Gain an hour
What would you give for an extra hour in your day? And how many times do you hear people say there are ‘not enough hours in the day’, or plead for ‘more time’ to complete something, or indeed, complain that they simply ‘don’t have time!’?
So how staggering is it to find that a massive 2.1 hours per worker are lost per day to unimportant interruptions, information overload and an inability to manage priorities?
It’s true that we’re rich in technology, but time poor. We have too much information, in too many different places and too many tasks to juggle at any one time. Many of us are running around with our heads full of lists of things we must remember to do. Which begs the question, are we efficient and fulfilled?
As soon as we open our notebooks and inboxes, we’re overwhelmed by a deluge of data we are trying not to forget. We’re busier, but we’re not necessarily more productive and fulfilled. On the contrary, workload is a significant cause of stress. More than 27 million working days were lost in 2011 and of those, 10.4 million were due to work-related stress.1
According to a preferred provider of time-management training for Microsoft, Priority Management (PM), real productivity comes from an ability to prioritise and focus on one task at a time. And that means taking a more disciplined approach to your inbox!
This is where PM’s Working Sm@rt programme is helping many leading firms to reclaim an average of one hour per person per day, through its ‘back to basics’ approach.
Andrew Bilous of Priority Management explains: “The technological era has brought us some tremendous advances in the way that we work, communicate and live our lives. This is a very positive thing, but it can also lead to information-overload, that can inhibit rather than facilitate productivity.
“What we need to do is combine this technology with the behaviours of the old-fashioned filing clerk and secretary. We need to write things down so that we can temporarily forget them and this means freeing our minds of all the things that we are not doing at that moment in order to be able to do what we are doing well.”
To be very productive, Andrew says we should decide how long we need to work on a task and when we will do it. “Having made these decisions, you use whatever system you prefer (such as, Microsoft Outlook) to create a task on a date for a period of time, then forget about it and concentrate instead on what you need to do now.
“When the time comes to produce that piece of work, your system will tell you. And if you’ve used all the available date activation features, you’ll not only see the task but also your notes, together with any relevant documents, emails and useful contacts. This gives you total recall with no need to scrabble about looking for the things you need to complete the task!”
Sounds simple? It’s a smarter approach that is working wonders for many organisations. In the past four years, more than 400 staff at Reckitt Benckiser, have been trained in the latest workload management techniques using the Working Sm@rt programme.
Energy provider, Eon, has also made an average efficiency saving of almost one hour per person per day, through the Working Sm@rt programme. Its HR team leader says: “My team could manage higher workloads without stress, were delivering tasks on time and were missing fewer and fewer deadlines.”
Asda is also big fan of the approach. Its Head of Reward and Recognition says: “I’m able to focus on the jobs that need doing as a priority first and I have an empty inbox before I leave almost every evening and no paper ‘To Do’ lists any more! The programme is really well worth a day’s investment of my time, even after 15 years with the business!”
Apply these ‘top tip’ solutions to regain up to an hour each day!
One – Plan your tasks
Plan your work schedule around a single ‘To Do’ list so that you can look at any future date and see what you’ve committed to do and how much time you think it will take.
Two – Introduce ‘rules’
Establish rules for interruptions, managing meetings, sharing files and using email. Turn off default reminders and email arrival warnings to minimise distractions. Make a deliberate choice about which emails or reminders you need to keep – don’t keep them all!
Three – Be selective with your inbox
Research shows that people check their inbox about ten times more than they think they do. Choose specific times to process your emails (maximum five or six times per day) and focus on adding value, not just being busy.
Four – Use your memory carefully
Don’t open an email then read it only to close it again, it wastes time. If it’s not appropriate to deal with it straight away, create a task with a date to answer it in the future – don’t rely on your own memory.
Five – Use your calendar
Use your electronic calendar to plan and allocate work and not just to manage meetings.
Six – Manage your phone
Like emails, retrieve voicemails at set times of the day and use voicemail like a personal secretary. If you’re going to be in a meeting until 1pm, adjust your voicemail so people know when to call you back.
Seven – Write an agenda
65% of meetings occur without an agenda agreed in advance. Always phrase your agenda points as questions to encourage people to come prepared.
Eight – Change your behaviour!
Using your existing software to integrate your email, calendar, tasks and contacts isn’t difficult, but changing your behaviour to become better organised can be revolutionary.
The Working Sm@rt approach can’t work miracles. But it can help you reduce crisis workloads and give you a genuine sense of accomplishment.
For more information about managing your workload and becoming more efficient, visit www.prioritymanagement.com or contact Andrew Bilous on 0115 972 4582.
1. Source: HSE Annual Statistics Report, 2011
