Time Management Tips
Communicating successfully

When it comes to time management tips I think some of the best are learning how to communicate well.  The tips here cover two of the important aspects of communication, listening well and how to communicate well using the phone.

Although listening and the phone might not seem particularly connected it's no mistake that I've bundled them together.  If you think about it one of the difficulties with the phone is the lack of visual cues.  You can't see the other person so all you can do it listen.

I've covered how to be a good listener first and separately.  I think it's a skill set that we all can use as one of the better time management tips.  If you'd prefer feel free to skip the first section and go straight to the phone but do come back and have a read.

Be a Good Listener

Becoming a good listener is one of the most effective time management tips for several reasons.  First, if you listen carefully to what others are telling you, you won't have to ask them to repeat what they are saying several times.

The process of repeating and continually clarifying what was said can be more time consuming than you realize.  The next time you're talking to someone try to remember the number of times the same bit of information was repeated.  I suspect you'll be surprised at the frequency.

To be effective as a listener listen first and then summarize back to the person what they just said.  You can say something along the lines of "so do you mean...?"

Providing you don't do it continually it'll feel like a natural part of the conversation.   I use this technique a lot.  In some conversations I've even found myself saying to the other person "can I summarize that back to you to check I understood?"

Asking permission in some cases can be really powerful.  It immediately shows you care about what the person is saying and that you want to make sure you got it right.  But as I said earlier remember you're in a conversation so don't repeat and summarize continually or you're going to get very odd looks.

If you're in the same room as the person and it's possible I'd encourage you to write down a few notes about what the person is saying.  This works on two levels.  First it makes you concentrate so that you can pick out the salient points of what you're being told.  Secondly it acts as a visual cue for the other person.  If you're writing as they are talking chances are you're listening to them.

On the Phone

Time management tips when talking on the phone are very similar to the tips for quality listening.  Repeating and clarifying what the person said is even more important when you can't see them.

On the phone you don’t have the benefit of watching a person’s body language.  Although you might never have thought about it we gain a lot of understating about speech from the other persons movements.

If you'd like to figure out how much you gain, a simple test is to watch TV with the sound turned down.  Ideally record the program for 5 minutes and then watch the playback.  I'm sure you'll find you had a good idea what was going on.

In order to prevent your phone from becoming a time stealer it's important to take steps to keep the caller on topic.  It's easy to get carried away on a phone conversation and to start discussing unrelated topics.  Before you know it, you may have wasted ten or more minutes.

During the conversation take some brief notes.  I often use a speaker phone to make this easier.  If you don't have an office or are worried about disturbing others you could consider a headset.

You should send a copy of the notes you take to the person who was on the call with you.  It's a great way to follow up and say how much you enjoyed the conversation.  Providing the notes also sets a baseline for the conversation.  If you need a follow up call then you'll have a basis that's agreed to start from.

I've added a some more help on meetings in this page of time management tips.

Go Gently

Like all time management tips you should go gently at the start in both the listening and the phone techniques. Don't take on the technique and then do it to such an extreme that you seem unapproachable or uninterested in what others have to say.

Go gently and try to make sure you're not upsetting people.  The idea is to communicate well not to make the other person feel uncomfortable.  Start by only asking once towards the end of the conversation to summarize what's been said.  Next time you have a conversation with that person ask again, but only once.  The third time, perhaps ask twice and then gradually build up until it feels natural to clarify points you didn't quite get.

If you follow these time management tips you should fell a difference in the way people treat you and in your understating of what's being said.  Once this happens you'll be able to manage your time more effectively because you'll feel in control.