Eagle Professional Resources Inc. » The Eagle Blog

Managing Your Time … 10 Tips

Kevin — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:28:04 +0000

One of the most powerful things you can do for your career … and even for your life, is to drive your day rather than have your day drive you. Basically that means consciously deciding how to spend your time rather than it just happening. Don’t get me wrong, that does not mean work,work, work … it might mean consciously deciding to nap, play or just “chill out”!

Here are 10 tips for taking control of your time:

1. Be a BIG Calendar user … use it to plan your time.

2. Block off time in your calendar for meetings with yourself … and treat them like any other meeting (be punctual). Sales people might block time for prospecting; recruiters might block time for contacting their candidates; managers might block time for any number of projects that otherwise don’t get done!

3. Build regular commitments into your calendar in advance. That monthly meeting with your boss, the prep time for the monthly presentation you give, the end of month/start of month tasks you do regularly like progress reports etc.

4. Use To Do Lists. You can use electronic lists, paper lists … whatever works for you. They should contain any significant task (or group of tasks). eg. Follow up with my 20 candidates might be there as one entry … but isn’t complete until all are done. Some people advocate one big list, pthers suggest multiple lists … I have a list for each of my major “projects”

5. Prioritise your tasks. You might use Covey’s Important/Not Important/Urgent Not Urgent matrix … or a simple A,B,C system. But work on the high return items first. There is a good sense of accomplishment in ticking off those completed tasks!

6. Manage your phone and email … do not let them manage you! Just because the phone rings you do not have to pick it up … use your caller id to know if it is important! Just because an email lands in your desk you don’t need to read it right away. It is far more effective to process email in batches at a time that works for you and your job.

7. Multi-tasking versus multi threading! You cannot be efficient when you do two things at the same time. Having said that, reality is you will have several tasks “on the go” at the same time. The trick is to be totally focused on the one you are processing for the time you are processing it. Then focus on the next task. This way you can keep several tasks moving forward at the same time, but deal with them effectively.

8. Build time into your calendar for thinking/strategising/organising yourself. Some people like to do this last thing in the week to be prepared for the following week and others do it first thing in the week. do what works for you.

9. Build in your socialising/networking time. Avoid the ad hoc “water cooler chat” … but allot time to build and maintain relationships. This way time does not get eaten up by idle chatter … you are consciously managing it.

10. Revisit your time management methods every now and then … and certainly if you change job. It can ALWAYS get better!

Please know, as mentioned at the beginning, good time management can actually enhance your life by giving your more time for those things that are important in your life. If you want to golf 4 times a week (and I don’t know why anyone would want to do that) then figure out how you can do it … plan it into your schedule and make other things fit around it!

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are? Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
Gain a competitive edge! Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
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Succeeding in the Workplace

Kevin — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:32:17 +0000

Yesterday I was a speaker at the 50th Anniversary Professional Development Week conference in Ottawa. This event is for technology workers in the Canadian Federal Government and is held at the beautiful Ottawa Convention Centre.

What a fantastic conference they have organised this year with keynote speakers including Steve Wozniak (The Woz), David Suzuki, Peter Mansbridge and Rick Mercer (and of course Kevin Dee)!

My talk was about how to be successful in our changing workplace.

First I talked about WHY the change is happening:

1. The speed at which technology is advancing … with references to some of the innovations in just my lifetime.

2. The impact of demographics, the retiring boomers, the smaller workforce following on and the inevitable need to increase our tax paying workforce as our tax system copes with the increased burden of an aging population.

3. The impact of globalization including access to low cost talent in other countries. Here in Canada we saw our manufacturing base eroded significantly this way, and we have seen off-shoring of tech jobs too.

4. The fiscal realities we now face. The recession was devastating and many economies have still not recovered, the markets are still fluctuating and this appears to be our new reality … so the creation of jobs is affected.

My message to the audience was that they are responsible for their own destiny, and that if they want to change theri situation they need a plan. If they think of themselves as a company and develop a Mission, Vision and core values this would be the foundation they could build upon.

I provided some practical advice in four areas in order for people to reach their goals … Attitude, Personal Branding, Lifelong Learning and Networking.

The reality is that all of us NEED to work … and therefore if we are going to put that many hours into work then why not do it with a positive attitude. Attitude was the first thing that needs to be “worked on” in order to successfully transform your life.

I wrote a blog entry called Your Attitude Defines You … which gives many of the points I talked about in my presentation on the subject of Attitude. Take a read.

The next area I focused on was Personal Branding … which basically mirrored a blog entry I wrote about Enhancing Your Personal Brand. The question is really about what image you want to project, how do you want to be viewed by your bosses, coworkers, potential employers etc. This includes both physically and virtually … what do you want people to see when they Google you?

I have written about Lifelong Learning many times so the message that we become obsolete fast in our ever changing world is probably getting a little old. I did provide some pragmatic things you can do to help yourself and a blog entry I wrote called How to Get Smarter covers most of them.

The final area I covered was networking, and recognising this an an area most people struggle with I again tried to provide some concrete suggestions for expanding your network. A blog entry entitled 10 Tips for Networking in Today’s World is probably a little old, but the content is still relevant and contains much of what I shared with the audience.

I finished up with a slide that talked about some Rules to Enjoy LIFE … and I define my life as a holistic entity comprised of both work and home, which are inter related. A blog entry I wrote called Living Your Life contains much of that content!

The presentation seemed to be well received … I hope you find something of value here.

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Gain a competitive edge! Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Find Canada’s top hot jobs, updated in real-time! Visit Eagle’s Job Centre!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
________________________________________________________________

Industry Conferences – A Great Learning Opportunity

Kevin — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:40:47 +0000

I talk a lot about the need to always be learning. The speed of change today is such that if you don’t keep learning you will quickly be left behind. One of the surprisingly effective ways to stay current is attending industry conferences. Last week I attended our Canadian staffing industry conference organised by our industry association (ACSESS). Here are just a few reasons why I invested a day and a half of my time into this event:

As a business owner this is a great opportunity to network with peers and competitors in a meaningful way, leading to open conversations about our mutual challenges, where the industry is going, economic trends and building relationships that make future tough conversations just that little bit easier!

I was inspired by several interesting keynote speakers who were not focused on our industry:

Bill Strickland told a story of hope and achievement. He truly does make the impossible, possible … and changes lives every day because of the great work he has done providing a nurturing educational environment for troubled youth. (Read his book) … Making the Impossible Possible!

David Foot is an economist specialised in demographics and his book Boom, Bust & Echo explains many of the economic shifts we have seen in recent years and his forecasts for the nations that will thrive into the future are very interesting. Would you have picked Brazil, Turkey and Vietnam as future powerhouse nations?

Amanda Lang is a journalist, author and host of The Lang and O”Leary Exchange on CBC. Her talk was about innovation, and was based on her book The Power of Why … and how curiosity is something we all have as children, yet if we could retain that curiosity we would have even more innovators! An interesting and entertaining presentation.

I attended sessions dedicated or very relevant to my industry ..

A round table of industry leaders talking about where they see things going.
A social recruiting session with an expert in that world.
An international look at our industry … perhaps a look at what might be coming, the challenges and opportunities.
A look at where the job boards are going, the implications of big data and how we need to prepare for its impact on our industry.
In the first day I took six pages full of notes!
There were exhibitors with offerings geared to our industry, software solutions and services.
There were networking events that allowed me to talk to private equity people, competitors and other industry experts.

Throw in a nice gala dinner, some awards and some entertainment … I would suggest this was a good use of my time!

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are? Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
Gain a competitive edge! Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Are You Getting the Whole Story?

Kevin — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:41:31 +0000

How many times have you been surprised that the service you thought you were getting was not quite what you expected?

The holiday home rental property by the sea is actually three blocks from the sea … but that qualifies as by the sea to the owner!

The software you bought does not actually do everything you thought it would.

The seller neglected to mention that trailer you bought has a non standard hitch.

Have ever gotten a story about “an incident” that perhaps wasn’t quite the same when you got more facts?

Your child tells you about how unfairly they were treated by the teacher. The teacher tells you the whole story!

Your employee talks up all the extra hours they have been putting in at the end of the day. You then find out that they haven’t been showing up in the office until much later than you thought.

I hear from salespeople all the time that “that client” isn’t spending … based on input from the sales person’s contact! Meanwhile other parts of the client organization are spending like drunken sailors!

So what?

The point here is that very often there are many perspectives or points of view to consider. Sometimes (most times?) one person just does not have all the facts.

If you base your decisions upon one perspective, no matter whether you trust that person or not, you might not be happy with the outcome.

If you want to make the best decisions then …

Ask lots of questions!

Get as many inputs as possible.

Do NOT base important decisions on just one source!

Taking Life for Granted

Kevin — Tue, 14 May 2013 23:38:48 +0000

Most people need to work at life.

We put in effort in school to get the marks required to pass courses and eventually graduate.

We work at our sports to compete at an appropriate level.

We work at our careers to reach the levels we aspire to.

We work at our health to achieve our quality of life.

For SOME people “things” can come easier than others. The person who is naturally gifted in academics, in sport or seemingly has those “never puts on weight” genes!

SOME people just make it look effortless … while they are actually working hard to achieve their place.

SOME people get discouraged when they see others seemingly achieving goals effortlessly.

Here is the thing … its OK to measure yourself against others, it is NOT OK get discouraged by those you perceive to have it easier than you! You don’t REALLY know all the facts!

All of us can benefit from a “gut check” every now and then to make sure we are NOT taking things in our life for granted.

Are you taking your health for granted? Do you get regular check-ups? Do you try to have a reasonable healthy lifestyle? We only get one go at this … my intention is to stick around as long as possible!

Are you taking your job success for granted? Are you getting stale? Do you invest in yourself … or expect that to be taken care of by your company? When was the last time YOU invested in YOU?

Are you taking your relationships for granted? Do you take more than you give? Are you making deposits into those emotional bank accounts?

It is easy to take life for granted … and life has a way of upsetting that apple cart!

Presume, at your own risk!

“The arrogance of success is to think that what we did yesterday is good enough for tomorrow.” … William Pollard

The Underdog

Kevin — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:50:35 +0000

The underdog is the “one who is not supposed to win“.

How many times have we seen the “little guy’ overcome the odds to win … just like Rocky Balboa winning his title fight in the movie (several movies actually).

How do you react when you are the underdog? The one not supposed to get the promotion. The one not supposed to win the contract. The one not supposed to come away with the prize.

You can use the position to your advantage and overachieve.

You can choose to be motivated by the relative positioning … using it to fire up your competitive streak.

You can determine to show them … because after all “Its not the size of the man in the fight, its the size of the fight in the man“!

OR …

You can use it as an excuse … “we tried, but we knew we weren’t going to win”!

You can “roll over” and accept the inevitable.

You can “give it a college try”!

Kevin’s thoughts …

1. If you don’t think you are going to win … you are not going to win.

2. If you are going to play then play to win!

3. It doesn’t really matter what others think, it is what you think that counts.

Are You Accountable?

Kevin — Fri, 10 May 2013 20:48:40 +0000

Accountable people make commitments … and then meet them.

You can depend on people who are accountable.

Accountable people don’t make excuses.

Accountable people don’t throw their arms in the air in defeat … they find a way.

Accountable people don’t need anyone to tell them what they need to do.

If you want to be a professional athlete or the best in any field, you make a serious commitment and it is all up to you to reach your dream.

When you get two teams of accountable people facing off against each other in any sports environment you have something people pay to watch.

I can tell you that climbing in a boxing ring requires a level of commitment, to reach the dizzy heights of a Muhammed Ali requires serious accountability!

When you have people who are driven to meet and exceed their goals you have potential winners … and those are people you want on your team!

So … ask yourself some questions.

Are you one of those accountable people around which organizations can build?

If not, then what are you going to do about that?

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” … Muhammed Ali

Common Sense

Kevin — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:36:39 +0000

Voltaire suggested that “Common sense is not so common.”

Certainly it is a trait that is valued by employers … sometimes even more than intelligence (EQ versus IQ?)

“Common sense is seeing things as they are; and doing things as they ought to be.” ― Harriet Beecher Stowe

Some thoughts on common sense …

1. I believe that the more experience you have the more “common” the sense becomes.

2. Common sense is often demonstrated through sound decision making.

3. You cannot make good decisions if you are not TRULY engaging your brain … doing what you have always done, taking others opinions at face value and making a decision while your mind is somewhere else are all common flaws, leading to a lack of common sense in the decision.

4. People we consider to have good common sense are often described as dependable … that is not a bad thing.

5. Sometimes making the uncommon decision is what brings creativity … BUT you need the common sense to know when that is appropriate.

6. Some people understand what the common sense answer is but choose very consciously to make bad decisions … but the outcome is the same. So … exercising common sense would seem to be the desirable outcome.

I don’t think there are magic bullets … we learn common sense through our life’s experiences, from birth to today. Every day we all see situations that cause us to shake our heads, wondering, “What were they thinking?” It appears that people either have it or they don’t, some people who have it don’t exercise it and I think most people believe they have it … but the jury is out!

Sometimes the result of poor common sense is not a big deal … and sometimes it can be life or death, relationship or no relationship, job or no job.

Clients are Clients … Like Them or Not!

Kevin — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:51:03 +0000

It is human nature to gravitate towards people that we like, and that like us. In our personal lives that is our choice … although I will make the comment that you should never make assumptions because some of the strongest relationships are born out of adversity!

If you are a salesperson it is your job to service your clients … whether you personally like them or not.

It is your job to pursue new clients, whether they appear to “approachable” or not.

It is your job to represent your company professionally and treat all of those clients and prospects with the respect they deserve.

Here are some indicators that maybe you are missing the boat …

1. You find your self meeting with a few people very frequently … and they might not be your top prospects.

2. There are some clients that you treat better than others … and it has nothing to do with their spend.

3. You find yourself avoiding contacting certain clients … for no good business reasons.

4. The people you spend the most time with are just like you!

5. You don’t look for new client contacts outside of your comfort zone.

I understand that when we have strong relationships with clients it can lead to business. I also understand that there are a lot of clients that don’t want to be friends with their supplier, they just want good service at a fair price! You MUST have a reasonable relationship with ALL of your clients … regardless!

Another thing to consider is that as we mature it is possible to broaden our horizons, and to develop other interests. People whose company we might not have sought a few years back suddenly become much more interesting to us and vice versa. So that client you don’t like too much today might actually be your best friend a few years from now.

Finally, it might be that you don’t particularly like a client because of some conflict … yet very often, if you handle the conflict well, these clients can become big supporters.

The bottom line …

These are clients of your company … and they ALL need to be serviced accordingly.

If you are not treating ALL of your clients with an appropriate amount of care then someone else surely will!

OWN IT!

Kevin — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:17:08 +0000

There are no guarantees in life.

You are an accident of birth … and if you look critically, then you have “lucked out” by being born in a first world country.

What you choose to do between birth and death is basically all about you.

You can choose to waste all of your opportunities. I did some of that!

You can accept what fate brings for you. I did a little of that too!

You can work hard and strive to reach whatever heights you are capable of. I like to think I do this.

You can bemoan all the things that are wrong in your life. I have certainly done some of this.

You can focus on the good things in your life. I like to think that is what I do today.

You can see problems or you can see opportunities.

You can “roll over” or you can battle through.

You can accept your current situation or you can change it.

Whatever you do it won’t be easy … but who said life was supposed to be easy?