How To Create And Use Templates To Save Time At Work

Managing time effectively is one of the biggest challenges managers face today. When we conduct workshops for them, one of the critical tips that we give them is to use templates.

This applies for email formats which they use regularly, for periodic reports that they need, team induction as well as in making presentations.

When we do the same task over and over again, it is important to reduce the time that such a task takes. The best way to reduce the time and ensure consistency in results is to use templates – or ready-formats.

The way to go about this is to list down the activities which you perform frequently. Let me take the example of presentations. If you are a middle/senior level manager who makes presentations frequently, you need to make certain points over and over again. Take the case of a periodic report that you need to present. While the numbers and analysis may change, the main content remains the same.

You could break down your periodic report presentation into components like:
1. Executive summary of performance
2. Bar graph that shows performance in period
3. Individual performance breakup
4. Achievement Highlights
5. List and status of new activities implemented in the period
6. Issues and proposed action for next period

Once you have these presentation template slides in place, you can just reuse the slide template every time by filling in the updated details. This kind of template has the following benefits:
1. It saves time because you don’t need to rethink the content every time
2. It ensures that you don’t miss out any points in a hurry
3. You can get this content filled in by someone else
4. Once you have a good flow for your content, you get to retain it time after time.

As you can see, there are many benefits to having templates. You can create templates like this for yourself or buy it online. Readymade presentation templates, for examples, are available online on sites like BuyAPresentation.com. Such presentation templates can be created for other types of presentations like new business proposal, product or service pitches, board meeting presentations, strategy presentations and marketing presentations.

You can also create templates like this for other tasks like team induction. A standard process flow for inducting a new member in the team for example can be created. Once the person joins, everyone in your team would be aware of what needs to be done. This saves time and the effort of rethinking.

Remember to use templates and save your time.



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