Civil servants must embrace proper time management for maximum productivity – Ambode 

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has changed civil servants in the State to embrace proper time management to boost maximum productivity.

The governor spoke on Thursday at a two-training for top civil servants held in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.

He said improper time management often resulted in missed deadlines and poor productivity.

Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr.  Benson Oke said not being able to complete one’s tasks on time was one of the most glaring signs of poor time management.

“Although it’s not uncommon for people to occasionally miss deadlines (after all, emergencies and mistakes do happen), if you find that it becomes a regular occurrence, your time management skills definitely need improvement. Sometimes you may not even realise you’re whiling away your time rather than doing the work you’re supposed to do,” he said.

The governor added that poor time management would also lead to difficulty in concentrating, stressing that when civil servants were
swamped with work and had very little time left to do it, they were bound to become distracted.

“Even though you’re in a hurry to get everything done as quickly as possible, you’ll inevitably end up wasting your time thinking of how you’re going to finish everything on time instead of focusing on the task ahead of you. Unfortunately, this will only make things worse. However, if you have good time management skills, you won’t reach this stage. Since you won’t have a backlog of work waiting to be completed, you’ll be able to focus and finish your tasks in a timely manner without becoming distracted,” he explained.

According to Ambode, poor time management would certainly lead to errors in the work of civil servants, saying that when one did one’s work in a hurry, the quality of one’s work was likely to suffer and that there were bound to be some mistakes.

“This is another common sign of poor time management. As a general rule, it’s always a good idea to have comfortable breathing room when you’re working on something. For example, if you think you can finish a certain task in an hour, it’s best to give yourself an hour and a half to do it. This extra time will help you improve the quality of your work and minimise your chances of making mistakes,” he said.

The governor also identify stress and anxiety as the products of poor time management, explaining that it was quite common for people to feel helpless and stressed when they were pressed for time.

“In situations like this, most people panic and start to feel like they just don’t have enough hours in the day to get the work done – which would only add to their stress. Unfortunately, this is another classic sign of ineffective time management skills. Instead of focusing on how much work you have left to do, always try to focus on the task ahead. This will help you keep the stress at bay and allow you to get things done much more effectively,” Ambode advised.