Computers – the anti-productivity tools

I was speaking recently to a person whose only computer access is at work. She was actually apologizing to me for not replying to a personal request sooner, as she is limited to three hours a day of personal use of her computer! I was stunned. The organization has 30 employees. If each employee spends three hours a day using his or her computer for personal matters, 22,500 hours per year are being wasted – that’s equivalent to 11 full-time employees! So this organization of 30 employees could actually get by with just 19, saving the business over $500 thousand per year!

While this organization has an unusually policy, I suppose it is just accepting the reality that most employees in most businesses spend a great deal of time e-mailing, social networking, and Internet surfing on company time. Some businesses have personal-use policies and some monitor computer usage. Yet the temptation to take “just a minute” to check the movie schedule, the sales at Kohls, or send out tweets is so great and these activities are so addicting that policies become difficult to enforce.

How is it that the very tool that improves productivity in so many ways is the very same tool that is anti-productivity?

Will Limkemann
www.siqualtd.com

Time Management

I attended a wonderful seminar yesterday by Brian Tracy called “Maximum Achievements”. There were many take aways, but one of the simplest, yet profound, was a rule about time management. The rule is this.

“If you would not pay someone else to do something – don’t do it yourself”.

Think about this. If the task is not worth paying for, then you are losing money. For sake of simplicity, assume that your income is $50,000. Doing the math this translates to $25 per hour. If you spend an hour on a non-productive task, you have just blown $25.00. Taking this a step further, if you delegate a needed task to someone else, you have freed up the time for yourself, and can probably pay someone else less than your own hourly rate – you are now ahead.

Several months ago I had lunch with a friend who has a home-based business with no employees. She commented how she hates to file and do routine office tasks. We decided that she should hire a part time person to do the things she dislikes. Not only would she be relieved of drudge work, but she would be money ahead. Her billing rate is about $150 per hour – she could easily hire a part time person for ten percent of that amount.

How are you spending your time?

Will Limkemann

Daily Planning

In his wonderful book “The Ultimate Sales Machine”, Chet Holmes starts with a chapter called “Time Management Secrets of Billionaires”. How refreshing to start a sales tome on the important art of manging the scarecest resource of all – time. Other experts have suggested making lists of how you spend your time. Of course, this is a look at history. Chet recommends that you look forward planning each day, prioritizing the tasks to be performed during the day, and then not only alloting a specific amount of time for each task, but listing a start and ending time.

Too often I see business owners who operate in total chaos. They move from one crisis to another, and are never on time for anything. Because of the example they set, their employees operate in the same culture of chaos. If businesses that operate in this mode are profitable, it is purely by chance. Poductivity can be significantly improved by following the six steps of time management outlined by Chet:

1. Touch it once – take action on each e-mail or letter when you first read it and dispose of it. If you have a meeting, make sure it results in meaningful action.

2. Make lists. People who don’t keep lists are reactive – those who do are organized.

3. Plan how much time you will spend on each task.

4. Plan the day. Be specific and have a time slot for everything.

5. Prioritize. Focus on difficult projects first. Many people drown in buwywork that produces few results. Tip for sales people and one-person businesses: devote 2.5 hours per day in new business development activities.

6. “Will it hurt me to throw this away?”. 80% of all filed or stored information in never referred to again. So why save it?

Time management requires learning new habits – but is a process that can yield great rewards to a business owner.

Will Limkemann
Limkemann Business Advisors
440-871-0976

Aligning Personnel

One of the key success factors, especially during this time of financial turmoil, is getting the most value from the wages you are paying your staff. Are employees effectively aligned to the work they are doing, or would they be better used in other positions? Too often, employees are not productive because they are in the wrong jobs.

Let me be clear – I am not referring to the employees who are trouble makers or who do not fit into the organization. These employees should be terminated. Keeping them on erodes the morale of the employees who do care about their jobs and the organization. Keeping them on the payroll is a waste of money. There should be a financial benefit to the company for every employee on the payroll.

No, I am referring to employees who are good people but whose productivity is low due to lack of training or native ability to do the job they are in.

First, there should be a job description for every job that is, or needs to be, performed within the company. For each job description there should also be a list of qualifications and personal traits to perform the job.

Second, each employee should be evaluated against the job description and qualifications for the job they are currently assigned. Is there good alignment? If not, is there another job description for which they would be better qualified?

If there are interpersonal issues, it might be prudent to have personality profile tests, such as Myers Briggs, administered to all employees. The administrator will follow-up by explaining the personality types and help employees understand how to relate with other personality types.

It may be beneficial to have tests that relate to specific job performance to be independently administered to indicate the type of work each employee is best suited to.

Sometimes an employee will have the interest and aptitude for a job, but lacks the training. If specific training is needed, find a way of helping the employee get educated.

Whatever process is used, there should be excellent communication with the employees, explaining that steps are being taken to improve everyone’s productivity thus ensuring company and job survival with better likelyhood for future raises.

Assignment of personnel into the right jobs can do wonders for productivity and morale, not to mention the profitability of the company.

Will Limkemann
Limkemann Business Advisors
440-871-0976
www.neobizadvisor.com