Diagram A
URGENT
YES NO
YES
IMPORTANT
j Matters falling into box number 1 are both urgent and important and should therefore be given priority and dealt with right away . Examples of this would be : a problem with a major client , a report you have to complete for your boss by this afternoon as he has to submit it to the president of your company today , and notifying participants throughout the country of a cancelled meeting . Box number 2 consists of matters that are urgent but not important to you . They could be continuous interruptions by unexpected visitors or misdirected telephone interruptions . Visitors should be requested to have appointments and the telephonist should be sufficiently informed to minimise misdirected calls . This box also contains unnecessary interruptions by your boss . This is typified by the boss who interrups to ask you , “ How are you getting on with the Smith & Company report , Susan ?”. To which you ’ d love to respond , “ A hell of a lot better if you stopped interrupting me .”
In box number 3 are located the matters that are important by not urgent . Planning , self-development and more effective organisations are examples . Finally , box number 4 contains matters that are neither urgent nor important such as straightening out papers for the umpteenth time , socialising , or changing something around just for the sake of change . These matters can be eliminated .
Crises also occur because of the fear of breaking bad news to your boss . The longer you delay the worse it gets . There is a tendency for crises to snowball and quickly assume serious proportions . Remember that the messenger who brings bad news is no longer executed and may even be rewarded . Procrastination should be avoided at all times but particularly when there is an impending crisis . Remember that Pamela Procrastination is the best friend of Christine Chaos .
To prevent , or at least , reduce the adverse impact of crises then we need to :
w Plan effectively : this entails having contingency plans should anything go wrong and prioritising our work . Effective plans have deadlines on tasks and control mechanisms to detect if something is heading off course . w Avoid over-scheduling or over-extending yourself : Be honest and assertive with your boss if you think he is providing you with unrealistic time estimates . Things do go wrong and you should therefore build in a ‘ cushion ’ of at least 10 per cent of your time to allow for the unexpected . w Have some type of system to ensure the information you require is available when you require it and in the proper format i . e . print-out , floppy disk , printed report , etc .
No matter how well prepared we are , we can never prevent all crises . However , when crises have passed it is extremely important that we conduct analyses of them . A crisis by definition is a deviation from normal events . Make a complete list of the conditions that were different from normal when the crisis occurred . After a number of crises ,
1 3
NO 2 4 you may be able to determine a trend and arrive at the conclusion that given these conditions the possibility of a crisis increases dramatically . You can take steps to prevent or curtail a possible crisis .
TELEPHONE INTERRUPTIONS The telephone is one of the greatest inventions even to be introduced in business but it has become one of the worst timewasters . It is not the telephone per se that is the problem but its misuse . When answering the phone you should provide immediate identification by name and department as this prevents the conversation from continuing if you are not the person required . If not provided , obtain immediate identification of the caller and the purpose of the call .
When taking a message for your boss , obtain the caller ’ s name , company , phone number , time of call , reason for call and when the caller will be available to receive a return call . The last point is important as it prevents ‘ telephone table-tennis ’. When you obtain the purpose of the call , you can provide more information for your boss including the relevant file if applicable . When you place calls for your boss and the other person is not available , leave a complete message including the name of the account , if applicable , and when your boss will be available to receive a return call . The acceptance of answering machines has increased considerably over the last couple of years . If there are many times when you or someone else in your area are not available to receive calls , an answering machine may be a good idea . If you use an answering machine make sure the message encourages the caller to provide complete information .
We have all gone through the frustrating and embarrassing experience of putting down the telephone and saying , “ Oh , I forgot to ask ( tell ) about …,” and then having to call back , which is a waste of both time and money . The best way to avoid this situation is to make a list of all the points you wish to cover in your conversation and cross each one off as it is covered .
If there is someone to whom you can delegate the job of taking your calls when you wish to concentrate on a high priority task , do so . If you do not have a junior secretary reporting to you there are three possibilities , namely the receptionist , the telephonist or a colleague . Such duties may be part of the receptionist ’ s and telephonist ’ s job but it may take some convincing to have a colleague take your calls for one of two hours at some time later , the arrangement could work very well .
Another enemy of telephone effectiveness is the waffler – the person who is exuberated by his own verbosity . It takes this person 20 minutes to say something that could be said in less than five . He sounds like an insurance policy or a legal document . Have you ever passed by another secretary ’ s desk and seen her angrily holding the phone away from her ear and pointing at the hearing section ? This is the classic body language of a waffler ’ s victim . You can avoid being victimised by these people if you learn techniques of terminating telephone calls in a diplomatic way . If you have to phone the waffler , find out what time he or she goes to lunch and leaves the office . Make your calls to this person just before he or she goes to lunch or leaves the office for the day . You ’ ll be amazed by how much you will accomplish in a fraction of the time it previously took .
20 Executive PA | Summer Issue 2021