"Live, love, learn, leave a legacy" ~ Stephen Covey

The focus of this month's meeting was on the ways we could create a legacy in our work so that colleagues would remember us in a positive light when we move on to new ventures. 

One way of doing this was to find reasons to be grateful at work, both for the work itself and the people we work with every day. This month members have been tasked to write one thank you card or email to a colleague, ahead of April's meeting. 

Work Smart - newsletter, March 2013

In our second meeting on Tuesday, Members contributed examples of positive aspects of work, ranging from working with lovely people, teams encouraging creative thinking and new starter drinks.

Members recommended the numbers of colleagues who had returned to work after leaving to work elsewhere, prompting them to reflect how best to leave a legacy whereby colleagues remembered them positively. LD compared leaving a legacy to writing with permanent marker pen on archive boxes, marking them with our individual handwriting, and leaving lasting proof that we had been here. Referring to colleagues returning, members raised the intention of maintaining our records and files as we would wish to find them if it was our first day in a new job.

Members also recognised that it could be taken for granted how much knowledge someone had accumulated until they had left the company, if it was not shared, causing “Business amnesia”. Similarly, Business amnesia could apply to any situation where information was not recorded, or there was no written record of important information, which could not then be accurately remembered six months later. Written records were more reliable than oral history. 

Members also discussed the best ways for booking meeting rooms and facilities for meetings:

• Reserve meeting rooms by email where possible. Email requests make it possible to monitor and track requests centrally between the relevant parties.
• Include meeting room requirements when reserving: date, venue, time, duration of meeting, number of people.
• If IT equipment or catering will be required, include this in the request.
• Cancel meeting rooms that are no longer needed, so that they become available for colleagues. This applies to meetings that finish early, as well as recurring meetings.
• External visitors - Specify whether they are external clients, or interview candidates, so they can be put in touch with the relevant contact.
• If taxis are required, include this in the request. 

Blog of the month:

http://www.jongordon.com/blog/2011/02/21/5-ways-to-leave-a-legacy-2/

LD handed out blank thank you cards to members during the meeting. Each member was asked to write one thank you card to a colleague before April's meeting. Members could choose to send e-cards instead if preferred.

For the next meeting, please tell us one way that you stay on top of your work or industry trends.
      
      Arctura

       Effective. Efficient. Organised. Professional

"If you light a lamp for someone it will brighten your own path." ~The Buddha

The inaugural lunchtime meeting of Work Smart took place on Monday, February 4th 2013. 20 members attended. I wrote up a brief newsletter of the points we covered in the meeting as a record for those who could not attend. 

Because much of the advice is applicable to anyone who works, I have edited the newsletter for public consumption and this follows below. 

This blog will alternate between my own insights and the monthly newsletter.

Work Smart - newsletter, February 2013

                                                                                                            20 members attended the inaugural meeting on February 4th. A number of books including Stephen Covey's "First Things First" were made available to attendees. Lynn Degele gave examples of how we can work smarter when we work together and when we are working at our best, so that we could be effective with people, and efficient with systems.

Referring to “First Things First” LD spoke about scheduling our priorities, whether that was for lunchtime, home life, or to manage our workloads more effectively:

• Putting the rocks, pebbles, sand and water in to ensure the important tasks are completed. More information on this can be found here
• Lunchtimes – members said it was more productive to take the time off, and step away from your desk.  Even if it does not feel that way initially, you feel more refreshed later in the day.
• Switching off the email alert notification, to focus on work
• Setting up rules to sort and direct emails automatically into folders from your inbox
• Opening your email inbox at 10am, so that you begin reading your emails at 10 in the morning. This can carve out the time for you to plan your day. 
• Start internal meetings after 10am, to allow for traffic and travel
• Building in time to get on top of inbox after annual leave/out of office
• Ensuring we give others the tools to get the job done, using effective communication, providing them with the hammer and nails, and telling them which wall to hang the picture on. 

Blog of the month:

http://timmilburn.com/put-exercise-on-your-calendar-not-your-to-do-list

Please bring one example of a positive aspect of work with you to the next meeting.

      

      Arctura

      Effective. Efficient. Organised. Professional