MODERN BUSINESS
calendar to organise meetings. Now
you could see others schedules in
real time, and make sure that the
right meeting information was in
everyone’s calendar at the same
time. You could not do that with
a paper diary! So today I work in
organisations where everyone,
and I mean everyone, uses an
electronic calendar to manage their
meetings. Yet, only 20% would use
an electronic task list, or would use a
tool like OneNote to manage meeting
notes. I wonder if we are looking at
the wrong level of value again?
I was working with a Leadership
Team in a tech company recently,
focusing on their use of OneNote
to manage meeting notes. One of
the managers was very wedded to
her paper notepad, and proclaimed
at the start of the session that she
was unlikely to move away from it.
Yet she had a tablet PC that actually
allowed her to either type meeting
notes into OneNote, or write them
onto the screen using a hi-tech pen.
Her rational was that when it came
to capturing notes, it was easier to
just bring a pen and paper. She was
not wrong. But her focus level was
on capturing, not on utilization or
on sharing. When she realised that
she was missing out on the ability
to search her notes across many
meetings, or to schedule meeting
actions straight into her task list and
collaborate using shared notebooks
in OneNote, she began to change her
tune – and her tools.
So, you have some powerful
technology at your disposal. To
work smarter with it, you need to
value it, embrace it and practice
using it. If you do this, I can promise
productivity gains that you only
dreamt of. Or maybe that was just
me!
Dermot Crowley is a productivity
thought leader, author, speaker and
trainer. Dermot works with leaders,
executives and professionals in many
of Australia’s leading organisations,
helping to boost the productivity of
their people and teams. He is the
author of Smart Work, published by
Wiley. For more information, visit www.
dermotcrowley.com.au or email dermot.
[email protected]
April 2016
ModernBusiness
59