What does Time Management mean to you?  Do you even think in those terms when you plan your day?  Do you even plan your day or do you let your day run you?

Time Management is defined as the ability to use one’s time effectively or productively.  So … is that you!!!!  Do you go home every day feeling accomplished and a To-Do List that has all the boxes checked off?  Yes – I do, I do – said no one ever!!!!!!!   There always seems to be more to do than time to do it.  Time management affects everyone, not just managers/leaders or business owners.  

The trick to time management really is just that “managing your time”.  There are no shortage of experts or books on this subject.  I am certainly no expert – but I can honestly say that I work at this.  I am continually in search of better, more efficient ways to get my work completed.  There is no right or wrong way – it’s what works for you and that is going to take trial and error.  But you have to try.  

The first thing that everyone should do is to figure out what they currently spend their time on.  I think you will be totally amazed at where  your “time sucks” are.  Try an experiment for a week.  Diligently log all of your activities for a week.  Be honest – if you walk into your office in the morning and Brigit sits down and spends 1/2 hr telling you about her weekend – log it.  Your the only one who is going to be looking a it.  If you stay 3 hours overtime – log it.  If you work through your lunch – log it.  If you answer emails at night from home for an hour – log it.  After one week – analyze it.  

Do you notice any of the following:

 – Do you jump from task to task?

 – Is your day planned or do you put out fires most of the day?

 – Do you spend time doing tasks that are not completed properly by others?

 – How much of your time in your calendar is not controlled by you and is unavoidable – meetings/travelling

 – Are you a multi-tasker? 

 – Do you have “notifications” turn on for your emails?  

 – Do you read emails immediately as they come in?

 – Do you work through the day without taking time for breaks or lunch?

 – Do you spend time looking for documents or notes because your desk is messy or you are disorganized in your filing?

 – Did you notice that there is a time of the day when you are more productive?

This experiment is not meant to make you feel guilty for not being very productive or for having bad habits.  It is simply giving you the power of information.  Once you have this information it is up to you what you want to do with it.  You can look at it and say “I’m doing the best I can and there is nothing that I am willing to change” or you might want to change everything.   Now I personally don’t suggest that you do either of those.  You should always look for ways to improve and even if you pick one item to do differently that’s a good start.  I also don’t suggest that you change everything.  Baby steps – look at changing 2 or 3 items first.  Once your comfy with those changes – move on and make more.  

Check out our next Blog …  Time Management – Tips and Tricks

 

I have been helping a number of my clients find candidates to fill vacancies lately – so I thought it was timely for this Blog topic.

Let’s face it – every day that passes with an empty desk is another day of lost productivity, customers not receiving your best service and other employees potentially working longer hours to pick up the slack.  Not a great situation and one that managers often feel pressure to fix quickly.  

Sometimes fixing it quickly can mean convincing the employee to stay and offering them more money to stay, taking a resume from a friend or colleague and hiring that person without proper interviews or reference checks or rushing the process and picking the first person and not necessarily the best person for the job.  All of these seem like really good ideas at the time but potentially could have huge costs associated with them down the line.  

It has been my experience (in my 20+ years of HR) that convincing an employee to stay after they have handed in their notice is usually not the answer.   Unless they reveal a specific reason for their termination and you can rectify that specific situation – then you can have a win.  Generally an employee is leaving for more than one reason.  By the time an employee has gone through the process of looking for another job, interviewing for that job, accepting that job and handing in their termination to you – they have made up their mind.  If you can convince them to stay it will generally be short lived and not a positive experience.  

Acting quickly and hastily is generally not a wise course of action.  You can all give me 100+ reasons why you need to make the decision fast and they are all valid reasons- but so is having a process and following the process.  Consider the ramifications of a poor hire.  We have all worked with the under-performer, the negative person that erodes the culture of the team, the person with the incredibly high absence record, the person who creates a safety risk to themselves and others – once they are on your team – they can be difficult to manage and can cause a lot of collateral damage to your team.   

Interviewing and choosing the best candidate is a process.  Sometimes a long process, but if it is done correctly – generally you will find a better quality of candidate and good fit for your team culture.  

Here are some things to keep in mind as you prepare to interview candidates:

• Keep the interview questions relevant to the job – the purpose of the interview is to determine a candidate’s capability to perform the essential functions that have been defined for the job
• Evaluate all candidates for the position equally and by the same set of questions
• Remember there are legalities involved here…

Manitoba Human Rights states:  

“There are human rights laws in every province and territory across Canada and there is also a federal human rights law. These laws all promote the principle that we are entitled to be treated on the basis of our individual merit and should not be subjected to prejudice or stereotypes. These laws ensure that we have equality of opportunity and freedom from discrimination, principles found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They ensure that we are all treated on the basis of our own merit and not subjected to prejudice and stereotypes.

Discrimination is treating a person differently, to their disadvantage where it is not reasonable to do so on the basis of their:

• ancestry, including colour and perceived race
• nationality or national origin
• ethnic background or origin
• religion, religious belief, association or activity
• age
• sex, including pregnancy
• gender identity
• sexual orientation
• marital or family status
• source of income
• political belief, association or activity
• physical or mental disability
• social disadvantage

Discrimination demeans a person’s individual worth and dignity and is prohibited in employment.”

Keep an open mind with all of the candidates that you are interviewing.  Everyone brings different experiences and knowledge; ask the appropriate questions to ensure that you are bringing out the best in every candidate interviewed and then rate every interview.  Don’t make it a race to fill the job – ensuring that you pick the best candidate for the job and the culture of your organization is a “win” for everyone! 

Good communication is integral to your business and business success.  We live in a world of emails and texts – but there is still a real need for verbal communication.

In the workplace, good communication is an important factor in client relationships, team effectiveness, and employee engagement.

Do you have regular Staff /Team Meetings?  How do you communicate with your teams?  If you don’t have regular meetings – you are missing a huge opportunity to bond with your team, connect with your team and drive engagement.  

Now don’t get me wrong, we have all attended meetings that have been a royal waste of time.  I’m sure we can all agree that there have been meetings we have walked out of complaining “that was an hour of life we will never get back” – am I right?  Meetings need to be planned and provide a value for those attending.  

Spend time on the initial planning; ensure consistency, they need to be scheduled, there should always be an agenda and honour your time commitment to your team.   Want to make them more engaging?  Involve your team members; assign certain topics to employees to speak on.  Is there a development opportunity here?       

 Remember to:

Set a schedule: consistency is key – same day/same time weekly/monthly – don’t move the time around.  If an emergency arises – it’s better you cancel and give everyone that time back into their calendars.  Be respectful.  If you cancel and reschedule meetings on a regular basis you are creating a perception that meeting with them is not important and they will show you that same respect in return and your meetings will not be well attended or productive.

Set a time: whether a 5 minute huddle/15 minute Stand up meeting or a full hour sitting in the conference room – begin and end the meeting on time

Have an agenda: if you have regular meetings it is a good idea to have a standing agenda.  Set rules – no cell phones, no answering texts or emails, no side conversations.  Give items in your agenda a set time and stick to it – don’t let the conversation go off topic

Cover Key topics : “What’s new”, celebrate successes, safety, budget, project updates

End with a roundtable 

I can’t stress this enough – respect time – stick to your schedule.  If an item is brought up and does’t fit in to the time allotted and is not urgent – “park it” on next agenda or commit to dealing with it in an email.  If an item doesn’t bring value to the whole group, take the question/item to a “one on one” conversation after the group meeting is complete.  

Meetings don’t need to be time prohibitive – have a 5 minute huddle every day, a 15 minute “stand up” meeting once a week, or whatever would work in your business.

Don’t think meetings are important to your business and your team?  Ask yourself why some of the biggest most profitable businesses have huddles everyday (some have more than one a day).  Now I’m not saying you have to end with a cheer 😉  but seriously these businesses understand that the time invested increases profits and engagement and they dedicate time required for those meetings and so should you.

Plan your meetings – virtually, on a conference call or in person.  It’s important to PLAN and COMMIT to having them regularly.