Why I wrote this book
I remember entering the office world after completing my Masters. I had spent the previous year working towards my degree, which involved completing coursework, carrying out research, and writing essays. Indeed, up until this point, these activities formed the mainstay of my time in education. In my naivety, I thought that the skills I had gained would stand me in good stead in the office world, especially in a “basic” administrative role. Indeed, I wasn’t afraid of hard work and thought I had the necessary “smarts” to do well in an office environment; after all I now had my Masters certificate to prove it!
However, the reality is that the world of academia largely operates in a bubble, separate and largely independent from the world of work. Of course, hopefully you’ll pick up some transferrable skills such as how to write effectively, how to problem solve, analytical thinking etc but when you first enter the office environment it can be like setting foot on an alien planet.
This was certainly the case in my first role as an administrator in a busy department. I remember being bombarded with different requests from both my line manager and other members of the team, having to sort out the incoming post, manage calendars, pick up and respond to incoming calls, all whilst trying to learn about the new Company I was working for and work out who everyone was.
Needless to say, I struggled in this role. I felt completely overwhelmed and my confidence took a nose-dive. Had I made the wrong career choice? I ended up moving to another organisation. Fortunately this time, I was taken under the wing of a highly experienced administrator who began to teach me how to cope with the priorities and deadlines set for me.
That was about 20 years ago and things have changed a lot in that time. One of the most significant changes is the domination of e-mails as the main means of communication in most organisations. It’s not unusual for the average executive to be sent hundreds of e-mails each day. I’ve also noticed another trend: people are working longer and longer hours in an effort to keep up. Research by the TUC in 2015 showed that the number of people working more than 48 hours a week had increased by 15 per cent over the last five years. I fear that this trend is only set to continue.
Working longer hours is certainly one way of getting through an ever increasing workload. However, I propose an alternative approach: to squeeze every last drop of productivity out of a normal working day so that you can actually have some sort of “work-life balance”. This has to be preferable to the alternative: increasing stress, frustration and eventual burnout.
There is of course a further incentive: the labour force is one of an organisation’s most expensive costs and as such most companies are keen to ensure they obtain maximum productivity from the staff they employ. Members of staff that can consistently complete tasks assigned to them in the given time frame are highly valued and will be rewarded accordingly. Conversely, few employers are likely to tolerate unproductive and inefficient members of staff especially if they are experiencing 'hard times'.
If you’ve just started a new administrator role or you're feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work that is piling up and the barrage of information thrust in your direction, hopefully the techniques outlined in this book will allow you to gain a feeling of control. It will show you how you can be organised and maximise the use of your time so that you are focussed on working on the right things, at the right time.
Here's a snippet of what's covered:
* Effective priority setting
* Coping with e-mail overload
* Making the best use of your calendar
* How to create an effective To-Do list
* The key skills to learn as an administrator
* Microsoft Office productivity tips
* Coping with interruptions
I remember entering the office world after completing my Masters. I had spent the previous year working towards my degree, which involved completing coursework, carrying out research, and writing essays. Indeed, up until this point, these activities formed the mainstay of my time in education. In my naivety, I thought that the skills I had gained would stand me in good stead in the office world, especially in a “basic” administrative role. Indeed, I wasn’t afraid of hard work and thought I had the necessary “smarts” to do well in an office environment; after all I now had my Masters certificate to prove it!
However, the reality is that the world of academia largely operates in a bubble, separate and largely independent from the world of work. Of course, hopefully you’ll pick up some transferrable skills such as how to write effectively, how to problem solve, analytical thinking etc but when you first enter the office environment it can be like setting foot on an alien planet.
This was certainly the case in my first role as an administrator in a busy department. I remember being bombarded with different requests from both my line manager and other members of the team, having to sort out the incoming post, manage calendars, pick up and respond to incoming calls, all whilst trying to learn about the new Company I was working for and work out who everyone was.
Needless to say, I struggled in this role. I felt completely overwhelmed and my confidence took a nose-dive. Had I made the wrong career choice? I ended up moving to another organisation. Fortunately this time, I was taken under the wing of a highly experienced administrator who began to teach me how to cope with the priorities and deadlines set for me.
That was about 20 years ago and things have changed a lot in that time. One of the most significant changes is the domination of e-mails as the main means of communication in most organisations. It’s not unusual for the average executive to be sent hundreds of e-mails each day. I’ve also noticed another trend: people are working longer and longer hours in an effort to keep up. Research by the TUC in 2015 showed that the number of people working more than 48 hours a week had increased by 15 per cent over the last five years. I fear that this trend is only set to continue.
Working longer hours is certainly one way of getting through an ever increasing workload. However, I propose an alternative approach: to squeeze every last drop of productivity out of a normal working day so that you can actually have some sort of “work-life balance”. This has to be preferable to the alternative: increasing stress, frustration and eventual burnout.
There is of course a further incentive: the labour force is one of an organisation’s most expensive costs and as such most companies are keen to ensure they obtain maximum productivity from the staff they employ. Members of staff that can consistently complete tasks assigned to them in the given time frame are highly valued and will be rewarded accordingly. Conversely, few employers are likely to tolerate unproductive and inefficient members of staff especially if they are experiencing 'hard times'.
If you’ve just started a new administrator role or you're feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work that is piling up and the barrage of information thrust in your direction, hopefully the techniques outlined in this book will allow you to gain a feeling of control. It will show you how you can be organised and maximise the use of your time so that you are focussed on working on the right things, at the right time.
Here's a snippet of what's covered:
* Effective priority setting
* Coping with e-mail overload
* Making the best use of your calendar
* How to create an effective To-Do list
* The key skills to learn as an administrator
* Microsoft Office productivity tips
* Coping with interruptions
