Time is a word that is not easy to define.
A definition of time
“A nonspatial continuum in which events occur in apparently
irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future.”
(www.guru.net)
As a scientist I already can argue against this definition, as there are experimental situations described (with elementary particles) of negative velocity detection, which means that the order of past and future are reversed. (CERN- Switzerland)
A more scientific definition of time
“Time is change brought
about by motion through space”.
(Stephen Hawkins/ Albert Einstein)
I would say that this definition covers “time” much more, but is vague in its own explanation.
It is the same as with electricity. It is a phenomenon we live with and we use it to our own convenience, but it is not easy to explain what it exactly is we are dealing with.
When we know what we are dealing with (awareness creates response/ability) there are ways of managing it. Time itself is happening beyond our power and as such not possible to manage. However, we are able to manage the “use of time” and that is what we call Time Management.
Traditional Time Management (the way we use time!) teaches a number of techniques that aim to increase the effectiveness of a person in getting the things done that need to be done. Time management is somewhat of a misnomer as time passes without regard to what we do; the only thing we can manage is ourselves. Hence time management is mostly about self management. There are a number of tools, techniques and attitudes that can help:
- To-do list
- Goal setting
- Pro-activeness
- Priorities
- Win-win opportunities
- Understanding others
- Improving yourself
One individual within an organisation has relationships with him/herself, with the team/department, with the rest of the organisation as well as with the external influences of customers/suppliers and society as a whole.
When an exercise of self management is making that person do different things (using the time differently) then this will have an effect on his/her surroundings. The individual will be introducing a “Change”. The only way the environmental system is going to cope with this change is, when it adapts and changes with the individual.
Although not impossible (like a manager who closes its office door to prevent interruptions), this is highly unlikely in most cases.
Change is normally met by resistance and the person who started the change (by going on a time management course) is soon being forced to return to the same routines and “unwritten” rules he/she was operating in before. The time management course may have had some good outcome for the individual on a personal level, but not necessarily for the organisation itself.
Mind Gliding believes that Time Management cannot be the solution for individuals within an organisation, but is an issue of the organisation as a whole. The “rules” have to be changed to make it possible for every individual to operate at a level of best performance, without getting caught up in stressful entanglements caused by an organisation which is not operating in an ‘optimum’ state.
For an organisation to operate in this ‘optimum’ state, Mind Gliding uses its ‘5 level relationship model’ that has been developed by the late Professor Petruska Clarkson and adapted by Mind Gliding to form a template of an optimal performance strategy for a business environment.
Dr Eddy Kloprogge
References:
* CERN
* A Brief History of Time
* GURU.net
* Relationship in organisations
* Professor Petruska Clarkson