Bank Holiday weekends always make me think about making a start on tidying up the garden then realising how much the grass had grown while I was busy with a growing business. Which then got me thinking about the comparisons, so, as a consequence, this week’s blog is asking you if your business is growing as fast as the grass is?
Now, without taking control of the lawn and garden in general, you can see how unmanageable it can soon become and much like business, what starts off as a flourishing beginning, you still need to maintain and keep on top of it otherwise weeds take over and the beauty of it all becomes lost.
Well enough of the analogies, let’s have a look at eight ways that you can stay on top of your game where the business is concerned.
- What Elephant in the room? – Deal with the Big jobs first, stop putting them off until later because later rarely comes. The smaller jobs will fit in and around the larger one so avoid trying to get rid of them first… Prioritise.
- Don’t take on too much! – Time management is one thing. This is all about managing what you have to do and fitting it into the time you have available but if you take on too much, then there is still only 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour and sometimes you have to realise when you need to say ‘No’.
- Delegate – Usually as we work up through the ranks, we feel that we not only have to carry out the task of the new role, but we also have to manage everything else we’ve done so far to get here! It’s time to delegate those tasks that are less important for the role you hold and, besides which, the person you delegate tasks to has a new sense of self-worth because of the trust you bestow upon them. This is not a simple or straightforward thing to do, so please check out This Post which will help in this area.
- Create your ‘Scheduled’ To-Do list the day before – For those of you who know me well, you’ll know I’m a great fan of the To-Do list. Not any ordinary one but a scheduled one that works! (Contact us if you want a free copy). Make this the last task of the day to complete the following days list. As your day moves through it and other jobs come about, start creating the following days list and finalise it at the end of the day. Start this the minute your day begins avoiding unnecessary tasks or procrastination.
- Got to check those emails! – As part of your ‘To-Do’ list, introduce a couple of times during the day that you will check emails and then turn the auto alerts off. Simple. Once mid-morning and the other mid-afternoon. Having set this time, mentally you’ll soon allow yourself the freedom to not having to read and respond to each one that comes through.
- Be process driven – Having a decent system in place certainly cuts back on wasted time. For example, if you are a solicitor with a new contract in place, create a checklist for the front of the folder that insures that each step from logging full client details all the way through to final account is there. This way, at any time, you or colleagues can see where you are in the process, what has been completed and, in turn, saves having to continually re-read over old stuff just to bring yourself up to speed as to where you are in the process.
- Manage meetings – To be a busy business person, you have to have lots of meetings! Really? Don’t waste your time going to meetings that aren’t relevant to you or your business. Check the frequency, if you’re managing meetings, do they have to be every day? Every week? Can you relay the important stuff in half an hour rather than the usual two hours and consider ‘where’ you meet. Do you need to travel or could you hold an ‘electronic’ meeting?
- Short, un-interrupted bursts – Rather than allowing those phone calls to interrupt what you need to do, turn your mobile off, ask reception to hold all calls for a given period of time and make sure those other distractions (emails, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc) are also turned off. Then fully concentrate for 30-40 minutes to complete whatever your task is. Do it in one un-interrupted burst that will take you so much less time than just periodically drifting in and out of doing it.
It’s wise to know that coaching isn’t something that firms, companies or organisations use just when areas need to be improved. We would ask you to consider some of the great leaders and organisations around at the moment. You can be assured they’ll have a coach on board to insure they remain that one step ahead of their rivals.
Coaching to Success frequently keeps their clients one step ahead and invite you to contact Neil Nutburn on 07761 187238 or send an email to info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk to arrange a free, no obligation consultation should you be one of those great businesses that wish to step ahead of your rivals.
