Manage your time and workload

This standard is about managing your time, priorities and workload in ways that support sustainable and effective leadership. You determine priorities, plan and organise your work to meet commitments and balance competing demands. You establish and maintain boundaries that protect your effectiveness and wellbeing, use tools and systems to support your workload and adapt your approach when circumstances change. You review your workload management to strengthen how you plan, prioritise and deliver over time. 

This standard applies to managers and leaders at all levels across all sectors.

1. Determine priorities and competing demands to plan your workload effectively and support timely delivery.
2. Plan your work to use time and resources efficiently to meet required objectives and deadlines.
3. Evaluate competing demands to support informed and effective prioritisation.
4. Adjust your priorities in response to organisational changes and urgent situations to maintain progress and meet required timescales.
5. Manage your time, attention and energy to support sustained performance and effective decision-making.
6. Minimise distractions that undermine focus and performance to deliver work efficiently.
7. Establish and maintain boundaries that support sustainable performance and protect your wellbeing.
8. Communicate your workload expectations and boundaries to colleagues and stakeholders to support shared understanding and realistic planning.
9. Delegate responsibilities appropriately to support the achievement of objectives and deadlines.
10. Use tools, systems and technologies to support the management of your time and workload and improve efficiency.
11. Assess when workload exceeds capacity and request support in line with organisational procedures to maintain performance and wellbeing.
12. Monitor your workload and progress to identify emerging issues that may affect delivery.
13. Adapt your approach to workload management in response to feedback, changing expectations or new demands.
14. Review your approach to managing your workload to identify opportunities to strengthen how you plan, prioritise and deliver.
15. Apply appropriate workload planning and prioritisation approaches to strengthen how you manage your time and workload.

1. How to determine priorities and competing demands.
2. How to plan work to use time and resources effectively.
3. How to evaluate and adjust priorities in response to organisational changes and urgent situations.
4. Strategies for managing workload sustainably.
5. The importance of establishing and maintaining boundaries between professional and personal life.
6. How to communicate workload expectations and boundaries to colleagues and stakeholders.
7. How to use tools, systems and technologies to support time and workload management.
8. How to manage attention, energy and focus to support sustained performance.
9. How to identify early signs of reduced wellbeing and take appropriate action.
10. How to assess when workload exceeds capacity and request support in line with organisational procedures.
11. How to delegate responsibilities appropriately to support delivery.
12. How to monitor workload and progress to identify emerging issues.
13. How to adapt workload management approaches in response to feedback and changing expectations.
14. The organisational standards, procedures and expectations relevant to workload, time management and wellbeing.
15. Relevant workload-planning, prioritisation and sustainable-performance theories and models.

The following values underpin this standard. They are integrated throughout the performance criteria and knowledge and understanding requirements and inform how individuals approach their work, make decisions and interact with others.

• Integrity - acting consistently with organisational values when managing your workload.
• Responsibility - taking ownership of your time, priorities and boundaries.
• Openness - being transparent about capacity, constraints and expectations.
• Balance - valuing sustainable performance and wellbeing.
• Respect - considering the impact of your workload decisions on colleagues and stakeholders.

The following behaviours underpin this standard. They are integrated throughout the performance criteria and knowledge and understanding requirements and inform how individuals approach their work, make decisions and interact with others.

• Act with responsibility, taking ownership of your time and workload.
• Show openness, communicating clearly about capacity and expectations.
• Demonstrate resilience, sustaining performance during pressure and change.
• Maintain balance, protecting your wellbeing and boundaries.
• Act with self-awareness, reflecting on how your workload decisions affect others.
• Practise self-care, using approaches that support sustainable performance.