Tackling the time thieves
The training manager at the Simon Community was unusual - she wanted the staff in her organisation to be able to say "no" at work!
This is a charitable organisation which supports homeless people; it relies on the commitment and hard work of its excellent staff to make a difference to people's lives.
Lose time, gain stress
The only problem with great people is that they can tend to take on more tasks than can be done in the time allowed; with the best will in the world, then, standards suffer. What's more, we don't need to be told nowadays that stress is a major workplace problem that can lead to ill-health, absenteeism and worse.
Ironically, we had only half a day in which to tackle the problem! But we started well on time, despite traffic delays, and focused very quickly on the main Time Thieves that waste the most precious commodity we have.
Gain time, lose stress
Having identified the common thieves, we set about sharing and practising tried and tested techniques for grabbing back the time we lose through not prioritising, not planning and not saying "no". Then - and this was the fun bit - we decided what we would do with the time saved.
It was a great group and I'm making no apologies for quoting Amy again!
"Jill's training was inspiring. It made me look forward to going back to work so I could use what I had learned - and I did!"
Amy from the Glasgow Simon Community