Home - Recruitment Techniques - Management Techniques - Online Computer Training


 Free Photography Contest
 Enter Now! Win $10,000! Are you a Winner!

 Is your credit non-existent?
 All American Credit can help you build your
 credit! Even if you have bad credit, they can help.

Please click here to visit our sponsor

Please click here to visit our sponsor

The Real Truth About Working Smarter, Not Harder


Running a business or department can often stretch you to the limit.

To be effective at doing what you do best, it's imperative to look at what tasks you can either delegate or outsource.

Delegating

This is an interesting word. For some people it means completely letting go of their responsibilities and getting someone else to do the work. Now that's all well and good providing that you train that person on how you've been handling those tasks. Show them how it's been done first.

For many business owners and managers, delegating means completely abdicating all responsibility for a particular task to somebody else without showing them how. They expect that person to know?immediately.

Well, forget it. No wonder you often hear people say, "I tried to delegate that task but no-one was as good as me at doing it!" Or "I just could not find the right person who was capable of taking on those responsibilities".

That's an interesting comment. Often people are given responsibilities for which they have had no training in and are then expected to know how to carry out those duties. A great example of this is when a person is promoted to manager/team leader and he/she is automatically expected to know how to manage themselves and their people.

Coming In From the Outside

How about the new kid on the block who comes in to take up the reins in a position, which has already been vacated. They're expected to run the department or business as if they've been working in the company for the past three years!

Outsourcing

When your car needs to be repaired do you spend hours trying to fix it or see a mechanic who takes two hours?

Do you do your own tax return or have an accountant prepare it for you?

If you need a new assistant do you place an ad in the paper, spend hours interviewing people or have a recruitment company do all the ground work and send you the top three applicants?

Why waste your precious time on tasks which will do exactly that?waste your precious time. And time is money!

Use the Experts

Use the valuable input of experts who can take away the stress and hassle and carry out the tasks in a fraction of the time it would take you. Sure you have to pay for it, but isn't it better to work smarter, not harder?

Why spend hours on tasks which are not your specialty?

Identify what you do best then delegate or outsource the rest. In fact, if you truly feel you are good at what you do and are happy to share that, why not teach someone else those same skills, then you could really leverage yourself.

Particularly if you are business owner, this would allow you more time to work on your business rather than in it.

A Word of Caution For Business Owners

Be careful about who you get your advice from. I know of many small business owners who listen to the advice of their personal assistants, spouses and relatives on how they should run their business although those people have never been in business themselves.

By all means get feedback from your people, however if you really want to work smarter, not harder invest some money into a business coach or someone who has already run a successful business so that you can avoid costly mistakes and have someone else offer a fresh perspective. Being too closely involved can give you a tainted view.

The Final Word

Write down all your responsibilities and the tasks that you undertake. Tick the tasks which someone else could realistically do. Then write next to it either the name of the person or type of person/company who can do this for you or offer some expert assistance or support ie. bookkeeper, printing company, personal assistant, coach.

To work smarter not harder, always look at who else can do this work/task. Always look at lightening your load so that you can spend your time doing what you do best.

About The Author

Lorraine specialises in working with businesspeople showing them how to dramatically boost their productivity, reduce the stress and the mess in their lives and have more time for enjoying their life. www.office-organiser.com.au, lorraine@office-organiser.com.au


Boston Globe

Presidential race complicates office politics
Boston Globe, United States - 7 hours ago
Your employer has made the effort to follow the law, according to Daniel S. Field, an employment attorney with Morgan, Brown & Joy LLP. ...
Five Things You Can do to Take Charge of Your Career During Harsh ... PR Web (press release)
all 3 news articles


AFP

UPDATE 1-Canadian September employment unexpectedly soars
Reuters - Oct 10, 2008
OTTAWA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Canadian employment unexpectedly soared by 107000 jobs in September, according to Statistics Canada data on Friday that will give ...
Canada adds record 107000 jobs in September Canada.com
Following a decline in July and a small gain in August, employment ... Exchange Morning Post
Employment climbs by 107000 in September Canadian HR Reporter
CBC.ca - AFP
all 188 news articles


Bluntness served activist Ruth Hamilton well
Arizona Republic, AZ - 6 hours ago
As a businesswoman, she built a successful employment agency. She was the social gadabout, the one everyone wanted to invite. She was the smartly dressed ...


Shifting Careers In Hard Times, Lawyers Advise Cautious Steps
New York Times, United States - 12 hours ago
By MARCI ALBOHER AS the turmoil on Wall Street continued, I sat down with two employment lawyers — Zachary Hummel, who represents employers, and Mark Risk, ...


Economist: 223892 jobs lost since 2000
SalemNews.net, OH - 8 hours ago
That enormous job loss was 4.2 percent of all employment in Ohio, according to Cleveland-based economist George Zeller, a 1967 Salem High School graduate. ...
Limits of rabies vaccine triggering precautions WTTE
all 9 news articles


Class LTD celebrates National Disability Employment Awareness Month
Pittsburg Morning Sun, KS - 7 hours ago
Class LTD is celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month by hosting the 2008 Employment Awards in Cherokee, Crawford, Labette and Montgomery ...


• North Dakota hopes to lure West Michigan workers at Mega ...
MLive.com, MI - Oct 10, 2008
Today, representatives from seven North Dakota towns are coming to the Mega Employment Expo at the DeltaPlex. There, they hope to tap the 1 in 10 residents ...


Holders of gratis visas banned from taking up employment - Immigration
Miadhu, Maldives - 10 hours ago
Visitors entering Maldives on tourist visas are prohibited from taking up employment in the country, Department of Immigration and Emigration has revealed. ...


Employment law may be restructured
Sunday Business Post, Ireland - 13 hours ago
Significant new sanctions for breaches of employment compliance legislation, due to become law by the end of the year, may be watered down as part of a ...


RETIREMENT CRISIS CREDIT CRUNCH BITES DEEPER AS EMPLOYMENT AND ...
Sunday People, UK - 6 hours ago
By Alice Walker Millions of Britons nearing retirement face a pensions disaster because of the stock market crisis. Yet many workers are BLIND to the grave ...

Employment - Google News

home | site map Distance Education at ICS
© 2006 www.elearn-university.com