What do your colleagues know?
I recently worked with a digital marketing manager and one of her team. They were reviewing two sets of data that needed to be compared and decisions made to determine if the data was up to date. They were both quite skilled with Excel…..and that was the problem. They were exploring creating a complicated formula that would check one to the other when I was asked for feedback. A few clarifying questions and some simple suggestions that didn’t require formulas of any kind, enabled them to have a short discussion and support each other in finding a simplistic solution that …
Distractions
When I ask people how long it takes to get back to where they were after they are interrupted by a phone call, a colleague with a “quick question,” an email or instant message ping, I get varying responses. Online learning platform Udemy’s 2018 Udemy In Depth: Workplace Distraction Report found 84% of workers estimated when they are distracted they are able to refocus in 30 minutes, but 60% of Baby Boomers believe they can get back to work in less than 5 minutes. The report quotes a UC Irvine study that indicates workers tend to compensate for interruptions by …
Time vs Money
I recently keynoted at a professional industry group luncheon on a range of quick Word & Excel tips, tricks and shortcuts. As part of the presentation I asked people to share their top 3 tips from the presentation on a card, which they gave back to me at the end of the program. I mention the 3 tips card at the start of my presentations to act as a reminder that I want them to walk away with tools they can immediately use. I want to make their investment of time worthwhile, because I believe time is more valuable than …
Specific is better than generic
Specific is better than generic. That’s why we have specialist doctors. Whilst we may initially visit a general doctor for a referral to say, a cardiologist, we ultimately go to specialist doctors for help with specialised needs. So why is it when we come across a problem, such as how to do something in Excel, Word or even Outlook, the default position is to go to Google for the answer? A search via Google will instantaneously bring up a buffet of resources for you or your team to work their way through. However valuable time is lost looking for the …
Don’t you get nervous?
It’s a question I’m often asked after I present at a conference or conduct an in-house professional development program for a client. Whilst I’ve been presenting or training for over 20 years, I still get butterflies in my stomach before I present. I’ve grown to understand that this Is a good thing. It means I’m excited and keen to give all that I can to my audiences to help them get more productive! What I also recognise is this it is not the same for everyone, especially if you only present once every now and then. So what I do …
Are you overlooking the obvious?
Whenever I work with teams on their productivity, I notice a number of things, but there is one thing that regularly stand out as an opportunity to increase connection and collaboration that is regularly overlooked. The Expert Every team or organisation has one. The person “labelled” as the expert in Excel, expert at saying “NO”, getting stuff done, whatever it is. They are the “measurement tool” the organisation and their teams use to compare and contrast their own expertise. Am I better at this than that person, or are they better than me? If a person is considered to be …
Communicating Change
I once worked with an organisation who had spent several million dollars implementing a new video conferencing system. They came to me to discuss training for their staff and wanted to know how much it would cost. I asked the question I always ask and that was what was their budget? You see if you don’t have some framework to work within, the options are almost unlimited. You could go from giving them a link to a website to download some free resources through to a 12 month program of providing them with tools and resources to engage, knowledge share …
I can’t read your mind!
As a child, I loved super heroes and their super powers as much as anyone my age. One of the super powers I always wanted was the ability to read minds. Unfortunately, today in business, we often make the assumption that everyone knows what we know….and reality is, we should assume they often don’t! When you have skills or knowledge one of the challenges you face is the assumption that everyone knows as much (or as little) as you do. We assume others know what we know. It’s like we expect them to read our minds and know automatically what …
Every one is NOT like you!
When I was a child, my mother used to espouse the old adage… “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.” Whilst we know that not everyone will like you, it’s important to also know not everyone is like you. What’s the difference? Often when I speak to people about sharing ideas or information with their team, all I hear is frustration. For example, a finance manager who tried to upskill one of his team members by presenting her with, what was for him a life changing book, on how to use various Excel features. A few …
Interruptions
One of the challenges associated with presenting to your colleagues, clients or even at a conference is the interruption of late arrivals. For some it may be a matter of course or culture, ie everyone is always late to meetings, it could be they went to the wrong venue, lost track of time or were caught in traffic. It’s safe to assume in almost all instances it has NOTHING to do with you. When people are late to my programs, I am always welcoming and if there is any participation coming up, I use that time to check in that …
