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Personal Effectivenessoccasions, or does it even occur to you in the first place to fill these spaces? Sometimes acommuter journey is the ideal space in which to plan the day, write out a schedule, or maybeeven concentrate on reading an article or report. Finishing a small task, such as filling in aform, or even beginning a larger task can be slotted into these moments.PerfectionistThe perfectionist pays attention to detail, agonises over every decision, every word in areport. They must get it right. But what is the point if it is too late, or they have ignoredseveral other things – is it all really necessary? Not all tasks have to be done to the samehigh standard: writing a routine e-mail for example – does it really matter if the grammar iscorrect?Paper mountainsSome people allow a mountain of paper to pile up on their desk, around their floor – a trail ofpaper that doesn’t allow them to be able to find anything they need. They can waste lots oftime trying to find things, and the paper mountain doesn’t make for good office sculpture, itfesters and exudes stress and incompetence.I’m in a meeting!Consider the costs of 10 people in a one-hour meeting at £50 per hour each plus all theoverheads and opportunity costs, the time spent travelling, preparation – is it worth it? Worsestill are those meetings where people are unprepared, there is no agenda; the chair allowsthe discussion on trivial items to go on for ages without coming to any decisions.Heather was chairing a students union General Purposes Committee meeting. Themeeting discussed for an hour the subject of what colour the new minibus should be – theLabour Society rep suggested red, the Conservative Group rep blue, the Liberal democratmember orange, and the chap from the Greens said they shouldn’t have a minibus at all!Eventually the meeting ran out of time and the main item on the agenda – what to doabout the student debt situation never got discussed!Poorly run meetings are not only a waste of time, but also very demoralising.D-I-Y enthusiastThe D-I-Y enthusiast thinks they can do everything themselves, never giving a thought todelegation or sharing the work with others. Moreover, when they get into trouble, they don’tgo and ask for help, they soldier on miserably, not getting anywhere except lost anddesperate. If you have too much to do, or are stuck, do you look to see how the work can beallocated differently, do you call in for help or the support of others?Why oh why do D-I-Y? Refusing to ask for help may be due to lack of assertiveness, but itmay also be arrogance – the belief that no one can do it as well, so it is better done singlehanded.Other people will never learn the skills if they are not given a chance to start.Delegation is not just a downward action, it can also move upwards, for example wheresomething really isn’t a person’s job maybe they need to refer it back.THE CONSEQUENCESPoor time management is one of the greatest sources of managerial stress. It leads tofeelings of incompetence and anxiety. The debilitating symptoms and consequences of stress38A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD.Copyright © CIPD 2005All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in theUnited Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.If you would like to purchase this book please visit www.cipd.co.uk/bookstore.