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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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Servant leadership

Some of those who are leaders in the world fancy themselves a little too much.  I have run across a lot of people in my life who become drunk with power.  And that type of situation is to be expected, I suppose, as it’s just human nature to abuse authority.

Abusing power will ultimately fail.  If you want some examples, look to the many leaders of various impoverished countries who let the power and control get to them.  The story never ends well, and the ride is often short.

Servant leadership is sort of the anti-power hungry philosophy of management.  The servant leader is one who listens to those who work for them, and make themselves available whenever needed for whatever reason.

I like the idea of this philosophy and have integrated it into my leadership style over the years.  The biggest thing that I like to take away from it is to give my associates what they need to succeed.

I believe that if you give people the tools, time, and training, then they will need nothing else to be successful.  It is our job as leaders to do that much for our employees. 

Tools can be anything that they need, from a computer to write on to a book to study.  Anything physical or non-physical, such as the knowledge or advice to complete a project.

Time is needed for them to communicate to you what tools or training they need.  Oftentimes people are just seeking acceptance from their superiors, and already know what they need to do to be successful.  Give them the time so that they can establish that confidence in themselves.

Training is provided so that your employees know exactly what to do and how to do it.  I like to go beyond simply telling people what to do.  Challenge them to figure out the best way to accomplish a task on their own, for not every method works for every person.  If their way isn’t as efficient, give them feedback on how to improve.

Servant leadership isn’t about relinquishing power, it’s about doing what you can as a leader to support and grow your talent.

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What to do when you workload suddenly increases

Life is full of the unexpected.  Just when everything seems to be going fine, here comes that curveball to throw you off your little track of comfort.  Business is an ever changing dynamic, and being a leader is all about embracing and implementing change, but how do you prepare for the totally unexpected.

Time and experience will certainly help you cope, as your reactions will become more and more automatic as you become more experienced in dealing with change.  There is certainly no substitute for experience.

But sometimes the change that comes can be something harder to prepare for, like the loss of a colleague.  Whether by retirement, termination, or another reason, you can expect your workload to almost double if something like this occurs.

I recently had to deal with this very issue.  Luckily I was prepared, as I sensed that my colleague longed for retirement and was tiring of the day to day grind.  I went into the situation with the mentality that I would have to take care of everything from day one, and continued to build on that philosophy.

My thinking worked like a charm.  When my colleague did decide to call it a career, the only loss that I seemingly suffered what not having an extra set of eyes around when I needed them.  Of course we lost a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience when he left, but the transition could have been a lot tougher.

Keeping an open mind and learning every side of the business will do nothing but help your career in the long run.  If you want to impress your superiors, learn every single facet of your business.  You can never know too much, so learn something every day.  The benefits aren’t just building blocks for your career, but can help to avert crisis should the unexpected occur.

Setting the example

It’s tough being a leader.  You have all the pressure, all the responsibility.  Not to mention you have all eyes fixated on you, and your associates watch every move you make.

If you are the type that worries about what others think about you, don’t even bother with this type of career choice.  People will form their opinions of you, whether good or bad.  Oftentimes you may not even realize you did something to warrant their opinion.

It is for this reason that you have to be cautious about what you do and say.  But you shouldn’t necessarily worry about it constantly.  All you have to remember is that others will follow your lead, whether good or bad.

Forget about being consistently late to work, or playing hooky.  Don’t think that you’ll get away with surfing the internet on your computer all day and expect your employees to not do the same.

You have to set the example that you want others to follow.  You are, after all, the rock of the workplace.  Think of how you want your employees to act, and that is how you should act.

Personally, I believe in being strong and consistent in my ways, but flexible enough to accept that my way isn’t always the best answer.  You pay people to think of better ways to run the business, why not hear them out and give them credit where it is due?

I don’t miss work.  Period.  I haven’t missed a day of work since I started with my current employer.  I show up to work 15-30 minutes early every day.

Is that a bit much to expect from yourself?  Not really.  If you think about it, once you set your mind to something you can do it.  If you say to yourself tomorrow, “I cannot miss work for any reason,” it can happen.  Sure, there are always exceptions, but they are few and far between.

So get out there and think about what your routine says to your employees.  Do you set a good example for them to follow?

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Branching out for success

Even if you’re a lone wolf, self starter type, you’ll eventually come to a point where you will be beat out by someone who has a larger network than you.  It’s just inevitable in business that somebody has to like you.

This of course doesn’t mean that you have to brown nose to get where you want to be.  Besides, we all hate that guy (or gal) anyway.  No, it’s all about job performance and having others take note of your performance.

So don’t be afraid to brag on yourself a little.  Notice I said a little.  Because no one likes that co worker who walks around all day rubbing his/her accomplishments in your face either.

But most people fall on the other end of the spectrum, those who do great things every day but don’t ever take credit for them.  You at least need to be polishing up your resume if nothing else.

The best of the bosses will notice and compliment good work.  But too often these types of good deeds go unnoticed.  If you consistently find yourself flying under the radar, maybe it’s time to change your approach.

Find out what your boss wants to make happen the most.  What is his/her focus right now?  Find out and make an impact that they will be forced to see.

The other way to get noticed is to simply be nice and respectful to everyone you come in contact with.  In the crazy world of business, you never know who you will be working for one day, or who will be working for you.

You don’t have to like them, hang out with them, or know their life story (unless they just have to tell you, in which case at least act interested).  No, you just have to treat them like human beings. 

I always make it a point to say good morning or hello to everyone, no matter who they are or where they work.  People love to be noticed.  Leaders who ignore even the lowest worker on the totem pole end up paying for it one day.

So there you have it.  No frills, no sucking up, no buying the teacher an apple.  No, it’s just about getting recognized and being respectful.  How’s that for old school thinking?

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