workforce archiving that never get seen?
• Do you print reports that can be distributed and viewed electronically?
• Are meeting materials printed when they could be viewed on a tablet?
If you’ re having trouble with this one, try moving the printer to a less convenient location – this is surprisingly effective!
CAPTURE‘ WATER COOLER’ IDEAS We all know that‘ water cooler’ chatter is vital and often brings some of the best ideas from teams.
When people are spread over different campuses, the country or the globe, this chatter can often be missed, and individuals can feel left out. Online and mobile apps such as Yammer are a professional, easy way to include everyone.
Yammer provides the ability to load photos, add comments, praise people and share tips easily with little disruption to work. This helps teams maintain communication and raise ideas in an open forum. The app also has the added benefit of also keeping so many of the internal emails out of your inbox( we noticed a 200 per cent reduction in emails on implementation!) Go to yammer. com
VIRTUALISE TEAM MEETINGS Team meetings are amongst the best ways to ensure that your people are on the same page and are getting the right information. Don’ t let location stop you from bringing team members together for regular weekly meeting or debriefs; make use of tools such as Skype, conference calling, Google hangouts – there are many paid or free options and not that many excuses. Having the whole crew on board is crucial and will make a difference to how they work together for the rest of the week.
USE OF MOBILE DEVICES Tech-savvy students are using mobile devices, but is everyone in your team ready? Collaborative tools can give employees secure access to documents and tools whilst they’ re on the move, making the most of each day.
Implementing the latest technology can have many benefits:
• Keep communication lines open with apps such as Yammer, which is available for handheld devices.
• Decrease downtime with the ability to review files in the palm of your hand whilst in transit, waiting for a meeting etc.
• Keep abreast of advances in tablets; the latest Microsoft tablets have the ability to open Word and Excel files, meaning you can edit as well as review documents.
These technologies can also support flexible working arrangements, meaning that employees don’ t necessarily have to be in the office to be effective.
DON’ T BE AFRAID OF MICROSOFT EXCEL Do people in your team spend countless hours in Excel working with duplicate data and manipulating reports?
Excel is often underused, as the formulas and more advanced functions can seem intimidating. Some good, basic training in this powerful tool will unlock the mystery, and provide your team with the skills to save hours each week. Even beginners can quickly begin inputting formulas, macros and templates so that work has to be done only once.
Shortcuts save so much time – and it’ s not as complicated as it might seem.
ACCESS THE POWER OF HEALTH The line between work and home is blurring. The same way that mobile devices mean emails are checked at home at night and on the weekend. It is, therefore, sensible to expect an element of personal life to make its way into the working day. We are working with people, remember.
Encouraging healthy employees is one of the best ways to keep them performing well. There are many mobile apps that you can use to manage your life balance and other essentials in a fun way.
For example, UP by Jawbone, can be used to track sleep, diet, and exercise. Apps can highlight those habits – such as unhealthy meals, little sleep or sitting at a desk too long – that take away energy and lead to a less productive employee.
Why not try promoting a healthy lifestyle and having some friendly competition around the office?
THE POWER OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT The term‘ project’ is seemingly used daily; why not take advantage of the plethora of online management tools to deliver your projects on time and on budget?
There are many tools that incorporate, or specialise in, online implementation of project management and delivery. Popular and effective options include:
• Microsoft Project( coming soon in an online format)
• Asana
• Podio
• Smartsheet
• Microsoft Sharepoint Your team can access them all in one place with transparency, accountability, generating good project management that will drive successful works.
TRANSPARENCY IN AVAILABILITY Working productively as a team means communicating availability; not doing so is a common roadblock to efficiency. Using Outlook’ s shared calendar features or one of the many great online systems that are available( try Fullslate. com) can improve the productivity of your team members by helping them plan.
Are you already doing this? Try using these tools for more advanced techniques by watching our video on work planning youtube. com / watch? v = 2UA6W63Br1g
TASK MANAGEMENT Do emails drive your work? Does what pops into your inbox dictate your actions?
If you answered yes, one of the best changes you can make is to switch the focus for you and your team to task-driven activities and take control of the priorities( as much as you can) today.
Outlook’ s task manager is a great way to do this but if you prefer an online shared version you can use the collaborative task lists, with several options, including:
• MS Sharepoint
• Asana
• 2Do
• Evernote
• Trello Many of these options are also mobile, meaning that even when your team is on the go, they can stay on top of things. Finally, pick up the telephone. It’ s easy – with the simplicity of email, Skype, instant chat and texting – to focus on the one-dimensional communication forms. Whilst these can be useful, sometimes you just have to pick up a phone and have a conversation with a real person.
There’ s huge, and sometimes underestimated, value in calling and having a quick chat. Several topics can be covered off in one 10-minute conversation, quick queries can be answered in a one-minute call( as well as touching base on the water-cooler chatter), and team members can avoid waiting days( or forever) for a response to their small but important query.
Most importantly, hearing and being able to respond to tonality in a person’ s voice can help resolve issues quickly or, even better, avoid them in the first place.
My rule of thumb is“ if you’ ve already had two emails, pick up the phone!” ■
Jo Schneider and Dianne van Eck are directors at DVE Business Solutions.
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