Find that time you so desperately want each day to work on an important project or to keep up with backlog. It’s right in front of you. Just think about these easy, solutions from Grace Bauer, follow through, and make them work for you.
Interruptions are the major cause of taking up all of our time. To save time, use voice mail. Use e-mail. Make voice mail and e-mail your close friends. Utilize quiet time. Have short meetings. When employees come to you each day to ask those one or two or three questions, train them to think as you do and handle any situation. We can find that extra time in our day — more time than we can imagine.
VOICE MAIL
Many of us complain about having to leave a message in voice mail and not being able to reach anyone. Well, think about this: Voice mail gives everyone the opportunity to work at their own pace. The individual you left the message with has the privilege of getting back to you at the time they choose; you, in turn, have the opportunity to take care of this item, again, in your own time.
Give everyone the benefit of taking care of business at their own pace. Manage your time more efficiently. Let employees work on their own schedules. Of course, there might be times when a situation absolutely must be handled as soon as possible. In these cases, make the interruption and get the item handled immediately. Otherwise, use the voice mail system and work at your own time. Minimize agency interruptions, work more efficiently, and prevent that possible E&O claim, and add that extra time in your day.
E-MAIL
E-mail plays a major role in working more efficiently and finding that extra time in the day. E-mail another employee even if the person is sitting right next to you. Don’t interrupt them. Just one interruption can possibly create an E&O claim, especially if an employee is reviewing a policy. If you can e-mail another employee instead of making this interruption, do so. Again, this gives everyone the opportunity to work at their own pace, operate more efficiently and adds extra time to your day.
QUIET TIME
Some agency principals are totally against this idea. However, I’ve found that every agency that has implemented quiet time has found that it’s a significant saver. Bear in mind that having one hour of quiet time in the morning just doesn’t cut it; when workers first come into the office it takes so long to get coffee, organize their desks, and chat with others that an hour just doesn’t leave much quiet time to get work done. Three to four hours per day, two or three times per week seems to work the best. Of course, make sure that everyone in the same department isn’t on the same quiet times.
In all the agencies that I’ve worked with, it amazes me how well quiet time works in keeping backlog up-to-date, reducing E&O, and finding that extra time in the day.
SHORT MEETINGS
Another great time saver is to hold short meetings with individual staff members. We get so many interruptions during the day that if we could combine them all into one period, we could save an enormous amount of time. This approach gives each employee quality time to work more efficiently, and possibly prevent an E&O claim.
I advise managers to meet with each employee for 10 minutes, perhaps in the morning, and go over whatever questions both of you might have during a 24-hour period. Then, when questions arise throughout the day, just wait until the next day — same time, same place — to review these issues. Of course, if an urgent matter should arise, the interruption needs to be made during the day. Otherwise, let it wait. This is a great way to save time, work more efficiently, and find the extra time you might need to work on that special project.
QUESTIONS
Managers in agencies expect to answer questions every day. Everyone feels that management always has the answers to everything, no matter what the problem. If you took a close look at your agency, you’d probably find out that it’s your employees who know the answers to every question. After all, they’re the experts who are working with your customers every day under a wide variety of circumstances. If an employee comes to you with a question, just ask them how they would handle the situation. If the answer is the way that you would handle the situation, then just tell them to proceed. If the response you receive is not the one that you’d recommend, then tell them how you would handle the problem. In most cases, you’ll find that employees know exactly what to do.
Follow this process with every question you get — and you’ll find that questions will shortly dissipate, employees will handle situations the way management would, and more time will become available. As with any new process, remember that this process needs to be consistent.
CONCLUSION
Using voice mail, e-mailing, creating quiet time, having short meetings, and handling questions more effectively are just a few ways to add that extra time to your day. Try one. You’ll find that it really works.