When tasks are delegated to members within a team the clarity of the work packages can determine how fast the work gets done, the quality of the work produced and the amount of support that is required. Many businesses don’t get their packages right and this results in delays and poor performance. Providing the background or focus for the package of work can set the proper context, which in turn allows the person doing the work to make the appropriate decisions. A lack of understanding of why the work needs to be done seriously impairs the ability to get the job done. Clarification of the required outputs (or outcomes) from the package of work is also essential. This usually includes a deadline for completion of the agreed work and can help your team to work backwards to define the necessary steps to complete the work package. There may be specific steps that you need to include also. Designing the work packages so that they can be inserted correctly into the next stage

At the end of many projects there is usually a rush to achieve the deadline. In many cases additional tasks seem to appear and make the task of completing a project on time a lot more difficult. A way around this is preparation; understanding what tasks need to be completed at the end of the project helps to reduce the amount of surprises encountered. If you work backwards from the fully completed project you usually find it is relatively straightforward to identify the steps that need to take place. Likewise, knowing how the project is meant to start effectively can also mean that there is less to do at the end. This is usually the most defined part of the project (as crystal balls work best with short horizons!), but often steps are missed out that mean that work has to happen at the end and not the start. In the middle of the project there will be the bulk of the activity, the recommendation here is to understand how you close out the tasks, to ensure that they don'

A Tyneside entrepreneur is helping North-East businesses become more efficient. Giles Johnston is MD of Smartspeed Consulting Ltd, based in Jarrow. The 34-year-old Chartered Engineer specialises in helping businesses become leaner and fitter. One of the techniques he uses is called Kaizen, which originates in Japan. The term means improvement or change for the better. Giles explains, “The concept is that of continuous improvement through incremental changes. Implemented properly, it helps overcome resistance to change because it is designed to allay fears and involve all concerned. “Kaizen is very different from the big scale command and control management style that has so dominated British Industry for decades. This is because the technique focuses on solving particular problems through a step-by-step process. “In short, it promotes nibbling change and not chewing off too much! “Kaizen is very much about involving the workers in finding solutions as opposed to management

A recurring observation about people using computers is that most people don't know how to use them to become more productive. After all, computers are meant to be one of the ultimate productivity tools. Shortcuts are one of the best examples. Many key strokes and mouse clicks can be boiled down into a shortcut. Long handed ways of doing things can be replaced and your productivity can increase. Understanding the functions of your computer programs is another area that is often overlooked. New versions of software get released and people use them like the version they used five years ago! Taking a short tour of your software can help you to find new ways to work. Some logical searching on a search engine can give you many answers. Searches such as 'Excel keyboard shortcuts' or 'best features in Word 2010' can bring you quickly a whole raft of ideas on how to use your software more effectively. Most of us only use a small part of our software's potential,

When diaries get full and people get really busy lots of little things don't get done. When this happens it is like going to the dentist for your regular check up, but you haven't cleaned your teeth for the last six months! When the little things in a business don't get done (analogous to cleaning your teeth) then after a while you encounter problems in your business. They seem to appear suddenly, but they haven't - they have just not been in your consciousness until then. Focussing only on the big things will leave your business riding on a wave of being out of control, followed by periods of correction, and then feeling in control. Just as you start to feel comfortable and get busy again the little things start to get dropped once more and the cycle continues. You need to schedule the big things and plan your resources accordingly. You also need to come up with a way to keep all of the little things going. The trick is to get both scheduled and acted upon on an

Change can be tough to accept for many people. If it were easier we would find that more improvements happened on their own, but they don't. However, if we can find something to pull improvements through a business, rather than pushing them, life can become a lot easier. It's similar to a skip on a housing estate that gets filled by the neighbours in the dead of night. For years no one has cleared their garages, and then suddenly there is a window of opportunity (the skip) and the job gets done with ease. The tiny changes we make in our business get around people's reluctance to change, but when there is a significant change all manner of other improvements can be made at the same time. People see the big change as inevitable and so are often more willing to accept the other changes brought in at the same time. Whether the change is a new computer system, a restructure or a promotion it brings with it the opportunity to add in additional changes. Obviously th

When we improve the clarity of what we do the irrelevant disappears and the work content can decrease. In other words, when we are clear about what we do, we will find that we need to work less.   Sounds great, doesn't it? Double handling takes place when we are unclear of what we need to do. The best way to increase work throughput or increase flexibility is to do a job once only. Improve the clarity of the work instructions and this can happen in your business. Unclear instructions lead to more questions. Usually the instructions are incomplete because they haven’t been thought out fully. If you find projects stalling, tasks not being finished (or even started!) or inadequate work being produced then review your instructions and check to make sure they are complete. When we have unnecessary complexity in our business things can take a long time. When we get clear about the purpose of the business simplicity can be derived. This allows us to deliver more results wi