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Time ManagementA former
colleague, currently manager of an interstate branch has dropped
in to let you know that she has just been appointed as your
manager - a job you had hoped to get.
She has invited you to lunch.
The police
have called to say that your car has been recovered. It is
drivable, but damaged. A side window is broken and it is
raining.
You did not know that the car had been stolen.
A colleague
calls to discuss a very serious and very personal problem.
Clearly they are emotionally distraught and in need of a friend.
You need to contact a colleague in another branch urgently. You have been trying for some time to phone them, but the number is continually engaged. You suspect that they have taken the phone off the hook.
Your boss
calls to advise that the routine monthly project meeting scheduled
for ten days time has been brought forward to tomorrow.
You had intended to have a proposal ready which will influence the
main item to be discussed.
A major
client phones to discuss the difficulties encountered with a high
value product you supplied last week.
You are on the sales staff, and there is an after sales service
department whose number you have previously provided to this
client.
Your boss
has been taken to hospital with a burst appendix.
He was to have made a presentation to the board tomorrow on a
budget increase for your department.
You have been asked to substitute.
A
subordinate phones to tell you that it is becoming impossible to
get information out of this outmoded computer system.
You know this is correct
Everyone coming into the department passes your desk. People frequently interrupt your work as they pass, leaving messages for absent colleagues and checking to see if there are any messages for them. You have become an unofficial inquiry counter.
Your responsibilities include both public contact (especially by phone) and internal project work which requires concentration. As the calls from the public are apparently random you have difficulty planning your day.
Your boss has advised you that the six month secondment you sought to the Honolulu branch has finally been approved. You must fly out tomorrow.
(This is the sort of
thing that often happens to people who look for an extra question when the promo
only promised 10.)
There really are no right answers, but
for some options,
follow this link.
