Stop efficiency leaks and save on time

Do you ever get to the end of the year and wonder what happened? When deciding on how you are going to improve results for 2012, examine these seven areas closely.

1. Create systems that give you uninterrupted time to focus. 

There are two systems every individual in your workplace needs to set up to enable them to focus. One relates to their responsibilities and the other relates to managing the workload. This ‘invisible system’ is one that is always missing.

This invisible system will increase focus, reduce multiple handling and distraction and enable you to use your brain for doing rather than tracking.

2. Do you know how to sift quickly through what you have to do to resolve conflicting priorities? How much of your day is spent sifting what you receive to work out if something needs attention?

Isolate the sifting process to specific times of the day so that you avoid stopping and starting important work and always giving preference to the quick regardless of priority.

To get to what is important faster and be able to concentrate longer, you need to have a sifting system that enables you to work out what is on your plate quickly and reliably.

3. Have you tapped into the potency of Outlook?

The real purpose of learning how to use Outlook is for it to become your powerhouse for tracking and managing all you need to do, your information and your contacts.

Like you, I spent years using only a small percentage of what it could do. It took me months to discover and formulate the best of the best from its potential.

Invest in some quality training so you don’t spend months trying to figure it out and you start recouping what you’ve lost. 

4. Formulate the best solutions to create a real sense of urgency.

Many of us don’t stop and sufficiently consider what we are truly trying to achieve before moving forward because we don’t have simple techniques that are easy and inspire us to discuss concerns openly, manage conflicting opinions or innovate new options.

There are simple processes that can help you create hundreds of solutions in eight minutes that are just as powerful as ones that could take you days to formulate. Get these techniques into your tool bag. Help your people to think and formulate plans that move them forward in a straight line to their quarterly goals.

5. Move in the direction of your targets (without stress). 

Many people have problems squeezing their strategic goals into what they do daily.  While creating Gant Charts, mind maps and project plans are necessary; they are only half the story.

Planning you workload is an art form that when done effectively can:

• Identify bottlenecks.

• Enable meaningful discussions with your people about workloads.

• Make you more responsive and spontaneous. 

Do you need to learn the tricks of planning?

6.  Uncovering personal time-stealing habits and creating unique solutions to resolve them.

There are 17 habits that steal time and sabotage your results. Many of them remain concealed. Become aware of what steals your time and then get up to the minute uncommon practical solutions to address these habits. The brain can be retrained to do things differently.

7.  Team habits that steal time and money.

There are some major activities that we do daily that cost us large amount of money and time, which slowly sap the life of the business.

Email and meetings are just two.

You may rationalise that you have tried to do something but nothing works. We have grown so used to the way things are we don’t rattle the cage and even if we did, we would not know how to make things better. 

So everyone continues on making up their own rules, costing the organisation and each other hours of productivity.

Can you afford to allow this drain? Help your people elevate their results by giving them clarity, parameters and direction.

Where do you need to focus to increase efficiency? Saving time does equal saving money. You save both significantly when you know where the leaks are and, of course, how to fix them.

Angie Spiteri is a business efficiency specialist and the CEO of Time Equals Money.  

Contact Angie on (08) 9302 2803 | 0403 970 732 | www.timeequalsmoney.net.au