Three simple and easy tactics to make sure you are working 'smart' not 'hard'

Do you find yourself with shortage of time at work? Or get jealous of colleagues who are in a similar position as yours but can go home on time and not pull in long hours? Have you ever wondered how you can go from meeting to meeting, one job to another and yet maintain a healthy work-life balance without affecting the quality of output?
I was in a similar position too until I made three simple changes to the way I work and set three simple rules to my working. I have tried and tested these and the results have unfailingly been as I wanted them. In this blog, I share these with you and hope you are able to strive for excellence and work-life balance using them.

1) Switch off social media at work: 
I know this is a lot easier said than done. Since the introduction of smart phones, mobile apps, large data plans by phone companies and the ever increasing content available on various channels, the time spent on these channels really cuts into the work time significantly.  You may be tempted just to log in - just for few secs - to see what's new and browse through the latest feeds, or see how your post is doing, or update your status, or comment on your friends or families or colleagues' achievements. While it may seem only a small thing, when you cumulate it over a working day or week, it really adds up to a lot of time.  If you have ever left or forgotten your phone at home for one day, you will realise that what I am saying is true. Mind you though, forgetting your phone doesn't help if you are truly addicted as almost all the social media platforms also have desktop versions.
Therefore, you really do need willpower and the conscious effort to not give in to the temptation.  If you are really serious about trying this, the easiest first step is to stop push notifications from the social media apps. Take back control and switch off the banner notifications from your social media. Just doing this, will go a long way in curbing disturbances and distractions that help you procrastinate and that takes away your precious time at work (unless of course you do ant to switch off and not face the realities of work). Just remember though, every minute spent on social media is a minute more that you will have to spend on getting your things done.

2) First face, then phone and last fingers: 
I used to spend hours on writing and sending emails. Even today, the bulk of the working day goes in writing and responding to emails and answering queries. A few years ago, I was trying to set up a meeting with four people: one very senior staff member, one relatively senior, one external person and myself. I am not exaggerating when I tell you it took 56 email exchanges before the date, time and location was fixed. That was 14 emails roughly per person just to fix a meeting... Not to mention it also took about 2 days to ensure everyone had responded to every thing.  It was sheer madness and made me question the way I was working. So the next time I was in a similar situation, I walked over to the second floor of the building and spoke to the EA of the very senior person and while I was standing over her shoulder, looking at the diary, we identified three potential slots. At that same time, I called the external attendee and asked which of those suited. There was one that he couldn't do, so we were left with two slots. The next thing was to call the second internal member and ask which suited them. They weren't at their desk and I remember leaving a voice message about it. By the time, I said bye to the EA and came back to my desk, I had received a reply to my voice message. The last thing was sending one email confirming the time and date and location to all. 3 phone calls, 2 emails, 1 face to face visit and a total time of 15 mins to organise it. It was way more fun and way more productive too.. I was even able to squeeze in some step climbing and exercise too.
That's when I decided to change my strategy and whenever possible, my first choice is face to face meeting closely followed by a phone call and the final is the email which is usually just to confirm the facts and details from those interventions. 
I can give you multiple examples of this - how many times have you had to explain, defend or apologise on email exchanges because of miscommunications. The strategy works because not only does it minimise the possibility of miscommunication or misunderstanding, it also goes a long way in building relationships that all make working more enjoyable, productive and less time-consuming in the long run.

3) Instant actions: 
By this I mean that I make it a point to follow up on my actions from various meetings and conversations soon after or as soon as possible. Again, this doesn't come naturally to most of us. I know I used to wait right until the deadline to frantically finish the actions I was responsible for.  Although, you almost always finish them just in time, if you analyse the way in which you work, you would realise that you could have done it in shorter time.  This is because, the longer it is after the allocation of actions that you get to it, the more time you have to spend in remembering the context and details of it. Fresh out of a meeting, you are in that 'zone' or mind frame about the context of that task and the productivity is higher when your mind is focussed. If you wait and wait and wait some more to the final deadline, perhaps the notes you made don't it won't make sense, you have to spend longer thinking and remembering what was said or discussed or agreed to get the task right. This is especially true if you are ever responsible for note taking or minute writing. I will add to this and say, when you have a series of tasks or actions to do, approach the most difficult and time consuming ones first. Not a natural way of working, but there are infinite benefits to tackling the biggest one first. Overtime, this acquired learning behaviour does impact on your habits, approaches and enables you to focus and prioritise most effectively.

So, those were my three simple hacks to working smarter rather than harder.  Whether it's time management, team management or getting a positive work-life balance, the simple changes to your approach in working can and WILL have a very positive impact on your work. 

Now, keen followers of my blogs will wonder, where is the parenting parallel? It's simple.. These three hacks have come about because of my children and my method of parenting. Once I am at home, the kids are my absolute priority and social media takes a complete back seat. In fact on holidays and weekends, rarely do I have my phone with me and everything that maters to me is being there with my family. So, it's only fair, that at work, it's all about work.  Secondly, I would never write an email to my kids. I solve their issues in person or at most on the phone. Luckily, I like and prefer that and dread the day when email would be a form of communication. So use that approach at work too. Lastly, kids invariably teach you 'do what you promise... And do it now (or as soon as possible).' 

If you enjoyed reading this, and want to know more about my unique take on management issues, follow my blog on School of Mumagement

Comments

  1. Hi Payal,

    I really love the idea of your blog and your posts so far! Excellent! Looking forward to you continuing :-) I am a Lecturer in Leadership and a mum, and I find the way you are mixing both refreshing and very true in both the professional world and the parental role...

    Emmanuelle

    ReplyDelete

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