Control is critical to success

Control requires clarity. Clarity of purpose. Clarity around expectations and delivery on deadlines. Clarity on priorities. Clarity under pressure. As one CEO client said to me the other week when he booked our support for his Board and his Senior management Team ‘I have a good business model and a good team, it’s just that they are all operating on a ‘Just In Time’ model – and when you work with people as opposed to a production line ……………

 ’Just in time is Just Too Late’.

It is my experience that most good people know what they need to achieve within a business, the difficulty lies in how they go about achieving it.

It is also my experience that many so called ‘Technological  Solutions’ to managing competing priorities only provide a partial, complex compromise on what you and I would know as working smarter not harder. Here I am thinking of all the high tech tools, either installed on our computers or accessed from the cloud that claim to be THE solution to individual and team productivity and effectiveness. Many, in my experience, only add another ‘To-Do List’ for us to interrogate.

So, technology itself is not the answer. The answer lies in welding time honoured principles and processes to the lightest use of technology so that people will use it well.

How many To-Do lists do you use?

It is not a trick question. It is serious. How many lists do you check physically or mentally in order to evaluate current priorities against incoming fire, whether in the guise of opportunities or threats?

Here’s a list. How many of these do you use?

1. Board Minutes
2. Management Team Action Points,
3. Business Plans, Project Tasks etc, usually written in other software programmes
4. Conference Call action points
5. Lists in other workflow management programmes and technologies you may use
6. Business Email Inbox and personal email account inbox(es)
7. Commitments from various internal and external meetings in a day-book.
8. Notes of promises and commitments from phone calls
9. Saved Voicemail messages that require action
10. Instant Messenger / Communicator / Social Media streams
11. Notes to self, written in a variety of places (even on the back of other available papers? - Surely not!)
12. MEMORY (Usually when you are trying to focus on some other work)
13. MEMORY (Usually on the way home).
14. MEMORY (Usually at 3 o’clock in the morning - accompanied by a cold sweat).

Here’s a second question:

How well do your To-Do lists integrate with each other?

How easy is it for you to see clearly the business impact of making one priority decision over another? To see, in front of your eyes - rather than in the back of your mind - the consequence of saying ‘Yes’ to one thing? To see how a delay in a scheduled activity will affect not only your delivery deadline but the time available for your colleague to do what they have to do before the work is finally delivered to the customer?

So, here’s 3 Productivity Pointers on To-Do Lists

1. Use fewer tools and integrate them better.
2. Think about your processes before you add another tool to your toolbox
3. As much as possible bring all your priorities into one place so you can evaluate and execute them with greater clarity and control.

This is why I think it is so much better to leverage the power of existing tools like Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes and the other programmes you are already invested in, rather than buy add-ons or new packages.

A final thought:

Working smarter is all about clarity of purpose and simplicity of process, lets not overcomplicate it with too many tools.

If you would like to know how we help people to improve their productivity and effectiveness, both personally and as a team, why not call me or complete this request form so I can get back to you with some ideas. As always, if you have any views on this or want to contribute to the debate I’d love to hear from you below….

1. To achieve this you must log on to Microsoft Outlook as an ‘Administrator’.
2. To do this in Windows 7 simply close Microsoft Outlook
3. Now go to the Outlook icon in your Start menu or in your Taskbar and hold down the ‘Shift’ button whilst right clicking on the icon.
4. This will reveal an options menu from which you select ‘Run as Administrator’
5. When Outlook opens up, simply sort the emails in your Inbox by ‘Attachment’ and Open each email up, click on the attached file to open it.
6. When the ‘Opening Mail Attachment dialog box appears uncheck the ‘Always ask before opening this type of file’ and click ‘Open’. Then close the attachment and the email and move to the next email.
7. Remember that if you are running Outlook 2007 and Office 2007 you will have attachments of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other files in both ‘Office 2007’ and ’97-2003 compatibility’ versions. That’s why it is useful to sort your emails by attachment so you can run through as many as possible.
8. Once you have done this for your major file attachment types simply close down Outlook in Administrator mode and reopen as normal.

No more annoying dialog boxes!

If you are looking to help your company, team or yourself to work smarter on your priorities with Outlook why not ask us how we can help you. Go on, go beyond tips and get into a truly productive way of working on your priorities within your demanding workload.

How Email and information overload impacts our productivity

This is why, when we help people to work smarter on their competing priorities, we always incorporate strategies for managing information overload and regaining control of their inbox. This is all part of the challenge of Continuous Partial Attention (CPA) that we all face in this connected age. You will find some of my notes on CPA here

To access our proven expertise and experience in managing competing priorities within demanding work and email loads just ask here

1. Go to your main Outlook Calendar folder
2. Select the calendars you wish to view, the default position is to see these calendars side-by-side.
3. To see the commitments in all calendars within one calendar you need to engage ‘View in Overlay mode’
4. Do this by clicking the small arrow on the left of the title in the secondary calendar.

You can reverse this clicking the arrow again. Simple!

How could you use this Microsoft Outlook Calendar functionality to support your productivity? Why not let me know? If you want to move beyond tips and get into sustainable, measurable productivity improvements and work smarter on your priorities and technology tools just ask us now and we will get back to you.

I attended one of Richard’s courses on time management using Outlook and our current trend to urgency addiction. The results from attending the course were for me immediate, I am more organised, more focused and more in control and I am very grateful to him for the wisdom he imparted. If you’re considering engaging with Richard take my word for it and don’t hesitate to go for it!
Robert May MD Ramsac Ltd

1. Open any Office 2007 Word or Excel document
2. In the open document click the Microsoft Office Button on the top left of your screen and then click ‘Open’.
3. In the ‘Open’ dialog box, click the drive, the folder, or the Internet location for which you want to create a My Places bar shortcut in the left panel.
4. Right-click a blank space in the My Places bar below the existing shortcuts, and then click Add folder name. Note you must right-click at the bottom of the list for this to work. Your new shortcut appears at the bottom of the My Places bar.
5. You can then move it up or down the ‘My Places’ list by right-clicking on the name and selecting ‘move up / move down’
6. You can rename the shortcut by right clicking it in the ‘My Places’ panel and selecting ‘Rename’.

Go beyond tips and get into results management with our training support. Contact me now to see how we can help you and your team achieve ‘Results Worth Talking about’

To include an often used folder within your Office 2007 library:

• Click the Start button on the bottom left of your screen
• Now click on your user name in the pop up box.
• In the pane on the right of the dialogue box navigate to the folder you want to add to your short cuts
• Right-click on that folder name and select ‘Include in Library’ and then select where you want that folder displayed.
• To see your network folders, click on ‘Network’ in the left pane and navigate / right click as above to select.
• Click the X on top right of the dialogue box to close.
• To remove the folder from the library once you no longer need regular access to it simply right click on it within the library pane and select ‘Remove location from library’ Note that this does not delete the folder - only the short-cut to it in the library.

Go beyond tips and get into results management with our training support. Contact me now to see how we can help you and your team achieve ‘Results Worth Talking about’

The other day I was presenting  a talk based on my ‘Welding Purpose to Priorities’ philosophy and someone asked if it was possible to customise Outlook Categories automatically across a team at Administrator level.  My thanks goes to Rob May, the MD of Surrey based Award Winning IT support company Ramsac, who pointed us to the fact that, in Outlook 2007, it is possible to customise Categories options by using Group Policy. This would work well in those businesses where the Outlook Administrator can be influenced, coerced or bribed into using this approach to improve teamworking and team work flow management.

Rob pointed us to the Microsoft’s library for the technical solution: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179073.aspx  which I hope helps those of you who would like to enforce a handful of common Outlook Categories across their team. 

Whilst we are not ‘Techies’ we certainly know how to help people become more efficient and effective in how they manage their purpose and their priorities in their busy days. If this is something that you would like for yourself, your team or your company just get in touch and let’s see how we can help.

What are the KRAs (Key Result Areas), KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of your role?

Scribble out a quick list of the key deliverables of your role. Answer this in the reality of your role – not just the ‘official’ version.

Go beyond the ‘Headline’ and get into the major silos of work that help you deliver that overall result. You are writing aren’t you?

So, for example, a senior sales person may have:
Headline: Generate £X million in sales in the next 12 months
Major silos supporting the key business results:

• Key Account Management for top 3 clients
• New business generation
• Mentoring or managing others
• Project team participation for new CRM purchase
• Forecasting, Reporting and other ‘administration’ responsibilities.

Got your list written out? If so move on to step 2

2 Expand your Outlook inbox folder structure.

The idea is to see your folder structure in all its glory. So if you file your mails in any other Outlook folder / archive / .pst structure, expand that instead.

3 Now open up your ‘My Documents’ folder …

or any other place that you use to store the data that you choose to save in connection with your role. Resize this window so that you can see it beside your Outlook storage folder structure.

OK, now for the incisive question:

To what extent do the structures you created in your Outlook inbox folders and your ‘My Documents’ folders reflect the structure of the Key Result Areas of your role?

Truth is that most of the thousands of people I have trained over the years have created their Outlook folders and their ‘My Documents’ folders with best intentions and almost always in response to a tactical question such as ‘Where will I put this email so I might find it again?’

The result can be stand-alone labyrinths of folders and subfolders in each system that bear little relationship to each other or the key drivers of our roles.

And so to my answer. It does not matter if you are an email ‘Piler’ (relying on advanced use of ‘Search’ functionality) or ‘Filer’ with a wonderful folder system. All that matters is that your structure is as simple and elegant as it can be, that it is common across all your critical data storage areas and that it serves you, rather than you serving it.

So, over to you. What approach do you adopt? Are you a piler or a filer? Do you use big silo folders or granular subfolders? Your approach could help other readers, jot it down in the comments area below. Also, could I ask you to spread the word through the media buttons directly below this post. I have just added them here. Finally, do get in touch if you think our training, coaching or speaking services could help you, your team or your company. Thanks.

To engage multiple language spell checking in Outlook 2003 you must use Word to edit email messages. Here’s how:

1. In Outlook go to Tools . Options in top tool bar
2. In the ‘Mail Format’ tab check the option to use MS Office Word as your email editor and OK out of the options menu.
3. Then go to this Microsoft kb article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821416/  and follow the instructions.

Outlook 2007 is much easier to do this. Here’s how:

1. Select the text you want to check.
2. On the Review tab, in the Proofing group, click the ‘Set Language’ icon ( the one with a Globe and a red tick) .
3. In the Language dialog box, verify that the correct language is associated with the text. If it is not, select the language you want to use for the dictionary and other proofing tools. If the language is preceded by the Spelling & Grammar icon (the ‘ABC’ tick) , it means that proofing tools, such as spelling checker, are installed for that language. If the language is not preceded by the Spelling & Grammar icon , the dictionary for that language is not available and you cannot check the spelling and grammar for that language. If this is the case you or your systems administrator must import it.
4. Complete steps 1-3 for each section of text that you want to check.
5. Go to this Microsoft kb article for fuller information: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102488711033.aspx

We support clients in 18 countries. We can not speak 18 languages but can deliver business training in 4 European languages. Why not  contact us  to tailor a support programme to your needs.

I am a big fan of mind mapping because it is a powerful process and tool for enhancing the thinking, memory, creativity, planning, control and representation of information that we have to be on top of, especially when working on longer-term goals and projects.

If you want to leverage your use of Outlook and MindManager to plan, execute and deliver your mission critical results call me now on +44 (0)1428 607763 during UK office hours to see how we can help you flip the usual Pareto percentages for software utilisation …. And increase you productivity into the bargain.

Meanwhile you might want to see how many of these MindManager features are you using
http://blog.mindjet.com/2009/11/top-10-mindmanager-features-you-didnt-know-about
If you are looking for a better way to work, for yourself or your team, why not get in touch to see how we can help.contact me to discuss how we can tailor a programme to your exact needs.

First off - a couple of practical tips. 1) I suggest the ‘Phone List’ view when working with Contacts because you can manipulate the data far more easily than you can in the default ‘Address Card’ view.  2) When importing I usually import into a newly created separate sub-folder of my Contacts folder so I can run my initial management of them there before I incorporate them into my main folder.

Now for the mass categorisation: Simple really….

1. Use your Ctrl or Shift key to highlight the contacts you want to categorise
2. On the top toolbar click ‘Edit’ and select ‘Categories’
3. Click on - or create - appropriate Categories (you can apply more than one category to an Outlook item)
4. Click OK to finish and then get to work on those Contacts!

If you are looking for better ways to manage your workload,  increase your productivity, master your inbox and get the right things done in your busy days, get in touch. Our clients gain an average of 47 minutes extra productivity per person per day as a result of our training and support. Why not join them!

It does not matter whether you are an email ‘Piler’ or ‘Filer’, the principle is that – unless you are relying 100% on search technology to access relevant emails and see them in their correct context – you need to see your ‘Sent’ mails along with received mails.

Creating separate Outlook Rules to divert specific sent mails into specific folders is just too impractical. We therefore need a general rule and a simple process-step to achieve our desired result of seeing ALL emails on a specific subject area together.   

First, create the appropriate Outlook rule:

1. Click on Tools in the top toolbar and select ‘Options’
2. In the ‘Preferences’ tab click ‘Email Options’ and then click ‘Advanced Email options’
3. In this pop-up, click the middle option in the ‘Save messages’ area ‘In folders other than inbox save replies with original message’
4. Click OK 3 times to exit.

Now, make a simple email management process change:

Simply file the email BEFORE you action your Do, Date or Delegate decision – then go to the mail in your selected folder and reply or forward from there. Your sent mail will now be filed in that folder. You can then action any other control processes on those mails without moving away from the folder. If you were going to file the received email anyway, there is zero additional overhead in adopting this process.

What do you think? I’m curious to know. By the way, my thanks goes to Jon Scragg at EMC for raising this during one of our recent training programmes.

Of course, you can always contact us directly to tailor a support programme to your needs.

I’m in the early stages of a new large project with a client and in our meeting yesterday I was saving a Mindmap we had jointly edited on their meeting room whiteboard whilst the projector was still connected to my laptop. I was just about to hit the ‘Save As’ button when my client grabbed my right arm and said ‘Stop! How did you do that?’ He could see that I had a shortcut to my Project Folder on the left side of my ‘File As’ dialogue form and was excited to know how I did it. Once I showed him he created shortcuts to all his major project folders in a matter of seconds. You can do it too.

First, simply access your ‘File As’ or ‘Save As’ or ‘Open’ dialogue form (editing one will implement the changes in all). The easiest way within any Microsoft software application is to go to the top toolbar and hit ‘File > Open’.

Now, navigate to a critical current folder / subfolder that you want one-click access to. With this folder highlighted in the ‘Look In’ dialogue area at the top of the form, all you have to do is click on ‘Tools’ in the toolbar and select ‘Add to My Places’ and the folder will appear as a shortcut on the left side of the dialogue form.

You can now move your shortcuts up or down the list by simply right-clicking on the folder name in the ‘My Places’ bar on the right and selecting ‘Move up’ or ‘Move down’. Obviously your most critical folders will be at the top of the list! Whilst there, you may as well change the default ‘Large Icons’ option to ‘Small Icons’.

To remove folder shortcuts that have served their purpose simply right-click the folder name in the ‘My Places’ bar and hit ‘Remove’.

There you go! Another way to make software work for you rather than you work for it! If you are fed up with software fighting your productivity and you want it to facilitate your productivity, why not get in touch?

If you are looking for a better way to work, for yourself or your team, why not contact us   to see how we can help.

I was facilitating a great ‘TeamCommunications’ workshop yesterday. The team is geographically distributed and highly interdependent, running multiple projects with demanding performance criteria and very limited scope for slippage. They are good! Highly skilled and very professional under pressure.

We worked on polishing up their Team approach to email management and other team communication and control issues. Their IM usage was raised in an almost off-hand way and once explored raised a number of very important considerations that I know my client is working on as I write this.

Their approach to IM usage and the management and control of commercial risk connected with IM communications fell below the high standards they are already working to for email management, document control, public folders and all the other infrastructure, protocol and culture elements that they are developing within their growing business.

IM is increasingly being used as a mission critical communication application. It carries legal and commercial risks. IMs are legally admissible commercial documents. In short, if you know anyone using IM in business and you suspect they may not be fully aware of the risks please let them know. There is a useful paper by MessageLabs available on the web at the moment here: http://pdf.computing.co.uk/MESSAGELABS_040809.pdf?id=0

Dr Pavlov was right! He, as you know, is the guy who, among many other wonderful achievements gave us an experimentally proven theory of ‘Conditioned reflexes’ using dogs, bells and food!

Given that Dr Pareto was also right, in that the 80/20 rule is ruthless, 80% of the new email alarms that destroyed your focus (no matter how briefly) contributed No / Low value to those moments.

Here’s how to kill those Pavlovian Alarms in Outlook and regain an element of focus and control over what we are working on:
• In Outlook go to the top toolbar and hit ‘Tools’ then select ‘Options’
• In the ‘Preferences’ tab, in the ‘Email’ area hit ‘Email options’
• Half way down the next dialogue box hit ‘Advanced Email options’
• In the area ‘When a new item arrives in my inbox’ kill all the Pavlovian alarms – Yes, even the one allowing you a pretty email icon in the bottom right of your screen.
• Click ‘OK’ 3 times to exit the Rules box.
You are now liberated and you can choose when to go into the inbox to process your new mails. The price of freedom, however is eternal vigilance, so we must weld other processes and bahaviours to this if we are to move from inbox slavery to mastery.

Call or mail me to learn how to use this liberation, alongside other proven processes and approaches to managing competing priorities whilst keeping your inbox at zero.  Or see what other people say about their results from our support, then get in touch.

The Spinvox audio story on BBC is here http://bit.ly/SbsXc .
Rory Cellan-Jones’ broke the news on the BBC and his recent post is here:
I am still a fan of their Memo service. I am checking the situation and will blog on any newsworthy news. I only use Memo and only for when I am creating a call to action after a meeting or conversation.

All is not lost! Creating a simple rule will protect your reputation for professionalism. Here’s what to do…

It is a simple matter of creating a Rule in Outlook.

1. Go to your inbox and from there hit the Tools menu on the top toolbar
2. Click Rules and Alerts, and then click New Rule.
3. Elect to ‘Start from a Blank Rule’ rather than use the Wizard.
4. Click Check messages after sending, and then click Next.
5. In the Step 1: Do not make any selection, simply click ‘Next’ at the bottom of the form.
   If you do not select any check boxes, a confirmation dialog box appears. If you click Yes, the rule you are creating will be applied to all messages that you send.
6. In the next window select ‘Defer delivery by a number of minutes’. This then drops to the lower dialogue box.
7. In the lower dialogue box, click on the blue underlined phrase and enter the number of minutes for which you want the defer sending your messages.
8. Remember that most ‘Oh No!!!’ moments last no more than a minute or so.
   Click OK, and then click Next.
9. Select any exceptions that you want.I suggest you never use exceptions in creating outlook rules - they can make the application of rukes sluggish. Click Next.
10. Now specify a name for this rule box, type a name for the rule. Select the Turn on this rule check box. and click Finish.

There you are, you now have a couple of minutes ‘Oh No!’ time before your missive hits the ether.
contact us  for other ways we can support your business.

Lookoutsoft created Lookout - a lean mean search machine -years ago. Then, back in the summer of 2004 Microsoft made creators Mike Belshe and Eric Hahn an offer they did not refuse and bought Lookout into the Microsoft machine. On the day it was downloadable with Microsoft credentials, I personally mailed over 3500 people working for corporate clients to tell them to download it. Previously I had restricted advocacy of this to individuals and small businesses where freeware was not seen as an issue.

People loved Lookout’s lean purposefulness. Over time Microsoft fattened it up as they incorporated it into  their stable. Many people (especially tech savvy ones) stuck with the original.

So, if you loved it but since got hold of a new laptop and lost Lookout, or migrated to Outlook 2007 and found it did not work, here’s how to get hold of this lean, light and lightening fast search tool.

First: If you have Outlook 2003 you should be OK with a standard install; if you have Outlook 2007 check out this link to see what you have to do to make it work properly. Do scroll down to the end of the comments area to check recent developments. Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/13l9Xt

Second: you can hit this Google search http://bit.ly/LtaB6 and select a download site that grabs you. My suggestion is Major Geeks @ http://bit.ly/d6xE8

Of course, there is always the current crop to choose from:-

Copernic  http://www.copernic.com/  is probably the lightest and nearest to Lookout

Xonbi (inbox backwards) http://www.xobni.com/ is more feature rich and displays additional info that can be useful but it is a little heavier in resource.

Both the above - in my opinion - are preferable to Google Desktop and Windows search

He has come up with a way of seeing the age of an email in one column without the clutter of arranging them in Date Groups [Inbox folder > View > Arrange By > Select ‘Date’ plus select ‘Show in Groups’].

I have a numbered subfolder in my inbox called ‘05 Faff!’ Where I put the mails I can not make an instant Decision on my 4 options – sometimes because I want to do everything and can’t let go of an opportunity – and sometimes because I’m not brave enough to decide now! I have now built Francis’ column into this and a number of other folders where I think it is important to get an instant ‘aged analysis’.

How to create a column in any email folder to show the age of your emails:

1. Go to the email folder / subfolder where you want to use this age view
2. Right-Click on any of the column headers in your current view
3. Click ‘Customise Current View’
4. Click on the ‘Fields’ button and, in the ‘Show Fields’ dialogue click on ‘New Field’
5. Give your new field a name – I call mine ‘Age’
6. In the ‘Type’ dialogue area click on the arrow to the right and select ‘Formula’
7. In the ‘Formula’ dialogue area type this formula - “int(now()-[Received])” then OK
8. Now all you need to do is find the field you have created and implement it.
9. Repeat steps 1 to 3, click on ‘Fields’ and in the top box change the view from ‘Frequently Used Fields’ to ‘User Defined Fields’
10. You will now see your new ‘Age’ field – add it and place it where you want in the right panel of the ‘Show Fields’ dialogue box. I have mine 3rd on the list , after the Icon and Attachment columns so it is not confused by the numbers in the date columns on the right. Click OK twice to exit and you will see your new field.

How to apply a Custom Folder View to other Outlook folders

If you want to apply this view to all your Email folders and subfolders all you have to do is:
1. Make sure your advanced toolbar is active, as well as your standard (Right click on an empty space in your toolbar and click ‘Advanced’)
2. In the ‘Current View’ descriptor (it will probably show ‘Messages’), simply click inside it and type a new name – I call mine ‘My View’ – and hit ‘Enter’.
3. Outlook then asks what folders you want this view available in – I chose ‘All Mail and Post Folders’
4. You can revert to the defaults in any folder by simply changing the ‘Current View descriptor.

This is probably the most ‘Technical’ tip I have blogged on. If you are looking for a simple, practical and durable framework to manage your demanding workload and results just contact me. I promise we will deliver ‘Results Worth Talking About’

Introducing the 5D email management process

now, I’m not suggesting that you make a habit of adding the 5th D, after all that would be a form of procrastination if we let it go too far but here’s an approach to managing this often inevitable ‘Faff factor’ when dealing with emails.

1. Create a numbered sub folder directly under your Inbox, call it something uncool like ‘05 D’Oh’ or even ‘05 Faff’ ( you don’t want to reward yourself too much for feeding it!)
2. Once it is created, right-click on the new folder and select ‘Properties’
3. Hit the ‘AutoArchive’ tab
4. Select ‘Archive this folder using these settings’ and select the appropriate period for you and then select ‘Permanently delete old items’ 
5. Click ‘OK’ to exit

Now, if you get a mail you think might be useful sometime later and you don’t want to create a specific ‘next step action’ for it, simply drag it into your Faff Folder.

When you get a moment you can simply scroll through this folder to see if anything excites, motivates or otherwise prompts you into making a 4D decision knowing that stuff over a certain age will be terminated. If you want to know how many ‘one-day’ mails are in this folder you could change the ‘unopened’ default numerator to a total mail numerator by again right-clicking on the folder name and hitting ‘Properties’ and in the ‘General’ tab select the ‘Show total number of items’ button and hit OK to exit.

How do you manage your ‘One day’ type emails raight now? What works for you - I’d be interested to hear fro you.

 Contact us to see how we can help you deliver ‘Results Worth Talking About’

Here’s how you add ‘Week Numbers’ to your Outlook calendar date navigator:

• In Outlook top toolbar hit ‘Tools’ then ‘Options’
• In the ‘Preferences’ tab hit the ‘Calendar Options’ button
• In the ‘Calendar work week’ area select the appropriate select the appropriate ‘First week of the year’ option
• Now, in the second area ‘Calendar Options’ just put a check against ‘Show week numbers in the ‘Date Navigator.
• Click OK to exit.

Contact us to see how we can help you deliver ‘Results Worth Talking About’

It is important to point out that tThese settings reside in Windows and not in Outlook, so you must come out of Outlook to do this.

• Click on the Windows start button
• Click on ‘Control Panel’
• Open Regional and Language Options in Control Panel.
• On the Regional Options tab, under Standards and formats, click ‘Customize’.
• On the Date tab, specify any changes you want to make under Short date and Long date.
• My ‘Long Date’ setting is dddd dd MMMM yyyy

I hope this helps.

Contact us to see how we can help you deliver ‘Results Worth Talking About’

The ruthless reality for many is that whilst they are still winning most days, they are surfing on the edge of chaos – juggling a number of lists (including their inbox, their note pads and their memory) and invariably not achieving what they set out to do on their way into work. The personal price of their victory is often very heavy. See my notes on the latest research into the increasing stress levels experienced in this recession

Far too many good people feel they are slaves to their inbox.

They feel that they ‘have’ to sit in there. Many who we work with admit initially that their inbox is yet another too-long To-Do list.

Lets be clear here, unless you are in a level 1 or 2 support role, you don’t need to have your in box open all the time. And if you are a level 1 or 2 support person there are better support management tools than the inbox to manage your workload anyway.

Because Dr Pavlov was right, most peoples’ inbox management is wrong.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his original work into studying the mechanisms underlying the digestive system in mammals. But it is not for this that he is famous. No, he is remembered for his experiments with dogs.

Pavlov’s discovery was that environmental events that previously had no relation to a given reflex (such as a bell sound) could, through experience, trigger a reflex (salivation). This kind of learnt response is called ‘Conditioned Reflex’, and the process whereby dogs or humans learn to connect a stimulus to a reflex is called ‘Conditioning’.

Pavlov’s dogs:
Environmental event > Bell:
Conditioned Reflex > Salivation
Humans:
Environmental event > Email alert:
Conditioned Reflex > stop what you are doing and open the mail.

All we can truly manage is our focus and energy moment to moment and the horrible reality is that living in the inbox destroys both. See http://richardmaybury.co.uk/2009/05/the-inbox-dr-pavlov-and-reactive-working/

See this post for the big difference between Multitasking and Continuous Partial Attention (CPA)
Finally, for those who compose their emails on the run, whilst attempting a couple of other things, check out this article on 10 ways to get your busy boss to action your emails now

What is your take on this, I’m curious to know; do drop me a comment below.

CTRL+1 takes you to Mail (Don’t stay there too long!)
CTRL+2 takes you to Calendar (The best place to encourage proactivity)
CTRL+3 takes you to Contacts (for projects as well as people!)
CTRL+4 takes you to Tasks (The best place for your To-Dos)
CTRL+5 takes you to Notes (Don’t use these – they don’t integrate with other Outlook areas)
CTRL+6 takes you to your Folder list (The BEST navigation view when using a mouse)
CTRL+7 takes you to Shortcuts:  (Useful when you
CTRL+8 takes you to Journal: (Use with caution, can cause crawling at slooow speed!).

You can see a more comprehensive list of Killer Keyboard shortcuts here:
Of course, you can always contact us directly to tailor a support programme to your needs.

Check your own inbox after reading this. How many of the emails you have in there meet the tests below? What would you add, edit or delete on the list? You have a lot of experience in this area. Have your say – I’d be delighted to hear from you.

1. Purpose before prose. Stop. Don’t think about hitting that ‘New’ ‘Reply’ or ‘Forward’ button before you know exactly what you want to achieve through your email and whether a mail is the best way to achieve it.
2. Create smarter subject lines. The subject line is prime real estate on the screen. Include useful elements like ‘AR’ (Action Required) + a date; ‘IO’ (info only). Consider ‘EOM’ (End of message) if you can get the key content in one line!
3. Headlines work.  The first 2 lines of text are the second most important piece of real estate on the screen – especially small Blackberry screens. State the purpose of the mail and include a specific call to action here – especially if the mail has to be long or technical or is the culmination of a long email conversation. Never put a call to action anywhere else and never, ever ask someone you CCd on the email to do something just before you sign off!
4. Context is critical for good decisions. Where you think it would be helpful in achieving your purpose, use the first 2 lines to point to the context – either through hyperlinks or relevant copied text at the end of your mail. Don’t build the context at the top of the mail, your reader may not need it!
5. Be specific. Numbers, dates and ratios in emails are more helpful in clarifying thoughts, decisions and actions than rhetoric can ever be. Save your persuasive language for other communication channels. 
6. Less is more. Keep your email as short as possible. Use short, simple words in short sentences. Use short paragraphs and bullet points to reduce the risk of your reader skimming and missing the point.
7. One mail for one issue. You want action or decision now on this one email. A number of specific emails, each with a call to action, are easier to process than fewer mails, each with a number of decisions to process.
8. Internal signatures for internal emails. Create a simple 2 liner signature with name direct dial and mobile phone numbers and use this for all internal emails. Make it easy for the reader to contact you directly off-line if necessary. Never use the flashy marketing and legal statement signatures for internal mails.
9. Maintain emotional neutrality. Never fire one off in the heat of the moment. Avoid emotional language. Save the slap on the back or the slap in the face for another time. I always assume my business mails will be forwarded to someone who will not have my best interests at heart –it helps create rigour.
10. Review. Remind yourself of the purpose and the preferred response you are looking for; re-read your mail fully, revise as necessary, hit ‘Send’ and – in that moment – create your ‘next step action’ before going on to your next task.

Of course, you can always contact us directly to tailor a support programme to your needs.