PARTICIPATE IN A

TEAM AND
INDIVIDUALLY TO
ACHIEVE
ORGANIZATION
GOALS
MR. SHADEZ. PATTERSON
 ESTABLISH OWN WORK
SCHEDULE
■ LEARNING OUTCOMES:

– Identify work to be completed

– Prioritize work according to organization guidelines.

– Prioritize urgent requests and act on them according to

organizational guidelines.
ORGANIZATION
AL GOALS

■ All organizations have goals.

Goals give an organization
purpose and direction to move
towards the entire year.

■ Goals - statements describing

what an organization or
individual wishes to
accomplish. Goals - statements
describing what an
organization or individual
wishes to accomplish.
■ Objectives - descriptions of exactly what is to be done derived from the goals.

■ Objectives are clear, specific statements of measurable tasks that will be

accomplished as steps toward reaching your goals. They are short term and have
deadlines. If you work in the information and technology department of a large firm
for example, your department or team would have been given specific objectives
from which your individual objectives would then have been derived. As an
individual and as a member of the larger team you have key roles to play.
 IDENTIFY WORK TO BE
COMPLETED
■ The key to effective time management is knowing what you need to accomplish on
a daily basis and focusing on the tasks that are most important. This requires you
to:

■ Set clear objectives

■ Identify goals and assign priorities so that you can plan the best way to
use your time.
■ You must ensure that you have a workable schedule for actions and activities that
enables you to accomplish tasks such as:

■ Job duties/functions

■ Meetings

■ Phone calls

■ Mail
■ One way to plan daily activities is to make a “to-do-list” for the day and assign
priorities and timelines for each activity. In beginning your day you should review
your daily “to-do-list’ to map out your day’s activities and at the end of the day you
should prepare a new list for the following day reviewing:

■ Master action list

■ Appointment calendar

■ Project deadlines

■ Phone calls and/or follow-ups

■ Lists of items not done that day

PRIORITIZE WORK

■ Prioritizing is the key to mastering the use of time. But how do you prioritize?
Sometimes it is easy because the tasks fall into a logical order. Other times it’s harder
especially when:

■ The task is complex

■ You are working on multiple goals at the same time

■ You are trying to balance work and family responsibilities

■ There are several things you can do to help you use your time more effectively. One
way is to break down assignments into smaller component tasks. You should then rate
each task according to its level of importance based on organizational guidelines. These
guidelines include:

■ Organization charts and work flow guides

■ Timeline for tasks and goals

The important tasks would then be those that help you accomplish your organization’s
goals and should therefore be the ones that you tackle first.
 PRIORITIZE URGENT REQUESTS

■ When you are clear about organizational guidelines regarding the goals of your
project or team, it will help you to manage your job and assist you to make
choices about how to prioritize urgent requests.

Strategies for Prioritizing

– The 80/20 Rule

– The urgent and important method

– The ABC Method

 THE 80/20 RULE
■ The 80/20 rule can be a very useful tool to help you manage your work
effectively. The rule states that the relationship between input and output is rarely,
if ever, balanced. When applied to work, it means that approximately 20 percent
of your efforts produce 80 percent of the results.

■ Learning to recognize and then focus on that 20 percent that really matter is the
key to making the most effective use of your time. If something in your work
schedule has to slip, if something isn’t going to get done, make sure it is not part
of that 20 percent.
THE URGENT AND IMPORTANT
METHOD
■ This method requires you to sort tasks into the following categories and rate them
according to the level of priority:

1 = important and urgent

2= important and not urgent

3= not important but urgent

4= not important and not urgent

■ When you are practising good time management, most of your tasks will fall in
category 2. This would mean that you are not constantly working on important
tasks at the last minute. If you find that you are spending a lot of time on tasks
rated 4 at the expense of those rated 1, 2 or 3, you have a problem. Ask yourself
these questions:

■ Are you being distracted?

■ Are you procrastinating?

■ Are you forgetting to plan and prioritize?

■ Are there other reasons?

Take action now, because your job may depend on it.

 THE ABC METHOD
■ This method requires you to rank each task according to whether it’s
something you:

■ Must do

■ Should do

■ Could do
■ Procedure

– 1. Identify the tasks you need to accomplish over a given period (day, week, month
or year).

– 2. Place ‘A’ after the items you MUST do. These are top priority.

– 3. Place ‘B’ next to the items you SHOULD do. These are important, but not as high
a priority as those rated ‘A’.

– 4. Place ‘C’ next to items you COULD do – if you had the time and resources.
These are a much lower priority.
 Tips for Successful Time Management
■ Clarify your goals in writing

■ Focus on goals then activities. Your most important activities are those that accomplish your
most important goals

■ Set and achieve at least one major objective each day

■ Analyze your use of time periodically by keeping a log. Evaluate and address the problem
areas – especially the time wasters and distractions

■ Analyze what you do, when and why. What would happen if you didn’t do a particular task? If
the answer is nothing, then stop doing it!

■ Plan your time. Write a plan for each week that identifies what you hope to accomplish by the
end of the week and what you will need to do to achieve this
■ Make a things-to-do list everyday. Include tasks, priorities and time
estimates not just random activities.

■ Include time for yourself – time to dream, relax and live

■ Do first things first

■ Schedule blocks of uninterrupted time for your most important tasks

■ Allow some leniency for the unexpected

■ Make the first hour of your day productive

■ Do it right first time – you won’t have to waste time doing it again
■ Eliminate recurring crisis. Find out why things keep going wrong and do
something to address this. Learn to be PROACTIVE (acting to prevent problems)
instead of REACTIVE (acting in response to problems)

■ Finish what you start. Don’t jump from one thing to another, leaving a string of
unfinished tasks behind you.

■ Conquer procrastination. Make a start on difficult tasks even if it is just a small

step.
 PARTICIPATE IN TEAM STRUCTURE
■ LEARNING OUTCOMES:

– Identify team members and their roles accurately

– Identify tasks and goals and act on them promptly

– Seek assistance from team members when necessary

– Give clear feedback and receive feedback accurately to ensure organization

goals are met
IDENTIFY TEAM MEMBERS AND
THEIR ROLES
■ Team – in a work setting, a team is a small group of employees who are working
together to achieve a specific goal.

■ Effective team work benefits not only the organization but also individual members.
The role you play in team is limited not only to the duties and tasks you are expected to
carry out but also to your contribution to team discussions and interactions.
The benefits of teams to the organization include:
– A greater amount of shared knowledge and experience

– A wider range of perspectives and insights

– More creativity

– Greater likelihood that errors will be recognized

– Better decision making and problem solving

– Greater motivation for employees to get involved

■ Being a member of a team gives you a feeling of empowerment.
You feel: •
■ A sense of being able to manage and control your own work
■ A conviction that the work really belongs to you
■ A sense of responsibility for the outcome of the work
■ It allows you to become involved in a larger or wider ranging job
than you would be given on your own
■ You get a chance to learn from other team members
■ It offers social interaction and helps you to develop deeper
relationships with your coworkers
■ If you demonstrate good team skills you improve your chances of
being considered for leadership positions
■ Team roles can be either formal or informal.

– Formal roles have stated and explicit responsibilities.

– Informal roles are the ones that members take on for themselves.

■ You will find that teams exist in various forms and sizes; however, a well-
rounded team is made up of persons skilled in a number of areas and should
also include different personality types. Your team may include:
– Peers

– Supervisor

– Other members of the organization

– People from a range of cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds

■ If you do not know the members of your team and their respective roles and
responsibilities, cooperation which is the hallmark of team work is going to be
impossible. Each member of a team and his/her role is as vital to the
successful functioning of the organization as each part of the body is to the
individual. The autonomy and overall responsibility of the team is also
important for you to know.
 IDENTIFY AND ACT ON TASKS
AND GOALS
■ Without a clear and shared goal, you don’t have a team – just a collection of individuals –
therefore, the goals of the team must be discussed in the group with everyone having some
input and then agreeing on a goal that satisfies all members.

■ A successful team not only knows where it is going, it knows when it has arrived. It is
therefore important for you to identify goals and set performance targets in conjunction
with your team leader. When identifying tasks and setting goals, you should make sure they
meet the following criteria:
■ Specific action to be taken is clearly described

■ Resources to complete tasks are clearly identified and allocated

■ Clear, meaningful measurement is provided

■ A completion date or time frame for completion is included

 GIVE AND RECEIVE FEEDBACK
■ When we comment on what someone is doing we are giving that person feedback. In a
team environment, feedback is a two-way process, you must not only be good at giving
feedback, but must also be good at receiving it. Some steps to giving helpful feedback
include the following:

– State the purpose of the feedback

– Describe your observations and perceptions

– Listen to the other person’s views

– Jointly agree on action to be taken

– Summarize your discussions and show appreciation

■ The following steps are helpful when receiving feedback:
– Listen with the intent to clearly understand the feedback

– Ask clarifying questions

– Share your own views on the situation

– Jointly discuss and agree on possible ways for a solution

– Express appreciation

TIP! In giving and receiving feedback keep the goal in mind – the achievement of
the organization’s objectives!