COURSE TITLE: PSC202104 TIME MANAGEMENT TRAINING
TRAINERS: Lenara Tuipoloa-Utuva and Angela Palu-Phineas

The capacity of time management is an expectation of every service provider in the Public Sector, because it is a skill that proves to ensure efficient and effective performance in the workplace. As a highly valued skill in any organisation or ministry, it is important that the Public Service Commission attends to improve the quality of Public Service delivery by providing up-skilling opportunities such as the Time Management training to the public servants.

The Time Management training had the basic approach of deconstructing what time is, and then evaluating how each person uses his/her daily at work, minding that there are also personal roles and responsibilities that must be fulfilled. Thus it is equally important to pinpoint the distractions, time wasters and identify practical techniques to counter. The training was guided by the following objectives in anticipation that the participants will:

1. Learn key principles/tools of time management to improve their performance in the workplace
2. Understand the roles they play and how to best balance these to succeed in the face of conflicting situations
3. Use acquired knowledge and skills to develop practical plans, drawn from what services needed to be delivered, to achieve annual performance plans

Various activities were also included to stimulate thought processes at different sections of the training content, and to hopefully ignite time management habits amongst the participants.
Over the four (4) half days of training, nineteen (19) participants engaged the training content with their roles and experiences in mind, as Seniors and Team Leaders; they proved to be of professional calibre open to learning, and learning also from each other. The Samoa Shipping Services conference room provided the appropriate space for this training.

In closing, the trainers thanked the participants and not only encouraged them to share with their teams what they have gained from the training, but to practice mindful time management in their workplaces. Their participation and new set of skills which are recognised under the standards by the Samoa Qualifications Authority (SQA), were confirmed with Certificates. The SQA was also acknowledged for their continuous support rendered to the PSC training programs, ensuring the ongoing delivery of these recognised trainings.