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Organise and complete own work schedule

Contents Introduction 2 Understand, negotiate and agree to work goals and objectives 2 References for communication readings 13 Assess and prioritise workload to ensure completion within time frames 18 Factors affecting the achievement of tasks and major objectives 25 Use business technology to monitor and adjust job quality and customer service 26 Summary 29

Useful resources for this task guide are: To review anti-discrimination legislation, follow the links below. www.austlii.edu.au – Australasian Legal Information Institute http://www.hrc.co.nz/report/chapters/chapter16/work01.html – Human Rights Commission, New Zealand Planning a personal work schedule – This is in the Your resources section.

Key to resources Resource

1 Planning a personal work schedule – Read about planning a personal work schedule, in particular about developing a work plan, time management and contingency plans.

Organise and complete own work schedule 1 © NSW DET 2007

Introduction Being part of the health services industry is being part of a team of people who have an overall goal of caring for people’s hearing needs.

This topic will complement well recognised audiometric assessment expertise, skills and knowledge with a sequence of information to organise own work schedules.

You will gain the fundamentals of monitoring your performance within your organisation (eg clinic, health centre or hospital) to ensure the maintenance of job quality and customer service.

Being able to set your own priorities and objectives is a key aspect of achieving the 'business plan' of your organisation and this will be explained later. With established business goals, you will need to utilise different business technologies to complete your work priorities and you will be seeking feedback on your performance from colleagues and customers.

As you progress through this topic it will become evident that your skills and knowledge in audiometric screening and assessment will be enhanced by a solid background in this vital business process of organising personal work priorities and developing yourself along with your organisation.

Understand, negotiate and agree to work goals and objectives

Getting started with a business plan

For any organisation, business planning enables the organisation to have a better chance of surviving. We will begin with an overview of a business plan, an understanding of which will help you set your personal work priorities.

Organising personal work priorities and development stems from the business plan. If an organisation has a good business plan, there is more likelihood that individuals within the organisation will be able to organise themselves effectively.

A good business plan is essential for the success of an organisation. It is true that not all small organisations (or businesses) have a plan but these are the organisations that are at a greater risk of failure. While a business plan is no guarantee of success, there is ample evidence to show that those organisations with a plan, even a very basic plan, are far less likely to fail. It is said that 'failing to plan is planning to fail'.

2 Organise and complete own work schedule © NSW DET 2007

Purpose of a business plan

A business plan:  is a management tool used to guide the organisation through an uncertain future  provides information for supporting documentation such as work plans, operational plans or ‘what to do plans’  defines competencies and performance standards.

While a business plan may span three to five years, it is not uncommon for the plans to be shorter especially in these ever-changing business environments. The business goals, as we will be discussing, are the shorter time-framed components of those business plans that need to be achieved for the overall success of the organisation.

Goals and objectives

First, we will look at objectives and goals in an organisation and, in particular, those relating to organising personal work priorities. Personal work priorities, as will be seen later in the topic, will form part of the individual’s major objectives that make up their work plans. These work priorities form part of the ‘operational plans’ of the organisation and stem from those business or strategic plans.

During the development of a business plan, there will be the writing or defining of:  standards of performance  expected levels of quality service and performance  competencies of performance for employees at all levels of the organisation.

The competencies of performance will form part of the building blocks from which individuals will organise their work priorities.

We will discuss work goals and objectives. Also you will see how to negotiate support from other people as well as gain agreement with them in accordance with organisational requirements.

Before we begin looking at work goals and objectives there are some concepts of business goals to explain.

Difference between 'objectives' and goals'

First, a simple definition to sum up what many see as the differences between 'objectives' and 'goals' as these terms will be used during the first part of the readings.

Business goals A business goal is the end result, this is, what the organisation wants to achieve to make up part of the overall business plan. The goal is the final result, final target, outcome or aim. It is what we are expected to reach when delivering the service or product.

Therefore, once you have identified a goal (ie, the end result has been made clear and understood by all involved), the next step would be to establish major objectives or groups of major objectives to achieve that business goal.

Major objectives Major objectives may also be referred to as targets, aims, expectations, deliverables or outcomes that must be achieved throughout the organisation if it is to reach its business goals.

These objectives form a hierarchy, from the simple one or two levels to the more complex many levels of objectives, both of which ultimately lead to the achievement of business goals.

Here are definitions of terms used in the context of goals and objectives:

Put simply, tasks are the little jobs we do (through, say, the day or week) to achieve major objectives and, ultimately, our business goals.

Schedule

Scheduling is about placing a new task or major objective within an already established hierarchy of tasks or major objectives so that new tasks receive new processing advantages.

Priority

A priority is where resources originally allocated to other tasks or major objectives are reallocated to the new task, it is given priority over other tasks’ resources.

Effectiveness

The more effective a person, the more appropriate is their choice between competing tasks and major objectives. This can be seen as 'doing the right thing'.

Efficiency

This relates to the economic performance of a task, the utilisation of resources to achieve major objectives. Performance can then be looked at as a ratio that can be calculated between inputs and outputs. Thus if inputs fall whilst output is maintained, or output increases whilst inputs are reduced, performance has been improved. This can be said to be 'doing things right'. Output Effectiveness Performance= or Performance = Input Efficiency

Milestones (key performance indicators)

Milestones are agreed points in time between different individuals working within the organisation to complete major objectives and business goals. These milestones are where the individuals involved look at different aspects of their tasks that they have completed for their major objectives.

Analysis at these milestones benefits the organisation in that they may highlight:  good progress or poor progress  whether costs are within budget or not  progress that is now unnecessary as the business goal has changed over time.

Milestone analysis may include:

Progress over time The actions being taken within the specified time frame Costs What is being achieved within budget or costs for doing the tasks Resources The resources being utilised effectively and efficiently to do the tasks Tasks Work that contributes towards achieving the major objective and thus the business goal There are other factors that you may consider for your particular organisation. You might also need to consider how you would like to work with other staff in your team to set milestones that you all have to achieve.

A milestone is a point in time agreed to by the parties involved in the achievement of the major objective. It's also a time when you review how

things are going. It is at this point that business plans, major objectives and tasks are all reviewed to ensure that the original plan remains on track, or that there has been a circumstance that has now changed the original plan. New directions may be established from these points.

Milestones are good points to introduce controls (there will be more on this later).

Interestingly these milestones are sometimes called KPIs (key performance indicators). They look at key areas of the major objective—important for success and reviewing how ‘progress’ is being made.

A key performance indicator is as it says an ‘indicator’ of what has occurred from the previous analysis of the progress. It is always a lagging figure and not as some would use it as a look at the future; these figures are more goals, targets or outcomes not indicators per se.

For example, a goal may be for $2500 sales per week. A process would be to divide the $2500 by the number of days open, say 6 and this would be $417 of sales per day. The $417 is now an indicator for each day’s sales and can be reviewed by those involved to check the daily progress.

If after the first day $250 of sales is recorded, this would ‘indicate’ that the overall target of $2500 may not be reached. As this is a short-term target (6 days) the first day may be a one-off low sales day as there was bad weather and few customers were about. On the second day, the sales are $780 and this indicates that the goal of $2500 looks more achievable as the total of two days' sales is $1030 indicating the progress is now $196 in front.

This is a simple example but you can see how a KPI is a tool that can help you find out how you are progressing.

Let us look at an example of how KPIs might work in audiometry. Suppose you are a health worker in a community health centre and you would like to screen the hearing of pre-school children in the community. Your target is to screen 50 children over five days. This would mean 10 children a day. If you screen fewer than 10 children a day in the first few days, then it's unlikely that you will achieve your target. However, if you screen more than 10 children each day in the first few days, it is likely that you will meet your target.

By establishing KPIs, you and your organisation will know whether you are achieving your goals.

Setting and understanding own goals

Setting ‘own’ work priorities (goals) is fundamental to the success of the organisation. Achieving the goals may require the individual to complete several tasks. Some of these tasks will be independent of other people while

other tasks will depend on either other people achieving their task first or on all parties working together.

Simple goals

A small organisation might have only simple goals.

Examples of  Open the store at 8:30am each morning. simple goals  Clean bench tops at close of day. Number of tasks Does not usually involve many tasks. Nature of tasks They are easily achieved with little to no input from other people. Can be achieved by one person (so they are mostly independent of other people). Time frame A shorter time frame involved (compared time frames for complex goals). Success rate Readily accomplished.

Complex goals

Example of To reduce specula wastage by 3% over next 2 months complex goals Number of tasks Involves a number of levels of tasks. Nature of tasks Usually need input from other people. A mixture of ones dependent of other people and independent. Resources Needs lots of resources Time frame A longer time frame involved (compared time frames for simple goals). Success rate Not always readily accomplished in the short-term. The very nature of having more complex goals means they need to be clearly established, understood and communicated to everyone involved. These goals need to be ‘sold’ to other people (the stakeholders in the business) and marketed internally for their collaborative agreement.

These goals also need to be part of the organisation’s policies and procedures.

Organisational policies and procedures

It is very common for organisations to have manuals (or such documentation) that set out the policies and procedures to be followed by individuals conducting their regular duties. These manuals may also specify the organisation’s goals, objectives, mission and values.

Policies Policies set out the business’ philosophy on various issues,

eg, smoking in the workplace, sexual harassment or travel entitlements for staff.

Procedures Procedures, on the other hand, specify the steps a business wishes to be followed when carrying out particular tasks or in certain circumstances. Examples are: when using the telephone; applying for leave; responding to emergencies; and reporting accidents.

Purpose of policy and procedure manuals

Here are examples of how policy and procedure manuals can assist staff:

 You are aware of what the organisation's common goals are and you work towards achieving them.

 Time and effort are saved as procedures usually contain steps to complete regular tasks in the most efficient manner.

 You know where to look to find appropriate information and this helps keep interruptions to other staff to a minimum.

Working under this umbrella means that other people within the organisation need to ‘get on board’ with a new idea, changes to policies, development of processes and/or new products, plant or new equipment. Your work priorities need to be achieved and, therefore, you may need the cooperation and collaboration from others.

If other people within the organisation do not ‘come on board’, it makes progressing the ideas or taking the next steps more difficult to implement. For example, you want to purchase a new line of otoscopes and while you see the financial gains from this new line of otoscopes, you feel that other staff do not share your view.

Mission statement

Before establishing business objectives, the organisation must decide on a ‘mission statement’.

This single statement sums up the purpose of the business. This gives the business, no matter how small, a single focus and, in turn, allows the individual to focus on setting own work priorities. It might be, for example:  Provide a high quality audiology service to the people of Bunbury.  Deliver quality hearing aids to retail customers.  Exhibit professional skills and knowledge when dealing with customers.

The mission statement is the sort of thing that could be framed on the wall.

Business objectives

Once a feasible mission statement is written, business objectives are established. While the mission statement is rather general and descriptive, business objectives need to be much more specific. They need to be precise, achievable and measurable. There is a simple acronym you may have seen in other readings being, SMART as setting out a process to establish objectives.

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Realistic

T = Time frame.

Another is a SMARTER approach where:

E = Effective (doing the right things)

R = Resourced

This means the business objective will be more concise, accurate and clearer for individuals and the organisation.

What would be examples of objectives at your clinic? Would there be objectives relating to hearing rehabilitation programs? Would there be objectives relating to providing ongoing support using the latest digital hearing aid technology?

Examples of objectives at a small health centre in a remote area might include the ones listed below. Note that for each objective, there is aspecific time period within which the objective is expected to be achieved.

Screen and assess hearing impairment in the community's primary school children once a year. Complete this screening and assessment by July each year. After three weeks of referring patients for further audiological or medical assessment (based on the test results), follow up with the patients. Within three months, dispense all prescribed hearing aids and/or other assistive listening devices that can assist in hearing rehabilitation. By the end of the year, develop hearing health education programs that will enable staff to work with patients as well as their carers and family members.

These business objectives will lead to the achievement of overall business goals, such as to maximise the participation of hearing impaired people in aspects of personal and community activities.

A good reference for writing objectives can be found in Managing Performance Improvement (2006) by Tovey M and Uren M, Pearson Education Australia.

Here the objectives are written with an output statement and a result statement and when combined make for one good objective with clear directions so an individual can deliver on their tasks and major objectives.

Once you have written your objectives it will be quite clear that they show:  a result or outcome  when it will be achieved  appropriate resources that need to be allocated to achieve these objectives.

From these objectives, milestones and KPIs can be established to enable you to see that all is being done to reach the objective and that it will be achieved in the specific period.

Levels or a hierarchy of tasks

While achieving the overall business goal may include completing simple or complex tasks along the way, it is only when all of these tasks lead to some form of outcome that they will truly bring that business goal to fruition. We will now focus on the importance of learning how these individual tasks play an important role in achieving business goals.

Perception of tasks

Not all individuals see their tasks clearly. Some people may see tasks as confusing or see them as different at one time or another or they may even have different ideas or perceptions about what tasks are. This would need to be clarified between the team members before the commencement of any new objectives.

Individuals set personal goals every day, so do businesses but not just at the management level. Nevertheless, when management do set goals, individuals need to know what is being set so their objectives can be aligned with management’s set objectives for the business. All members of the organisation need to clearly know and understand why objectives are completed in a particular way and, more importantly, they need to know the reasons for completing it a particular way.

When looking at a business goal, you need to be able to identify:

 when the goal will be achieved  if the goal remains valid over time or at the time of review  what resources are being employed for that goal  what actions will be taken by other individuals (which remains beneficial to the business).

It is often suggested that we can break the business goal or ‘big picture’ down into its smaller bits. However, be careful with this approach because it often results in losing sight of the original goal or not understanding what was originally wanted, especially if the goal involves many individual tasks to be achieved along the way.

Here is an example to show a complex goal and the link with major objectives and tasks. In an audiology clinic, the goal might be to reduce wastage of diagnostic and screening equipment by 10%.

A major objective may include:

Reduce wastage of equipment by 10% over the next three months.

Tasks might be:

Inspect quality of the otoscopic parts when stock arrives. Return sub- standard stock to supplier. Order stock of re-useable ENT pocket lights. Order stock of re-useable ear specula. Reduce order of plastic ear specula.

This is just a simple example to demonstrate the links between a goal, the major objectives that support this goal and the tasks that help us achieve the major objectives.

This raises a question: What is the business trying to achieve?

This question should be asked more often to more individuals to reduce the risk of failure. Asking this question at those milestones will ensure adequate resources are also being employed to accomplish those individual tasks. This question would be raised with the right individuals, those who are involved in the tasks or overall goals of the business. Needless to say, communication is critical here and would be clear and concise to all who may influence the outcome of the major objective.

Who sets tasks?

The manager of the organisation (or the health centre director or the principal of the clinic) must set or finally approve a business goal. To achieve this business goal, major objectives and tasks are established. It is

common for others to be delegated these tasks while in some cases other individuals within the organisation set their own tasks.

When delegating or allowing individuals to set their own tasks, there is potential for conflict to arise between business goals and those of the individual and these may impact on the overall outcome of the business goal, that is, stop the business goal from being realised or reduce the impact of that goal. For example, in a large audiometry clinic, the goal was to increase use of re-useable resources by 10%. However, the purchase clerk had continued ordering only the disposal ear specula and disposal ENT pen lights as the supplier did not stock them in non-disposable forms. The purchase clerk was not going to find out whether these items were available from other suppliers as this would have meant more work.

The individual's tasks

Individuals will almost automatically be convinced that their own tasks are worthwhile whereas they may question the usefulness of other people's tasks.

There are several reasons for this including:  Other people don’t see the 'big picture' or have not been fully exposed to the stated business goal.  There is a lack of communication on the purpose of the goal.  Other people just don’t see the importance of the business goal.

Being a part of the process of setting objectives or participating in the decision-making process will not guarantee that the individual will carry out their task successfully, but it is more likely in most cases when there is some form of involvement.

The point is this: the individual will only take some form of ownership of the task, objective or outcome when they see their tasks as being linked to their own major objective and hopefully to that of the business’s goals as well.

Individuals may also be under some form of reward system where they receive a financial benefit for achieving their individual tasks. While there is certainly nothing wrong with incentives there is very good evidence that providing some forms of incentives do not work for the overall benefit of the business.

If an organisation wants to introduce incentives, it would be very useful for them to, firstly, carry out some research, which may even be research to find a better incentive program for the organisation.

It is worth looking at the different views on whether to instigate an incentive scheme or program in the business. While there are many views on this, it is

a subject that needs to be considered for what is required and what the business can actually afford.

The communication of tasks

Successful setting of tasks depends on the amount of effort placed on the communication process.

As stated earlier, setting major objectives is carried out at all levels of the business and this process will be carried out more effectively when communication between the individuals involved is free flowing and open.

There are very good readings that provide different examples of the communication process, each providing good basic principles. Each is well worth looking at to gain a good understanding of how to apply the communication process within the workplace.

References for communication readings Access Series 2003, Communication for Business, McGraw-Hill, North Ryde

Access Series 2002, Communication for IT, McGraw-Hill, Roseville

Australian Training Products Administration Toolbox: http://www.atpl.net.au/

Dwyer, Judith 2005, The Business Communication Handbook, Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest.

Henwood, Belinda 2003, Organise Personal Work Priorities and Development BSBCMN302A, Software Publications, Chatswood.

How to set your own objectives

Individuals within the organisation set major objectives of their own in accordance with business requirements that need to be aligned to the strategy of the organisation. Operational plans are translated from the strategies and major objectives are then developed with individual tasks evolving from these major objectives.

Where are you today—and where do you want to be?

The process to determine individual tasks is a 'thinking' process whereby you would consider the present and then move on to consider the future. You develop processes by thinking through the issues to get from what you are doing at present to where you want to be in the future.

For an organisation, these targets or major objectives are either very rigid and stationary or like many they tend to move over time.

Communicating on how, when or even why these targets move will assist you greatly with reaching or ‘hitting’ that major objective. Failing to reach that major objective only limits or reduces the success rate of business goals and this is usually due to the lack of information, incorrect information or the correct information. But if you arrive too late, the deadline would have passed for that major objective.

What are the objectives and tasks involved?

Communicating all aspects of the tasks involved in major objectives is critical and will get individuals involved. This again does not necessarily negate problems arising but certainly engenders some form of coherence and understanding between the parties involved. Not knowing may lead to competing tasks and major objectives, which, as commented earlier may result in inefficiencies and a reduction to the overall business goal’s purpose, or undermining the business’s mission statement.

Major objectives will be easier to communicate to others if they are written (and clearly written, too) than if they are not written. Reflect back on the acronym SMARTER when writing major objectives.

A simple definition of a hierarchy for our purposes could be tasks or major objectives at different levels based on some form of logical grading of importance or status.

In this reading, a hierarchy will be seen simply as a means to identify tasks in some priority or order of importance. From this, individuals will identify how one task will assist in the achievement of another task and these interrelationships will ultimately achieve the major objective, leading to the success of the overall business goal.

For example, supply a special purpose hearing aid for a customer where the major objective is to satisfy the hearing needs of the customer.

1 = Primary objective, hearing needs of the customer

A = find the source of the hearing aid

B = researching alternative hearing aids

Major objective B aids in the achievement of major objective A.

B could also be seen as a task of A.

C then could be the payment of the hearing aid.

The tasks below are associated for each of the major objectives. These could be: 1 Identify hearing aid specifications for purpose. 2 Seek contact numbers for suppliers. 3 Review different types of hearing aids. 4 Determine the costing for the final job.

Dependent and independent tasks

Earlier, we introduced the independent and dependent tasks that individuals will be accomplishing. The same concept also goes for major objectives. These may also be dependent on one another, that is, one major objective must be achieved before another can be started.

In our example, B needs to be completed before A is finalised. Here A has tasks of its own plus it is a major objective.

Independent major objectives can be achieved together by different individuals when resources are available or able to be better utilised, B and C in our example.

Why look at a hierarchy of tasks?

The business plan, as briefly explained earlier, allows the organisation to review resources, time frames, work plans, competencies and performance standards. From the business plan, a work plan or operational plan is developed that will identify the major objectives and tasks needed. Therefore, this process of thinking through the business plan and the relationships between different business goals put major objectives and their tasks in some form of order depending on their prior claim on resources.

The understanding of a hierarchy of tasks introduces the concept of relationships between business goals, major objectives and tasks. This understanding will assist with reducing any conflict that may arise between available resources by planning or seeing what sequence each task should be completed, eg, when by, by whom and with what resources.

The benefit of reviewing the tasks and major objectives as a hierarchy allows those involved to plan for needed resources or, more importantly, available resources. Also the hierarchy builds communication links between individuals in the business to achieve those business plans.

A review of the hierarchy should also highlight in a systematic way which major objectives and underlying tasks involved will go towards achieving the business goal. Getting the overall process right means understanding and identifying what are good tasks, what are bad tasks and what are just plain ugly tasks.

What is the good, bad and the ugly major objective and task?

As individuals, we believe our own major objectives and tasks are good and we do not always accept that other individuals may see them differently. It is preferable that ‘good’ tasks be clearly defined. However, it is more often than not that we find it may be easier to define bad objectives.

A good objective will have all the characteristics as established from the acronym of SMARTER as discussed above.

As tasks and, ultimately, major objectives are designed to achieve business goals, it will be a bad task if this does not eventuate. In addition, there will be varying reasons for this including little or inadequate resources, wrong direction or incorrect time frames set. A bad task or bad major objective may be clear to other individuals and even understood by them. However, other individuals who will participate in and assist in achieving the business goal must also understand tasks and major objectives that are understood by the person setting them.

A bad objective may have no effect or is a hindrance to the major objective. It can also be said that the task will be wrong if it assists with the major objective but the major objective is in itself wrong.

What is an ugly task? These tasks may be seen as just plain ugly and useless (What are we doing them for?!). They will not have an outcome. Nor will they contribute to the outcome of other people's tasks or major objectives.

Someone doing an ugly task might say:  There is nothing else for me to do.  I was delegated this task — it wasn't something I chose to do.  I like doing this task anyway.

An ugly task may exist to limit the success of other individuals’ tasks.

Getting through the day completing ineffective tasks is really a waste of time, effort and resources.

A task may have several effects:  not assist the objectives at all  play a very small, insignificant role (bordering on ugly task)  hinder the achievement of the objective (slows the progress)  have no effect on the achievement of the objective  assist with the initial success of the objective  play a significant role in achieving the business goal.

Individuals will, of course, have different opinions about objectives and their merits towards achieving business goals.

Again, that question ‘what are we trying to achieve?’ should be asked often at those milestones to keep on track.

Guidelines for writing tasks

There are difficulties when setting sound and well-integrated major objectives as there are many guiding principles which can be used to determine objectives. These guiding principles may then be used differently by different individuals of the organisation and thus have different outcomes for the organisation.

What is the goal?

First, ask: What are we trying to do? What do we need to do to achieve the stated business goal?

As suggested earlier the major objectives should be written to encourage an individual to think more about the overall major objective that has been established and about the tasks that will be completed to achieve that major objective. Keeping the ‘picture’ relevant at the time is important and setting or delegating appropriate, effective and efficient tasks will go a long way to being successful.

What resources do we need to achieve the goal?

Very important here is to consider the resources needed to accomplish that task.

Objectives should be specific and realistic

They are established in conjunction with legislation, codes and national standards relevant to the workplace including:  award and enterprise agreements and relevant industrial instruments

 relevant legislation from all levels of government that affect business operation, especially in regard to occupational health and safety and environmental issues, equal opportunity, industrial relations and anti-discrimination  relevant industry codes of practice.

Now that you have learnt the need for a clear understanding of tasks, major objectives and the importance of business goals, what is the next step?

Assess and prioritise workload to ensure completion within time frames

Work effectively with other people

Prioritising work and ensuing tasks are completed within a time frame has a lot to do with working effectively with other people.

Our 'own' tasks are often not completely our own. What do we mean by this?

It means that whatever task we do at work, quite often there are other people (both colleagues and managers) involved. In your practice, who do you work with? If you have to order a supply of ear specula, who might you have to deal with? If you have to make a referral for a patient, who would you work with?

Individuals in an audiology service would include a qualified audiologist and qualified audiometrists. Audiologists have broad responsibilities and expertise in all non-medical areas of hearing services including complex hearing assessment and rehabilitation of hearing impairment (which includes hearing aid prescription, fitting and management).

Qualified audiometrists handle hearing assessment, hearing aid prescription and fitting, and management of hearing loss.

Therefore, you can see that audiologists and audiometrists have to interact with each other and this includes consulting with each other about work priorities.

If you work in a small health centre in a rural or remote community, who would you need to interact with in your work? Who would you consult with when prioritising your workload?

What are some factors that make it either easier or more difficult for you to achieve your work objectives?

Some of the issues you considered may have had to do with people's ability to work well with other people.

Reflect on personal attributes and impact on other people

The people we work with or deal with are humans and, therefore, they are complex. You, too, are multi-dimensional.

Reflect on the kind of person you are. Reflect on your beliefs and values. Reflect also on how you view the world as well as how you view work. Do any of these affect how you work with other people to achieve work objectives? Are you 'easy' to work with?

Now reflect on the personalities, attributes and beliefs and values of your colleagues. Do these affect the ways in which they interact with you and others? Do they impact on the achievement of work goals?

Does everyone have the same interests in what the organisation needs?

These are examples of what someone might say when they reflect on how their personal attributes impact on their achievement of work tasks, objectives and goals:

We need to be mindful of factors that have no bearing on a person's ability to complete tasks. For example, it would be unfair and illogical to think that a person cannot perform a screening for hearing loss as well as other people because of their gender, age, religious beliefs, sexual preferences etc.

To review anti-discrimination legislation, follow the links below.

www.austlii.edu.au

http://www.hrc.co.nz/report/chapters/chapter16/work01.html

Understand the effects of your behaviour

Effective interpersonal relationships will allow the organisation to achieve its goals through the people it employs. Therefore, any negative behaviour from one person may result in others feeling less important or not willing to

get involved with the organisation and may even feel unsupported by the organisation.

On the other hand, those with a positive behaviour towards others tend to provide a positive role model and this, in turn, this will enhance the environment they work in and encourage a sense of wanting to achieve, increasing overall productivity thus allowing the organisation to achieve its goals.

Consider that everyone has their own tasks to complete

It is important to note here that other staff also have their ‘own’ tasks and major objectives to complete. It is important to realise this when you request something from them as you are interrupting their progress by having to take care of what you are asking of them.

Understand business goals

At this stage we know it is important that all individuals within the organisation understand what the business goals are and, that they see them as 'realistic' and achievable—realistic in the sense that they fit within the scope of why the individual was employed and that they have been given all the resources to achieve those major objectives for those business goals.

Negotiate with others

While we will be looking at prioritising and scheduling next, it is important at this point to retain the proposition that business goals need to be achieved along with individual goals and in a sense, completed simultaneously.

It is during this stage of looking at what tasks and major objectives you will need to complete that you will start developing your performance agreement with other individuals in the organisation and the organisation itself.

By inhibiting the outcomes of other people, you may actually lower the success rate of your outcomes. Therefore you will need the collaborative support from others, and they your support.

Collaborate with others

In any given work day, there is usually a lot to accomplish—and you and your team-mates would all to working to achieve your simple and complex goals. You would be trying to achieve these within the established time frames and while following work practices, policies and principles.

The collaboration approach is when individuals come together to discuss how best to complete the tasks. You immediately ‘collaborate’ to resolve,

establish or decide actions. You have all agreed on the approach to take so there is no need to have any more negotiations on that.

Prioritise workloads

When prioritising tasks and major objectives in order to achieve completion within time frames, how do you decide what tasks to attend to first?

Consider priorities at the following levels:

 whole organisation

 individual sections, departments or processes

 individuals, eg, the receptionist, audiologist, audiometrist, etc.

There should be no conflicting priorities. Tasks should have much the same order or sequence in the whole organisation, at section level and at the individual's level. An organisation is likely to achieve its goals more often if tasks are prioritised for all these three levels.

Assess workload

At work there are individual tasks to complete, for example, attend to customers, collate records and reports, complete holiday rosters, and request maintenance or set workflow schedules.

All these tasks need to be completed within an identified time frame, making for a busy day or week.

The extent of the workload is often not recognised and sometimes it becomes a little heavy as more tasks are taken on or more tasks have been delegated. Often with this excess workload, individuals find it difficult to fit other tasks into the time frame they have.

Often there are many tasks completed during the working day that are completed subconsciously, especially for those simple objectives and shorter time-framed business goals. With more complex major objectives, their underlying tasks need to the planned out and some priority placed on them for completion.

Once prioritised, tasks should then be scheduled into current workloads already committed to complete other tasks and major objectives. In addition, by prioritising and scheduling tasks, we allow for a more effective and efficient allocation of resources. For example, the task of locating that special hearing aid needs to be scheduled into your already busy workload. You may schedule that task for a time when resources are available or your ‘schedule’ actually allows you to do that task. There is a balancing act here

between what you are currently doing opposed to what has been imposed or asked of you to do.

Planning for the achievement of business goals may include some of the following considerations:

1. Have all individual tasks been identified?

2. What tasks are needed to be completed? When should they be completed?

3. How can I balance tasks to achieve the major objectives?

4. What resources are needed or available? What resources have been allocated?

5. What I am about to do (my task) to get me closer to the overall business goal?

Flow charts or process analyses are also valid tools to employ to see if there are unwanted or non-value adding tasks being completed unnecessarily.

It is easy to see how planning would play an important role in scheduling and monitoring goals. These would assist with the planning of how personal work goals and plans should reflect the business's plans. Part of these work plans is to identify the level of responsibility, accountability and authority you will have to complete these plans.

It can be seen at this stage that you may need to get some assistance from others to complete your tasks and a good method to use is to delegate some of these tasks.

Delegating of tasks

With delegating tasks to others it is important to identify the tasks and their relationships for their dependency or independence, as different tasks will have varying impacts on the overall success of the objectives and ultimately the business goal.

This recognition of independency or dependency is critical in allocating resources to achieve tasks. As more tasks are required then more resources may need to be utilised. For example, if only one otoscopy is available in a practice and two audiometrists need to complete their tasks, then patients will probably need to wait a long time before they can be attended to.

As the client base builds within a practice there will be a need for further resources, cash, inventory, people, plant and/or equipment. Individuals may have to compete for these resources and as such they will not be able to complete their ‘tasks’ within the agreed time frame.

It is only when all tasks are completed that the major objective is achieved and by designing tasks effectively and efficiently in the planning stage that the business goal will be achieved.

When delegating a task, it is important that an individual’s performance is not jeopardised through delegating additional tasks to them. They need to achieve their tasks and major objectives as well as others within the workplace. Everyone needs to monitor and schedule their tasks and major objectives in accordance with what others around them are wanting to achieve.

Delegating is done partly through the system of organisation charts and job descriptions. That is, certain tasks are assigned to different individuals or to their position in the business. Some businesses may not have formal job descriptions or even, if they are small, organisation charts.

You often hear individuals talk of the art of delegation because there is a fine line between appropriate delegation and too much or not enough delegation.

Be aware of the fine line between delegating and ‘dumping’. This is where a task is ‘dumped’ onto an individual without any thought to what they have to achieve and no thought to the resources needed by that individual to complete the task.

It is unfortunate that some individuals adopt an approach of keeping too much to themselves, taking the view that if you want it done well then do it yourself. The problem with such a view is that there is a limit to what that individual can achieve. Taking on more work will mean that some tasks may be neglected or postponed which may mean others’ tasks may be delayed. Another issue is that by not delegating it assumes that their choice of staff was inappropriate at selection, or the wrong person was employed or that they have little confidence in their staff.

Another issue with delegation is that there are functions of management that are the responsibility and accountability of the manager and requires their knowledge and authority. This includes some of the planning and organisation functions or other tasks dealing with discipline and serious problem-solving issues.

As everyone is working towards the achievement of their tasks and major objectives there is a clear sense that the delegating of tasks and determining the workloads of one’s own work is a ‘task’ within itself. Not to mention the task of delegating to others who may have tasks delegated to them from others, what a mess things could become if it were not for some form of prioritising and scheduling.

There are a few concepts that guide effective delegation but one most important one is the delegation of all necessary resources to complete the delegated tasks. It is of no use to delegate a task to another if resources,

including time, equipment, authority accountability and responsibility is not also delegated or given to the individual.

Uphold responsibility, accountability and authority

Being responsible for what you do is to complete those tasks or major objectives that you agreed to do. You do not pass this responsibility onto other individuals. If you delegate a task to someone, then you need also to delegate a clear responsibility to them to accomplish that task, but, as they say ‘the buck stops with you’ if things do not go to plan.

It is very important to ensure when delegating that you communicate and get agreement to the amount of responsibility that goes with the delegated task. While it is said that responsibility is yours alone and cannot be delegated to others, there are better accomplishment rates, if you like, to the ‘delegated’ tasks if the individual also knows their responsibilities.

Accountability is taking on tasks or major objectives that makes you answerable to the business for those tasks, that is, your actions show to others and the business that you are that person who took on those tasks. It is what you do that is seen to be correct, valid and ethical for the business.

Authority is a little more complex in as much as authority is given to all individuals to the level of their respective position. The principal of the clinic (or the manager) has authority to do almost anything while the receptionist has a level of authority to do their job. However, to do their job they must have all necessary authority such as the authority to contact customers by phone or use petty cash to pay for some services. A receptionist would probably not have the authority to purchase new record- keeping software for the computer system, but could have the authority to arrange for any upgrades to that software, so the organisation can keep up to date.

Individuals, to complete their work objectives, need to have all the authority at the level they are working at, by not allowing this only places limitations on the individual to complete their tasks. For example, you are able to use otoscopy parts from the store but do not have the authority to sign a requisition form for additional parts when the workflow increases.

You must have the authority to obtain resources such as reports, specific information to carry out your tasks.

All has gone to plan; an effective business plan has been established along with effective work priorities. However, we are working in a volatile business environment where changes occur each day. There will be factors that will affect the achievement of work objectives and we will now look at how these will be identified and incorporated into individual work plans.

As stated above the business plan is essential for a business to accomplish what it sets out to do. Coming from the business plan are the work plans or operational plans defining actions taken to achieve the business plans.

While you have ensured these plans are written and have been communicated clearly to everyone concerned, there will be factors that will affect the outcomes, not least of all, the ever-changing world of business.

The following list is by no means exhaustive but provides a reasonable overview of some factors to be aware of when seeking to achieve those individual tasks and major objectives.

Factors affecting the achievement of tasks and major objectives We have already mentioned some factors that can affect the achievement of tasks and objectives. These include negative workplace relationships among staff and ineffective assessment and prioritising of tasks. Work overload was also mentioned.

Other factors might include:

 competing work demands

 technology/equipment breakdowns

 unforeseen incidents

 workplace hazards, risks and controls

 environmental factors such as time, weather, etc

 budget constraints

 legislation.

As can be seen from the list above, there are different factors that may impact the successful achievement of individual tasks, major objectives and business goals. The inability to complete tasks needed to fulfil a major objective will impact the overall achievement of the business goal.

When putting the work plan together it would be wise to address some of these factors as things may not go according to the original business plans. There is a need to also establish a contingency plan if things do not go to plan.

A contingency plan is basically a plan established in parallel with the business plan but looking at those aspects of the plan that may cause some

risk, that is, if it were to occur would have a negative impact on the business. For example, overload of tasks would limit the achievement of individual tasks. Therefore within the work plan, an effective means to delegate tasks would be developed with controls that will highlight when an overload was imminent.

As with the business plan, work plans when completed with due diligence on behalf of those involved will address these factors more readily.

The business plans linked to the individual’s tasks and major objectives through effective work plans or operations plans is an assurance that progress will go as smoothly as possible, but then again not all is perfect in business life but having these well-established plans will smooth out the difficulties encountered on the way.

Clearly established major objectives and tasks built within the work plans will ensure that unforeseen, limiting factors will be catered for where incidents will pose less risk for the business’s goal.

We will discuss the communication strategies that would be seen as necessary to ensure others are also aware of the goals you are seeking to achieve.

Use business technology to monitor and adjust job quality and customer service In most organisations today, people communicate through business technologies such as computers.

Here are examples of business technology that organisations use:  electronic mail (email). This is main means of exchanging written communication  internet and intranet  facsimile  hand-held computer or personal digital assistant (PDA). On these PDAs, you can have your entire contact list and your calendar as well as a list of things to do. Many PDAs also allow you to receive and respond to email via wireless or modem transmission  software for word processing, page layout and graphic design  electronic conferencing  audio or video conferencing  multimedia presentations

 mobile phones and pagers. These help ensure that one can communicate from virtually anywhere to virtually anywhere else at any time.

Think of what business technologies you already use. Also, think of how you can use these technologies to efficiently and effectively manage and monitor the scheduling of your tasks.

Do you electronically schedule your tasks?

There are software packages for planning, managing, and scheduling events such as meetings, meeting rooms, appointments, equipment loans and so on. You're able to view all your events in a daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly. You can also take a quick look at the events of a single day in any calendar view.

Below are examples.

Note that you can let other people you work with view your calendar.

Figure 1: Calender for meetings, appointments etc

Note the list on the left-hand side. You can share your task schedule with people you work with.

Figure 2: Scheduling tasks

Technology is continually changing, as you know. So, try to keep abreast of the latest tools that we can use in our profession. Consider social networking among colleagues via the internet, for example. Blogs, for instance. If you are in a remote area, they might have special appeal to you.

Go to Resource 1

This resource looks at how to improve workplace performance by assessing how we are performing our duties in the light of organisational goals and standards. We then look at how to manage our work schedule through planning and prioritising and by learning how to use our time more effectively.

Summary In this topic, we learnt how to differentiate between the concepts of work goals and objectives. We also learnt how the tasks that we set help us achieve the objectives and, ultimately, our business goals. We looked at what factors come into play when we are prioritising and assessing workloads. We explored the factors that can either help or hinder our achievement of our tasks, objectives and goals. Finally, we considered business technology that will help us manage and monitor the scheduling and completion of tasks.