The name of this blog comes from our mission at INFLUENCE: “To empower people with clarity and confidence.”
Our objective is to provide brief but meaningful topics (under 500 words) that inspire, educate and empower leaders through resources both inside and outside of INFLUENCE. This week’s edition is provided by David Salmons.
Plenty of leaders have big ideas and a passion for selling them to others. Too often however, it’s the boring, menial tasks required for success that leave their ideas in limbo, and even the most passionate presentations fall flat when no-one’s answering the phone or returning emails.
If you aren’t someone to sweat the details, find someone who will, and make sure they at least help you do the following:
- Create a productive workspace. Get rid of clutter. Know where things are so you can find them quickly. This includes your PC desktop.
- Go paperless as much as possible. While papers get lost, digital files stay put, and you can search for them by typing names, titles, or text in a search field.
- Manage your email. This may require email filters that recognize your priorities and can separate work from personal email. Basic organizational tips include:
- Create folders and a filing system for your emails.
- After you read and respond to an email, file it away.
- Set up rules to auto-send weekly updates and other mass emails to a file.
- Document workflows. Capture the productivity steps in your operations for your own sake and for those who may need to help out when you’re not around. Think of “process documents” as describing WHAT the steps are, while “procedures” usually describe HOW each step is done.
- Create templates. For example, standard email responses, proposal verbiage, and contract “modules” can speed things up when you’re crunched for time.
- Automate repetitive tasks wherever possible, like timesheet reminders, email responses, online research, or data backups.
- Track customer support. If you’re not following up, they’re probably grinding your reputation. Develop a process and commit to it. And if you have lots of external customers, this may require a software ticketing platform like Freshdesk.
- Budget for and track expenses carefully in a format that’s as close to real-time as possible – so you’ll know what you can spend when you need it.
To summarize… You’re passionate about outcomes and your time is precious. That’s all the more reason to get a grip on organization. For increased flexibility and productivity as well as reduced stress and better results, set the example for your team and just get organized.