Effort driven tasks

Talking to a colleague the other day, the subject of staffing resources came up.

He wasn’t aware of the concept of effort driven tasks and non effort driven tasks.

So, for the benefit of others, here is an example.

Suppose you have a task, say moving a mound of earth from the bottom of the garden to the top. All other things being equal, the more resource allocated, the quicker it will get down.
(Resources being workers with wheel barrows, spades, protective clothing etc etc)

This is an effort driven task.

Now suppose that the task was installing a shower room in a pensioners “granny flat”. Space is likely to be cramped and there will come a limit when adding more resources is counter productive. (Mainly in this example because they will crash into each other…)

This is a non effort driven task

This principle is used extensively in project management but is worth knowing for the general manager.

Making the job easier or harder?

Secure data procedures

There were a couple of lost data stories in the news this last week or so.

Firstly, the leisure clothing firm Cotton Traders were hacked - see BBC report

Later last week were the so-called “terror files” left on a train by an official. BBC report

At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, these high profile bungles should give a warning to all managers to put in place data handing procedures.

We are not technically minded (or rather not enough to give advice to Cotton Traders…) but amongst the things we have seen on our travels are the following;

Credit card numbers held unencrypted on servers

Customers actually asked to email credit card numbers unencrypted

Telephone order is taken and the telephone is in a public place. Orders are taken and numbers jotted down on a pad. The member of staff leaves the desk to walk about the store while a personal caller/visitor is sat at the same desk looking at the number.

Sound too far fetched to be true?
Sorry but it’s all true…

So, PLEASE put in place, safe robust, procedures for dealing with data and information - before it’s too late.

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Project Management - which corners do YOU cut?

Talking to a colleague last week who had just been on a Project Management course. It wasn’t a PRINCE course but it taught the basic principals of risk, resources, cost etc etc.

From what he said, the group exercise was to develop a project plan for a log cabin in a ski resort. Obviously, the risks would include the weather, the local workforce etc and he remarked about how regimented it all seemed.

“I though at one point that there would be a form to go to the toilet” he said.

Then we got talking about cutting corners and that in reality, neither me nor him are likely to be involved in anything like building a log cabin. And that in reality, we tend to do quite a lot of “corner cutting”

But how do we know which corners to cut?
Is it experience?
Is it specific industry knowledge?
Is it your ability as an all round “good egg” who knows how to get things done?

Maybe all 3 - maybe more.

How do YOU chose which corners to cut and more importantly WHY?

Personal use of the internet at work costs over £10billion

The Confederation of British Industry announced that personal use of the internet at work costs UK PLC £10.6 billion.

We agree with CBI Chief John Cridland who says that allowing staff to use the internet in works time can boost productivity if it is managed correctly.

Allowing unlimited use will encourage staff to do very little work. Using forums and reading blogs can be almost an addiction.

A blanket ban, on the other hand, will encourage staff to find other ways to stay in touch and gossip with friends. These include sloping off to the toilet or using text messaging. Neither of these can be policed as easy or effectively as the internet.

Trust is essential and a good internet & email use policy will foster this.

Weekly update subscribers can access a free internet use policy from the members only site

The full story is here

How to retain good staff

The following article was sent to weekly update subscribers this last week

How to retain key staff

Key staff are essential for any business. When an accountant or financial person looks at your staffing structure or business set up – they just see numbers on a sheet and people as a fixed cost without taking account of the value they provide.

But for the effective manager, this is where the art of management comes in – some people are more use than others and a key management skill is to retain key staff.

What are key staff?
Key staff have what we have called “corporate know-how”.

They know how to get things done. If a large delivery comes incorrect or there is a power cut or a water shortage or a leaking roof – chances are key staff will know what to do and most likely – start doing it. These are the sort of staff you need.

Staff you don’t need are those who stand around waiting for someone else to take the lead.

Quite often though – key staff can be quite hard work and almost exhausting to work with. The trick is to wind them up and let them go…

Failure to keep up with them can mean they become disillusioned and look to move on..

How to spot when key staff are unhappy?
If you are getting requests for references for other jobs, this should reveal something crucial about your business..

Moreso, if you look at the job description and think

“they would be wasting there time doing that”

The thing to remember is – They don’t think so – otherwise they woudn’t have applied and that is pretty damming on your organisation or business.

But how to reward them?

A common discretionary way to reward staff is to award what the British public sector calls an increment. At around £20 per month, £5 per week (less tax of course!) , this is at best a token gesture, at worst an insult.

We would suggest that financial rewards are not the best option in these circumstances. These people aren’t (totally) in it for the money – yes it helps – but the want to do a good job as well.

If you are going to provide them with training – then give them a booking form or a web link so they can book it themselves.

Saying “yes – we will sort out that training course” and then doing nothing about it is a way of saying “go away and calm down”

Bending the rules and knowing which rules to apply is another management skill which can help here.

Suppose the person you want to reward wants to leave work 30 minutes early to watch a child in a school concert or important sports match.

For the non key staff (who stand around waiting for other people to do things), a half day leave would be required but for the key staff, being flexible and just asking them to just make the 30 minutes up some other time is the way to go.

However, you must get them to trust you and you them that your “special arrangements” are perks for them personally and not for “general consumption”

However, you do it, you must recognise that key staff are very valuable to you and your organisation. The key is to build trust and relationships so what is good for them is also good for your business.

Call that a skill?

Having carried out many recruitment activities and interviews for vacancies from clerical to managerial, we know that the most basic interview question which all candidates should have a stock answer for is:

“Tell me what skills you can bring to this position?”

Firstly, this lets us know if the person has even read the job description and secondly what they consider to be a skill.

We are constantly amazed when people say

“I can use the internet and email”

What?

Unfortunately these days that is not a skill. Most children aged 7 can use the internet – It’s that easy.

So before that important interview make a note of your skills. Give them the skills that they can use and more importantly – that no-one else has…

Travel light at Interviews

When you go for an interview what will you take with you?

This probably depends on what the interview is for – you might have to take tools or equipment to do a test for some jobs, but for most it will probably mean just a pen pencil and maybe a calculator.

At one interview session we conducted the first candidate arrived. He was laden down with briefcase, newspaper, umbrella, and raincoat along with a location map of the area.(nothing wrong with the map - you can put it away when you reach the location)

It seemed to take him about 10 minutes to get into the room and settle down, and we thought it was a wind up of some sort.

Why was all that stuff a bad idea?

At an interview you are bound to be nervous. (If you have taken our stress course you will know why) Giving yourself more stuff to carry will only increase you chances of fouling up.

So for all budding interviewees we suggest ‘Travel Light’.

Pen and pencil, calculator and note pad in hand and Qualifications if asked for.

But make sure you keep a hand free in order to shake hands as you enter.

All the rest of the stuff - leave behind…

Children learn faster with CD ROMs

Interesting article in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph pointing out that children learning languages performed better when using CD ROMs as opposed to traditional text books.
Researchers at the University of Durham analysed data of 1000 children split into 2 groups.

One group used traditional text books and the other used CD ROM’s.

The CD ROM group improved by 0.5 - 0.8 of a level compared to the text book group.

The Head Teacher said the school may look at other languages including Spanish and German.

The full story is here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1935909/Pupils-learn-faster-with-computers.html

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