Q1 – 2012 – Check against Simple (New Year) Aims

Back in early December 2011 I wrote a post about my Simple Aims for 2012.

They were centered around WorK (find a new job), FamilY (Convert my VHS wedding vids), PersonaL (write a 50,000 word novel) and HealtH (cycle each day).

So now that I am well within Q1, how have I performed?  Well simple aim Work has been achieved.  Yesterday I handed in my notice as I have found a consultancy role with a new organisation.  The assessment process was gruelling however they liked something in me and in a couple of weeks time I will embark on a new challenge.

Be back in Q2 to dish out further updates.

 

How a Simple Fold can keep you Organised

My job means a huge proportion of my time chairing face-to-face meetings, conference calls and  workshops related to the projects I am managing.  Naturally, these entail taking down information either for reporting purposes, for progress or pending actions (no I am not a minute taker, that is a tough job, I tried it once in the absence of our Project Officer and failed miserably).

Anyway, take your average week of this and you have pages of notes and actions and has you know, it becomes very difficult somtimes to spot the action amongst the forest of notes, which can mean you miss something vital off.  So I devised a very easy method, appreciate it will be in use by someone somewhere else, I was just too slow to realise.

Fold the page down the middle and separate notes and actions – Bingo, you can pick the actions off because they are on the right hand side, now nothing get’s missed.

Now here’s the best bit, today, I walked over to our PMO (Project Management Office) and guess what, two of my colleagues now employ the same method as me, they told me they liked the idea and works for them.  I have now contributed something to the world, I have a legacy, my life is not a waste!

How do you organise yourself?

Free Range: Doesn’t just have to apply to Animals!

Rest assured, this post is not about Farming or how to best keep your chickens, however the whole notion around Free Range sparked an idea while I was at work.  For a quick definition, Free Range refers to animals that have been allowed to roam free, instead of being contained within a restricted area, thus impacting on their state of mind and welfare.  You can normally spot the various Free Range logo’s on your food items, in turn making you feel happier that the animal was allowed to walk around freely, ponder, think creatively before becoming an item on your plate (I am not a veggie in case you were wondering).  Well I was thinking, maybe we should include a similar logo within our signatures…why you ask?

When email replaces conversations…to save bacon

One of the key aspects of my job is to manage activities that involve multiple teams, to manage their times and expectations.  So naturally, email plays a vital role in communicating with those respective teams.  However, what do you do when the corporate culture includes talking more via email and less via phone, even when you are in an open plan office?