If you don’t yet take advantage of the myriad of free management development materials online, then you are missing out on a lot of great information that your competition may be benefiting from.

There is more out information there than you could keep up with and also keep your job, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try. Set aside a small amount of time each day to read your favorite business blogs, and subscribe to a free professional development newsletter or two to keep on top of the latest talk in the management world and get the tools you need to be successful.

In a recent professional development newsletter from Employee Development Systems, there was a wealth of helpful information and even a free download of an online instrument to help deal with conflict in the workplace. The topics in the most recent newsletter included time management advice as well as ways to convey a more memorable message.

2 Management Development Tips:

1. Reduce Emergency Situations by Delegating

If you are having trouble with time management, and it seems like you are constantly dealing with urgent matters that distract you from things that are more important, then you might need to make some changes in your daily work life.

The EDSI professional development newsletter recommends that you “spend the time to create a buffer between you and the ‘crisis’ that crosses your desk. This doesn’t mean that you leave it unsettled. You may choose to train team members to handle these types of seemingly urgent matters. Perhaps they could each take one on.” By delegating specific issues to your employees, you can greatly improve your time management and your performance. How does this advice pertain to your work life?

2. Become More Effective by Making a New Schedule

If you continually get bogged down by trivial matters and are unable to attack important projects as a result, then you may want to rethink how you schedule your day and your week, rather than simply tackling projects and responding to emails as they come across your desk.

Indeed, the professional development newsletter recommends that you, “create a new schedule for this week. Begin by filling in what is important. This will help you make it a priority. Seemingly urgent matters can often be blocked into a particular time slot in your day. This takes away their ‘urgent’ nature, and gives them the true attention they deserve.”

By setting aside a specific block of time for different matters, you are more likely to get to everything you need to get to in a given day or week.