Q: I am new in this particular position and I want to
make sure I will deliver the expected outcomes. Do you have
any ideas about what I can do to speed up the process?
A: One of the most important issues my
clients bring to our coaching sessions is the building of
structures that would help them perform better and more
efficient.
Most of us have a series of tasks that tend to repeat themselves
over time. Such tasks vary from putting together a tender
document to making a sales call, from monitoring a sales
cycle to putting together an implementation schedule; from
interviewing people to writing job descriptions; from organizing
an event to following up on it. The list is endless and
is always a reflection of the job we are employed to perform.
While experience is a very important ingredient in the
mix we can help build that experience following some very
simple rules:
1. Enquire if the company has policies and procedures manuals
for the job you are performing. If there is such a document
make sure you use it because it will most probably cover
the main, if not all the aspects of a certain activity.
2. If the company does not have such a material or if the
material does not go in enough depth build your own documents
that detail the activity you have to undertake. Such a document
folder should contain an activity workflow (a simple flowchart
would do), a check list of all the steps you need to take
to make sure you cover all the necessary tasks involved,
sets of templates for the documents you need to develop,
a check list of follow-up steps.
3. Ask someone who has experience in doing the tasks covered
by your documents for input and at the same time continue
to add to them as your experience with each of them grows.
4. Make a habit of using these documents and of making changes
to them as required. As your experience grows you will be
able to improve them and fine-tune the processes.
5. Be always aware of what new tasks you can develop structures
for. This will not only help you but will also allow anyone
new to the job to become efficient faster.
Q: Any tips on how I can manage my
time better when scheduling?
A: There are many tips and tricks out
there you can use to schedule better. Some of them you will
discover in time by simply practicing the "art of scheduling".
Meanwhile whether you use Outlook or any other scheduling
tool here are a few things you should keep in mind to ensure
better use of time:
- Schedule like activities in blocks of time. This will
result in better focus over a longer period of time as
you deal with similar skills, issues and activities.
- Reading emails is a very time consuming activity and
tends to side-track you for quite a while diminishing
your focus. Decide on two or three times during the day
to deal with emails and ignore them during the other times.
To avoid missing out on important messages create rules
that will display a message alert when certain messages
you know you will have to respond to immediately are coming
in.
- Schedule activities that requite mental alertness in
the morning when you are fresh and find it easier to concentrate.
Such activities can be research, writing, making important
phone calls, etc.
- As with the emails schedule your phone calls in certain
blocks of time during the day. Try and find out what is
the best time call the people you are interested in contacting
and schedule accordingly. If you make sales calls avoid
contacting a new prospect on Friday when people get ready
for the weekend and are concentrating on finishing up
on all the tasks still left to deal with for the week.
Same applies to early morning on Monday. This is the time
when people are not quite ready to focus on one issue
but rather think about the weekend and make plans for
the week.
- If you have a task that will take a few hours to complete
try and break it down in smaller chunks by scheduling
on individual steps within the task. It is a proven way
to maintain focus and to ensure you are not faced at the
end of the day with issues you have not considered.
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