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April 2006 CONTENTS
Make Time Work for You Part Seven: Tips for Managing Time Building a Better Workforce: Dealing with Chronic Tardiness
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The Online Newsletter for Clients of Express Services, Inc. Learn to Lead The components of a great organization include enthusiastic and motivated employees, great products or services, innovative and passionate leadership and organizational goals that direct and focus the workforce. However, the glue that binds all these elements together and inspires employees to great performance is not a great bonus structure or even excellent salaries. Rather, the appreciation employees feel as well as their relationship with their direct supervisor is critical to motivating workers. In fact, studies show that the No. 1 reason employees choose to leave an organization is a poor relationship with their supervisor or manager or lack of appreciation. That’s why improving organizational leadership is vital for creating a world-class organization. One of the best ways to create great leaders is to train them. According to a survey by Right Management Consultants, one of the main reasons employees have a bad relationship with their manager is the lack of leadership and management training for people in supervisory roles. Sadly, this sort of training is generally missing from the typical management track. So, how can managers become good leaders? They can start by creating a foundation of trust with employees. Establishing trust is one of the most vital components of being a great leader. Trust is of the utmost importance because it allows employees to establish commitment to their leaders and the organization. Without trust, employers run the risk of creating an uncommitted workforce where employees lack respect for their leaders and simply go through the motions. A workplace that lacks trust is characterized by low productivity and unmotivated employees who lack vision and creativity. It is a place people will often quickly and gladly leave when another employment offer arises. To avoid these pitfalls, effective leaders establish trust by encouraging people to follow them by modeling good behavior and constantly setting a good example. Good leaders are also hard workers; they don’t simply delegate tasks to their employees. Instead, they work as a part of the team. Similarly, honesty and reliability reinforce that leaders are worthy of their employees’ trust. Finally, trust is established when a leader is approachable and when their employees don’t hesitate to communicate. A solid feedback process in which leaders both listen to and respond to employees aids this. Check out next month’s edition for tips on using feedback as a leadership tool. Make Time Work for You This series has explored how a person’s time management approach depends largely on their time temperament. The good news is, regardless of an individual’s time-management style, there are some simple methods that can help them maximize time and manage it well. Assigning value to time at work is an essential starting place for managing time. Like any asset, every minute at work has value attached to it. Think about this: for an employee earning $25,000 per year, every hour is worth $13 and each minute is worth 21 cents. It is easy to see how the time at work really adds up. That’s why every minute impacts productivity and the bottom line. Additionally, reducing clutter and creating an organized work space is a great way to limit wasted time. This can start with simply taking note of what’s around. In any workspace, if less than 80% of the desk is visible, “desk stress” is a likely problem. Get rid of the stress by following the advice prescribed from childhood on: “a place for everything and everything in its place.” This doesn’t require an impersonal work zone with only the bare essentials intact. Personal items can create a more friendly and comfortable work environment. But it does mean that minimizing the distractions such as cluttered papers, books, projects or other unnecessary items is essential. Also, it’s important not to confuse clean with organized. Simply hiding unorganized piles in filing cabinets does not really solve the clutter problem. In fact, research shows that people with messy, unorganized desks spend about an hour each day looking for things or being distracted by the mess. Another great way to better manage time is to find the right way to communicate messages. Knowing whether a message should be communicated via phone, e-mail, fax or meeting can maximize time. For example, if a message is complex, it is best not to choose phone or e-mail since the message would not be understood easily. It is easy to waste time writing numerous e-mails to clarify a point that would be better communicated in person in a brief meeting. But not every message is best communicated in a meeting. Studies show that meetings account for the biggest amount of wasted time in the workplace. That’s why it’s important to minimize the number of meetings and invite only the necessary attendees. Finally, everyone should identify their own struggles with time management. Without awareness of these areas, improvement is unlikely. Whether it is being distracted by too much interpersonal interaction with co-workers, getting bogged down early in the day with e-mails, neglecting to write down and prioritize tasks, arriving late to meetings, or spending too much time browsing the Internet, everyone has certain habits that can hinder how they use their time. Uncovering personal challenges is the first step to discovering solutions. Remember that time management doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Following these tips can help those of any time temperament better use their time each day. Building a Better Workforce Running a good business with a positive environment is dependent upon good training and high standards for employees. When problems arise in the workplace, it is important to identify specific problems and find solutions. Tardiness, evident in 20% of America’s workforce, reflects poorly on the individual and can negatively impact an organization. This is one issue that employers can remedy with basic knowledge of the problem and by implementing simple steps to solve it. Arriving to work a few minutes late each day may seem unimportant, but that time adds up. By the end of the year, being a mere 10 minutes late each day is comparable to taking a week’s vacation at the company’s expense. In fact, each year, U.S. businesses lose more than $3 billion in lost time from late employees. In addition to costing the company, tardiness can also be a huge inconvenience for co-workers who have to take on the extra responsibility during the absence of the tardy employee. Chronically late employees can inflict problems on themselves as well. Supervisors and co-workers often develop negative perceptions of them. The late employee can be seen as selfish and inconsiderate of the time of others, and they are not likely to be trusted or relied on with important responsibilities. Employers can take precautionary steps to reduce or eliminate tardiness in the workplace. Encouraging and expecting employees to be punctual and starting meetings promptly is a great place to start. Another way to encourage punctuality is to keep employees informed of penalties for not adhering to the company’s policy on tardiness. To increase timeliness for meetings, send out an e-mail with the meeting’s agenda, location and time. After the meeting begins, allow latecomers to join, but don’t waste the time of the people who were on time by bringing late employees up to speed. For employees who cannot seem to make it to work and meetings on time, individual coaching may be necessary. This may require as little as stating the obvious to an employee. For example, if they are always 15 minutes late, they need to leave for work 20 minutes earlier. Employers who have tardiness problems should also make individual changes to meet the requirements of the company. Being a good example of timely behavior is a great way to lead employees to do the same. The best way to begin is to create a plan. As the adage goes, failing to prepare is preparing to fail. That’s why planning ahead and making time each day to arrive early is so important. Building a productive workplace can be achieved with good leadership. Remember that creating an expectation of how employees should value their time starts with employers. For more information on workplace issues and how to address them, read next month’s article on building a better workforce.
United States Non-farm employment rose by 243,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.8%. Major Industry Employment for February 2006 • Construction: + 41,000 • Manufacturing: - 1,000 • Professional & Business Services: + 39,000 • Educational & Health Services: + 47,000 • Leisure & Hospitality: + 25,000 • Government: + 38,000
Canada Employment increased by 25,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate fell to 6.4%.
Major Industry Employment for February 2006 • Agriculture: + 11,000 • Public Administration: - 20,000 • Health Care & Social Assistance: + 7,000 |
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