Make great use of people’s time
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People at work are battered by constant demands on their time – especially senior people. Enhance your career prospects by being a shining example of how to make excellent use of a busy person’s time! They will be positively surprised, and mentally note you as a good person to work with, appoint to a team, or recommend to others.
Here are six tips to help you shine.
Get a reputation for making maximum use of a small amount of others’ time. Someone who makes my life easier is someone I’ll be keen to work with again.
Here are six tips to help you shine.
- Prepare. Whether the meeting or phone call is formal or informal, make sure you’re ready for it. Have a set of items you want to cover, and have every document immediately at hand.
- Deal with several items at once. Interruptions and changes of subject cost a person time and focus; try to interrupt them as seldom as possible. Managers love it when someone arranges a time to speak, and has a list of everything they need to discuss.
- Find the right moment to speak. When you approach someone’s desk or call them, don’t assume that it’s easy for them to talk to you there and then. Your opening remark should be “Have you got 5 minutes?” This opens up the possibility for them to say, “I’m just in the middle of talking to someone, will it take long?” (It happened to me today.) Say – “No, finish your conversation, let’s talk when you’re done.” Help them pay attention to one thing at a time – it will make their life less stressful!
- Estimate the time you need. Practice accurately estimating the time you need. If you overestimate you may not get a spot in their diary, and if you underestimate you run the risk of throwing their entire diary into disarray for the day. If you ask for 15 minutes, only ever take up 15 minutes of their time.
- Value other people’s time more highly than your own. Before approaching someone for help, consider what you could do yourself to find out the information. Don’t get a reputation for using up busy people’s time just because it’s simpler and more convenient for you.
- Make sure you don’t delay other people’s work. If you’re doing a piece of work that someone else needs to get their own work done, make sure you give them everything they need, before they need it. Don’t be a blockage in a workflow that involves several people.
- Keep it brief, and make key reading easy for busy people. If you write a proposal that needs several people’s sign off, take the time to send each person a document where key information that impacts on them is highlighted. This makes it quicker to read, and ensures they spot the key info. It takes your time, to make their life easier. Also, when writing a report, keep it short and simple to read. Put data in appendices, and write a 1-page Executive Summary of the key points, to go at the front.
Get a reputation for making maximum use of a small amount of others’ time. Someone who makes my life easier is someone I’ll be keen to work with again.