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In a recent blog, I covered the basic definition of working smart and provided a helpful tip to assist you in your efforts to working smart. The first tip is to work intentionally. Working intentionally requires you to think about your outcome and manage the information that will help you get there and let go of the rest.  This is much like the idea of think before you act, however, it has huge implications when it comes to managing information, since most of us are so awash in it.

So the next tip is this:

• Prioritize your focus.  There’s not enough time to do everything. You don’t have time to put everything neatly away, there’s not enough time to stay up on all the topics of interest, not enough time to read all the email and blogs coming in.    Manage information based upon what’s important – which is defined by the first step.  Identify and live with intentionality.    That brings a relatively narrow focus, or as the movie “City Slickers” defined it, “know what’s number 1″ – and I would add to it, know what’s number 1, and how you plan to get closer to it today.

Your job is probably not to be the “library of congress.”  A job where everything is neatly in its place, or to please everyone.  It is, for the purpose of this blog, to work smart, to live smart, and when that comes to managing information, it means narrowing the focus based upon your priorities and desired outcomes.   That’s where you want to spend your time and that’s where it’s most important to track and manage information.

I don’t need to get everything done, just the priority one items. And on the priority one items, I need a system that allows everyone who touches that to work in a coordinated, collaborative, up-to-date manner, anything short of that isn’t working smart.

Click here for more on management software.

#2 ManagePro Represents a Structure for Inventing Your Future,
but Initially Exposes more than it Solves

ManagePro can represent the future to be achieved, both for the business and the people who resource it.  I’ve written about this one before, but in developing a structured outline of your business process and trajectory in ManagePro, two reality points can quickly and disarmingly surface.

1. Lack of Clarity – This reality, the fact that your business continues to funtion with a number of areas, decision points, processes, and strategic initiatives not clearly defined, can be quickly exposed in a flash and for many becomes an uncomfortable, “I should know this” moment:

1.  It may be a struggle to articulate a requirement spec or scope on your top projects
2.  You haven’t decided what the top 3-6 critical steps are to complete each of your strategic initiatives
3. You start listing projects, products and customers and you feel confused about where to store records… you can’t find things you put in yesterday
4. You would like to see scorecards, but you’re not sure how to measure what’s important, and are unsure of how you would go about getting the information
5. You start developing the structure in ManagePro, but never get beyond Titles and some to-dos…

2. Lack of Engagement and Alignment – Introduction of ManagePro and the accompanying shifts in how work is managed, documented and measured, surfaces the fact that some members of the organization are not in the boat.  They aren’t as aligned or engaged or committed as you would wish.  Introducing ManagePro and the required change process serves to expose the gaps in engagement very quickly.

What do most of us do when feeling exposed?  We cover-up, we withdraw.  “I’ll get back to this later.”  In reality what would be best is to admit we need help, and the exposure means there are lots of areas that need attention in working on the business.

What also gets exposed is that without someone regularly working with you to address those areas, we all get busy with day-to-day stuff and it gets covered up again.  There really is something to the notion that if it’s not on your schedule, it’s not going to happen, and that accountability to someone else helps all of us achieve our goals a little, sometimes a lot, easier.

Office screens are available in many guises. They can  offer a practical answer for dividing  today’s open plan offices.  Modern office screens are an attractive and inexpensive method to offer private areas for both group working areas and for the individual employee.

Not many offices will be found without a screen or two. They abound in colleges, schools and universities. They are extensively in use in  airports and hospitals and are especially popular in call centres.

There are various shaped desk mounted screens which include straight, curved or wave ~ curved, wave or straight} panels. They may be finished with a fabric covering in a choice of colours and a complementing trim of either metal or PVC, with or without a ‘pinnable’ surface.

Glass or polycarbonate  panels in a choice of finish are also available .

Floor Standing Screens – offer a range of options which include:

Straight or curved panels, fabric covered, part glazed or constructed from polycarbonate, with or without a ‘pinnable’ surface, safely mounted on purpose built, stabilising feet. They may be used to direct the flow of office traffic or the queuing public when placed next to each other, either in a straight line or curved to suit the individual office requirements.

General office noise and machine generated noise may be reduced substantially by using floor standing Acoustic Screens which have proven sound reduction qualities incorporated within their construction by the application of an insulated central core. These are available in a selection of fabric colour ways and complementing trims. They may be used singularly or in multiples of two or more when joined with hinges in a variety of layouts

Choosing  the correct height screen can reduce glare from ceiling lighting or sunlight proving hugely beneficial to all users.

A range of practical accessories such as hinges, stabilising feet and multi-way hinges are available to help facilitate many different office layout schemes.

Click here for more on management tools.

Direct mail marketing to businesses has proven to be an effective method in the marketing industry. Of course, the success of this strategy depends on the target audience of your marketing activities. Similarly, the audience plays a huge role in the development of print, TV and radio advertisements as well as direct the way the marketing copy is expressed in mails.

The key is to get a good business direct mail list that will make sure your marketing mail is opened and read by the recipient The names and addresses of recipients of one or more direct mail marketing emails to businesses are contained in this list.  These factors that will help you optimize your list and make sure you have the right target market :

Demographics: Your target market will be segregated according to age, gender, income level, and location.  Knowing these factors will help you make a more concise, more refined list for direct mail marketing to businesses .

NCOA Validation: You have to make sure that your business direct mail list has been validated based on the NCOA service.  The National Change of Address (NCOA) lists all the known addresses of residents in the United States. It is updated regularly by the United States Postal Service.  Validating your list ensures you have an updated and correct list at all times.

Number of names on the list: Include as many addresses on your list as possible. However, be careful in maintaining a list that is too large for your campaign, especially when it contains too few leads to cover your expenses in obtaining the list. You may end up spending a lot more than you should be paying for the mails.

Mail content: Direct mail marketing to businesses has evolved and intensified in terms of appeal and effectiveness. A compelling mail content, therefore, is vital in the success of your direct mail marketing to businesses campaign. You may also include some small surprises, such as pens and cards, as gifts of goodwill for the recipients.

Direct mail marketing to businesses has many advantages.  It will be highly effective if you use the right methods with the right business direct mail list. Here are some of the advantages your business can achieve from direct mail marketing to businesses:

More attention: Mail catches a person’s attention more frequently than a 30-second TV or radio ad does.  If you want your audience to take you seriously and to pay more attention to your words, use direct mail marketing techniques.

More information: All the possible questions your client would seek about your product or service should be included in the mail. You may include price and package rates, description of your product or service as well as the benefits of using it. People make their purchase decisions based on a balanced mix of presentation and credible information.

More credibility: Constant communication with your contact and prospect customers through mails defines how much your clients mean to your business, which is very important in establishing a credible reputation.

For Business Direct Mail, postcards are a less expensive, and more efficient way, of informing other businesses about your company.

Click here for more on management tools.

Want to save money on your office supplies beginning with your next print cartridge order? Then buy a compatible inkjet cartridge! A compatible inkjet cartridge is a cartridge manufactured to supply the same quality that branded and original cartridges provide, but at a lower price. The cost savings can really add up, especially for a compatible black ink cartridge because it is the most widely used color. In fact, most people go through two black ink cartridges to one color cartridge.

Most compatible or alternative manufacturers use the same amount of ink as that of the OEM or Original Equipment Manufacturer. To assure accuracy, the ink is weighed and measured to follow the same specifications set by the OEM. Cartridges are carefully pressurized and filled during the process so they do not leak. Before a compatible inkjet cartridge is sold, tests are performed so you are assured that the ink and toners are high quality when you use compatible printer ink cartridges.

Obviously, quality of the ink is very important because it affects the quality of the output. The ink could also clog the print head of the cartridge if it does not match the specifications of the OEM which include the drying time, viscosity, color values, surface tension and pH value. All reputable companies that sell compatible inkjet cartridge supply a warranty, so in case you encounter any problem with their products, you can return them hassle-free.

Besides saving a ton of money, you should also know that a manufacturer of a printer you are using cannot void your warranty because you use an inkjet cartridge or refill kit manufactured by someone other than the printer manufacturer. It’s true! If you prefer to buy name brand inkjet or toner cartridges, that’s great, but it is NOT required for warranty purposes. An excerpt of the MAGNUSON-MOSS WARRANTY IMPROVEMENT ACT states: “(c) No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer’s using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name…”

No matter what brand you buy, keep in mind that an ink cartridge should be placed upright for at least 30 minutes prior to use; this will allow the ink to flow down to the print head and allow any oxygen bubbles to rise up and away from the print head. Purchasing compatible printer ink cartridges instead of OEMs is one of the best ways to save money on your office supplies without sacrificing quality.

Click here to learn more about smart technology and management software tools.

This video provides a look at smart technology as defined by touch screens that allow users to manipulate documents with either a “pen” or finger, and save changes. There is also the ability to email participants.

Technology allowing new levels of interaction with collegues while adding value to the outcome is what businesses strive to find and implement. Management software that fosters collaboration and gives users immediate access to vital information is smart technology.

For more on smart technology, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/work-smarter/

I wanted to follow-up my earlier blog on working smart and provide some tips on how to work smart.

Let’s start with a definition of just exactly what it is to work smart.  Here’s my working definition:
Working smart is a style of working based on the decisions you make and how you manage information in the process.

Sounds simple enough, right? Yet, most of us, with a some help could perform much better.

This blog is going to be short and to the point, but conceptual – and I’m aiming it at those of you who would would like to get more done with less. This is not for those who reframe working smart as making money without working… there’s plenty written about that already.

Sometimes you just need some practical tips. There are some great blogs and web pages out there that cover practical tips that I don’t want to duplicate. See the following as some examples:

Working Smart with teams,  General life choices, Saving an hour a day, Working Smart at the office

So let’s get to it.  From my point of view, working smart and managing information converge on three basic practices I use.  Strengthen any one and you work smarter.

The first basic practice is to Use information (and time) with intentionality.   Do it at the start of the day and do it all day long.  Think about your outcome and manage the information that will help you get there and let go of the rest.  This is essentially a take-off on the idea of think before you act, but it has huge implications when it comes to managing information, since most of us are overly consumed in it.

Here’s what this doesn’t look like – going through the motions on auto-pilot, whether that is working as usual, putting your time in, dutifully reading through your email.  Instead, be intentional with how you manage life and information. And yes, that requires that you think, ”What’s most important to accomplish today in terms of outcomes?” and not just work, which leads to the next key… See the next blog for my second tip on working smart.

Bottom Line:

You can affect how much you and others work smart, especially as it interfaces with managing information, by focusing on the following keys:

Link:

Working Smart and the Comfort of Habit

Working Strategically – the Missing 4th Step

If you asked most people, “Do you work smart?” they would
probably say, “Yes,” or something similar, perhaps in a
watered down format.  We all would like to apply a positive

attribute to ourselves, and working smart is definitely a positive

attribute.

Asking the same people for a definition might produce an interesting comment.
Let’s say for the sake of this blog that we use Ben (who I know)
at Scratch Media’s working definition:

“Working smart means choosing the most efficient use of your time
and energy before you act. (… “Think-then-do”.)”

If you continued to ask, “How do you know you’re working smart?” I bet
you would hear a very interesting flip. Beyond noticing that people
dance a bit on that question, if you are like me, you would hear
them flip or switch from talking about working smart, to talking
about working hard.

Why?  Are we confusing the two?

Actually, if you ask people to “work smarter,”  you will find the
mental translation from working smart to working hard to be even
clearer.

In fact if you ask people to work smarter, and/or purchase
software to help them work smart, what you will likely hear
back is not only a flip between working smart and working hard,
but also a bit of a push back that will sound like either:

1. I don’t have time… “I’m already working as fast as I can… I don’t
have time to add one more thing…” (you know like working smarter).

2. I don’t have capacity… “I’m already working as hard and long as I
can, I can’t stay longer or add one more task/requirement to my work load.”

In both situations, working smarter, when it comes to managing information,
looks like an additional task to an over burdened schedule – not a
way to reduce the work load.

This is important.  Working smarter looks like an intrusion upon
our current work habits, and like it or not, we are creatures of habit…
we are comfortable with our habits.  We may even buy software to help us work smarter,
but it doesn’t mean we use it (read change our habits)… because that
would feel like more work.  Changing habits is very tough work.

I don’t know if this is just true in the US, but in the US when it comes
to effectively managing information, we struggle at working smart and it feels like
low value drudgery to many… but we are good at working hard.

Interestingly, what comes back to the prompt to work smarter is usually a
push back, not a “Sure, help me, or teach me how.” Think about that for a
moment. How did we get to the point where working smart is not
something we have time or capacity for?

Most of us struggle with, if not resist the challenge, the prod, the invitation,
to work smarter… although we wouldn’t admit it to others and certainly not
to ourselves.  We don’t work smarter for all sorts of reasons, even though we
live and work in the information age.

Why?  I think in part because it involves changing habits which provide
some level of comfort.  We get comfortable with our habits, our way of
working, and then we defend against changing them.

If you think about it, sticking with old information management habits,
as fast as things change, is probably the opposite of working smart.

Bottom Line:
Most of us manage information in a variety of ways that are personally
comfortable, but a long way from working smart.   And in working comfortably,

we actually make work harder for ourselves.

But before I finish, let me leave you with perhaps the biggest secret to
beginning to work smarter.  No, it doesn’t have to do with buying our
ManagePro software.  Here’s a hint, it involves no work, just changing
what’s between the ears.   Well actually that is work, but not on the timecard.

The biggest secret to working smarter, is to stop assuming (defending)
that you already do work smart, and embrace the need, the opportunity to
continually improve at working smarter.   That’s it.  That’s the shift.

Today; give yourself a break.  Stop defending that you’re already doing
everything possible, and instead, start looking for opportunities to learn to work
smarter, and I’ll share some tips for managing information that will help
you get a step up in the next blog.

ManagePro and Management – Creating High Performance in your Work group (1of4)

High Performance Management - Basic Performance Drivers

1. Drivers:

· One input – multiple use; workgroup task planning and management

· Automation of the routine; from voice to digital, from report preparation to immediate information retrieval

· Organizing work around the GAP+ model; from task lists to projects to a system of Goals – Action Plans + plus feedback and course correction

· Elevating People’s use of Tools; practicing solution based leadership in the management of transition

a. Review each driver dynamic and the relevant costs

b. Understand ManagePro related features

c. Evaluate current work practices

d. Establish preliminary go-forward design

2. Working in a ManagePro-centric manner

· Challenges and benefits

· Launching a solution

· Managing Resistance

· Roll-out primer

ManagePro and Management – Creating High Performance in your Work group – (2of4)

 Goal Setting:  Using the “DORIP+” model (Defined Outcome, Requirements, Issues/obstacles, People, plus dates, resources, priority, customers…)   -  How’s that for a name?

1.     Over-view of the differing use/function of “goals” in ManagePro

·         Goals as a focusing of organized effort, versus traditional business focusing drivers (lists, deadlines, meetings…)

·         Smart project goals

·         Smart strategic goals

·         Headings and business function categories

·         Thought/Knowledge containers

 2.     Goal mechanical structure in ManagePro

·         Cascading dependencies

·         Assignment to individuals versus teams

·         Status function

·         Customizing the Goal details view

·         Designing custom goal screens (Balanced Score Card, Head’s up view,)

·         Date functions, Original Due Date, and Date Completed

·         Understand how goals are assigned to the Person/Team level

·         When should goals be Top Level and when should they be local to a P/T entity

·         Use of the Priority and Schedule date functions

·         Use of the Goal Wizard

  3.     Successful Goal development and management as a solution process

·         Who to involve

·         What to expect

·         How to prepare

·         How to facilitate

·         Tips and traps

 4.     Applied development of attendee’s goal planner

Complete design layout of attendee’s strategic and operational goals

ManagePro and Management – Creating High Performance in your Work group – (3of4)

Action Plans – Identifying the How To of goal management.

1.     Action Plan Basics

·       Sequential layout

·       A list of explicit assumptions; the good and the bad

·       Needs for monitoring and course correction/rewriting

·         Action plans versus checklists and when to use which

·         Action plans versus the use of to-dos (action items/follow-ups) and the note field

·         The litmus test and common mistakes to avoid

2.     ManagePro display features to enhance Action Plan management

·         The Timeline view,

·         Original Due Date display and Critical Path

·         The Tree view (Goal Status Board); your command central

·         Filtering to address business questions

3.     ManagePro support features to enhance Action Plan management

·         Progress notes

·         To-dos

·         Email

·         Group Calendaring

·         Document Managing

·         Notes

·         Writing a Action Plan methodology

4.     Setting up Goals in the Individual Goal Planner

·         Visibility and security

·         Developmental Goals

·         Tie in to performance reviews

5.     Applied development of action plans in support of attendee’s goals

Complete design layout of attendee’s plans for strategic and operational goals