Doctor efficiency

Mark Forster's tips for working smarter

1. Rather than a “to do”list, which will keep growing, have a more generic checklist of things you do – or might have to do – every day, such as checking emails, dealing with paperwork and making phone calls. “This is a useful list of pigeonholes – a lot may be empty because they’re up to date, but you can tick them off as you go along,” Forster says. Aim to clear everything in each item every time you get to it.

2. Keep your desk tidy. “I tidy my desk three times a day – if you do it that often, it doesn’t take a second.”

3. Use Microsoft Outlook’s task list to plan tasks that need to be done on certain days. Unlike a long “to do” list, this allows you to drag emails or documents into a certain day.

4. Helping colleagues with their problems and taking a quick look at new emails as they arrive both fall into the “don’t have to but want to” category of work. Try to resist.

5. Don’t be afraid to ignore emails until you’re ready to tackle them. When you do brave the inbox, clear it every day: either deal with the email immediately, delete it, file it in a relevant folder or move it to a task list for a date you want to deal with it.

Mark Forster is an expert in workplace efficiency and time management. He has written several books: Get Everything Done and Still Have Time to Play (2000) and How to Make Your Dreams Come True (2004). He offers coaching to individuals and companies. To contact him, call 01403 250 016

Carrie Davis-Holman: Arrears officer

Carrie Davis-Holman has worked for Downland Housing Association since February 2003. She processes housing benefit notifications and chases low-level arrears.

Problem
Davis-Holman has to clear a backlog of work that began when rents increased in April, and is growing. “It’s trying to prioritise conflicting demands,” she tells Forster. “I’d be so happy if I could clear the backlog, and every day could come in and didn’t have it there.”

She also feels overwhelmed by the amount of emails and new work coming in. This is exacerbated by the fact that she doesn’t want to risk offending the new office assistant by delegating too many tasks to her. “We have an admin person who comes in part time, but she’s very intelligent and I find it quite hard – I don’t want to dump things on her.”

Solution
Forster begins by reassuring Davis-Holman that backlogs are a common problem. “It’s just like a bathtub with the tap running – the water keeps rising and it fills up as fast as you empty it. If you take a paper backlog, and put it into a tray or folder labelled ‘backlog’, you’ve put a lid on the water barrel.”

“But what about the new stuff adding to it?” Davis-Holman asks. Forster has the answer: “Deal with the backlog as a separate project. That way you can deal with the new stuff every day first and then chip away at the backlog.”

Forster then challenges Davis-Holman’s reluctance to delegate. “What’s the assistant there for?” he asks. He stresses that taking the time to train her would save valuable hours. “Filing and letters take a long time and if you can delegate there will be more time for you to do things you have the expertise for. If you say ‘this would be a real help if you could do that’, it could make her feel appreciated,” he says.

Forster is impressed by Davis-Holman’s tidy desk, but not by her inbox of 900 emails. “I do struggle with emails because you can forget about them,” she says. He peers at the screen. “There are two ways of working with Outlook – you can delete everything or keep everything but you need to put them out of the way.” He shows her how to create archive folders, direct emails from certain people automatically to folders and generate automatic replies to certain senders or subjects.

Verdict
Davis-Holman says: “Forster was very understanding. His advice on the backlog picked out where we were going wrong. I have already started doing my daily work first. Then, if I have time, I do a bit of the backlog. The rest of my team think it’s a really good idea. I didn’t realise you could do so many things with email. Things such as the automated responses sound brilliant. But I think I need more training on that.”

Caroline Dale: Lettings administrator

In her post for almost four years, Caroline Dale organises viewings for tenants’ properties. She gives them keys when they come to the office and offers advice.

Problem
Dale must manage garage lettings – a fairly tedious job – and cope with interruptions from colleagues and telephone callers. “Colleagues come across when you’re in the middle of something and ask questions, or the phone rings – and we’re not allowed to ignore it.” She also has a tendency to leap in and help other people. “Because the office is open plan, you can hear someone having a problem and I tend to step in and say, ‘Is everything all right?’”

Solution
“Seeking out work,” says Forster. “There’s nothing wrong with helping other people but you do have to pay attention to your own work.” This tendency – and Dale’s reluctance to get to grips with the garages – can be dealt with by a simple system of priorities. “There are four types of work: work you have to do and want to do; work you don’t have to do but want to do; work you have to do and don’t want to do; and work you don’t have to do and don’t want to do.
“Most people have no problem with the first, which they do automatically, and the last, which they don’t do at all. The problem is the other two: we tend to do the second one before the third.” When Dale offers help to other people, he says, she’s finding pleasant distractions from the things she’s dreading.

This means the garages task weighs on her like a black cloud, says Forster. “The secret is putting the things you have to do but don’t want to do first.” Dale needs to do a bit of work on the garages first thing every morning before she checks her emails or does anything else.

He is sympathetic about interruptions. “Most people sit at their desk without a plan, and then the phone rings or people come up with a bit of paper, and you just react to things that happen, which is not the best way to prioritise.”

If Dale can’t ignore the phone, Forster says, she can at least organise her emails: only check them at certain times, set up rules to direct them to certain folders and set up an alarm for anything urgent.

Forster insists she is firm with colleagues who interrupt her with questions. “If you’re worried about how ‘no’ sounds, you need to draw yourself back and reply calmly.”

Verdict
Dale says: “It was very good. I’ve actually got myself quite forward on the garages already. With Outlook, I need to book myself on a course. Now I know we can prioritise emails we want to look at straight away and put them in folders – that will be really good.”

Mark Drayton: Tenant participation officer

Mark Drayton has held his job for five years. He spends a lot of time visiting tenants and regional offices as well as organising events such as housing roadshows.

Problem
Drayton most dislikes producing big reports or presentations. He admits his method of writing hasn’t moved on since school and he has never done more than one draft of a report.

“I always leave big reports to the last minute. I get them done but have to work under pressure.”

His job also demands a lot of travel between dispersed stock in Brighton, Haywards Heath in west Sussex and Ashford in Kent, where he has to visit tenant groups and Downland’s local offices. The distances he has to cover – 80 miles to Ashford, for example – mean he can’t respond instantly to all residents’ needs.

Drayton is also frustrated by some of the targets he was allotted in his last annual appraisal. His job has changed slightly over the last year and he now has to spend more time in the office. “About a year ago, 60% of my work was what I made it, now only 30-40% is,” he says. “It’s not the reason I came into tenant participation, more box ticking.” Some targets had been met even before they were set, he says. “I’m cynical about targets but we have to fulfil our statutory duty with the Housing Corporation.”

Solution
Forster says he used to have problems with writing reports too. “But instead of writing the whole thing in one go, you can write a series of smaller drafts.” The first could just be a title or a few words, the next version a few paragraph headings, and so on, fleshing it out very gradually until it’s done. “Each time I am not trying to produce the perfect article. That takes away the tendency to want to get it right first time, which stops people from doing anything at all.”

Drayton, who has a PowerPoint presentation coming up next month, should immediately start doing a little work on it first thing each day, says Forster.

He insists even if you work better in the evening, this shouldn’t guide your daily work plan. “If you’re better at writing reports in the afternoon, and you’ve got a report you’re trying to put off, by the afternoon you could still be dealing with your emails and it won’t get done. It’s better just to do it in the morning.”

With regards to Drayton’s travel, Forster suggests he tried to group trips to different areas as much as possible. “Try segmenting the week or month so you spend a set number of days in each area,” he says. By allotting time to different people rather than responding to one-off calls, he says, Drayton could build stronger relationships with them.

As for his targets, Forster is concerned Drayton’s productivity could be suffering.

“Are the agreed targets you have actually right? The point of targets is to motivate you, not demotivate you.” Although many of the targets may go back to the Housing Corporation, he suggests that Drayton brings it up with his manager and that the targets are re-assessed more frequently than every year. “Even if you can’t change them, look at what would be good alternative targets? It’s about making targets that mean something to you,” he says.

Verdict
Drayton says: “I think it was positive advice. I don’t think anyone relishes having their day dissected and being told what to do, but the tips were useful. I will be talking about setting more meaningful targets at a meeting with my line manager next week. I think the practice of revisiting them more than once a year is useful.

I am a bit more cynical about the report writing because we are talking about a lifetime change here. I think I will find it difficult to change the practices I have been using since school. But I will try. I have also started doing the things you have to do but don’t want to do first. For example, I am having to do a mail out, which is a nightmare, but if I hadn’t started it early I wouldn’t have picked up what I think might be a problem with it, in time for the post.

I like the idea of segmenting my visits to other areas. If I have the housing staff from a particular office on my side, they’re more likely to help me with events I’m organising.”