Rachel Leidenfrost Meals on Wheels for WNY Time Management: Increasing Productivity through Efficiency and Organization Rachel Leidenfrost Meals on Wheels for WNY

Housekeeping Interactive  ask questions, add suggestions Power Point handout Whether you find 2 tips that work for you or 10, it’s an improvement on what you are doing today and that means it’s a success! Initial Questions?

What bogs you down?

Interruptions Visitors Emergencies E-mail Meetings Phone calls “Brain Melt” “No funnel”

The importance of a Schedule How many people maintain a schedule and follow it each day? How many people maintain a schedule but get so busy they forget to look at it? “What? Who the heck has time to make a schedule?!?!

A Good Schedule Makes Itself Every meeting, every time Workflows and reminders Recurring tasks Annual events Automate whenever possible Make life easier on yourself!

Consider Big Changes! Most people feel that they don’t have any time Yet, the average person watches 1.8 hours of TV each weekday (and 2.8 weekend days). Are you enjoying it OR are you too tired for anything else? Consider going to bed earlier and rising early for the gym or special projects you want to complete. If you can, telecommute one day a week --- save the commute and avoid interruptions.

Minimize Interruptions! Studies have shown that people take 25 minutes (on average) to redirect after being interrupted.

Less Interruptions, More Work Time Minimizing interruptions DND Signs “Out to Lunch” Signs Have calls for management vetted Empower staff Schedule email and social media time Turn off the internet

Creating Work Time Minimizing meetings Meeting-Free Friday Calendar blocks Change meeting frequency for those in your control (weekly to bi-weekly, monthly to bi-monthly) Delegating meetings

Create a “funnel” Do you receive regular work requests (e.g., marketing, technology, facilities) Create a checklist (refer requests that meet X conditions) Create a spreadsheet Service Level Agreements / managing expectations

Greater Efficiency “Power Hours” – Feel like you can never get anything done? Come to work for an hour when nobody else is there and fly through tasks. Do this a couple times a week to feel in control of the chaos. Work smarter, not harder Desktop shortcuts Re-use materials / use materials as a base an customize

“Force Multipliers” Who has too much work and not enough staff? What do you do about it? Office volunteers Interns Committee members Board members Pro bono professionals “Stretch assignments” Who else?

Email: Chaos vs. Organization Why is email so out of control? Junk Threads / “Reply all” / FYI only Compounding, can’t get through it all daily

Email: Chaos vs. Organization Solutions: Organization! reference folders shorter-term actionable follow-up “Unsubscribe” / Auto move Touch items once whenever possible Sort by thread

Email: Chaos vs. Organization

Pulling it all together Consistency – every day (clean desk, clean email, check calendar) Organization – folders for easy retrieval (email, hard copy, server) Daily triage Structure doesn’t matter as long as it makes sense to you! Make it easy on yourself Complete quick hits immediately Put other work on the calendar / schedule and then file related materials

Questions? Other ideas? Open discussion

Meals on Wheels for WNY @mealswheelswny @Rleidenfrost Open discussion rleidenfrost@mealsonwheelswny.org