Posted on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 @ 08:20 AM
On a given day, can you look across the hall and know exactly what your colleague is working on? If so, great. If this scenario generally doesn’t play out in your office, I urge you to read on.
At iCompass, we pride ourselves on accountability and transparency throughout all levels of the company. Everyone knows what everyone else has planned for the day and more often than not, it’s company knowledge if a daily priority isn’t completed or if it is postponed. In my mind, this is an essential tool in effectively increasing visibility within your organization. Due to its very nature, transparency within the ranks of your organization will empower your employees to work harder to reach their goals, because let’s face it, if they don’t succeed everyone will know.
On that note, our Action Tracking customers know how critical transparency can be. Among many of its other functions, our Action Tracking application allows municipalities to track key deliverables to determine who has been assigned what tasks and how far along they are.
If you’re wondering how we can be such cheerleaders for accountability within our services and on a day-to-day basis, it’s all in the huddle. Every morning without fail, we all gather for roughly 10 minutes to go over news, employee/company recognition, challenges, updates and priorities. No one gets a pass; no one gets an “I don’t have time for the huddle” excuse. The meeting is mandatory.
At first, the idea of another meeting may seem counterproductive, but trust me when say that it’s anything but. The morning huddle is an excellent way for everyone to get on the same page and according to Verne Harnish, author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, “This rhythmic pulsing of daily meetings constitutes the real heartbeat of a growing company.”
In football, team members huddle in an effort to strategize, motivate or celebrate. Although we’re not wearing matching spandex uniforms or throwing around the pigskin, our huddle is not far from that of a sports team. Besides, at the end of the day, it’s all about the efforts of the team and how well we played the game anyway.
-Jessica Scharien, Corporate Communications Officer
Posted on Wed, Aug 11, 2010 @ 12:18 PM
In today’s day in age, everyone is always so busy. Whether we are too busy to organize our kitchen cupboards, too busy to take that additional educational course, or too busy to learn something new... No matter what the reason may be, we all feel we are just too busy to consider adding anything new onto our plates.
I know myself, I have come across many of these “I’m too busy” reasons in my own life and it really makes you think, why are we always too busy to spend time on something that will help us in the future? For example, it’s hard to register for that online course to help you further your education and gain experience which could help you further your career. I know I always hear this same reason when working with customers as well, we’re too busy to learn about a new tool which could ultimately help save us time and money in the long run.
So what do we do to address this? One of the things we have been working through in our office is the implementation of time management best practices, and did you know they actually work!?! The trick is repetition, repetition, REPETITION!
A few of the best practices that have worked for me:
Plan your day – I actually have blocked out in my calendar specific segments of time for each task, and if you get off track, you know at least what you missed and it is very easy to reschedule.
Touch it Once – If you’re like most people today, you normally receive hundreds of emails a week and sometimes that can take you and entire day to get through your email. The ‘Touch it Once’ rule implies that you only read an email when you are ready to deal with it. I even go one step further and file or delete the email once I have dealt with it.
Top 6 Priorities – at the end of each day, plan the top 6 deliverables which you are going to accomplish for the next day and actually write them down. It also helps if you include devoted space in your calendar to accomplish these top 6 priorities.
These are just some of the best practices that work for me, give them a try for yourself but as I said, the trick is repetition.
Tara Holdbrook, Sales Consultant
Posted on Wed, Sep 09, 2009 @ 10:00 AM
In today's tough times people are having difficulty finding enough hours in the day to get everything done. Try these simple tips to more effectively manage your time and stop stressing about your workload.
1. Set aside an hour of each day where you close the door and have heads down time (no not napping, heads down in your work). Put this into your schedule and tell everyone in your office that unless it is extremely important you will not be available during that time period.
2. Write a list of your top 3 priorities at work that day first thing
in the morning. Always have this list in eye sight and ensure you allocate your time to the most important tasks you need to get done.
3. Avoid checking your email whenever a new email pops into your inbox. Turn off your notifications or close out of your email completely and only check it when you have ample time to respond to your emails without interruptions.
4. Make lists of everything you need to do. This will help you at the beginning of each day to prioritize your tasks for the day and you will never feel overwhelmed at the start of the day wondering what you are going to be doing.
5. Keep a detailed calendar/planner of your appointments, meetings, and other important priorities (heads down time). This will help you to stay on schedule and be most productive with your day.
With these simple and easy steps you are well on your way to managing your time more effectively and making the most out of the workday.
Photos:
laffy4k
judepics
jurvetson
Martin Kingsley
