How do you manage your workload in your role?

I manage my work by firstly identifying what I call 'rocks' in my diary. These are the things that are most important in my week and cannot be moved such as 1-1s with my team, specific project group meetings or Operational Excellence team Hubs. I can then schedule some specific 'focus' time where I need to get on with my own tasks. This element is important because I want to ensure I have enough free space in my diary for colleagues to put time in with me when needed as it's vital I am available to support my team when they need help and also be available for stakeholders if they have any issues they want to talk through. When it comes to working through my own tasks, I am much more productive in the morning and can be prone to procrastination so I aim to get the most difficult or challenging task done as soon as I can in the day. This not only means I can get it off my workload but it will also stop me thinking about it and allow me to be more productive for the rest of the day!

For me prioritising inbox queries and keeping on top of my to do lists are key - I will start each day checking for urgent and time critical queries (which could be anything from payroll queries around cut off deadlines, to last minute interview cancellations). I'll then go through my daily, weekly and monthly to do lists, and add things on and tick them off as I go through my emails (getting to the end of the day and seeing everything i've ticked off is very satisfying!). My team are also very supportive so I know that if I ever need support with workload I can reach out to them.