Start a conversation ↗

Description

Work Priorities: Deciding, Planning and Protecting Your Time

Three hours to break free from the endless task list and decide each day what genuinely matters

  • 0.43 days — 3 h
  • In-person or virtual
  • Foundation
  • Up to 6 participants

The day opens with an urgent request and closes without any progress on substantive files. Requests arrive by email and telephone without warning. The task list grows faster than it shrinks and a sense of being driven by events gradually takes hold.

Three hours online to take back control of your diary. You learn to separate the requester's urgency from what is genuinely important for your role. You break large files down into dated actions and place them in protected time slots. You leave with a weekly plan built on your real workload.

Learning objectives

  • Distinguish perceived urgency from genuine importance across your own files
  • Rank tasks according to their impact and their deadline
  • Break a large file down into concrete dated actions
  • Build a weekly plan that reserves protected slots for substantive work

What makes this programme different

Work carried out on your actual task list and your actual diary
A weekly plan built during the session and usable the very next day
Decision rules that hold up when an urgent request lands late in the day

Programme

1What Really Fills Your Days

Measure before deciding

  • Inventory of tasks and requests over a typical week
  • Time genuinely available once meetings are deducted
  • Identifying activities that consume time without producing results
  • Gap between planned work and completed work

2Deciding Between the Urgent and the Important

Decide rather than react

  • Impact and deadline criteria applied to your own files
  • Choosing between immediate handling and a reasoned postponement
  • What can be delegated and under which conditions
  • Phrasing a refusal or a postponement that remains acceptable to the other party

3Building and Holding Your Weekly Plan

From the list to the diary

  • Placing priority actions in named time slots
  • Protecting blocks of substantive work from interruptions
  • Weekly preparation review and daily adjustment check
  • Getting the plan back on track after a disrupted day

Who is it for

Staff members and administrative assistants as well as technicians and first-line managers facing a volume of requests greater than the time available.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites

Dates & locations

12 scheduled dates between November 2026 and December 2027. Seats are confirmed in the order enquiries are received.

November 2026

December 2026

January 2027

February 2027

March 2027

April 2027

May 2027

June 2027

September 2027

October 2027

November 2027

December 2027

None of these dates suit you? We open additional sessions on request, and any programme can be run privately for your team.

Practical details

Before the programme
Online positioning questionnaire. Your development objectives are shared with the trainer, who tailors the practical case studies to your context.
Teaching methods
Theoretical input, workshops and practical case studies. Digital course materials and method sheets provided.
Assessment
Multiple-choice tests and role-play exercises. Assessment of learning at the start and end of the programme, with immediate and 60-day follow-up evaluations.
After the programme
One year of access to the e-learning platform. Self-assessment of the skills acquired and a 30-day follow-up session with your trainer.
How to register
Registration online or on the basis of a quotation.
Lead time
11 working days after confirmation of registration.
Accessibility
Accessible to people of determination. Contact our accessibility coordinator to design a suitable solution: contact@mpf-academy.ae
Start dates
Rolling intake: in addition to the scheduled sessions, this programme can start on request.