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 Fri, Jul 02, 2010 @ 03:39 PM
Life Before iCompass
Being new to the community and to the role of CAO, I had a steep learning curve ahead of me upon arriving in 2007. Thankfully, the prior CAO had scanned all the historical minutes and bylaws to FilePro which could be easily searched and reprinted to become familiar with past actions. My hope was that the future could now be my focus; however I spent most of my time in meeting mode. Between researching, compiling information, preparing recommendations, typing, formatting, gathering attachments, photocopying and distributing the agenda packages plus the editing of minutes, staff briefings and creation of action lists after the meeting, I was spending almost 20 hours per meeting in non-productive activities. In addition, the majority of this work was late into the night on Friday or on Saturday to try to meet the deadline and still be late. With two meetings per month it was frustrating and inefficient for myself and Council.
Why We Chose iCompass
Believing there had to be a better way, I made contact with at least two other companies from tradeshows, but neither was responsive enough to earn our business. When iCompass contacted me to propose a demo of the Meeting Management program, I was excited since it would be an expansion of services from a company with whom we were already satisfied. Including both my communications officer and recording secretary, we viewed the demo and saw how the software could address our needs and produce a better organized, more complete agenda package in much less time. It would also create more accurate, draft minutes sooner and could generate the action list with notification. iCompass seemed very intent on customer satisfaction and offered the expanded services at a reasonable cost.
How We Made the Purchase a Reality
Once feedback was gathered from all staff and the benefits understood, I began researching funding options. The Municipal Sponsorship Program through the Government of Alberta supported projects that facilitated improved governance at 100%, so the presentation was made to Council outlining how deadlines could be met, staff hours reduced and efficiencies achieved throughout the communication process. Council agreed and the program was ordered.
Life After iCompass
Now an agenda package can be prepared from start to finish in about 4 hours instead of 18. Items needing to go to Council can be prepared and saved to appropriate folders at the time it is first reviewed rather than searching and having to familiarize again. The packages include recommendations or more complex requests for decision, attachments as backup, descriptive footers, page numbers and double-sided or pdf print options. Meetings run more smoothly because Councilors are informed well in advance of meetings. I am also calmer and more confident and spend much less time finalizing the minutes after. The draft motions and back-up documentation are accessible by staff when they receive their action list. I wouldn’t give up my Meeting Management System and see many more uses for the iCompass services - such as for tracking Assessment Review Board requirements, annual performance reviews, and notice of decisions.
Our Experience in Dealing With iCompass
iCompass truly is there to serve the customer. The implementation was great. All training was done remotely at our site - no time or money lost travelling. iCompass provided a schedule of goals, priorities and homework to ensure we utilized the system. Every query was addressed promptly and training repeated if necessary. The trainers spoke in ‘everyday’ language and were responsive to make changes as more was learned about our particular process. The commitment to customer service was even more evident at the annual iCompass user conference I recently attended.
Thanks to Candace L. Dueck, Chief Administrative Officer for this Case Study!
Posted on Wed, May 05, 2010 @ 11:06 AM
April 14, 2010
Today, iCompass officially launched the details of a bold and company-wide 2010 customer commitment, called Grand Slam Service.
"Our number one priority in 2010 is to take our customer service to a whole new level, and in doing so, WOW our customers in every way possible," said Todd Stone, iCompass President & CEO. "This delivery of unequalled customer service means first class acknowledgement and responsiveness. It means consistency of performance and meeting deadlines/expectations. It means constant communication and products tailored to your needs. It means being as easy to do business with as possible," added Stone.
Two important ingredients in delivering success on all of the above are clarity and being specific. Therefore, iCompass has delivered to each of its customers a document called "Grand Slam Service" which details 20 specific commitments that the company is making to all of its customers through 2010.
"Many of these specific commitments require significant investments, new behaviours, and new business best practices," said Stone. "I am pleased to report that through the first 90 days of 2010, we have delivered on 80% of these commitments. For example, we have increased our customer service staffing levels by over 40%; we are responding to incoming requests/inquiries within 10 minutes of our Customer Advocacy Team receiving them; customer calls are now answered by a person 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; we have extended our Customer Advocacy office hours to 5 AM to 6 PM (Pacific); and we have taken great strides at improving our implementation procedures, documentation and self-help tools," added Stone.
"While it has been a busy first quarter, we have many more exciting initiatives to come through 2010 so stay tuned for a continual stream of innovations and improvements in service," said Stone. "On behalf of the entire iCompass team, we thank our customers for all of their loyalty and support over the years," added Stone.
Todd Stone
President & CEO
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
