Avoiding the evils of stress
Sometimes, perhaps at work or in our every day lives, we may find that we have more than our usual share of chores to do, on the other hand we may sometimes have less to do.
Most of us find it hard to do either without causing unnecessary stress. Stress can be a major health hazard, and in its extreme can lead to heart failure and even death, it must be avoided wherever possible.
When we are young we can handle the stress of school examinations, but from a time point of view, our school lives were managed for us. We had to follow a timetable and like it or not, we had to be time efficient. We knew when we could relax and most of the time we had very little responsibility.
As working adults however, we have to make our own rules and motivate ourselves to be both creative and business minded. Many of us may have family responsibilities and dependants. This combination can cause pressure, tension and stress, much of which can be avoided by proper organization.
How many of you can put your hand on your heart and say you are always organized? Do you at present write out a daily “to do” list?
If the answer is no, you have a long way to go to become efficient and you would benefit by adopting some sort of time management system.
If the answer is yes, but you feel you do not correctly monitor your activities, you could become more efficient. Perhaps you already have a collection of diaries, directories, planners and notebooks; you are nearly there, but you need to consolidate all this paperwork into one “lean and mean” system that requires the minimum of maintenance.
Managing time is merely a form of self-discipline. Time itself cannot be managed, only utilized. The first important step is learning how to say “no”. This, if you feel you do not want to offend, can be difficult. Be polite – but firm. If something comes along that is of less importance than the job in hand, then either say “no” or give a time which will allow you to finish the more important job.
The “to do” list is the more important aspect of self management. Get into the habit of preparing your “to do” list at the same time each day. Write down all the activities you plan to undertake and then give them priorities in order of importance.
All the jobs that must be done are “A” priority, those that should be done “B” and those to be done if time allows, “C”. This way you only organize your time once a day, saving valuable minutes and perhaps even hours. Tick off each task as you complete it.
Getting into the habit should take no more than three weeks of self discipline. After that it should be almost effortless and you’ll feel more organized and generally happier.
The more you know about and care about your topic, the better speaker you will be. Your enthusiasm will help displace your fear. Now it's time to think about the visual portion of your presentation and how it will effectively create the results you are seeking. When your voice is combined with visuals (photographs, slides or charts), your audience's retention of the content increases by 50%.
Organize your information
Keep it simple and structured point by point. Your audience will better retain what you say if it's easy to understand and is presented logically.
For small, informal meetings of up to 10 people where discussion and participation is encouraged, an easel and pad, colored markers, a flip chart or overhead transparencies will work best.
Audiences of 10 to 30 people benefit most from overhead transparencies, slides or computer/video projection systems. Transparencies are the most portable, but computer generated graphics can be different and help keep your audiences attention.
For large audiences
35mm slides or big screen presentations are the most effective, giving you the most control over your material and the attention of your audience.
Prepare your visuals ahead of time.
In a recent survey as to why customers took their business elsewhere:
1% died
3% moved location
5% developed other relationships
9% left for competitive reasons
14% dissatisfied with the product or service
63% left because they didn’t feel their supplier cared.
Quality Improvement
Although may companies have devoted much time to improving quality of service - perhaps through accreditation to relevant bodies or internal improvements - it’s an area that’s requires continuous monitoring to meet the evolving marketplace.
The following is a list of main areas for possible improvements:
n Number one is starting from what the customer wants, and how the customer sees and experiences your organization. This isn’t a one-off operation. It requires constant vigilance by all personnel.
n Think of your company as a system and process. Once you can map the system it soon becomes evident where any problems lie.
n Beware of hierarchy. This is where the old command and control method of management fails quality. As soon as an issue moves away from the people on the frontline it loses urgency and tends to be passed up the chain rather than by being dealt with.
n Remove the temptation to be always measuring output. The only way that you can get a better output is by paying attention to the process and the people in it.
n Improve the process first and the document second.
n Constant improvements in quality are the goal. Focusing on outputs takes your eye off a goal.
n Critically, the people on the frontline have to be empowered to make the changes they need to deliver the quality that the customer wants. This is probably the greatest challenge to existing management thinking, and will produce the greatest change in management structure.
Companies and managers need to be aware that the manager’s role will change significantly under this system. They will become much more involved with the process helping people iron out the snags and empowering them to take responsibility, together with the action that is needed to change.
