Are you an achiever or a procrastinator? Do other people see you as an effective 'can-do' person or a slow-to-respond roadblock that needs to be placated? Modern organisational power doesn't come from holding people up, it comes from being a can-do team player. Use the tips in this article to make yourself productive and see how in a short space of time you can get more done.
It's funny how there's always at least one person in every organisation that will tell you constantly that they're so busy, and definately too busy to help you. However, the interesting thing is that if you ask the people who interface with them, they'll often tell you that the individual is not doing what they need to. I'm sure you can think of this person. You probably see them on a regular basis and see how their reports and colleagues struggle to pull the dead weight left by the jobs they don't do.
However, there are some simple ways that anyone can avoid becoming this office nightmare. Be more effective and achieve more in the same amount of time. All it takes is a little discipline and these ideas.
1. Do the worst first
Most people cherry pick the jobs they want to do, human nature leads us to this. We're all guilty of working on the things we want to rather than actually getting the heavier, scarier, more important or difficult things done. The bad jobs hang around like dark cloud or a bad smell, spending far too long on your desk and holding others up. Often, these might take two hours or less but lower morale for days or weeks before being completed.
If you actually started on these things and got rid of them quickly, they wouldn't be hanging over your head and you'd be free to get on with the other stuff. Cut the procrastination, get on with it!
2. Is this task really yours?
Not to be a jobsworth but really, look at the tasks you're spending time with. Are they really your tasks or are you doing them because you're getting involved with something that you want to, but has no benefit for you? In a recent post, we looked at building a power base. There is almost always something to be gained by doing extra tasks but never at the cost of your primary role. Besides, passing the more enjoyable tasks back to the person responsible rather than stealing them for yourself will motivate them, keeping them has the opposite effect.
I used to work in an organisation in which people didn't care about this, at all. Led from the top down where an unrelated Director would enjoy 'investigating' conference venues without any real job requirement, rather than deal with their staff, other staff would get involved in things that they didn't need to such as one department lead who seemed to get involved in everything. This meant all decisions were protracted and took almost superhuman effort from everyone who should be involved to get them steered in the correct direction. As Scott Adams wrote in his Dilbert series, [if people are given the opportunity] "we'll have meeting after meeting after meeting, everyone will want to have input because input is much easier than doing real work."
3. Clearing the decks
One of my favourite tricks as a manager was "Tidy Friday". I was introduced to this by a boss of mine early on in my career. Part of the concept was about appearing succesful to other areas of the organisation (a topic I'll cover in more depth later) but a large proportion was effective task management.
Tidy Friday is a concept whereby Fridays are largely used to clear up small jobs that may be lingering. The task list is scrutinised and everything that can be finished and cleared (where feasible) is prioritised and written off by the end of the day. The office is cleared/cleaned and come the new week, there are no lingering tasks that need to be completed.
Part of this helped motivate people because they got into the mindset that things could be achieved by the end of the week and similarly didn't have things hanging over their heads all week. They went home with a smile and came in on Monday able to see the wood for the trees. Also, people outside the department could easily see that the team appeared on top of the workload.
4. "Red hat" time
I worked in an open plan office space for a while and genuinely used to have a red hat. Nowadays, I have an office door that performs the same task. If my hat is on or my door is closed, I'm busy and not to be disturbed.
Particularly for someone like me who wants to provide the best interactions I can with everyone else, this was a difficult one. However, I'm also strongly 'visual' and don't deal well with interruptions at all. In fact I'm not alone, on average it takes someone 20 minutes after an interruption to get back into their task. On top of that, if you, like me are one of the 55% of people that are visual, you're more succeptible than the rest and may take longer than 20 minutes to get back to work.
With careful and selective use of the hat/door, anyone can get through a task in a shorter time than they would otherwise. Other members of staff more often than not respect what you're trying to achieve and are supportive. Often, they'll try it themselves! Just remember to explain your reasoning to people in advance.
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So what do I do?
1. Do the worst first. Take all the tasks you've been putting off and get them done
2. Stick to your tasks or tasks you're doing purely to build a power base. Don't get involved if there's no reason to, especially if it's just because you're avoiding other things.
3. Clear the decks. Tiday Friday gives you a great opportunity to do this.
4. Find your 'red hat'.
5. Profit as you watch your productivity soar.
2. Is this task really yours?
Not to be a jobsworth but really, look at the tasks you're spending time with. Are they really your tasks or are you doing them because you're getting involved with something that you want to, but has no benefit for you? In a recent post, we looked at building a power base. There is almost always something to be gained by doing extra tasks but never at the cost of your primary role. Besides, passing the more enjoyable tasks back to the person responsible rather than stealing them for yourself will motivate them, keeping them has the opposite effect.
I used to work in an organisation in which people didn't care about this, at all. Led from the top down where an unrelated Director would enjoy 'investigating' conference venues without any real job requirement, rather than deal with their staff, other staff would get involved in things that they didn't need to such as one department lead who seemed to get involved in everything. This meant all decisions were protracted and took almost superhuman effort from everyone who should be involved to get them steered in the correct direction. As Scott Adams wrote in his Dilbert series, [if people are given the opportunity] "we'll have meeting after meeting after meeting, everyone will want to have input because input is much easier than doing real work."
3. Clearing the decks
One of my favourite tricks as a manager was "Tidy Friday". I was introduced to this by a boss of mine early on in my career. Part of the concept was about appearing succesful to other areas of the organisation (a topic I'll cover in more depth later) but a large proportion was effective task management.
Tidy Friday is a concept whereby Fridays are largely used to clear up small jobs that may be lingering. The task list is scrutinised and everything that can be finished and cleared (where feasible) is prioritised and written off by the end of the day. The office is cleared/cleaned and come the new week, there are no lingering tasks that need to be completed.
Part of this helped motivate people because they got into the mindset that things could be achieved by the end of the week and similarly didn't have things hanging over their heads all week. They went home with a smile and came in on Monday able to see the wood for the trees. Also, people outside the department could easily see that the team appeared on top of the workload.
4. "Red hat" time
I worked in an open plan office space for a while and genuinely used to have a red hat. Nowadays, I have an office door that performs the same task. If my hat is on or my door is closed, I'm busy and not to be disturbed.
Particularly for someone like me who wants to provide the best interactions I can with everyone else, this was a difficult one. However, I'm also strongly 'visual' and don't deal well with interruptions at all. In fact I'm not alone, on average it takes someone 20 minutes after an interruption to get back into their task. On top of that, if you, like me are one of the 55% of people that are visual, you're more succeptible than the rest and may take longer than 20 minutes to get back to work.
With careful and selective use of the hat/door, anyone can get through a task in a shorter time than they would otherwise. Other members of staff more often than not respect what you're trying to achieve and are supportive. Often, they'll try it themselves! Just remember to explain your reasoning to people in advance.
---------------------
So what do I do?
1. Do the worst first. Take all the tasks you've been putting off and get them done
2. Stick to your tasks or tasks you're doing purely to build a power base. Don't get involved if there's no reason to, especially if it's just because you're avoiding other things.
3. Clear the decks. Tiday Friday gives you a great opportunity to do this.
4. Find your 'red hat'.
5. Profit as you watch your productivity soar.
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