YOU Have the Answers within Yourself....
Druet Cameron Klugh

That's what I learned at the CoALL Educational Institute seminar on "Managing Your Priorities" presented by Louise Litt, consultant to Thomson University. The workshop was held Saturday February 26th at the University of Denver College of Law, Lowell Thomas Law Building, in Denver. I came away with two good techniques to use in helping me keep organized and focused at work (I'll let you guess which ones!).

Facilitator Louise Litt first lead us in several exercises to identify why exactly it is so hard to prioritize successfully. "Change" was the watchword of the day: change in our work patterns, changes in our job duties, changes in technology and the impact of changes in the priorities of others to whom we are responsible. Many were the nods of recognition around the room as we discussed negotiating conflicts in schedules and resources and zeroed in on the need to limit our involvement in projects that conflict with our current commitments. For a group of service-oriented professionals (or should I say "yes-junkies"??), that was a good start.

It's always easier to recognize poor behavior and prescribe a solution when you are watching someone else. To that end, Louise next showed us video vignettes of office situations where priorities were muddled and job challenges dealt with in various ways. She then encouraged us to analyze them and suggest better practices. The four rules of thumb for success boiled down to:

1. Say when. * establish limits on your availability while supporting your co-workers
2. Learn more. * clarify the scope of the task and expectations about its completion
3. Ask for help. * when overloaded, think of alternatives and get others to help
4. Give it away. * delegate, and take the time to explain it to the person taking on the task

Workbooks laid out these techniques in detail, and discussion in small groups enabled us to put our everyday scenarios in to place. One of the strongest messages I personally heard that day was "self-internalize your priorities". Say it to yourself. Let it become a mantra. If I can respect my own priorities, it will be so much easier to train others to do so, and to honor theirs.

If each of us who attended the workshop selected one technique to work on, that means a lot of resolutions have been being worked on in the past several weeks. I encourage all of my co-attendees to keep up the good habits! And for those of you who work with us, observe and see if you can figure out which technique we chose....

As usual, the CoALL Educational Institute was well worth attending. Linda Rose did a great job of organizing, DU Law School was a comfortable site, conducive to learning, and the presenters, courtesy of West Group's Thomson University and Lexis-Nexis Librarian Professional staff, were of very high caliber. Thanks to all who made it happen.