Organization & Time Management
Ed Direction Data Fellows: Asynchronous Module
September 2022
Embedded Files
Welcome to the Organization and Time Management Optional Asynchronous Module.
You will work through this module by scrolling through this learning space. To expand documents and slide decks that are included, you can click on the gray arrow at the top right corner of each item.
Feel free to focus on the pieces of this module that are most relevant to your topics of interest.
Please complete the Exit Ticket at the end of the module. We will use your submission to track completion.
Please contact datafellows@eddirection.org if help is needed.
Click on the button to the left to open the note-catcher, which is mirrored to follow the content as it is presented on the Learning Space. As you navigate through this module, you are welcome to use this optional tool to capture your notes.
Refer to your note-catcher each time you see this icon.
Session Outcome: This optional asynchronous module will provide best practices for organization, time management, and prioritization of tasks.
Success Criteria: More specifically, Data Fellows will be able to:
Determine the "Big Rocks" in their work and in their lives
Explain what a core calendar is, as well as its importance in school leadership
Draft or make edits to their existing core calendars
Implement or improve their email management system
The purpose of this asynchronous module is to work on our togetherness.
Togetherness: Prioritized, planned, efficient, organized, flexible, predictable, intentional and reliable (The Together Leader, Maia Heyck-Merlin).
Part I: Big Rocks
Part I: Big Rocks
Watch, Read, and Reflect
Watch, Read, and Reflect
Watch the video to the right
Then, read the article
Finally, reflect:
What are the big rocks in your life?
What are some things that you are dedicating your time and energy to?
Is how you spend your time in harmony with your Big Rocks or can you be more intentional about how you spend your time?
What other takeaways do you have?
Key Idea:
Your email and calendar should not manage you or your time; you should manage your calendar and your email.
If you don't determine how you spend your time, someone else will determine it for you.
Part II: Prioritization of Time
Part II: Prioritization of Time
Togetherness: Prioritized, planned, efficient, organized, flexible, predictable, intentional and reliable (The Together Leader, Maia Heyck-Merlin).
How do we become more together? We prioritize our time.
Step 1: Begin with the end in mind
Step 1: Begin with the end in mind
Combine all of your calendars (personal and professional) into ONE year-long, at-a-glance calendar -- seriously, ALL of them (more on this later).
Determine your annual big goals -- personal and professional. Write them on your calendar.
Determine your sub-goals that can act as benchmarks to your big goal.
Add these to your project management system and your year-long calendar.
We have provided a template above in case you currently don't have one, but feel free to use your own!
Step 2: Determine your Big Rocks
Step 2: Determine your Big Rocks
Take a stab at creating your Big Rocks for the month based on your year-long goals.
Using your calendar, determine the big events you have each month - including personal events - list them out.
Determine any district or campus operating mechanisms that occur (e.g. stepbacks, improvement cycle review, assessment windows, major meetings, etc) and list them out.
Determine any major deadlines and list them out.
After listing out your month-by-month tasks, deadlines, and operating mechanisms, step back and ask yourself: do these represent my big rocks?
Step 3(a): Create your core calendar
Step 3(a): Create your core calendar
Block off any time you currently have scheduled for meetings, duties, calls, check ins, etc. These are your current operating mechanisms.
Go to your project management plan. Block off any other time you need to on your calendar for new operating mechanisms from that session (e.g. creating and sending a weekly newsletter, time to pull and analyze data, etc.).
Add these events as recurring invites to your Google/Outlook calendar if they are not already there.
Step 3(b): Determine your weekly Big Rocks and Pebbles
Step 3(b): Determine your weekly Big Rocks and Pebbles
On a weekly basis, use your goals and big rocks to determine no more than three weekly priorities.
Ask yourself: what will put me on track to hit my big goals?
Check yourself: do these actions actually align to your monthly priorities?
Check your project management system and take note of any other tasks that need to be completed that are not priority, but still need to be accomplished.
Schedule your time accordingly.
Pro Tip: be careful not to consider tasks a priority. For example, if you need to fill out a survey that was sent by a district leader, that is a task. Though it might seem like a priority because it was sent by a supervisor, unless it ties directly to your goals, it is not a priority. More on task management later.
Step 4: Determine your daily priorities
Step 4: Determine your daily priorities
Using your weekly priorities, determine 1-3 daily priorities
Write them down in your planner or put them on your calendar
At the end of each day, check your day against your priorities:
Were you able to accomplish everything you wanted to?
Is there anything that requires follow up for tomorrow?
Reflect: What is new about determining your priorities in this way?
Part III: Your Calendar
Part III: Your Calendar
Togetherness: Prioritized, planned, efficient, organized, flexible, predictable, intentional and reliable (The Together Leader, Maia Heyck-Merlin).
How do we become more together? We are intentional about our calendar.
Count how many calendars you currently have. Include all school calendars, kids’ calendars, family calendars, work calendars, sports calendars, etc.
Many will argue to keep calendars separate: the idea of mixing personal and professional feels like you’re blurring the lines between work and your personal life. However, having only one calendar that holds all of the information you need helps you be more efficient with your time, since you don’t have to dig through multiple calendars to find a particular date or piece of information that you need.
The Self Meeting
"The Meeting with Myself is a set time of week where you clean up the week behind you and prepare for the week ahead" (Heyck-Merlin, 2016, p.212).
Staying on top of your priorities, time, and tasks takes time and effort. The most efficient way to do this is through a weekly self meeting, where you can get back to your calendar and make sure your priorities are driving your calendar and not the other way around.
We recommend holding your self meeting on Thursday or Friday.
See the sample agenda to the right and reflect:
What do you like about this process?
What would you change?
Return to your core calendar and schedule in your self meeting.
Part IV: Your To-Do List
Part IV: Your To-Do List
Togetherness: Prioritized, planned, efficient, organized, flexible, predictable, intentional and reliable (The Together Leader, Maia Heyck-Merlin).
How do we become more together? We prioritize our to-do list.
The Eisenhower Matrix
The Eisenhower Matrix got its name from Dwight D. Eisenhower who was quoted saying, "I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important."
The Eisenhower Matrix is a tool to help us organize our to-do list in order of urgency and importance.
Note: if you are in a position to delegate tasks, do so. If not, schedule them.
Take a look at your to-do list and sort your pending items on the Eisenhower Matrix. You can use the space in your note-catcher to help you.
Part V: Managing Your Email
Part V: Managing Your Email
Togetherness: Prioritized, planned, efficient, organized, flexible, predictable, intentional and reliable (The Together Leader, Maia Heyck-Merlin).
How do we become more together? We manage our email.
Reflect: How often do you read an email, leave it, go back to it later, close it, and eventually take action on it? How much time do you think you actually spend managing your email?
Read the article on the R.A.F.T. system for email management. When you are done, open up your email and go through the first ten emails at the top of your inbox: determine at first glance if they are emails to be read, acted upon, filed, or trashed.
Reflect: How can this system work for you? What do you think you will need to adapt? What other ideas do you have for managing your email?
Part VI: Conclusion
Part VI: Conclusion
Data Fellow Resource
Data Fellow Resource
Dwenette Stevenson, one of our very own Data Fellows, has shared the template for the system that she uses to keep herself together (left).
She attended The Together Leader training and was interviewed by The Together Group about her system. You can read the interview here.
Final reflection: What is your goal to become more together?
Module Complete!
Module Complete!
Congratulations on completing the Organization and Time Management module. Please complete the Exit Ticket form by clicking on the link below. We will use the information you submit to track your completion.
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