Productivity Planner

Being sustainable means much more than just being “green” - what ever that means. And the “green” concept certainly varies. Being sustainable in business means that:

• You look after the environment so that you can continue to run your business without running out of resources, breaching legislation or impairing your neighbour’s environment.
• You look after your clients so that they continue to buy from and/or recommend you. This is what quality systems are about
• You look after your people with occupational health and safety and good human resources (I dislike that term because I think people work so much better as a team than as ‘resources’)
• You look after your finances with increased efficiency
• You look after your lifestyle by running your business in a way that saves you and your people time and effort.
• You build in feedback so that you and your people learn from mistakes and continually improve and build your sustainable business.

This is what you can build with simple and well integrated management systems like the ISO series. When these are implemented well and kept simple and practical they are much more than just a tick on the wall or a marketing image. They are a framework to help you build and manage a sustainable business.

Being sustainable also means having the flexibility to change in changing circumstances. One way that businesses are increasing their sustainability is to use new technology like tele and video conferencing rather than flying to meetings. This reduces the time, money and carbon emissions that are so often used to maintain communication and relationships.

There is nothing sustainable about getting up in the morning to catch the 6am flight then doing a full days work in a different city and getting home around 10pm and expec [Read more →]

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Martha Beck, coach and author, made the following statement recently:

“Overwhelm” is increasingly common as demands on human attention increase exponentially. The human brain just wasn’t designed to handle the environment we inhabit.

So, it’s not just you who is thinking, ‘Gosh, what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I manage everything that’s going on?’ It’s nearly every person I know - and I know a lot of awesome folks…and everyone is thinking, “OMG! There’s too much.”

Some Truths to Evaluate for Yourself

Here are some ‘truths’ to evaluate for yourself:

• You are not fully aware of everything that you actually have going on professionally.
• You are not fully aware of everything that you actually have going on personally.
• There literally are NOT enough hours in the day to do all the things that you think you should be doing (or that you have ‘committed’ to do).
• The input never ends - people, emails, phone, mail, radio, TV, your own brain, etc…continue to put more into the ‘hopper.’

What Do You Have to Resist in Order to Get to ‘Just Whelmed’?

Paraphrasing Martha Beck (from the previously-quoted O article, entitled “Wait! Stop! It’s All Too Much”), handling overwhelm is not for the faint-of-heart. You have to resist deep instinctive and cultural tendencies. Please ask (and answer) the following questions:

• What messages have you gotten - in some cases throughout your life - that being OVERwhelmed is normal?
• What messages are you getting right now (within the last few days) - that being OVERwhelmed at work is normal (and even admirable)?
• What messages do you get from magazines, TV, friends, newspapers, or other incoming information - that being OVERwhelmed [Read more →]

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Time management is one of the biggest challenges most people face. Everyone works differently, and everyone has a different method of getting the most out of every day, but what everyone does have in common is the fact that they wish they could get more out of every day.

One of the advantages of technological advancements is that they make it possible for us to do more every day. For HGV drivers, one of the most useful inventions is the Global Positioning System. The GPS device fits onto the truck and then records where it goes, where it is, and when it needs to get maintenance work done. There are several advantages of having this as far as productivity goes.

Firstly, you can pre-plan your routes. You will always know where you are and there will be no lost time because of asking for directions or getting lost. This will save innumerable hours every day, making it possible for you to do more every day.

The second advantage is that you can kill two birds with one stone by picking up new orders that are in the area of your delivery. You won’t have to make two trips this way, and thus save time and money. Thirdly, you will always know when your truck is due for maintenance, making it possible for you to save money as well as plan your assignments out in advance.

There are also some other basic things you need to keep in mind as an HGV driver. There are twenty four hours in every day, which is a limitation you will need to understand. You cannot work more than this limit, obviously. Another important thing to remember is that you can’t work twenty four hours every day. You will need about eight hours of sleep, and another four to five hours for eating, relaxing and general activities. That leaves you with about eleven to twelve hours every day for work.

When you are deciding how to spend the rest of these twelve hours, you [Read more →]

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