“Time is a precious commodity that if not valued, can get wasted or misused, ultimately costing your business’s bottom line and the integrity of what you offer your clients and customers.”
have been successfully running Simply eLearning for 15 years with a simple philosophy; to value my time and the time of the people I come into contact with each day.
When I arrive at the office in the morning, I am ready to be present, passionate and on task. However, there are days that go unplanned and as a business leader you have to make allowances for these occasions regardless of what you set out to achieve. Sometimes a client or staff member’s personal life impacts their professional productivity. We can no longer pretend that people’s emotions don’t impact their ability to professionally deliver.
Here’s three ways I use my time each day that has stood the test of time in serving me and my business for the past 15 years.
Be Available
Being generous with your time shows clients and staff you care. You don’t have to be all things to all people all the time, dropping everything when anything arises, but it’s important to be available when it matters.
In a world driven my digital engagement, we can forget to be personal with people.
Regardless of being a leading digital learning solutions provider, my clients know they can pick up the phone and call me no matter how big or small their project is. They know I will answer their call or get back to them the same day. I make the time to be available to my clients no matter what. It’s a small investment in time that shows my clients I give a shit.
Value People’s Time
On the flip side of making ourselves readily available, we can create unrealistic expectations of needing people to be available on our own terms. I have never been in the business of wasting people’s time. I set clear goals and timelines for my business and my staff understand that when we stay on task and meet customer requirements and deadlines, we all get to go home at the end of the day, on time, and with a sense of achievement and fulfilment. Valuing my team’s time, allows them to leave the office each afternoon free to spend their time how they enjoy, rather than being weighted down from the heaviness of work deadlines dragging. By not wasting people’s time in a client or a staff meeting, I ultimately have more time to be available when those unforeseen moments happen in the work day and when it counts.
Be Present
There’s a lot of books and blogs in today’s world about the value of being present professionally and personally. Kids have a universal gripe – they don’t feel heard, valued, understood or listened to by their parents. It’s hard to be present with people when you’re on your phone, stressed or multitasking. Like children, the people you work with internally and externally want you to be available when they need you.
Like children, some staff need me more than others and when they do, I make sure I’m available. It might be taking the time to have a cuppa or a chat in the staff kitchen, a conversation while throwing quoits, or throwing ideas around to a solve an issue over ping pong. I mix it up depending on what the need and individual calls for.
Creating a work environment where your staff and clients know you value their time, let’s them know they can get access to you and talk to you when it matters. Being generous just makes sense.