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

2. 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?

3. What bogs you down?

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

5. 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?!?!

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

12. 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.

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

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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. “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?

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

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

22. Email: Chaos vs. Organization

23. Pulling it all together
Consistency – every day (clean desk, clean , check calendar)
Organization – folders for easy retrieval ( , 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

24. Questions? Other ideas?
Open discussion

25. Meals on Wheels for WNY @mealswheelswny @Rleidenfrost
Open discussion