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How to increase productivity
without spending any money!
Want more time management ideas and tips? To order
our newsletter, Time management Reprint Series or audiotape, go to the Our Products page. This article was previously published
in Appraisal Today and was written by Ann
O'Rourke. It is copyrighted. For reprint permission, Contact Us.
Increasing productivity is a big topic in
appraising today. Most think it means buying computers, cell phones, fax modems, etc. But
your productivity can be dramatically increased by using well-known, widely-used time
management techniques that can be done by anyone and don't require purchasing any
equipment.
Appraisers sell their time. In today's climate of reduced fees, making
the most of your time is extremely important. One of the most difficult parts of managing
an appraisal business is the often unpredictable volatility of the work load: too much
work one month, not enough work in another month.
Although we're all tempted to "let the work fill up the available
time" when we're slow, that often results in bad habits that eat up valuable time we
desperately need when we're really busy.
Time is a precious resource. After a minute (or an hour) has passed you
can't get it back. "Time management" is not really correct. Technically, we
don't manage the clock, but we manage ourselves with respect to the clock.
The better you manage your time, the more profitable the business, and
the less stress you'll feel when the workload is demanding.
You will have more time for the part of your life that is much more
important than making money: your family and friends.
Common appraiser time wasters
For most appraisers, the biggest time wasters are
procrastination, failure to delegate, inability to say "no", and phone calls.
All of these are caused by bad habits that can be changed.
These are the same problems listed by surveys in other industries. They
are common problems that all business owners face.
The key to time management is managing yourself. It's not other people
who control how you use your time, it's you! This might require changing habits you've
established over a long period of time. You also do it because you want to have more time
for important things, such as family, friends, hobbies, education, or just relaxing. You
want to work smarter, not harder.
The critical key: "Just Say No"
One of the greatest time savers is using the word "NO". The
inability to use this word leads to taking on too much work, procrastinating on more
difficult assignments, and failure to do more important tasks such as developing new
business, or attend your daughter's soccer game (even more important).
In order to make more efficient and effective use of your time, you
must be able to plan for the future and prioritize the present. You must be able to
control your workload as much as possible.
No appraiser can do every appraisal assignment. If you're a commercial
appraiser, do you accept an appraisal on a home? If you're a residential lender-oriented
appraiser, do you accept an assignment in a city 200 miles away?
How to change your behavior
Let's say, for example, you decide you're spending too much time on the
phone (i.e., 3 hours per day). You're having to work late into the evening to get your
appraisal reports done.
Your biggest bad habit is picking up the phone whenever it rings, even
when you're feverishly working on a report that is due today. You decide to train yourself
to let it ring into voice mail (or an answering machine, or let your secretary answer the
phone), using behavior modification techniques.
The reason you pick up the phone is that you're afraid to lose an
assignment (even though you're already too busy), afraid a client is trying to contact you
(even though they couldn't get you right now if you were in the field). A pretty simple,
basic, motivational factor: fear.
When you're decided which behavior you want to modify, do it as soon as
possible, don't delay. Don't try to do too much. Take it one step at a time. Make a
commitment to the new habit for a period of time, such as 2 weeks, and don't let yourself
backslide. Reward yourself for using your new habit. Tell others about your new way of
working, so you'll be more likely to keep doing it. You are trying to modify your
behavior, and rewards and consistency are both very important to your success.
For example, immediately stop picking up the phone when it rings. Let
it go to voice mail, for one hour a day, say between 2PM and 3PM. Yes, it will be very
difficult. Yes, you will be very afraid of losing a client or assignment. Do this every
day for two weeks.
Tell your spouse, friends, staff, or other appraisers about your new
way of increasing productivity. You'll be less likely to backslide. You'll be afraid of
looking like an idiot if you backslide on the second day. (That old, familiar motivator of
fear!).
After letting the phone ring for an hour a day becomes a habit, try
increasing the time, say, four hours, when you're really pushing a deadline. What emotion
will you feel then? Fear will be replaced by satisfaction in getting more done and
reducing stress, a positive motivator. Most of us would prefer that to the old fear of not
being able to complete a report on time.
Prioritizing tasks
An extremely valuable time management tool is a "to-do" list.
Without one, you drift through the day, "putting out fires" and not really
accomplishing what you wanted to. You cannot do everything. Some tasks will not be done.
Start your day with a to-do list (or do it as the last thing you do at
the end of the day before.).
Prioritize your list. When prioritizing, both important and urgent
tasks must be listed. If you only list and do the urgent tasks, you'll probably won't get
around to any important tasks.
An vital concept in time management is the difference between important
and urgent tasks. Important tasks have long-term results, like marketing, catching up on
periodicals reading, or learning a new software program.
Urgent tasks such as making a phone call, completing an appraisal due
in a few days, or repairing a broken copier can always take up all your time. It is very
satisfying to put out fires. They bring immediate results. But, we all know there are
probably more important tasks we should be working on.
In order to complete your important tasks, you must set aside the time.
Urgent tasks will always be able to take up all your time if you let them.
One way is to select a certain time period per week or per day, with no
interruptions allowed. If there are too many distractions in your office, work at home
during certain time periods or come in early. The key is setting aside the time, and not
backsliding. You are trying to establish a new habit. Distractions are also a problem if
you work at home.
Certain tasks will stay on your to-do list for some time, without being
done. No one can do everything. Some tasks will just not get done. Take them off your
to-do list. It's very hard to not to try do everything, but it is critical to time
management.
Overcoming procrastination
As you use your to do list over a few weeks, you will see certain tasks
seem to take much too long to get done.
We all procrastinate. Unfortunately procrastination often results in
taking more time, at a lower quality performance, when a task is left until the last
minute.
Procrastination is a corollary to a lack of planning. Ways to avoid
procrastination are:
- setting your own deadlines
- Starting and completing a difficult or unpleasant task or breaking it down into
manageable segments
- Setting priorities, and focusing on one problem at a time and not letting yourself get
distracted.
One way to get started conquering procrastination is to start your day
by prioritizing and doing the most unpleasant task on your to-do list. You will feel
relieved your don't have to worry about the task any longer, and confident that you're
conquering procrastination.
Doing this every day will make it a habit, replacing fear and guilt for
not getting the job done with a positive feeling of accomplishment. You'll start your day
with a good feeling and will look forward to getting tasks done. Procrastination will be
conquered.
Phone tips
Telephones are both the greatest time savers and time wasters. There
are many ways to cut down on phone interruptions, too-long calls, and telephone tag.
To avoid becoming a slave to your phone, you must control your calls,
rather than being controlled by your callers.
For incoming calls, screening is required. If you have a secretary,
inform him or her that you will only be taking certain calls, or no calls. Answering
services and machines do block all calls, and can be checked frequently for any important
calls. The reason for call screening is to allow you to concentrate on a task. It takes
much less time to complete an appraisal if you're not interrupted.
We're all afraid an important call will be missed if we don't pick up
the phone. You may miss an important call, but you will be able to complete the job at
hand. After all, if you are out in the field, you couldn't pick up the phone!
Telephone tag is a problem. You give your callers a specific time that
you will be calling back. If they are out when you call them, ask your callers to let you
know what is the best time for you to call them.
Keeping calls short, when possible, is also important. The opening line
can set the tone for the conversation. You can say, ‘Hi, Susan, I'm calling to ask
you just a few questions', rather than ‘I haven't talked with you for awhile, how are
things going?'
Managing your staff's time
Are you causing problems for your staff's time management? Some of the main faults of
principal/owners are: changing priorities in mid-stream, poor communication, and
interruptions. This applies to both appraisal and support staff.
Communication problems are: failing to inform your staff about deadlines or what exactly
is expected, not being available to answer questions, and not keeping all the staff
members informed about relevant facts, such as a new copier being installed next week,
who's on vacation, or training sessions for a new computer program.
For your appraisers, a typical problem is the principal being too busy to answer questions
about an appraisal, causing the associate to delay completing it, or do it incorrectly.
For support staff, often the principal gives hurried, brief instructions, and is not
available for questions later.
Many firms have solved communication problems by having weekly
staff meetings, having principals set aside certain times of the day for staff questions,
or posting notices on bulletin boards or distributing a brief memo.
Changing priorities is a significant problem for many support staff personnel. For
example, a secretary is in the middle of putting together an appraisal report, and is told
by the principal to start working on another report. As a result of the change in
priorities, the first report takes longer than it should have.
If you're lucky enough to have had a secretary train you, you'll know
that you need to start your support staff's day with a prioritized list of what they need
to accomplish that day. Or, you can let the support staff do the list. Don't change the
priorities except for very occasional emergencies. You'll also need to provide a
prioritized list of tasks that don't have do be done right now, but need to be completed
at some future date.
When you were an employee, and your boss walked up and started talking, what did you do?
If you wanted to stay happily employed, you stopped what you were doing to talk with her
or him. Your staff probably acts the same towards you. Every time you interrupt them, they
lose time. Don't interrupt unless it's really necessary.
Encourage your staff to "manage the boss", and let you
know when deadlines are unrealistic, you keep changing priorities, or interrupt them.
Encourage them to question and seek agreement on priorities and respect your "closed
door" times. Respect their time and they will respect yours.
Where to get more information
There are many books on time management. Check your local book store or
library. Most of the issues and techniques are fairly well known, and are used in almost
all books.
I wrote a series of articles on time management several years ago that
are available as a Reprint Series for $12. I also have a one hour audio tape of a speech
Ann O'Rourke, our publisher gave, for $12. Call 800-839-0227, 24 hours a day, to order, or
send us a check. If you don't have time to read anything, you can at least listen to the
tape in your car!
Taking a time management workshop or seminar can be very helpful. Ann
O'Rourke took one 15 years ago, and she is still using the techniques she learned there.
Time is money - don't waste it!
Want more time management ideas and tips? To order
our newsletter, Time management Reprint Series or audiotape, go to the Our Products page.
Previously published in Appraisal Today.
Written by Ann O'Rourke.
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