I’m continuing my Time Management for Leaders Series with a post that connects to one of my strengths, Input. In my post Using Your Strengths at Work, I wrote about my Input strength:

“People strong in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information” (p.191, Rath & Conchie). I am a collector of words, ideas, books, articles, and information to be read and learned!

What does this have to do with time management, you might be wondering. I use my collector nature combined with my organization to save items I can share with staff at a later date.  Here are some examples.

• Weekly Bulletin – As a principal, I always wrote a weekly bulletin that I emailed out to my staff. As a director who oversaw instructional coaches at all district sites, I also wrote a weekly update to them via a Google doc.  I think this ongoing communication is something important all site leaders should consider. This, however, can be time-consuming, especially if you want to include information beyond basic calendar reminders. Here is how I saved time in the long run.
  • I created a template for my bulletin that had all the basic categories I would include.
  • I would then use the template to create the next 2-3 weeks worth of bulletins, saved as the date of each week.
  • I would also create a Ideas draft of the bulletin to hold ideas that weren’t pertinent for the next few weeks, but that I didn’t want to lose.
  • My secretary would have access to these drafts and she would add the basic calendar and school reminders for the week. [The topic of how to work with clerical staff to manage your time more efficiently may come up later in this series!]
  • Throughout the week, as I was reading blogs, taking pictures around campus, or attending district workshops, I would add information to one of the bulletin drafts. Sometimes I would sit in a meeting and think, this is great information, but not something I need to share with my staff right away. These would go in the Ideas bulletin draft.
  • By the time Friday afternoon came around, my bulletin would usually only need me to finish writing my principal message or read it over for editing.
  • Creating 2-3 weeks at a time also saves time because you won’t have to spend time trying to find your notes from last week’s meeting to include.
• Tags – I’ve written blogs before about how I flag emails or blogs for follow up, and then again when I discovered Pocket, a cool app that lets you tag and save items you’ve read online. Since then, I’ve continued to refine the way I archive information I think is worth sharing. I create tags that are meaningful to the people I would share information with. For instance, my tags might include: teachers, principals, coaches, math teachers, elementary teachers, etc. Other tags might include topics I want to search for later, such as: innovation, technology integration, authentic learning, personalized learning, coaching, etc. Because I am a voracious reader and I don’t want to forget what I’ve read, tags save me time when I am building a bulletin message, planning a professional development workshop, writing a blog or article, or sharing ideas with colleagues.

Are you a collector of information?

How do you organize and archive resources so they are useful to you? 

Time Management for Leaders Series

Calendar 911

No More Inbox Ailment

Making Time for Classroom Visits