Developing Time Management and Delegation Skills: A Reflective Report

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SKILLS OF MANAGER CONSULTANT

ABSTRACT
The report of skills of manager consultant is based on the importance of time management and
delegation. This also includes the process which I adopted for improving my time management
and delegation skills. Further, it also includes the sources that helped me and challenged me in
improving my skills. The theories that I used are Gibbs reflective cycle and contingency theory of
delegation.

Contents
ABSTRACT.........................................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION- WHY TIME MANAGEMENT AND DELEGATION?.......................................................4
CONCLUSION AND FINAL REFLECTION...................................................................................................11
REFERENCE LIST............................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION- WHY TIME MANAGEMENT AND DELEGATION?
Time management is all about planning and organizing the time spent on the activities. Time
management results in increased efficiency and greater productivity. The importance of time
management is because once I waste my time, it would not come back. There are lots of people
that waste our time, therefore, the individual should manage our time better (Kirillov et al.,
2015). The reason for increasing the importance of time management in life is that time is
limited and the individual has to achieve more with less effort. To grab more opportunities, the
individual has to stop and invest their time to take advantage.
Delegation is the process of assigning the work to others and also gives them the power to
perform the task. In order to complete the task on time, the individual gives authority to
delegate the task to others so that work is completed on time effectively and efficiently (Ambrus
and Egorov, 2017). Effective time management and successful delegations are the most
important skills for individual and team success (Farrell, 2017).
As a part of my post-graduation degree, my objective is to develop the time management skills
for not only for the academic purpose but it is one of the important aspects for the success of
life. Time management is the process of planning and controlling the time of different actions
with the aim of completing it in the predefined time period. By concentrating on developing the
time management skills help me in completing my research project as I have recently started
working on the research project as a part of my graduate degree. Currently, I rate myself 4 out
of 10 on the rating scale and after this module would make perception that my rating increases
to 9 out of 10.
1. The process of developing the skill and a critique of its effectiveness
1.1. Justification of chosen skill- Time management
The reason for choosing this skill is that I want to develop my time management skills because
time management allows a person to complete their short-term and long-term objectives in a
short period of time that lowers the stress level and leads to success in career. The reason for
choosing this skill is because the major problem that I had ever faced in my academic life is a
shortage of time due to the mismanagement of several activities (Grissom et al., 2015).

1.2. Development plan
In order to understand the specific area of improvement, I prepare the planning process of
completing the research project on time which includes a specific time period for every activity,
steps involved in achieving the end result, the outcome of the process. The outcome of the
research project acts as feedback that helped me to understand the required area of
improvement.
Gibbs Reflective Cycle for improving time management skill
Gibbs reflective cycle is the process of learning from past experiences. It is a framework that
allows the individual to examine their experiences, repeat the experience due to its cyclic
nature and then finally plan and learn things that went well or didn’t go well. The 6 stages of
this cycle are as follows:
1. Description: The first step of this cycle clearly describes the situation of the event. The
description of the event or situation includes the answers to various question such as
what, when, where, who, how the situation occurred without drawing any conclusion
from the situation. The event when I realize mismanagement of time is all my peer
members complete their project on time but I was not able to do so (Potter, 2015).
2. Feelings: Feelings include the thoughts or feelings triggered at the time of the event.
This does not include a detailed explanation of the feelings but it is used for general
awareness related to the event. I feel depressed due to the non-completion of the
project on time.
3. Evaluation: The evaluation of the experience that is good or bad. When coming to real
life it becomes quite difficult to be objective about the situation. My overall experience
in this situation is very bad because the subsequent steps taken to complete the project
are not effective.
4. Analysis: In this step, the factors that helped me in the analysis are feedback from the
professor and support from my peer and colleagues. And the positive outcome of the
analysis of this event is I came to know the importance of time management and
delegation in life.
5. Conclusion: The individual uses the information gathered from the situation and

motivated himself to come to a good and useful conclusion. The conclusion includes
both positive and negative experience from the event (Pianpeng and Koraneekij, 2016).
6. Action plan: In this step, actions are planned for future improvement. In conclusion, I
promise to achieve the project before the deadline and not to make mistakes next time
such as mismanagement of time. To keep my promise I use SMART goals for planning
and organizing the activities of the project.
Figure 1: Gibbs reflective cycle
[Source: University of Cumbria, 2019]
The process of developing time management skills
For developing my time management skills I used SMART goals techniques which I found very
helpful from getting an idea of time management until I become an expert in managing my
time.
SMART stands for:
 Specific: The learning objective to carry out the research project is to learn the
importance and management of time. At the end of improving this skill, I am able to
accomplish my research project on time i.e. 5 weeks which I had not completed earlier
due to a shortage of time because of mismanagement of activities (Davenport and Kirby,
2016).

 Measurable: At the end skill development, I got the appreciation from my professor and
friends as I had made lots of mistakes in my previous research and somewhere I also feel
like I'm unable to complete this project in the limited time period. But due to time
management skill, I'm able to do the same.
 Achievable: The time period of 5 weeks is sufficient enough to complete the project as
my colleagues and peer members are able to do so. This situation motivates me to work
hard and manage my time so that I can also complete the project on time.
 Relevant: The time management skill not only helps me in completing my research
project but also it helps me in my personal life. The motivation for the development of
time management skills comes when I found that my friends are enjoying their personal
life along with their career but I was not able to maintain a balance between my
personal life and career (Mapfumo et al., 2017).
 Time-bound: The main objective of developing the time management skill is to achieve
appreciation from my professor for completing the research project on time i.e. 5 weeks.
Creating a SMART goal takes time but it helps me in achieving my objective. However, time
management skills help me to improve the outcome of the result. The effectiveness of time
management skills completely depends on the thinking process. Time management skills
increase my productivity level and now I am more focused on the objective of my life.
2. Processes underlying the skill being developed
2.1. Activity one: Initial preparation
The topic of my research project is the implication of international companies on small
entrepreneurs. The reason behind completing the research is to understand the aim of carrying
out the research project and to manage different activities of the project effectively and
efficiently. The learning activities which I used in improving my time management skills are as

follows:
 Prioritize the work: Before starting the day, I used to make the list of task which I have
to complete. The overall activities of the project are divided into smaller parts so that it
becomes easy for me to follow activities in order to complete the project.
 Setup deadline: The deadline for completing the project is 5 days but the whole work is
divided in 4 days for safer side. I was able to complete it in 4 days and I also set the
reward for myself for meeting the challenge.
 Avoid multitasking: Multitasking improves my productivity and quality of work. Planning
of deadlines and use of to-do list helps me to stay focus (Wilson, 2018).
2.2. Activity One: Results and reflection
For assessing the final result of my time management skill, a short summary of result from the
feedback form which is filled by my professor. The reflection of this process can be seen from
the diary that includes planning activities on a daily basis and feedback sheet from the
professor. The developmental activities for improving the skill include observing activities of my
colleagues, taking advice from my professor and watching videos.
2.3. Activity One: Planning the next steps
Based on the feedback that I have received from my peer and professor, I created a plan for
undertaking the challenge for a research company. I shall aim to use my new experience in the
real world to assess if there is a difference in the real world.
The art of delegation
The decision related to delegation is not easy for me. But I realize the importance of delegation
when my leader rebukes me for non-completion of work. The problems that I face in not sharing
my workload with my peer members are:
 Poor quality of work due to the shortage of time.
 I feel like it decreases the morale of my colleagues because of trust issues (Health
Knowledge, 2019).
The delegation practice helps to support the staff members and this can be only done by

showing confidence and competence in the employee’s ability through supportive delegation
(Halley et al., 2018). The process I adapted to learn the delegation practice is as follows:
1. Determine what to delegate: Firstly I divided the whole work into small segments and
then plan it according to the time limit. After that, I prepared the list of responsibilities
that needed to be assigned to others. The main factor which I consider in delegating the
responsibility is that responsibility should be matched with their capability. The
responsibilities are then better communicated with my colleagues to avoid confusion.
2. The balance between responsibilities and skills: After determining what to delegate,
the next step that I adopted to delegate the task is identifying the skills and knowledge
of my colleagues and then assigns the responsibilities according to their strength. I try to
assign the responsibilities matching to their interest so that they enjoy their work and
give their best efforts for completing the work (Tatedoko, 2018).
3. Follow up: The process of delegation does not end by assigning the responsibility, it
needs continuous follow up to check the progress of colleagues and to find out if they
additional guidance or support in their work. My main role is to help them in removing
obstacles from their path and not to interfere in their work. I gave them complete
freedom to manage their activities and to take their decisions.
4. Show appreciation: Even the process of delegation does not end by taking follow up of
their activities. They help me in completing my task so it is my duty to thank everyone
who helped me in my work. A heartful 'thank-you' can go a long way toward motivating
the individual.
Competence theory of delegation
In my workplace, I had applied competence theory of delegation. In this theory, the power to
delegate the responsibility is based on the competence, experience, skills, and knowledge of the
person and not by the position. My leader gives me the power to delegate the task to my

colleagues because he trusts me. With the aim of assigning the responsibility, I approached the
people of different departments and make a team for my work. The theory accepts informal
relations in the organization.
Opportunities to put the skill into action and use the skill effectively
During the job interview, it is not sufficient to say that "I'm great at time management" but I
have to prove my statement that I explained my taking the example of real life. My team had to
deliver three big orders at the same time. The order was successfully delivered due to my time
management and delegation skills. I take the responsibility of most important order and
delegate two least complicated tasks to the other two members. We got all orders shipped on
time and it will be only possible through prioritizing and organizing all the activities, problem-
solving skills, delegation, proper planning and coordination within the team.
My time management and delegation skills are improving because of the hectic schedule at the
workplace. I get many opportunities at the workplace to use my time management skills such as
allocating time for changing circumstances, ignoring the time waster, breaking whole task into
smaller parts and focusing on one task at a time, preparing to-do list, delegating routine task to
subordinates, maintain proper work-life balance to maximize energy when at work.
Learning outcomes from skills development
 Planning of activities: With the help of time management skills, I am able to plan daily
and weekly activities. For systematic planning, I prepare to do list which includes a
detailed description of every activity, the time taken to complete the activities, and the
necessary things for completing my task on time.
 Reduce wastage of time: After the skills development process, I am able to focus on
those actions that are very important for my personal and professional life. I start
ignoring the people who are time wasters and start giving priority to important people
and activities in my life. Now I started to allocate appropriate time to a particular task.

 Increases efficiency and productivity: The process of delegation improves my efficiency
and productivity. Now I can plan my next strategies for career development. It saves my
time and effort when my routine activities are delegated to other people.
Obstacles in skills development
The problems that I faced in improving my skills are:
 Unscheduled meetings, an unexpected visit, phone calls are the minor issues that act as
a hindrance in the process.
 It is a difficult task to prioritizing the activities, there are some activities which are
important but are not urgent and some activities are not important but are urgent.
CONCLUSION AND FINAL REFLECTION
To conclude my reflection journey, I'm delighted with my progress. I reaped a better result than I
had originally anticipated. Time management and delegation skills both helped me to keep my
activities on track and I'm intrinsically motivated with continuous progress throughout my life
and not just through a one-off activity.
In spite of this, I am aware that I have not perfected time management and delegation skills, but
I enjoy and learn several things from the process. I used to undertake several projects in my
spare time to learn more about the skills. I realized that the skills I have developed are not only
helping me in improving my soft skills but it helps me to enjoy my personal life as well. Further,
to enhance my skills I am using the YouTube app to learn smart techniques of time management
and delegation which naturally increase my confidence in taking the challenging task.

REFERENCE LIST
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Management Review, 57(3), p.21.
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222.
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patterns in principals’ time use, job stress, and perceived effectiveness. Journal of
Educational Administration, 53(6), pp.773-793.
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delegation of content delivery to a local service. U.S. Patent Application 15/926,538.
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https://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/organisation-
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2019).
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