Infinite Ideas - Goddess: Be the Woman You Want to Be

Goddess

Be the woman you want to be

Infinite Ideas

Quiz: You want more time

How do you relate to time? We all have an innate way of organising our time. Experts estimate that you could be up to 20% more efficient if you understood how to manipulate these natural tendencies. Read through each of the following four profiles and then turn to the idea recommended as a starting point. (You may find you recognise yourself in more than one profile.)

• My work space is pretty messy.
• I spend a lot of time looking for things I need.
• I work on several tasks in one morning.

• Leaving things until the last possible minute feels very familiar to me.
• I spend a lot of time getting together the tools I need for a job and tidying my space so that Im ready to work.
• I am easily distracted from a task.

• Im organised but I never seem to get everything done.
• Im frustrated by having to depend on other people.
• I seem to get more anxious about deadlines than other people do.

• I get distracted by other peoples demands and agendas.
• I often find myself saying yes when I know I should say no.
• I feel like I get stuck with the jobs that no one else wants to do.

How can this help?

1. Youre a chaotic . Perhaps you subconsciously feel that youre bucking the system and being your own person but it leads to you being less productive..

2. Youre a procrastinator . You dont have enough time because you find it hard to get started..

3. Youre a perfectionist . You cant let things go but this leads you to being perceived as inefficient..

4. Youre a people pleaser . Youre simply too busy looking after other peoples needs, which means you dont have time for your own..

79. Make good suggestions loudly

At any point in the chaos that describes your organisation, an opportunity can arise for you to make a sensible suggestion to the powers that be. Career people should grab such opportunities and actively seek them out.

The opportunities are legion. Youve found an uncompetitive product feature, an outdated business process or an opportunity for new technology. Nows your chance to make sensible suggestions. Or think about publicity or sponsorship.

If you know the arts or sport preferences of the CEO, for example, you might just stumble across a local opportunity for sponsorship. If you make that happen, you can be sure the chief executive will be there for the event.

High-profile people get noticed, and the higher up the people doing the noticing the better. Form a plan for getting more than your fair share of senior managements attention, and then communicate your ideas clearly in a brief paper.

First make sure that your idea is in an area where the issues are being discussed at least two levels above you. Now put up your paper.

Youll soon realise how vitally important it is that your boss thinks you are top-notch, and that you help to make him or her look brilliant as well. And not only your boss, but also your bosss boss.

Make sure they can bear to read it

So, you have a good idea. Now think about the quality of the communication. Think through, for example, the level of detail your boss wants to read and hear. As you go up the organisation you find people who are capable of going into detail, but less likely to want to. In both written and oral communications, write clear, simple management summaries.

Once you have written your paper, try to shorten it significantly, say by half. Throw out anything except the essentials. Remember you want to have the opportunity to discuss it. If it is too comprehensive you may have given the thing lock, stock and barrel for someone else to dine out on. Release it effectively in other words in the way that best serves your interests. After all, it was your idea.

A good paper may help in other ways as well. There are lots of conferences out there, and lots of organisers looking for people to read papers. Reading a paper anywhere abroad, for example, looks good on the CV.

Be creative in getting your ideas to the right people

To follow up your paper and for other reasons, there are many ways of communicating with the great and the good in your organisation outside the normal business environment. Volunteer for these. I dont mean volunteer for anything that has a low impact no matter how worthy. There is no point for the careerist in being a member of the St Johns ambulance team at the local football ground. But there may be a point in being the fire officer for your floor. Check it out first. Does it get you in front of the Director of Logistics? Is there an opportunity to be a representative on the pension council? Thats a high profile place.

Another promising area is promoting the company at sport by wearing the logo. If you are good at sport, senior managers will bask in your limelight. You will also come into contact with the people you are trying to impress if they come to the golf match you have arranged. Ask them to make a speech (and offer to help with some gags perhaps) and present the prizes.

Another good place to get your ideas known is the company newsletter, particularly if it involves interviewing senior people. Only speak at the Christmas party if you are really good at making people laugh. If being witty does not come naturally to you, speak at conferences where being amusing is a significant but secondary requirement.

Heres an idea for you

When did you last meet the most senior person in your building? If you are not based at the companys headquarters the answer to that question has to be at least in the last month. Take responsibility for this do you know when you will next have an opportunity to meet senior people?

Defining idea

Think about the 4 Cs, Continuous learning, Confidence in yourself, Care and attention to those you love and Communication wherever you are, well-honed communication skills are highly important.

Chairman, Scottish Power

80. Actions speak louder than decisions

If you have taken a decision and informed your boss of what you and your team are going to do, for your careers sake make absolutely sure it happens.

If you havent started the action plan, you may as well not have made a decision.

Ive a friend whos an elderly painter and decorator. His children have moved on and he now has no dependents. He does not want to retire altogether but he does want to have more time for himself; but hes finding it difficult to cut down the amount of work he does. Unfortunately for him he is brilliant at his job and a very nice chap to boot. This means that his old clients all turn to him when they want work done and he finds it difficult to say no. Plus, his relatives and friends have been used to asking him over, giving him good food and drink and getting him to do some decorating.

Over coffee one day he asked me what I meant when I murmured that a decision is not a decision until there is commitment to the action plan and the first steps are taken. I asked him what he wanted to do in the spare time he was trying to create, and he rather coyly admitted that he had decided to take up golf. He then tried to implement his decision. He resolved to take every Friday off to pursue this new hobby. Four weeks later he told me that he had not been able to do that once. I pressed him to commit to a lesson with the professional on the next Friday morning and another one that afternoon. We agreed that he would pay for the lessons in advance. This broke the deadlock and he started to play. He is now an addict and plays every Friday and quite often on other days as well but it wasnt a decision until hed gone into action.