Stop working harder - work smarter!

Overview

Working smarter is about approaching your life, work and goals in a more sustainable, enjoyable and less stressful way. Working smarter is good for the organisation, in terms of increased productivity, and good for the employees, helping them to achieve a healthier work-life balance.

So why don’t we all work smarter? This high-energy, fun day explains why and shows what can be done about it.

Training objectives

Participants will acquire a range of tools and techniques to help them:

• Stay focused on key objectives
• Improve their time management
• Get through more work in less time
• Manage stress and avoid anxiety
• Achieve a better work-life balance

Audience

This programme is appropriate for staff at all levels. It can be tailored for different audiences (eg, for managers or for front-line staff) and environments (eg, offices, call centres or customer-facing).

Format

A highly interactive one-day course involving practical exercises and case studies.

Special feature – the book

Copies of the trainer’s best-selling book, Working Smarter, can be included in the package of materials if required.

The expert trainer

Graham specialises in providing high-quality consultancy, coaching and training in sales, sales management, customer service and personal productivity. He has a long career in sales and was a top-performing IT and solutions sales professional and sales manager. His most recent full-time role was as Managing Director of Sales Productivity and Development for Thomson Financial, helping develop a large European sales force.

His work has taken him all over the world and involved him in working closely with hundreds of different organisations from all business sectors, his client list including such organisations as BT, Vodafone, AT&T, Orange, Pfizer, GSK, Boots, Unilever, American Express, Thomas Cook, Apple, Sony, Motorola, Cisco, MFI, Barclays Bank, LIFFE, Abbey National, Prison Service, Home Office, Law Society, BBC, Daimler-Chrysler, Citroen, Weetabix, Nikon, Shell and many, many others. In addition he has written over twenty books published in several different countries, including Companies don’t succeed – people do!, 90 Brain Teasers for Trainers, Customer Service Games for Training, Sales Training Games, Telephone Tactics and Working Smarter.

Known internationally as both a trainer and a popular motivational speaker, he believes that effective learning has to be interactive and challenging. All his learning events are built around practical exercises, role play and case studies. His training style focuses not on just explaining new ideas or developing new skills, but also on motivating people to use them and to develop themselves as individuals.

Course outline

1. Why are we here?
   • Stop working harder – start working smarter
   • The golden rules
   • Attitude – the secret to good time management
   • Balancing your work style
2. Plan the work – and work the plan
   • Focusing on key performance indicators
   • Setting monthly goals and objectives
   • Creating a daily action plan
   • A time management system that works!
   • Planning your week
   • The 80/20 rule
3. How to gain one hour a day – every day
   • Time flies!
   • Expect the unexpected
   • Create a non-interruption zone
   • Dumping trivia and speeding-up routine tasks
   • Delegation
4. Positive goal-setting
   • Understanding how goals work
   • SMART goals
   • Setting and reviewing goals
   • Seven steps to achieving your goals
5. Dealing with interruptions
   • Why people interrupt you
   • How to say ‘not now’ and ‘no’ – nicely!
   • Creating the right environment
   • How to be more assertive
   • Avoiding interruptions
   • How to negotiate timescales
   • Dealing with your boss
   • Dealing with telephone interruptions
6. Conquering the paperwork
   • The tidy desk
   • Fantastic filing
   • The ten commandments of e-mail
   • Accelerated reading techniques
7. Overcoming procrastination
   • Why do we resist change?
   • A seven-day procrastination plan
   • Ten ways to ‘do it NOW’
8. The smart manager
   • Working to precise and measured objectives
   • Setting objectives – for your department and for yourself
   • A daily checklist
   • Proactive time management
   • Managing or trouble-shooting?
   • Delegation
9. Stress management
   • Dealing with situation-specific stress
   • Dealing with anxiety
   • Optimum stress levels
   • Stress elimination
10. Conclusion
    • Ten tips for a healthier life – at work and at home
    • Open forum
    • Close