutely necessary.

Important Documents
Box up must-keep documents:
Plan and evaluate the need for storage of all papers to determine which ones should
be discarded and which ones should be stored and where. Do not just stack papers,
but file each paper accordingly. In this way, you will avoid losing important papers and
wasting valuable time in searching for or replacing them.
Keep the required policy manuals handy while you are on call. Putting the customer on
hold for long and then searching for the required policy manuals leaves a bad
impression of you. Remember you are the brand-ambassador of your organization.
You will feel more energetic and enthusiastic.

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The 5S Principle

The Kaizen management is one of the most popular Japanese management practices and is
dedicated to the improvement of productivity, efficiency, quality, and in general, of business
excellence. The 5S technique represents a fundamental Kaizen technique which allows the
enhancement of efficiency and productivity, while ensuring a pleasant organizational climate.
The 5s technique derives its name from the five Japanese words which define the process, they are:
seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke. Translated into English they are: sort, set in order, shine,
standardize, and sustain.
The guiding principles underlying the 5S technique involve organization, cleanliness, and
standardization. Overall workplace cleanliness, created by removing waste from the work area,
promotes internal organization and enhances visual communication.
By reducing wasted time and materials, productivity is increased along with safety and costs are
reduced.
The system as a whole minimizes waste and improves efficiency by ensuring that employees are
spending time doing productive task rather than looking for misplaced items, sorting unnecessary
through stacks of waste material, or rearranging the work environment at the change of shifts.

Sort
This step deals with sorting all the tools, materials, and other equipment in the workplace. Important
equipment is stored accordingly, which reduces the hazards at the work place. Eliminate all
unnecessary materials, tools, parts, and equipments. Sorting identifies necessary information for the
realization of tasks. Sorting eliminates the waste raw materials, nonconforming stock, and damaged
tools. Keep only necessary items and eliminate what is not required. It improves the efficiency of
searching and collecting items, reduces the running time of operation.

Systemize
It means items must be placed in fixed locations so that they are easily attainable and can be easily
used.

Shine
Regular cleaning helps in identifying and eliminating sources of mess and maintaining the workplaces
clean. Ensure that your work area is clean and tidy.

Standardize
Standards should be worked out and implemented in the work place.

Sustain
The principle is to establish the maintenance of a clean environment as an on-going process for ever.
This process also increases the internal communication and human relations in the organization.

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Advantages of Implementing 5S Principle

Sort
This step results in a better allocation of valuable resources, for example, additional floor space
becomes available once the unnecessary items are removed from the area. Furthermore, the process
forces inspection of the items thereby recognizing the need to repair or eliminate any obsolete
equipment and also prevent the equipment from being misplaced. Proper management and
organization increases the life of your resources that leads to cost reduction.
Example: Sorting the necessary items at home during Diwali helps to identify which household items
are required and which should be discarded.

Systemize
This vital step promotes efficiency by creating work areas that are neat, uncluttered, and organized. It
helps in methodical storage of items. Each article has a predetermined location at which it remains
until it is taken away while in use and is immediately returned to after use. Labeling and other
identifying methods are part of this step. Systematically storing and arranging things prevents a lot of
time that would be wasted in searching for things. Overall, if each member of the team arranges
things in an orderly fashion, it leads to the success of the whole organization.
For example: When you clean your cupboard or closet and properly organize the items, you take less
time to search for required items.

Shine
Both qualitative and quantitative results are experienced by this important step. Employee pride and
moral are improved when they work in a clutter-free pleasant environment.
For example: In school or while studying at home, you were always told to keep your desk clean. This
surely helped you to concentrate more in studies. Also untidy and unclean surfaces are breeding
grounds for mosquitos, bugs, and insects. Keeping a clear environment helps you to work in healthy
and safe conditions.

Standardize
Standardizing the best practices throughout the organization helps in improving the workplace safety
and reduction of workplace injuries.

Sustain
Maintaining the new system is vital; otherwise the cost and effort spent on developing the system will
go waste.
Once implemented, the 5s system should raise the bar to a higher level. However, it should not be
expected that once implemented, it would be maintained without continuous effort. A follow-up
procedure is a key component to maintaining this level of excellence.

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Check Your Understanding

Question 1: List some of the factors that make people procrastinate instead of putting the effort.

Question 2: Arrange the following steps to create an action plan:

a. Prune
b. Organize and prioritize
c. Collect
d. Work on your action plan

Question 3: Which of the following goals is SMART?

a. I am going to lose 10 kilos of weight.
b. I am going to lose 15 kilos of weight in a month.
c. In the next five months, I am going to lose at least 3 kilos of weight.
d. I am going to lose some weight.

Question 4: Read the following three situations and fill in the table for situation 1, situation 2 and
situation 3. Choose yes if the customer service executive exhibits the given parameter. Choose no
if the customer service executive does not exhibit the given parameter. Choose NA if the parameter
is not applicable in the given scenario.

Situation 1
Travel Abroad is widely known for its Holiday Tours and Travel Packages for families. Mr. Singh
planned a holiday and was quite excited about spending a good time with his Family in New York. He
had made plans to go to the Beach and rent an accommodation for his familys comfort. He made a
Phone call to Travel Abroad to make the arrangements.
During his call he was made a promise to receive his confirmation and the holiday package details by
the agent. The agent confirmed the holiday to Mr. Singh and took his credit card details.
After receiving his account statements from the bank Mr. Singh was surprised that he was billed
twice on his credit card and he didnt receive the package on time as committed by the holiday
company. After calling the bank he got even more worried as the customer service agent hung up on
him after listening to his problem.
Mr. Singh again called the holiday company and asked for the customer service representative. He
had to explain his problem and the matter was still pending. He wanted to speak with the supervisor
or the manager. However, he was told that usually the manager does not take calls from customers.
Also, the agent who spoke to him was very rude to him.
Mr. Singh felt cheated and thought there is a fraud done with him. So he called the bank once again.
This time the customer care officer told him that there is some technical error and he needs to call
after two days.
However that would not just solve the purpose, two days seemed to be a very long time for Mr. Singh.
He was feeling absurd and was also skeptical about his getting his money back. Very next morning
he got his welcome kit however it had an apology letter which stated that due to technical error his
package was cancelled, when he got to know that he will not be able to go for a holiday, he got mad
at the company and decided to file a case in the consumer court.
Right after he received his welcome kit, he received his bank statements and found that the money
was not reversed into his account as committed by the holiday company.

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Mr. Singh is in a situation where he is unhappy, the holiday company has cancelled his holiday and
charged him twice on his credit card. The bank is not giving him the clarity as to what happened.
There is a heavy interest amount which has been charged to him for exceeding his credit limit.

Situation 2
Automobile Association is a well-known automobile insurance company in Karnataka that has
originated from the United Kingdom. Its also called as the AA. Ms. Anju Kumar owns a ford fiesta and
her car gives her problem every six months so she keeps calling the AA for assistance hence a sales
representative calls her one day and offers her a good deal wherein her car could be insured by the
AA for 6 months at a very low price.

Read the script below:

CSR: Hi good morning may I speak with Ms. Anju Kumar please?
Customer: Yes. I am Anju Kumar
CSR: Ms. Kumar my name is Rohan Gupta and I am calling you on behalf of AA The Automobile
Association. Is it a good time to speak with you?
Customer: Yes whats that all about?
CSR: Ms. Kumar if you remember once your dad was not well and your ford fiesta had a flat tyre on
the highway and you called us for repair.
Customer: Oh yes. It was a great help.
CSR: Thanks a lot Ms. Kumar. Since you often call us for maintenance purposes hence our company
has decided to offer you a cover for 6 months that will include regular maintenance and anywhere at
any time if your car gets stuck we will reach that place for help within half an hour. So Ms. Kumar how
does that sounds to you?
Customer: That sounds great. However, how much is the cost of the cover?
CSR: Ms. Kumar, you will be surprised to know that we are offering you this cover only for Rs. 2000
per year. This will include repair of all the engine parts, battery, cooler, and radiator for the six
months.
So should I go ahead and register you for this service?
Customer: Oh yes. I really want to take this cover.
CSR: Alright so may I take the registration number of your car?
Customer: Yes its AZ0001MNS
CSR: Alright, I repeat its AZ0001MNS is that correct?
Customer: Yes.
CSR: and whats the model and make of your car?
Customer: Ford fiesta.
CSR: Its a nice car.
Customer: ha-hathanks
CSR: what would be the mode of payment Ms. Kumar? Though credit card debit card or by cheque?
Customer: I will use my credit card.
CSR: Alright, so whats the credit card number?

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Customer its 4000348906541234.

CSR: alright I repeat your credit card number is 4000348906541234.
Customer: Yes thats correct.
CSR: Thank you, and what will be your mailing address?
th
Customer: Its 455 ABC apartments. 4 Street. Karnataka.
th
CSR: Alright so its 455 ABC apartments. 4 Street. Karnataka
Customer: Yes thats correct.
CSR: Alright Ms. Kumar thats the only information I need as of now. You will get everything in writing
along with your membership card within 2-3 business days.
Customer: Alright
CSR: So thank you for your time and you have a great day ahead. Bye
Customer: Thanks

Situation 3
Mr. Williams is a very old customer of XYZ bank and had always been very happy with the kind of
services that he got from his bank hence he always had a lot of faith and mental satisfaction being
with the bank however one day all of a sudden he realized that his bank has deducted Rs. 1500 from
his account without any reason.
He felt very bad and even the bank did not call him and apologize for the mistake hence he felt
embittered and then called the bank with anger however the customer service executive was really
skilled so by using the right customer service techniques she was able to retain the customer.
CSR (Customer Service representative): Thank you for calling XYZ Bank I am Amrita. How may I
help you?
Customer: (Angrily) I hate your bank you are cheaters you have deducted Rs.1500 from my account
for no reason. I want my money bank. (Screaming)
CSR: (patiently) I understand your concern and would have felt the same in this situation (empathize)
However dont worry as I am here to help. May I request you to stay online for a few moments while I
research your query?
Customer: No I want the information right now.
CSR: I certainly dont want to give you incorrect information. I need to research the query. I assure
you that this would not take much time.
Customer: ok ok...Dont take ages please find out. (Angrily)
CSR: Thanks for your patience Mr. Williams. You are correct. Its our error and I apologize for the
mistake. I have also registered a complaint; the amount of Rs. 1500 will be transferred to your
account within 24 hrs as it happened due to technical error. And I will personally take care that such
things dont happen again.
Customer: Thats good
CSR: So Mr. Williams I hope this issue is resolved for you. Is there anything else I can help you with?
Customer: No. Thats ok you have been a great help.
CSR: Thank you for calling xyz bank, you were talking to Amrita. Have a great day ahead.

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 Planning and Prioritizing

# Customer Service Yes/No/ NA Yes/No/ NA Yes/No/ NA

Executive/Agent Situation 1 Situation 2 Situation 3

1 Demonstrates up-to-date
knowledge of the organizations
services or products.

2 Makes realistic promises to

customers.

3 Ensures that promises balance

the needs of customers and the
organization.

4 Informs customers if one cannot

keep promises due to
unforeseen circumstances.

5 Recognizes when customers

needs or expectations have
changed and adapts the service
to meet the new requirements.

6 Keeps customers informed if

delivery of the service needs to
involve passing them on to
another person or organization.

7 Checks that the given service

meets customers needs and
expectations.

8 Identifies when to give better

service to customers and how
service could have been
improved.

9 Listens to the customer

patiently.

Summary
In this session, you learned about the following:
Time management is the art of utilizing the available time in a productive and efficient
manner.
The best way to create time is to cut down on unproductive activities and tasks that do not
contribute towards our goals in life.
Procrastination leads to stress in the long term, therefore, it is better to make the effort
without wasting time.

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 Planning and Prioritizing

Goals should be SMART:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant and realistic
Time Bound
Activity logs help you analyze how you actually spend your time.
You can use activity logs to identify and eliminate the tasks that do not contribute towards
your goals.
Once you have created your master to-do list, you can create a daily to-do list to achieve
your targets.
An important factor in time management is prioritizing your to-do activities.
Priority depends on two factors, urgency and importance.
An action plan is a document that helps you manage time by incorporating goals,
schedules, priorities, and delegationall in one document.
Scheduling is the process by which you plan to plan to use the time available to achieve the
goals you have identified.
At work, you will have to follow the organizations code of conduct, adhere to policy and
procedures of the organization, and produce good quality work.
The code of conduct defines the standards of conduct and workplace behaviour required of
employees to build a positive workplace culture.
The Code of Conduct continues to apply to employees while they are on leave, at work or
outside of their usual work environment, e.g. attending workshops, training or conferences.
The work that you do, should be:
Complete
Error Free
Standard and Satisfaction

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 Planning and Prioritizing

Appendix: Solutions to Check Your Understanding

Question 1:
Some of the factors that make people procrastinate include the following:
Fear of failure
Physical and emotional laziness
Complexity of the task to be completed
Easy going attitude

Question 2:
a. Collect
b. Prune
c. Organize and prioritize
d. Work on your action plan

Question 3:
The correct answer is option c. It satisfies all criteria of SMART.
Option a is not time bound. Option b is not realistic and seems unachievable. Option d is not
specific.

Question 4:

# Customer Service Yes/No/ NA Yes/No/ NA Yes/No/ NA

Executive/Agent Situation 1 Situation 2 Situation 3

1 Demonstrates up-to-date NO Yes Yes

knowledge of the
organizations services or
products.

2 Makes realistic promises to NO Yes Yes

customers.

3 Ensures that promises NO Yes Yes

balance the needs of
customers and the
organization.

4 Informs customers if one NO NA NA

cannot keep promises due
to unforeseen
circumstances.

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 Planning and Prioritizing

# Customer Service Yes/No/ NA Yes/No/ NA Yes/No/ NA

Executive/Agent Situation 1 Situation 2 Situation 3

5 Recognises when NA NA NA
customers needs or
expectations have changed
and adapts the service to
meet the new
requirements.

6 Keeps customers informed NO NA NA

if delivery of the service
needs to involve passing
them on to another person
or organization.

7 Checks that the given NO Yes Yes

service meets customers
needs and expectations.

8 Identifies when to give NO Yes Yes

better service to customers
and how service could have
been improved.

9 Listens to the customer NO Yes Yes

patiently.

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