Using structure to accomplish more

Structure is a word that scares some people, much like the evil commitment.  But having an organized structure in your daily routine is likely to make for a successful and accomplished work day.

Everyone has tedious and repetitive tasks to accomplish day in and day out.  Such are the things that we all just love to do and look forward to tackling over and over again.  Breaking up these tedious tasks makes for a better flow to your workday and prevents you from getting bored with the same routine.

A best practice is to mix in some work tasks between those tedious paperwork tasks to get your blood flowing and clear up your mind.  Doing too many administrative tasks for too long without a physical and mental break can lead to a cloudy mind, and an unproductive day.

Taking a few minutes to map out your day, week, or permanent routine will also pay off in that it will allow you to think about the best order in which you can accomplish tasks.  This will cut down on wasted time, like if you go to mail an envelope without first putting the letter inside that you want to mail (really, I’m sure someone out there has done this before).

Another benefit to creating structure in your daily tasks is that it allows you to create habits.  And habits are good for productivity, because after you do things many times in the same order you become much faster at completing said tasks. 

Use these tips to streamline your day, accomplish more, and help in your goal of becoming a more organized and productive worker.  All without having to suffer through another boring and tiresome routine.

Technorati Tags: structure,accomplishments,workplace,work,leadership,management,tasks

Working Efficiently

So much attention is placed on completing tasks, overall performance, and results in the workplace.  But why is it that many professionals seem to accomplish more than others?  What is it that separates the low level management from the CEO?

The key to success is in how efficient you work, and how efficiently your employees work.  Lots and lots of people in the workplace seem to work hard every day but seemingly never accomplish anything.  Those types of people lack organizational skills, and do not work efficiently.

Planning out your day can go a long way towards becoming efficient.  You want to establish short, intermediate, and long term goals.  Always set out to accomplish the most important tasks first, and leave those that can wait until later.

The effective leader is always looking for ways to make his/her operation more efficient.  From planning out what you need to accomplish to tweaking the details.  Albert Einstein said that doing things over and over again the same way while expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

There is always a better way to do everything.  Keep an open mind and listen to the feedback you get from your team.  Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you always have the best idea or method of doing something.  Check your ego at the door.

It’s always a good practice to reflect on a project upon completion, and think of what steps you could improve on.  What makes great leaders great is that they consistently look to get better at what they do, and come up with methods or ideas that can make themselves and their team more efficient.

Technorati Tags: efficient,efficiently,working efficiently,leadership,business management

Follow up

So you’ve done everything right.  You teach, you train, you develop.  You have a great plan in place.  Everything is going smoothly, and then, your project doesn’t get completed.

The likely cause is that you never followed up.  No, you were too busy daydreaming about that big promotion and what you were going to do with your new raise.  In the meantime, complications happened and your plan fell apart.

Follow up is such a crucial part of managing a business, but many often forget about it.  What you don’t realize is that there are complications and bumps in the road that are going to happen, no matter how genius your plan may be.

And that’s when your associates look for some guidance.  And this is a best case scenario, because sometimes they just don’t think that you are going to follow up, so they take advantage and slack off.

Either way, you want your presence to be known.  Make is known that you are going to see the project through to completion.  Let your associates know that you care, and that you care if the project gets completed at all.

The same holds true for another type of follow up: with your customers.  If you are in sales, give them that courtesy call to thank them for their business.  If you have a complaint, follow up and make sure that each customer is satisfied.

It’s too easy in the world today to get caught up in the action around you.  Don’t forget to take that crucial extra step.

Technorati Tags: follow up,project,completion,final,management,business,leadership,leader

Doing it right the first time

Is there anything more annoying than having to do work over and over?  The pains of inefficiency and monotony are enough to make you crazy, and your employees don’t feel any different.

But how do you avoid having to do the same work over and over again?  The answer lies in between good training and concise direction. 

Training is something we talk about a lot, and it can certainly be key.  But part of the training process is allowing your associates to learn by making mistakes.  Oftentimes people have to experience a failure to learn.

Patience is important when allowing your folks to have creative freedom.  You want to foster all the great ideas and talent that they have, but there are going to be bumps along the road to total success.

The next piece is using great communication and clear and concise direction.  Before the project is started, ask your employees questions to gauge their knowledge.  There is no better way to learn than to ask questions.

Once you are confident that he/she understands what the desired end result will be, let them decide how they want to do it.  Not every method or path to completing a project will be the same.  Maybe they will have a better idea than you do.  Not to mention everyone loves a challenge.

Overall make sure that everyone involved is on the same page.  It’s certainly worth the effort to meet and discuss what you want to accomplish before the project is started, to avoid doing dreaded double work later.

Technorati Tags: accomplishments,leadership,business management,retail management,training,challenge

Training someone to take your place

Sound preposterous?  Of course it does.  Why would you want to train someone to take your job?  Aren’t you just helping your boss out by making yourself expendable?

Calm down, Mr.. Paranoid.  The best leaders do, in fact, prepare those below them to take their place.  In fact, go ahead and teach everyone that reports to you to do everything that you do.

I know it sound crazy.  But think of it this way, wouldn’t you rather go to work everyday (or in fact, take a day off) knowing that your entire team of associates is just as capable as you are?  Wouldn’t you rather have a team that can take care of the many little problems that you have to deal with now?

Of course you would.  Who wouldn’t want a team of super associates who could ease your workload and feel wanted because you took the time to teach them important things?

If you caught that last sentence, you’ll realize that this isn’t just about making your job easier.  It’s about making your associates happier and giving them a shot at promotion.  Even if you have people that don’t want to move up, they feel more wanted when you give them responsibility.

And chances are, if you have some folks that have put in a great deal of time in their current position, a little bit of change will do them good.  People in this position tend to get comfortable with what they do, and comfort is not good at work.

So switch it up a little.  Invest a little time to teach and train your people.  Let go of those tasks that you micromanage because “no one can do this as well as me.”  Let go of your paranoia, your preconceived notions.  You might just be amazed what happens next.

Technorati Tags: teaching,training,promotion,hiring,management,leadership,workplace,business management

How to manage one level up

Managing one level up is a fairly simple concept.  No matter where you stand on the corporate ladder, act like you a a level higher.  After all, that’s your short term goal, right? 

Forward thinking will get you everywhere.  If you put yourself in the mentality that you want to achieve, then eventually you will.  Certainly you will still have to do your job as well, but make the eventual transition easier on yourself by practicing now.

Start to analyze what your boss or supervisor does.  Gather all the information you can about their job, whether it be from observation of what they actually do to the job responsibilities that the position carries with it.

Oftentimes what they do isn’t too much different from what you do.  In my line of work, the higher up the ladder you go the less you do.  But at the same time, you have more responsibility should something not be right and less direct control over what happens.

The best thing to do is to ask them to mentor you.  Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible in this hectic corporate world where layoffs are the norm and the people left over assume more responsibilities to make up for the cost cutting measures.

But if you have previously taken our advice of teaching, training, and developing people to do your job then it shouldn’t be a problem :).  After all, you have to cut through the mundane daily work and focus on

Technorati Tags: managing one level up,philosophy,management,leadership,retail,retail management

what’s really important: your development and your future.

I first heard of managing one level up around two or three years ago.  I think it’s a brilliant suggestion and one that I’ve embraced to the fullest, and I can at least partially credit my last promotion to it.  Try it, you won’t be disappointed.

Some tips for creating a reputation

Your reputation certainly does precede you.  But is yours a good reputation or a bad one?  It’s not like most people are going to come out and have the gall to really tell you the truth.

Whether you realize it or not, you form a reputation based on your actions, or inactions, on a daily basis.  When you forgot to say hi to Sally at the water cooler today, you may have just altered your reputation.  Winning big on your latest project could do the same thing.

Over time people will all form their own opinions of you.  The hard part of being a leader is that you can’t always make everyone happy, but you want to at least be respected.  And in order to be respected and have a positive reputation, you have to be consistent.

The best way to form a good reputation is indeed consistently.  Whether it’s the fact that you always speak to everyone you come in contact with, always are in a good mood, or always produce excellent results, you have to be consistent every day.

People don’t like a loose cannon in charge of things.  Human beings are creatures of ritual, and they like to be able to know what to expect every day.  So with you being their leader, they want to know that every day you are the same approachable, decision making rock that you always are.

The key here is to not start off on the wrong foot.  No matter how funny you think that your jokes are or how great a personality you think you have, it’s best to test the waters before you go and insult anyone unintentionally.  Sort of ease into things by being friendly and asking a lot of questions.

If you are stuck and already have a bad reputation, have no fear.  These sort of things can be fixed, it’s just not easy.  People have to see that you have changed for the better, and you just have to convince them.  A little patience will certainly pay off, as it takes much longer to change your reputation than to create one.

Technorati Tags: reputation,leadership,business management,opinions