50 Training Activities for Administrative, Secretarial, and Support Staff

Activity 12 99

Activity 12

If I had to choose…

Description

This is a group discussion and flipchart activity to help participants clarify objectives

and decide on priorities, especially when they are providing support services to a

variety of people with differing needs.

Target Group

Support staff at all levels

Objectives

• To identify how, when, and where a conflict of priorities can occur in a busy

work schedule

• To prepare a “blueprint” for prioritizing work

• To produce a set of guidelines for publication within a department or team

• To enhance decision-making skills

Number of Participants

This activity works best with small groups from the same functional areas. The total

number of participants should, ideally, not exceed 12.

Time

60 minutes

Materials

• Overhead projector and screen

• Several 3" x 5" index cards or paper cut to 3" x 5" size; Post-it® notes

• A flipchart and markers for each group

• Transparency 12-1

• Worksheet 12-1

Preparation

• Prepare an overhead slide of Transparency 12-1.

• Make a photocopy of Worksheet 12-1 for each participant.

100 50 Training Activities for Administrative, Secretarial, and Support Staff

Activity 12 (concluded)

Method

1. Introduce the objectives of the activity.

2. Divide larger groups into smaller groups from the same functional areas. A

maximum of three participants per group is recommended.

3. Give each group several 3" x 5" index cards, paper, or Post-it

®

notes.

4. On each card or Post-it

®

, ask participants to write a single job task or duty that

they must carry out during the course of a day, week, or month (according to

their work cycle).

5. Tell participants to spread the cards out on a table so that each can be seen in

relation to the others and then rank them in order of importance and urgency (or

hierarchical demand).

6. Show Transparency 12-1, the If I Had to Choose grid. Explain that it works in

similar fashion to a mileage chart, in which each item can be compared to each

other item.

7. Tell the participants to use this overhead slide as a guide for the following activ-

ity that involves drawing on a flipchart a large rough draft of this grid and plot

along both the horizontal and vertical axes the list of jobs, tasks, and duties

written on the cards or Post-it

®

notes. They should then compare each time on

the horizontal axis with each item on the vertical axis and decide which should

have priority over the other by allocating a 1 or a 2 to each job.

8. Give each participant a copy of Worksheet 12-1 and ask them to transfer onto it

the contents of the rough draft on their flipchart. Suggest that they use this

completed worksheet to guide their thinking when back at work.

9. Conduct a discussion with the whole group that includes:

• The value of undertaking an exercise of this nature to aid decision making

• The possibility of publishing this grid to those who allocate the jobs or tasks

undertaken

• The likelihood of building a greater level of cooperation from those who are

supported by each participant

Reproduced from 50 Training Activities for Administrative, Secretarial

and Support Staff by Elizabeth Sansom and Christine Newton, HRD Press

Transparency

12-1

Research

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

Sam’s

presentation

materials

2

1

2

1

2

1

1

2

Jo’s

reports

2

1

2

1

1

2

1

2

Minutes

of…

2

1

1

2

1

2

1

2

Month end

figures

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

If I Had to Choose…

Month end

figures

Minutes

of…

Jo’s

reports

Sam’s

presentation

materials

Research

Reproduced from 50 Training Activities for Administrative, Secretarial

and Support Staff by Elizabeth Sansom and Christine Newton, HRD Press

Worksheet 12-1

(1 of 1)

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

1

2

2

1

2

1

1

2

1

2

2

1

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

If I Had to Choose…