 Audrey Thomas
Author, Speaker and
Productivity Expert
|
| 
I recently addressed a group of college students on the topic of Business Etiquette for the Emerging College Graduate. My preparation included a few social media postings, asking others what they'd like me to tell these students. The feedback was insightful and valuable. The two most mentioned tips make a lot of sense; however, they are often overlooked.
1. Write thank you notes.
2. Stop texting and checking your cell phone.
Writing thank you notes after an interview will set you apart from others. Just last week I met someone who told me she is in the process of hiring someone for a new position. She said she's narrowed it down to two equally qualified candidates and whoever sends her a thank-you note will get the job.
Once on the job, don't forget to send thank you notes to clients, prospects, vendors and others who cross your path. It may seem old fashioned but it is definitely appreciated and helps to instill an attitude of gratitude.
Cell phones are a great piece of technology but sometimes we interact with them without thinking. In a 2011 survey of HR managers, the #1 unprofessional work behavior was: "Inappropriate appearance". They were not talking about clothing. Instead they were referring to employees checking smartphones and texting; suggesting that they weren't fully engaged at work.
When you check your cell phone, while in the presence of others, you communicate "This is more important than you." Whether you do it during a boring staff meeting, a training session, or while grabbing lunch with a co-worker, it sends the wrong message and is considered rude.
What is a pet peeve or nugget of advice you'd like to share when it comes to business etiquette? Do you have a funny story of an awkward moment shared with a colleague? I'd love to hear from you. Drop me an email at
|
|
|
Lean Office Transformations
Welcome to Lean Office Transformations - a newsletter designed to save you time and become more efficient. References to Lean Manufacturing and Lean Office refer to a productivity philosophy created by Toyota which is now adapted by companies worldwide.
|
More than sixty years ago Toyota identified Seven Areas of Waste both in manufacturing plants and offices. The wastes of Defects, Inventory, Processing, Waiting, Motion, Transportation, and Overproduction have proven to be areas to pay attention to.
Because February is National Time Management Month, I'm going to address the Waste of Inventory. Most of us think of inventory in the office as being things like paper clips, sticky notes and computer equipment. But another inventory item is time. Unfortunately, it's not something we can stock up on, but it is something we often misuse.
According to Marlene Caroselli, author of "Empower Yourself", the average employee today has about 37 hours of unfinished work on his/her desk at any one time. I share this with you not so you throw in the towel on finishing the project currently on your desk, but to cause you to look around your office and identify areas you know you're wasting time with.
Muda is a traditional Japanese term for an activity that is wasteful and doesn't add value or is unproductive. As you look around your office, where do you see excess or wasted resources stealing your time? Here is a short list to get your wheels turning:
- Emails - The average number of emails received/sent per day is around 125. It is not uncommon to see in excess of 3,000 emails sitting in someone's email Inbox. Think of the time wasted sorting through these emails, not to mention the server space required for storing all of them.
- Meetings - Americans live in a meetings culture. There seems to be a planning committee for everything these days! How do you handle being invited to meetings where you feel your attendance isn't necessary? Do you ignore the meeting request? Or just not show up? If the numbers of meetings you attend were cut in half, and the remaining meetings were shortened in length, what would you do with all of the saved time?
- Personal cell phone use/texting - Every time you are interrupted, it takes, on average, 64 seconds to regain your train of thought. This applies to interruptions such as email, coworkers stopping by, and checking your cell phone. If your employer does not require the use of your cell phone, silence it during work hours, checking it over lunch for personal messages and texts.
- Social Media - More and more companies are blocking social media websites during regular work hours because productivity is decreasing as too many employees update their status or tweet the latest news. If social media is contributing to procrastination of important projects, time to shut if off or join Facebook Anonymous.
|
|
In all the years I've been speaking professionally, I've never had a client who planned a training event on Valentine's Day in order to communicate how much they appreciate their employees. Until this year. A few weeks ago I had the privilege of presenting Getting Organized with MS Outlook at Mid Continent Management. They are a property management company located in St. Paul, MN. The training room was decorated for Valentine's Day, complete with flowers for each individual and heart-shaped treats.
Here are a few comments I've received from those attendees:
"Your Outlook training session challenged me to sort through my folders and delete those I no longer need. I'm also in the process of going through 2500 emails sitting in my Inbox. Thank you for helping make my job a little easier!"
"Since taking your Outlook training class I am more strategic in using email folders which makes follow-up more efficient and accurate. I am also planning to track various vendors related to my position using a more effective file folder system."
"One of my favorite take-aways from the Outlook training was the fact that we can change the subject line of emails once we receive them. I Love that!"
"I was delighted to learn about the Delay Delivery option when sending emails."
|
|
| |
If you found the articles in this newsletter helpful, please share it with others. Because so much of my business is built on word-of-mouth referrals, I appreciate it when you forward my name and/or newsletter on to others. Many thanks!
|
|
Audrey Thomas offers her articles to reprint or repost - FREE - provided that her name and contact information (supplied at the end of each article) are included. So if you need content for things like newsletters, email announcements or sales reports, please take advantage of this valuable resource.
|
|
|
|
|
