Juggling Elephants Blog

"Do It Yourself." It's a mantra shared by many of us as we seek to reduce the cost of auto repair, home improvement or even tasks within a small business.

Bruce Johnson, author of 50 Simple Ways to Save Your House, asks himself three questions before taking on a project-or leaving it to a pro:

• Do I have the time?


• Will the job require specialized tools and skills?


• Is there a safety risk?

What difference would that make if you did the same before attempting to add a "do it yourself act" to your lineup?

Labels: delegation, focus

Many times managing our busy schedule is not a matter of getting rid of the "bad acts" from our circus – it is having too many good acts going on and piling up. One key strategy is to figure out what it would cost to delegate certain acts to someone else (outsourcing) and compare that with what we could gain by doing something other than that act.

For example, paying a neighborhood youth to mow the lawn. What would that cost and what could I gain by doing something else (time to work on that novel or more time in my relationship ring?)? A good friend of mine figured out that he could make more money by working and hiring someone to do a remodeling project than by taking time off and doing the project himself. He actually made money by hiring someone. Now, the key here is to make sure that by outsourcing you are taking advantage of that saved time and doing something more productive.

I also realize that doing activities like mowing the lawn and remodeling can be therapeutic as well – an intermission. Just remember that being able to let go of some acts will help you to schedule in the most important acts and reduce your stress level.

Labels: delegation, time management

The Pfizer corporation conducted internal studies to determine how much time their talent was losing to support tasks instead of focusing on higher level responsibilities. The results, to me, were interesting:

• 20-40% of their work load was "support work" which could be outsourced to other individuals or groups.



• No level of the organization was immune. From VPs to Directors to Managers, the amount of time lost each week was 5-15 hours.
  

Following the study, Pfizer decided to take action. They decided to enlist the services of groups that would complete these responsibilities and tasks at a much lower rate than those who were currently doing them. It's part of a program called "OOF" or Office Of the Future.

What about you? What are some tasks you are currently completing that would best be delegated to others so you could focus on "the bigger acts" that would make a more major impact on the success of your circus.

Read more about the Pfizer program at http://21cvision.blogspot.com/2008/01/pfizer-oof-office-of-future-program.html

Labels: delegation