It will take more than 5 minutes!
One of the challenges with being a professional speaker, trainer and educator in the field of productivity with everyday technology is managing expectations. I’ve lost track of the number of presentations where at the end someone comes up and says, “I just have a [quick/simple/easy/or insert other related word] question.” Most of them want to explain their document or spreadsheet to me. What it is doing or not doing and want me to tell them in that exact moment how to fix it. When I tell them I need to ask questions or require more information, they are often disappointed. Some will even say, I “Googled it, …
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 …
Brain Dump
With so many tasks, expectations and deadlines it is easy for things to fall through the proverbial gaps if you don’t have a strategy for collecting, sorting and categorising the importance of tasks to be done. When you don’t have a strategy, or it is very loose, the results can vary, from missing important deadlines, being unprepared for meetings or worse, feeling anxious and stress resulting in grumpiness when you get home or trouble sleeping. Whilst working with a global brand we explored the concept of a brain dump. A brain dump is simply an allocated block of time where …
Some things can’t be unseen…
I recently received an email from a prospective client. They reached out to me via email seeking a quote for intermediate Excel training. Rather than send a generic email back containing pricing to fix a self-diagnosed problem, my preference when I receive an email like this is to pick up the phone and have a conversation. I can’t quote on something when I don’t know what it is or what is needed to help fill the gap and solve someone’s problem. I called the person, we had a great conversation. I prepared a survey to go out to the team …
