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Why it is important to use a checklist

Sarah · Mar 20, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Checklists have the ability to revolutionize our productivity level and the way we get things done. Let’s consider the reasons to use a checklist in the first place.

The intent of any checklist, process or system, is to make your work and life easier, not to be burdensome or slow you down. (And hey, we’re all about making it easier to get business done around here! So we love checklists!)

RELATED: Characteristics of a great checklist

At this stage in life, the first reason is the biggest reason I love checklists!

Four Reasons to Use a Checklist

Assuming that you’re not a surgeon and no one’s life is at risk, a checklist exists for one or more of the following reasons:

To reduce decision fatigue

Checklists reduce decision fatigue by not forcing us to remember every.little.thing that needs to be done. The checklist acts as our memory. This allows us brain space for the things that do need our mental attention and effort.

To eliminate mistakes

Nobody sets out to make mistakes, but they happen more frequently than most of us admit. Following a checklist reduces the potential for mistakes and errors by ensuring thought is put into each step, every time.

To drive consistency

Without following a checklist, every one of us makes minor assumptions all day long that affect the way we do things. For personal checklists, we are likely to make the same minor assumptions if we perform tasks often enough. When multiple people complete the same tasks, a checklist is essential to ensure that the task, process or project will be completed exactly the same way each time. Restaurant recipes are a prime example of checklist consistency in action. Nobody wants to order the same menu item, and get different something slightly different each visit. Consistency matters.

To ensure that everything necessary is completed

Checklists reduce errors by clearly laying out exactly what needs to be done so that nothing is missed. This applies to both the routine things we do on a regular basis, and the things that are so infrequent that we would have to re-learn what to do each time without a checklist.

With checklists, you don’t need to know everything, you just need to know where to look for the right information.

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These all have the benefit of freeing up your memory to do your actual work rather than remembering what you need to do. A checklist is intended to help us get done what we need to get done with the least amount of mental effort possible.

Types of Checklists

So what does a checklist look like?

According to Atul Gawande, in his book, The Checklist Manifesto (affiliate link), there are two types of checklists: READ-DO and DO-CONFIRM.

With a READ-DO checklist, you follow the checklist as you go as a guide to make sure you follow every single step. A READ-DO checklist is great for those tasks and projects that you don’t have every step memories, either because they are long and in-depth or because you don’t do them very frequently. A READ-DO checklist is also a fantastic way to document information for team members to do.

A DO-CONFIRM checklist is used as a final check after a process or task is performed, to ensure nothing is missed. DO-CONFIRM checklists are performed at set pause-points in a given process, and ideally only take 30-60 seconds to review. A DO-CONFIRM checklist is a great way to gut-check that you aren’t forgetting anything critical.

And there you have it. Four key reasons to use a checklist and two main types of checklists. Remember, the intent of any checklist, process or system, is to make your work and life easier, not to be burdensome or slow you down.

RELATED: The importance of process: A potty training case study

The mom penalty: Are you part of the problem?

Sarah · Mar 19, 2018 · Leave a Comment

“You really should be considering asssistant-level positions,” the recruiter stated.

“Excuse me? Why? I was a manager for over 5 years,” I responded cried.

“Well, you’ve been out of the workforce so long that you’ll likely need to take a step down to get back in the game,” she stated.

Thus went my first job search conversation after I had been “out of the workforce” for a whopping 18 months. The majority of those 18 months I was freelancing part-time, and my resume showed zero gaps.

Was this for real?

Had my brain atrophied in the months I was working part time? Or was it simply the penalty I was required to pay since that time was a voluntary departure to spend more time with my newborn and toddler?

And what about those Canadians and Europeans for whom my time out is simply called “maternity leave?”

Needless to say, I did not work with that recruiter. A few months later, I found a role and picked my corporate career back up at roughly the same place I had left it.

Did I pay a penalty for those missing months? Absolutely.

Does it infuriate me? You bet.

Would I give up those months to go back and do it differently? Nope, not a chance.

The mom penalty: Are you part of the problem? | strategysarah.com

Fast forward a few years, and I’m on the other side. There are three of us, all females, discussing some upcoming resource needs.

“Should we consider Jane for this special project?”
“She’d be great at it, but she is just coming back from maternity leave. Do we want her to feel like she has to take it if it’s offered? We don’t want to overwhelm her or put too much on her plate.”

Here we were, a group of women, limiting our colleague because of her motherhood status.

The very thing I despised others doing to me, I was perpetuating. After too much time, we stopped and looked at each other and said, “This is crazy. We’re making these assumptions with the best of intentions but she is the only one who can decide if it’s the right move. Who are we to take he choice away from her, no matter how well intentioned?”

In the day and age of #metoo, wage transparency and leaning in, it’s worth taking a critical look at how our current culture has shaped and impacted us. It’s also worth looking at how we may unconsciously be part of the problem.

For those of you just starting out careers, learn from those who have gone before. Be thankful for the time you live in. Continue to stand up for yourself and for the rights of those around you.

For those of us mid-career, let’s be honest about the influences, factors and decisions that led us to where we’re at. We can’t go back and change the decisions we’ve already made, but we can consciously think through our actions moving forward. We have the opportunity to make a difference both for ourselves and those who come after us.

Those of you further along in your career, you are in a place to make a huge impact. Continue to set an example and mentor those of us coming behind and alongside you.

Moms: Don’t undervalue yourself, and don’t listen to those who try to tell you that you aren’t worth it.

Managers: Don’t assume you know what anyone on your team wants. If they’ve earned an opportunity, present them the option and let them make the choice.

Together, let’s make the world a better place.

How to defeat information overload and reduce stress

Sarah · Mar 18, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Spouse, parent, employee, business owner, entrepreneur, friend, volunteer. How many roles do you play? And how much information comes along with each of those roles?

Alerts, news articles, checklists, emails, junk mail, bills, phone calls, text messages, meeting invites, fliers, forms…all of it “must do now!” and “read immediately!”

We live in a day and age of ever expanding information flooding into our lives from every direction. It’s an overload on the best of days and beyond daunting on the worst of days. FOMO is a real thing.

What if there were steps we could take to defeat information overload?

We can’t stop the flood, but we can take preventative measures to reduce our mental load, give information a place to go and decrease stress.

Great tips! I definitely need to do more of #4.

How to defeat information overload and reduce stress

1. Reduce the amount of information coming in

  • Unsubscribe from email lists liberally.
  • Add yourself to do not call lists.
  • Remove yourself from physical mailing lists.
  • Think about whether you really need to attend that meeting you were invited to.

2. Know when to admit defeat and start over

  • Triage your email.
  • Triage your digital files.
  • Triage your desk and office. Do a clean sweep of paper and other clutter. Quickly put away or purge.

3. Have a clear system for information that does come in

  • Organize your desk and your office.
  • Set up a system to keep your email organized.
  • Set up a system to keep your digital files organized. 

RELATED: 7 ways to save information for later (and then actually use it) 

4. Automate, automate, automate

What are you still doing manually that can be automated? There are social media schedulers, budgeting apps (my favorite), online bill pay, automatic email sorting rules, and more.

RELATED: Save time: automate your social media 

5. Delegate

For what you can’t automate, what can you delegate to another human? What are you doing that someone else could or should be doing? What can you assign to someone else or hire to be done for you?

RELATED: Do you really need to do that? 

6. Stop doing things

In addition to delegation, what are you doing that simply doesn’t need to be done? There’s an adage that the amount of work will always expand to the number of hands available to do the work. One of the reasons companies restructure and reorganize is often to identify work being done that isn’t critical. Maybe it was critical at one point, and the business has shifted. Maybe there was always a better way to do the work, but there wasn’t a compelling reason to change the status quo.

RELATED: How hard is it for you to say no? 

RELATED: Four keys to getting stress levels under control

 

Unless you move to the middle of nowhere and become a hermit, you won’t ever fully stem the tide of information. I haven’t. What I have learned is to use these techniques to make the inflow manageable. You can too. Pick one way to reduce information overload and get started today. When you’ve made progress, move on to the next. You can live a calmer, peaceful life!

To make it easier to defeat information overload, you can now download a PDF checklist to print, review, and come back anytime you need a refresher. Enter your email address below and get started now!

[convertkit form=5184582]

How to hire the right resource for the job

Sarah · Mar 17, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Do you know how to hire the right resource for the job? If you’re burned out, can’t keep up the pace anymore, considering quitting, or have already lost good people from your team, keep reading. You need to fill a resource gap, desperately. Or maybe you’re just starting to feel the pinch and want to be proactive to keep the right work-life balance for yourself and your team.

What would it feel like to know exactly who you need to hire, and when you need to hire them? Here’s how.

You get what you pay for

There is truth to the old adage that you get what you pay for. When you’re the one in charge of managing workload and capacity, this can feel daunting.

But, “you get what you pay for” doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to always pay top dollar. What you do need is to be super clear on exactly what problem you are trying to solve.

Getting super clear on what problem you are trying to solve has potential to save you boatloads of money, time and headache – even if you end up choosing a premium price point solution.

As an example, let’s look at vehicles. You’re going to pay a whole lot less for a Kia than you are for a Lexus. But there isn’t a right or wrong answer to which vehicle you should buy. (Well, unless you ask my husband. Then expensive is always better.) Both brands have their place in the world and consumer bases for whom their vehicles meet the needs.

If your focus is on price point, and an efficient way to get from Point A to Point B, a Kia will likely fully meet your needs, and you would be wasting your money on a Lexus. You might enjoy it, but perhaps not for the price premium you would be paying. (Full disclosure: I drive a Kia.) If luxury and comfort are primary goals, and price point isn’t as much of an issue, by all means, get that Lexus!

Hire the right resource for the job

The same principle applies with business hires.

To solve for a workplace resource gap, there are three main hiring routes you can take:

  • A contractor or freelancer.
  • A full-time employee.
  • An agency.

There’s a reason all three exist as viable options that solve different needs.

Before you make a hire, consider exactly what the problem you’re trying to solve and what the need you’re trying to meet is.

Super helpful! Great questions I hadn't thought of.

Key questions to ask when adding resources to a team:

How defined is the work that you want this resource to do?

  • Highly defined work that simply needs someone to execute is a great place to hire a contractor or freelancer.
  • Broadly defined or undefined work is a great candidate for a full-time hire or an agency. If the work is project-based, specific and won’t be ongoing, you should consider working with an agency that can solve a set scope of work.

Do you want to pay hourly for a resource or a flat rate for a set volume of work?

  • Full-time employees may be hourly or have a set salary with expectations of what “full-time” hours are.
  • Freelancers and contract labor typically charge hourly, but may set flat rates or retainers for specific projects.
  • An agency will almost always charge a flat rate for a specific body of work.

What’s your budget?

  • You’ll likely pay a freelancer or contractor higher hourly rate than you would for a full-time employee, but you have more flexibility in the number of hours you pay for and the length of time the contract runs.
  • A full-time hire is a set budget commitment. Before hiring someone full-time, ensure that you have budget set aside for the foreseeable future.
  • An agency is likely the highest rate based on time frame, but allows you to ramp up a large body of work in a short time frame, and to pay for functional expertise you do not need in-house over time.

What level of expertise are you looking for and how involved do you want to be?

  • Are you looking for someone with expertise to ideate and implement strategies you don’t know and be forward-thinking? You’ll want a functionally specific resource (i.e. a Social Media Manager) or an agency, and will pay a premium. The key benefits are that you’ll be able to be super hands-off, this will drive the most growth, and could have a very high ROI.
  • If you’re looking for someone to create and execute a body of work based on direction you give, you can expect mid-range pricing. You’ll likely need to spend a chunk of time with the person getting on the same page in terms of specific expectations, what the work looks like, how you work together, etc. This has potential to become high-value and more hands-off in the long run.
  • If you’re looking for someone to execute clearly defined work, or set tasks, this is the cheapest and easiest way go to. Your best bet is probably a more general VA who can do your posting along with other admin tasks to save you time. You’ll need to be more hands-on directing and still creating content yourself, but can be a valuable way to go.

Clearly defining your resource needs and choosing the right type of resource to hire can feel like a big decision. By asking the right questions, you can hire the right resource for the job and feel confident that you have made the best choice. And remember, as your business grow and changes, you can (and will!) change the resources that you need to support and drive success.

Note: For all of these, you’ll want to be especially careful to consider legalities around employees vs contractors to ensure you’re set up appropriately. There are legal and tax-based ramifications to the type of hire you choose. I am not a tax or legal expert and this should not be construed as legal advice. Please consult an attorney or CPA to ensure your resource setup is appropriate for the work.

How knowing the big goal makes decisions easy

Sarah · Feb 12, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Do you have any big lifetime bucket list items? I’ve got a few. One of these bucket list goals is to go to all 50 states by the time I am 50. I set this goal in college, after a friend had a goal of all 50 states by the time she was 30 (and she met the goal!). Growing up in a family that didn’t travel a lot, 50 states by 30 felt overly ambitious, but 50 by 50 seemed quite doable. Note: My only qualification on what counts as a state visit is that airport layovers don’t count.

A few years ago, I took a trip to South Carolina for a conference with my mom. One new state, check! As we planned the trip, it turned out that airline ticket prices meant that it would be cheaper to stay an extra day, even including added hotel and meal costs.

With an entire day free, the only question was what to do with that time.

#3 is key.

Fortunately, I had a mental framework to filter the decision through:

Three goal-based considerations to make decisions easier

1. Consider all the options, both obvious and less obvious.

In this case, the two big options were to either taking a road trip to visit a few more states in pursuit of my bucket list goal, or see if we could meet up with a colleague for a few hours.

At the time, I was freelancing virtually and one of the women I worked with lived only a few hours from the conference, and it was geographically possible to meet up for a few hours.

Alternately, we could have stayed in Greenville longer and did some more local sightseeing, or taken a day to lounge at the hotel and sleep. Considering my kids were 3 and 1 at the time, sleep was tempting!

Related: Is the goal clear? 

2. How does each option fit the big goal?

If one is an obvious choice, go for it! In this case, while sleep was tempting, the opportunity to do something I couldn’t do at home won out. The consideration between traveling and meeting my colleague was a tough one. Traveling was the obvious bucket-list goal choice, but what about professional and relationship goals? Those are much fuzzier to quantify, but also incredibly important to me. The road trip was the easier option, but was it the right one? The next question made the call.

3. What extenuating factors may influence your decision?

In this case, my introverted self had just spent three days meeting a whole lot of new people and I was tapped out. While I would have loved to meet my friend in person, the road trip was a better fit for my mental capacity at that specific point in time.

I made the decision to go for the road trip and see a few extra states in pursuit of my big goal. In addition to the state we were staying in, we hit three extra states in one day. States are so much closer together on the east coast!

In this instance, priorities meant that I picked traveling over seeing more people, and seeing quantity over quality and depth in any one area. If you faced the exact same scenario, asking the same three questions above may end up with a different answer based on your priorities and extenuating circumstances.

There is no right or wrong answer. By considering these questions, you can move forward with intentionality knowing that you are making conscious choices. When you make conscious choices with goals in mind, you exponentially increase your chance of reaching those goals!

Related: On goal setting and habit formation

For the curious: I’ve got 13 years left to get to 10 more states.

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Welcome!

Sarah Parsons Hi, I'm Sarah and thanks for joining me! I believe that as working moms, we don't have to be exhausted trying to have it all. Sure, we juggle a lot. That just makes us expert project managers, problem solvers and simplifiers. And if you feel like you're not an expert at any of that, well, you're in the right place. It is possible to manage our time well and thrive - at work, home and play. Let's do this!
#3 is key.
This has been a game-changer for my afternoons! I'm so much more productive when I manage my energy and don't try to just power through the slump. #workingmom #manageyourenergy #timemanagement
31 Timesaving Tools, Tips & Templates | strategysarah.com

31 Timesaving Tips, Tools & Templates

Disclaimer

The views expressed on this site are those of Sarah Parsons only, and do not represent those of any employer or client past or present with whom I have worked.
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