DOING THE RIGHT THINGS IN THE RIGHT ORDER

I'M PLAYING ALL THE RIGHT NOTES BUT NOT NECESSARILY IN THE RIGHT ORDER.

For the last five years at work I have been producing good figures. My biggest drawback was that I could not get enough letters out in any one day.

Traditionally I had dictated every letter with some standards letters. I would also do the work in strict chronological order. This resulted in all the work getting done but there was always a backlog of typing. I had three people typing for me but it never seemed to resolve itself.

I am told other firms of solicitors have now dispensed with secretaries and that fee earners type their own work. They do this through the use of technology, and standard letters.

Also I believe by not sending many letters going over to e mails and phone calls.

I had to totally rethink how I was doing the work. I then moved over to standardise all the letters. Now 90per cent of my letters are standard letters. That means I hand the file to a secretary and she can do it without prompting

I also strictly prioritise the work. All urgent work is turned round or acknowledged that day. This has the effect of keeping people off the phone. This allows us time to do all the work without having to keep talking to people about why we have not done the work.

This improved our productivity out of all proportion. We were doing the right things in the right order.

My one remaining problem was my main secretary who does the larger bills which require more thinking time and get put of because they are more difficult. I relieved her of all routine work and I said I would do so until she had cleared all the backlog.

I the tempted her one week by saying that she could have a half day off if by the end of the week she had cleared everything on her desk. She achieved at and as a result as reminded up to date every since. Now our most important and best paying matters are shifted on a daily basis.We are now pressing people for answers rather than just reacting to the work.

When I spoke to her about the idea she said "But I can't work any harder."

This is a common misconception. I am working as hard as I can. How can I possibly do any more? You have to agree with them they are working very hard indeed in fact too hard. The backlog is because of their work methods. It is building up and giving them stress which is not helping as they are working hard. it is their lack of method.

When we changed it round she is now working less hard but the important work is getting done and our turnover and profit is going up.

You have to ask yourself all day long "Am I doing now what is going to get me to my goal today" You will have devised a to do list and that is what you should be working on all day long. You have created this at the beginning of the day so it is your road map for the day.

There will be changes as new things come in but they should not let you deviate from your main task of shifting all on that list.

I will deal with interruptions and other urgent things that come in to push you off track. The biggest excuse that I hear is "Oh people ring me and give me things to do that are an emergency and I cannot get that day's work done"


The right things in the right order.