Contrary to a certain belief that social networks (either internal or external) are for time-wasters, they can be excellent time management and productivity tools. I am not just saying it for the effect; let me show you some evidence.

If you have experience attending any time management seminars or workshops, you are likely to be familiar with Stephen Covey’s quadrant of urgency and importance – a key feature in one of his many successful books First Things First.

As stated by Covey, the idea of breaking our daily tasks or to-do lists into four key categories (see diagram below) helps improve efficiency. However, the challenge lies with separating urgent tasks that required immediate attention from important ones which has big impact but are not necessarily time sensitive. 

Whilst this is a useful tip, it’s not always easy to put the theory into practice without the right tool and support from within the company.

In April this year, we started applying this theory and putting it into practice with our own internal social network called JamJar, and I am pleased (although not surprised) to see the results.

To begin with, we encouraged our staff to add all important tasks or information to the collaboration network, so everyone can schedule in time to think and respond properly, and at their own pace.  This separates all the non-urgent, but important messages from the urgent ones, which go into the email inbox of the relevant parties, who can then respond in a timely manner (see highlighted second quadrant in yellow).

That way, important but non-urgent discussions are no longer distracting employees from the urgent ones that arrive in their inbox.  In addition, important but not urgent discussions are now getting the attention they deserve.  This is particularly important for keeping business objectives on track and ensuring that all the actions are taken care of and in the right order, without getting bogged down by other non time sensitive items.

In addition, our email traffic has dropped by 57 per cent since implementation and our staff are no longer receiving hundreds of emails that were mixed with tasks of all degrees of urgency and importance.  From a filing and storage point of view, all important information that needs to be shared is now all in one interactive network within our company.

A sensible internal network brings multiple benefits, and enhancing employee’s time management skills is a simple and straightforward capability that can be easily achieved.  I am more than happy to share our JamJar experience with you if you would like to drop me an email, you can email me at lexie@webjam-ltd.com or leave me a comment below.