‘I think we have a big issue on our hands’

What will your webinar cover?

This session considers quick techniques to improve time and task management. I'm going to cover five principles for organising your time and prioritising, and five methods of being organised – both technologically and metaphorically. Five methods for enhancing focus, including procrastination, and we'll also look at habits because forming habits is a key part of this. I'll also talk about how we can contribute to creating effective meetings and address tasks that may be creating overload.

How did you first become interested in this area?

Over the last few years, especially since the pandemic, the leaders I work with across a range of organisations, from corporate to public sector, have been reflecting on their lack of time, how overwhelmed they are by work and how hard it is to balance work and life. I conducted a literature search on time and task management generally and from a neuroscience perspective which is where my interest lies, I looked at the impact of being organised on the brain and ultimately on work performance.

What I found out was very worrying, that many of us are poorly organised at work which means that we take on too much and create a vicious cycle whereby we are in a frequent state of overload. Many leaders have not learned effective skills to manage time or tasks. I also learned that there are few proven strategies. Most of these involve changing habits and doing the maths – only taking on what fits the time you actually have – or using prioritisation and organisation methods, including the full use of the available technology.

What still needs to change in this area?

One study that I often quote puts the responsibility for time and task management with the system – so the people who set the processes, structures, and systems in organisations. If they are creating environments where there is too much to do or task conflict which creates too much disorder for people to effectively do their jobs then it becomes a systemic issue to solve. I encourage senior leaders to review the impact of their 'asks' and the systems they set up.

You set up your consultancy in 2019, just before the Covid-19 pandemic, have you seen changes in leaders and organisations in that time?

I think we're working as hard now as we were before the pandemic and a lot of organisations, particularly public sector organisations, have really felt the impact of cost-cutting. A lot of people are now doing the work that would have been done by two or even three employees 10 or 15 years ago. Add to that, the technological impacts, and I think we have a perfect storm… and we've been having it for quite a while now.

People are being expected to do a lot more than their counterparts would 15 or 20 years ago and they are also being bombarded by information. People's objectives are often conflicted, and they often have very complex objectives, and I think people are overwhelmed. The pandemic also had a big impact on our expectations and our mental health. People's brains are overloaded and they're are finding it hard to concentrate and organise themselves, which in turn compounds the problem. 

What would surprise someone not familiar with this area of work?

The simplest way of managing time is to treat it like a financial budget: add up the time you have (like the money), calculate the time you need to use (your outgoings) and see how much you have left for other activities. And remember to always set aside time for emerging tasks, those things that inevitably crop up that we don't routinely put in our diaries.

What do you hope people will take away from the webinar?

Some simple, practical ideas that are immediately usable and will make a difference. And, importantly, the impetus to lobby their leaders for system change.

Register for the BPS Learn webinar, Doing Your Best in Limited Time, which will be held on Tuesday 16 January 2024 from 10.30am to 12pm. £87.50 (+ VAT) or £52.50 (+ VAT) for members of the British Psychological Society.