Boost the Executive in You!

Asian executives and professionals are in a nippy pace to take the region to the pinnacle of growth and success and they are putting a lot effort on it even more. According to a recent survey on attitudes and expectations of small and medium based businesses, it surfaced that seven out of the 10 countries with the maximum increase level are business leaders from Asia. This rise can also be a result of the positive of some of the East's booming countries.

How can you maintain the impetus when it would normally require an equally immense amount of energy?

Most executives have never been taught how to work efficiently and effectively. They may have been educated to work in their profession; however they may have no idea on how to organize themselves or how best to process their work. They have developed habits early in their career that remain unconscious and un-inspected today. This conclusion was made by Kerry Gleeson who had 20 years of experience delivering the Personal Efficiency Program and observing and coaching executives in the workplace.

The practical approach on workload management will enable the executives or any professional, to compare their existing work practices against the best-practice principles. These principles have been developed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in paper and electronic environments. To ensure that the new habits are instilled and learning methodology is customised, a coaching session is conducted at their workplace.

For three days spread across six weeks, the executives will be introduced to new practices, skills as they enjoy the session with the other members of the group. PEP comes in groups of six participants to ensure that the issues and concerns of each and every participant are highlighted and addressed.

Here are some easy pointers for busy executives:

PLAN AHEAD: Devise your game plan months ahead to ensure that the work is done each day, helping you to achieve your goals and objectives. Make sure that you are tagging with them realistic timelines and clear to-do-lists. Do not leave these great ideas on paper, act on them now!

MAKE THE MOST OUT THE MEETING: Before calling out for a meeting, you should have an agenda on hand. Set deadlines and a person-in-charge for each action item, while making sure that a colleague (secretary or assistant) ensures the other talking points are captured in the minutes.

MANAGE THE FLOW OF EMAILS: Set a time for reading your mails- morning, after lunch and before leaving work. Once you have opened the email, do not leave it there; instead, act on them right away or if you are pretty packed at the moment, drag the email on to your calendar and set a time for attending to it.

ORGANISE: Ensure that everything is in its right place - may it be paper or emails. It is always beneficial to label or colour-code folders and documents for easy retrieval and storage of information.

COMMUNICATION: Work with your team to define goals, objectives and priorities. By doing this, a clear direction is being set for your department and a smooth workflow is achieved. Be in charge of the projects and delegated work to free them to work on their objectives or KPIs.

Being a slave to time and work is not the answer. It is about doing more things with less time and effort. It may be difficult to embrace these changes right away, but it has always been NOW, TODAY and not YESTERDAY to start combating stress, downsides of unachieved work-life balance and to keep up with the inevitable demands of the pressure-driven environment.

PEP is one effectual coach. From time to time, take a moment to revisit your work habits and your priorities in life. Ask yourself, who's the boss? It is not your work or the very boss at the office. It is YOU. So, do what fits you in multiplying your productive and successful episodes in life.

-Published on Feb '08 Entrepreneur's Digest