Priority and Time Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Managers, Project Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PE-010

Before you join: Participants should have at least six months of professional work experience and responsibility for managing their own workload, deadlines or stakeholder requests.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Priority management is the disciplined process of deciding what deserves attention, protecting time for it, and responding appropriately when demands exceed capacity. Professionals often face competing deadlines, email volume, meeting requests, urgent escalations and work that arrives without clear ownership. Without an explicit method, important work is deferred, commitments become unreliable and individuals spend too much time reacting rather than progressing planned outcomes.

This course teaches participants to assess workload, distinguish urgency from importance, set decision criteria, sequence work and build realistic weekly plans. Participants use the Eisenhower Matrix, MoSCoW prioritisation, ABCDE method, Pareto analysis, timeboxing and Kanban principles to make visible choices about tasks and commitments. The course also addresses delegation, stakeholder expectation-setting, meeting discipline, email control, interruption management and recovery when plans are disrupted.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings, practical cases, individual diagnosis, group decision work and simulations based on competing priorities. Participants apply the methods to a current workload and leave with a personal priority management system: a time audit, priority criteria, weekly planning template, task board and stakeholder communication scripts. The course is suitable for professionals whose roles require them to coordinate multiple requests, deliver against deadlines and maintain control of their own commitments.

It is particularly valuable for managers, project staff, specialists and support professionals working in public bodies, banks, NGOs, multinational firms and large corporate functions where priorities shift frequently and missed commitments have operational consequences.

What you will be able to do

  • Conduct a time audit using activity logs, calendar evidence and interruption records
  • Apply the Eisenhower Matrix to distinguish urgent demands from important outcomes
  • Rank work using MoSCoW, ABCDE and weighted priority criteria
  • Build a capacity-based weekly plan using timeboxing and protected focus blocks
  • Estimate task duration and contingency using reference-class forecasting
  • Operate a personal Kanban board with work-in-progress limits and review points
  • Negotiate priorities, deadlines and scope using clear stakeholder communication scripts
  • Create a 30-day priority management action plan for a live workload

Benefits of attending

For you

  • A defensible method for choosing what to do, defer, delegate or decline
  • More realistic weekly commitments based on available capacity and task duration
  • Protected focus time for work requiring analysis, writing or decision-making
  • Clearer conversations when stakeholders request work beyond agreed capacity
  • A repeatable system for recovering control after disruptions or changing priorities

For your organisation

  • Fewer missed deadlines caused by unexamined workload and optimistic scheduling
  • Clearer escalation of conflicting priorities before delivery commitments fail
  • Improved allocation of staff time to high-value outcomes and mandatory work
  • Reduced duplicate effort through visible task ownership and work-in-progress limits
  • More reliable responses to internal clients, customers and programme stakeholders

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify where their time goes and quantify avoidable demand.

  • Time audit using activity logs, calendar evidence and interruption records
  • Distinguishing urgent demands from important outcomes using Eisenhower Matrix
  • Identifying reactive work patterns, hidden commitments and avoidable task switching
  • Estimating task duration with reference classes rather than optimistic guesses
  • Calculating available capacity after fixed commitments, recovery time and contingencies
  • Defining personal service levels for email, requests and routine administration

Participants can make consistent priority decisions using explicit criteria and agreed categories.

  • MoSCoW categories for separating mandatory, valuable and deferrable work
  • ABCDE method for ranking tasks within a daily action list
  • Weighted scoring model using impact, urgency, risk and effort criteria
  • Pareto analysis to identify activities producing disproportionate results
  • Clarifying strategic alignment, customer commitments and compliance-driven priorities
  • Defining decision rules for urgent requests and late-breaking escalations

Participants can break major commitments into manageable actions with clear next steps.

  • Outcome statements that distinguish deliverables from general activity
  • Work breakdown structures for turning commitments into manageable task packages
  • Defining next actions using the Getting Things Done method
  • Dependency mapping for tasks requiring approvals, inputs or specialist support
  • Milestone planning with intermediate deadlines and acceptance criteria
  • Identifying blocked work before it consumes planned focus time

Participants can create practical weekly plans that reflect actual capacity and commitments.

  • Timeboxing high-priority work into protected calendar blocks
  • Weekly planning rhythm using backward scheduling from fixed deadlines
  • Buffer allocation for uncertainty, approvals and unplanned urgent work
  • Matching task type to energy patterns and cognitive availability
  • Calendar triage for recurring meetings, travel and administrative commitments
  • Daily shutdown routine for updating commitments and preparing next actions

Participants can maintain a visible task system that limits overload and supports follow-through.

  • Personal Kanban board with ready, active, waiting and completed columns
  • Work-in-progress limits to reduce unfinished tasks and task switching
  • Pull scheduling based on capacity rather than incoming request volume
  • Task batching for routine approvals, calls, email and administration
  • Review cadences for daily control, weekly planning and monthly adjustment
  • Capturing commitments immediately through a trusted single task system

Participants can reduce unnecessary interruptions while maintaining appropriate responsiveness.

  • Notification settings aligned with defined service levels and escalation routes
  • Email triage using delete, delegate, defer, do and file decisions
  • Meeting request criteria covering purpose, decisions, attendees and preparation
  • Focus protocols for signalling availability during protected work periods
  • Interruption log analysis to identify repeat sources and prevention actions
  • Communication channels matched to urgency, complexity and required response time

Participants can decide what to delegate and establish clear delegated-work agreements.

  • Delegation analysis using task risk, capability, authority and development value
  • RACI matrix for clarifying responsible, accountable, consulted and informed roles
  • Briefing delegated work with outcomes, constraints, deadlines and checkpoints
  • Matching delegation level to competence, confidence and decision authority
  • Follow-up cadence that maintains accountability without unnecessary control
  • Escalation triggers for delegated work facing risk, delay or changed scope

Participants can manage conflicting requests through evidence-based priority conversations.

  • Capacity conversations using visible commitments, estimates and available hours
  • Trade-off framing across scope, deadline, quality and resource constraints
  • Saying no constructively with alternatives, consequences and decision ownership
  • Renegotiating deadlines before slippage affects dependent workstreams
  • Stakeholder mapping for identifying priority setters and decision makers
  • Escalating unresolved conflicts through agreed governance and reporting routes

Participants can replan calmly when urgent events disrupt agreed priorities.

  • Triage protocol for incidents, escalations and unexpected executive requests
  • Reprioritising work after scope changes, absences or missed dependencies
  • Impact assessment covering deadlines, stakeholders, risks and displaced work
  • Scenario planning for best-case, expected and constrained capacity conditions
  • Recovery planning after backlog accumulation and extended reactive periods
  • Stress signals linked to overload, perfectionism and unrealistic commitments

Participants can implement a repeatable priority management routine for their current role.

  • Personal operating system combining task capture, planning and review routines
  • Weekly review checklist for commitments, priorities, blockers and upcoming deadlines
  • Priority dashboard showing key deliverables, capacity and waiting dependencies
  • Habit design using cues, routines and visible progress indicators
  • Thirty-day implementation plan with measures, review dates and accountability partner
  • Manager briefing for agreeing priority rules, escalation routes and support

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Personal time-audit template
  2. Weighted priority scoring model
  3. Capacity-based weekly planning template
  4. Personal Kanban board design
  5. Stakeholder priority conversation scripts
  6. Thirty-day priority management action plan

Who should attend

  • Managers — need to balance team demands, delivery commitments and strategic work
  • Project Managers — need to sequence tasks and manage competing stakeholder requests
  • Team Leaders — need to allocate work and protect time for supervisory responsibilities
  • Technical Specialists — need to manage deep work alongside service and project demands
  • Executive Assistants — need to coordinate priorities, calendars and changing commitments
  • Programme Officers — need to maintain delivery momentum across multiple workstreams

Skills and tools covered

Priority assessmentWorkload planningTimeboxing disciplineStakeholder expectation-settingDelegation decisionsInterruption control

Tools and standards

Eisenhower Matrix, MoSCoW prioritisation, Kanban, Getting Things Done

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce priority and planning methods, followed by case work involving competing deadlines, urgent requests and limited capacity. Participants assess sample workloads, compare prioritisation decisions, practise stakeholder conversations and test planning approaches through timed simulations. Group exercises examine delegation, meeting requests and cross-team dependencies. Individual application planning allows participants to adapt the methods to their own role, calendar patterns, task systems and current delivery pressures.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least six months of professional work experience and responsibility for managing their own workload, deadlines or stakeholder requests. They should be able to identify current tasks, recurring commitments and typical sources of interruption. No formal qualification, project management certification or prior training in productivity methods is required. Participants do not need to use a particular software platform. Bringing a current calendar, task list or anonymised workload examples is useful, but not mandatory.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need experience of managing their own work, deadlines or stakeholder requests. No formal qualification or prior productivity training is required.

Bring an anonymised task list, calendar view or examples of competing commitments if you can. These materials help you apply the planning methods to genuine work pressures without sharing confidential information.

It suits professionals whose work involves multiple deadlines, changing requests and competing stakeholders. Managers, project staff, specialists and support professionals will find the methods directly relevant.

This course concentrates on making and communicating priority decisions when demand exceeds capacity. It teaches workload analysis, prioritisation frameworks, calendar planning, delegation and stakeholder negotiation rather than general wellbeing techniques.

You will leave with templates and a 30-day plan for your current role. The weekly review, task board, priority criteria and communication scripts can be used immediately with your existing calendar and task system.

The five days provide about 32.5 contact hours, organised around ten connected modules. Time is divided between method briefings, cases, group work, simulations and application planning, with regular breaks during each 08:30-16:30 training day.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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