Productivity for Attorneys

Neen now Faculty of Lawline.com

2009-07-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

Check out this new Promotions and Productivity CLE with Lawline.com - http://www.lawline.com/cle/?search=productivity

Lawyers Use LinkedIn Productively

2009-06-10T04:09:00.000-07:00

Tips for attorneys on how to use LinkedIn Productively - published in the Legal Intelligencer today
http://thelegalintelligencer.typepad.com/tli/2009/06/how-to-use-linkedin-productively.html

Register for LMA National Webinar - Secrets of Super-Productivity

2009-05-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

G'Day,

Today I am privledged to be hosting a call with Gina Rubel (www.furiarubel.com) on how marketing team members can increase their own productivity and their attorneys - join us and register at: http://www.legalmarketing.org/events/freestyle_event_view/d7788bbe5f477868ed2fcaaeac3f17df

Time management is out the window...It's super-productivity that achieves results. Where you spend your time, focus attention and invest energy affects your productivity, communications and your firm’s bottom line. Attend this interactive webinar with international productivity expert Neen James and public relations expert Gina Rubel to learn:
o How to identify and leverage your productivity style
o Understand how 15 minutes investments will increase your productivity by 30%.
o Implement proactive strategies for everyday public relations
o Productivity strategies for internal and external communications

Register today for this practical session filled with techniques and strategies you can apply as soon as you get off the call.
Time: 12:00 am - 1:30 pm
Pacific1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Mountain2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Central3:00 pm - 4:30 pm Eastern

Fees: $99 Full Member $149 Limited Member $199 Non-member

Productively Use Twitter - great article

2009-03-13T05:39:00.001-07:00

Check out this great article on Twitter for Lawyers by Gina Rubel, Furia Rubel Communications @ginarubel

http://thelegalintelligencer.typepad.com/tli/2009/03/to-friend-or-not-to-friend-social-media-for-lawyers-part-4-twitter-for-lawyers.html

Attorneys can be more productive by focussing on the team

2009-03-10T14:25:00.001-07:00

http://thelegalintelligencer.typepad.com/tli/2009/03/how-attorneys-can-be-more-productive-by-focusing-on-the-team-week-4.html - check out this article in the Legal

How Attorneys can get more done in less time

2009-03-05T06:14:00.000-08:00

Check out this blog today posted in The Legal: http://thelegalintelligencer.typepad.com/tli/2009/03/how-attorneys-will-be-more-productive-by-making-the-most-of-every-minute-week-3.html

Create a Productive Personal Development Plan for Attorneys

2009-03-03T05:25:00.000-08:00

Check out this article featured in The Legal Intelligencer:
http://thelegalintelligencer.typepad.com/tli/2009/02/create-a-productive-personal-development-plan.html

Create a Productive Personal Development Plan
Many of us start the year with the best of intentions, and, as the year progresses, we get caught up in the busyness of life. This is the perfect time of year to reflect on what you want to achieve, create a plan and stick to it.
* Identify your focus. Rather than thinking really long-term, focus on what you can achieve in the next three to six months. This will give you a greater sense of priority.
* Identify your style. Are you a “do-it-yourself” type of person or do you prefer to attend a program, participate in training or attend a conference? Once you know your style, you will be better equipped to create your plan.
* Identify resources. Once you know your focus for the next few months, determine what resources you need to achieve your goals. Are there books you can read? Conferences you can attend for CLE credits? Coaching you can pay for? What resources do you need to achieve your plan?
* Identify how much time. Ask yourself how much time you are willing to commit to your personal development. You need to treat this as a high priority and schedule it.
* Identify experts who can help you. Once you know your area of development, brainstorm who will help you achieve this? Do you need a personal trainer? Is a coach something you should consider? Who can help you achieve?
* Identify when you will do it. Attorneys constantly tell me that they do the “urgent” and regret not spending time on the important activities. Be different. Schedule time in your calendar to achieve your personal development goals and treat the time as a priority, just like you treat your clients as a priority.
* Identify what you will ignore or delete. Often, to achieve our goals, we have to give up or say no to activities. Determine the activities in your life that you can place on hold or delete in order to focus on your personal development area.
* Identify an accountability partner. The best way to stay on track is to create a level of accountability to someone. You might hire a coach or tell a friend, but do let someone know what you are working on so they can support you.
* Identify your plan in writing. Help stay on track by detailing on paper your new development plan and how you will achieve it. Post it somewhere you can see it on a daily basis.
* Identify when you have achieved. Be clear when developing your plan exactly how you will measure your success. It is important to know when you can begin the next personal development journey.
If you want to boost your productivity, the best way to do that is determine what area you want to focus on and then decide how you are going to achieve that. You don’t need to do it alone, recruit help, keep yourself accountable and enjoy your results!

Be productive: Eat Lunch

2009-02-11T05:06:00.000-08:00

Check out this article in the Legal Intelligencer: http://thelegalintelligencer.typepad.com/tli/2009/02/how-to-be-productive-at-lunch-yes-you-need-to-eat.html

Increase Attorney Productivity: Delegate

2009-01-31T05:40:00.000-08:00

Attorneys can increase their productivity by at least 25% simply by delegating well to their team. Check out these suggestions from The Legal this week: http://thelegalintelligencer.typepad.com/tli/2009/01/attorneys-will-be-more-productive-and-increase-billable-hours-by-delegating-week-2.html

Increase Productivity: Communicate Across Generations

2009-01-30T06:57:00.000-08:00

Kim Huggins, a leading thinker and speaker regarding Generational Communications (especially Gen Y) published these strategies in the Legal today:

http://thelegalintelligencer.typepad.com/tli/2009/01/communicating-across-generations-what-you-need-to-know.html

Business Development in 15 minutes per day

2009-01-13T03:31:00.000-08:00

Featured today is an article on how you can boost your productive business development in only 15 minutes per day! Check it The Legal today: http://thelegalintelligencer.typepad.com/tli/2009/01/business-development-in-15-minutes-per-day.html

Calling all attorneys: Make 2009 Your Most Productive Year Ever

2009-01-05T05:47:00.000-08:00

Productivity for Attorneys: LMA DC Oct 14th

2008-09-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

If you are an attorney or legal support staff come and share the October Legal Marketing Association (LMA) chapter in DC where we will provide 'Secrets of Super-Productivity' just for you.

You can find out more about LMA and register for this event at: http://www.legalmarketing.org/capital/chapter-events

Super Productivity for Legal Administrators

2008-09-05T05:40:00.000-07:00

Recently I wrote an article for The Legal - Legal Administrators Supplement and thought you might enjoy a link to the site: http://www.law.com/jsp/pa/special_supplements.jsp

Productivity Tips: Tune into 98.1 WOGL this Sunday with Neen James and Brad Segall

2008-07-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

I am excited to announce that I will be featured on 98.1 WOGL, The Philadelphia Agenda with Brad Segall this Sunday, July 20 between 6am – 7am! During the show I will provide a variety of productivity tips including how to be productive in a recession, in the summer and even at the airport! In addition, I will be sharing inside productivity secrets from my latest book, Secrets of Super Productivity.

We hope you can tune-in for this wonderful show. If you happen to miss the show, check http://www.neenjames.com/ for an audio file of my interview.

Build Productive Relationships: Build Your Book of Business

2008-05-07T03:49:00.000-07:00

When speaking with one of my attorney clients recently we determined the secret to building productive relationships with potential clients included 5 steps:
1. Reach out - ask around, ask questions of people you meet, build great referral partners to build your book of business.

2. Network - I often hear young associates tell me "I didn't go to law school to sell' - my response is 'too bad!'. If you are serious about being on partner track you will bring new clients to the firm and the best way to do this is through networking. Get out there and build relationships.

3. Serve - get involved, jump on a committee, serve as an expert for the media, offer to speak on a panel, get out there, get voluntering and help others first before you ask them to help you.

4. Follow up - did you know that less than 1% of people follow up. Be part of that 1%! Make time to call a potential client, reconect with someone you met at a networking event, send a book or article to someone you are building a relationship with, be unique - do something different.

5. Persist - even though your relationships may not potentially need your services now... when they do you want to be top of mind. As an attorney it is even more important to be persistant and stay in touch with potential clients, you want them to call you first and not another firm.

If you truly want to accelerate your career in the firm, bring in new clients, build strong relationships and increase your productivity, apply these 5 steps today.

How to make your email more productive for Attorneys

2008-04-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

As I travel around the country I am constantly fascinated by my client’s addiction to their email. Email was a tool originally designed to help boost our productivity in the workplace but unfortunately it has become a productivity killer. Whether you check it on your laptop or your blackberry, email now takes a huge portion of your daily correspondence time. To help boost your productivity and get control of your email try these simple strategies.

Avoid answering email first thing in the morning – the first thirty minutes of each day should be spent reviewing your strategy for the day and planning how you will achieve your goals. While you can scan your email first thing, please don’t respond immediately. Spend more time on strategy than email and you will achieve your bigger goals.

Use Color coding – most email programs allow you to designate colours to individuals. This ensures when you first review your email you can see who the emails are from easily and allows you to direct your attention to the most important people first.

Drag and drop – did you know you can drag an email from your inbox and drop it into your Contacts to create a new contact or drag it into your Tasks to create a new Task. This simple but effective strategy will also help you reduce your inbox clutter.

Unsubscribe – if you are receiving emails to online information you no longer review or read, take the time to unsubscribe. Yes this takes more time initially but will help you to reduce your inbox volume allowing you to read and review only those emails you want to receive.

Use Out of Office – if you are going to be out of the office for more than 6 hours, use this facility to educate those who email you. They will automatically receive an email advising them you are away from the firm.

Invest in Spam Filters – tighten your email security by investing in spam filters that will reduce the junk mail you receive.

Keep them short – keep your reply and responses short. If your reply is going to take substantial time, book a phone conversation or meeting with someone to answer appropriately.
Write in action language – use proactive, action language in your emails causing your readers to take action.

Use an email signature – set up a rule in your email system to always send your contact information at the footer of your email. This signature could contain your firm's postal address, phone contact numbers and something about you and your firm. This assists those you send your emails to and is free promotion for you each email you forward.

Be polite – email still requires a greeting and sign off. Take a few extra moments to greet your reader and sign off too.

Turn on spell checker – don’t allow poor grammar or spelling to be a misrepresentation of you and your skills. Set up your email to automatically spell check before any email is sent.

Turn off noises – remove any bells, whistles or chimes attached to your email. Don’t be distracted each time your email is received. Reduce distraction and eliminate chimes or sounds.

Use names in email – in the body text of an email advise each person why you sent them the email and the action they need to take. Teach people around you to read your emails looking specifically for their names and the actions you need them to take.

Delete – don’t be scared to delete emails. Once you have actioned it, file it or delete it. Keep your inbox clear.

Avoid BCC – try to avoid the use of blind carbon copy. If you have something to say to someone on email ensure that those who are copied need to be copied.

Avoid FYI – make a personal promise not to send any “FYI” or For Your Information emails. Only forward emails with specific instructions to people on what is required of them and why you are sending it through. Sending FYI emails is lazy.

Avoid jokes – don’t send joke emails, chain letters or cute PowerPoint presentations around the office. Don’t waste other’s time with these types of emails, our inboxes are so full already. Be considerate and avoid sending joke emails.

Stop pressing Send/Receive – get your finger off the button! Stop constantly pressing this button to check if you have any incoming emails. Avoid the temptation and spend time actioning the email you already have.

Watch your tone – be aware that the receiver doesn’t have the benefit of hearing your voice when they receive your email. Make sure it can’t be misunderstood.

Size does matter – be aware of the size of the attachments you are forwarding with your email. Be considerate to others and minimize file size when sending.

Spend 15 minutes – spend 15 minutes per day sorting your email. Take this time to file actioned emails, forward emails to others or delete emails. Daily discipline of your email inbox will allow you to remain focussed and less overwhelmed by email.

Maintain personal and work accounts – keep two email addresses. Only allow yourself to check work email during work time and set up a separate account to check your personal emails in your personal time.

Email is a powerful communication tool when used effectively it will help you boost your productivity. Promise yourself you will start looking at your emails differently today, apply these strategies and get back some of the time you are spending on email each day.

Neen James, MBA, is an International Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy – and where they focus their attention – Neen helps attorneys to rocket-charge their productivity and performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Subscribe to Neen’s free monthly ezine at http://www.neenjames.com/

Productive Internal Networking for Attorneys

2008-01-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

Although there are any number of different networking groups and events you can attend, some of the best networking will occur within your firm. To build your reputation internally and understand “who’s who in the firm's zoo” it is worth investing time to get to know the team around you. Try these suggestions to boost your internal networking skills.

Arrange a Lunchtime self-development session. Determine a topic your colleagues would be interested in, simply invite someone into your firm to give a brief presentation allowing time for questions and answers. You don’t need to pay this person; they may be an internal expert you invite. Choose someone who is an expert in their topic area. When organizing the meeting, set up the agenda so that there is time when people arrive to meet each other, allow 20 minutes for the presentation, 10 minutes for questions and a few minutes at the end to continue chatting to co-workers.

Hold a quarterly breakfast forum and invite the Managing Partners. Make an appointment with your Partners Assistant and advise them you would like to invite one of the Partners to a quarterly breakfast where they can meet the team and also answer questions they might have. Once you get approval from the Assistant, book the next quarter’s date and find a suitable venue. Each person pays for their own breakfast so it doesn’t cost the firm any money. Make arrangements with a café close to the office or in-house catering if you have it, and start at 7.30 and finish by 8.45. This allows people to meet, ask the Partners questions and get involved in discussions.

Seek or start a mentor program. Identify people you would like to learn from within the organization and approach them about being mentored for 6 months. If your firm already has a mentoring program, sign up and get involved.

Get involved in a charity. Select a deserving charity and organize events within the firm to raise money for them. Your firm may already have a chosen charity, if so; invite someone from the organization to update your team on suggestions of how you can help. This can be a fun way to help others and also help you get to know those you work with.

Hold a ‘brown bag’ seminar at lunchtime. Invite everyone to bring their own lunch; you can invite a speaker to provide information to the firm. The topics might be relevant to them for outside life i.e. health, fitness, family or some way to add value to the people you work with. The topics can come from your colleagues – ask them for suggestions. You can hold these on a monthly basis and allow time within the agenda to meet at least two other people from other departments in the firm. Advertise it on the notice boards, email and in the bathrooms (you would be surprised how many people read information in the bathrooms).

Start a book club. Find a few people who are interested in similar books to you, set yourself a book to read every two months. If it is a local author, invite them to join you at one of your meetings to explain more about the book and why it was written. Most authors love to meet their readers. When you get together, chat about what you learned from the book, what your opinions are on the writing style and what you liked most about the book.

Get in a project team. Seek opportunities to work on projects within your team and with other departments. Ensure you have your manager’s permission to be involved. This is a great way to network and learn from others.

Write for the firm's newsletter. Offer to provide articles or updates for the internal newsletter. This is a great way to work with the marketing team (who are often volunteers looking for content for the newsletter).

Make the most of getting to know those you work with, take time to learn what they do and how you can work together to achieve your goals.

Productivity: How to Get Through Airport Security

2007-12-11T04:43:00.000-08:00

My business takes me across the US and beyond most weeks and a regular part of every week is getting through the airport security line. Here are a few tips to help you make your time waiting more productive:

Print boarding passes out at home - avoid the long lines at the airport check in by printing out the boarding pass up to 24 hours before your flight. You can check your seat, change it if necessary and then print it out at home.

Get ID quickly - before I get out of my car or taxi I find my photo ID and my boarding pass and have them in my hands for the security agent the moment I meet them.

Get organized in your car or taxi - before I leave my car, rental car shuttle or taxi I pull out of my bag my laptop and toiletries bag. This way I don't have to open the bag again in the security line and I am ready and waiting to be processed.

Choose wisely - find an outfit you can wear every time you travel with minimum zips, buttons or catches that will allow you to move smoothly through the line without feeling like you are as you pass through the security sensor.

Wear socks or pantyhose - don't allow your feet to touch the floor of the airport and think about wearing some protection on your feet when you have to remove your shoes.

Choose your shoes well - find slip on type shoes that will allow you to quickly remove them before the security sensor and place them on when they have been x-rayed. Don't waste time feeling awkward trying to do up laces, zippers on boots or straps on sandals.

Minimize jewellery - find jewellery that won't set off the sensors, wear the same items each time you travel so it is one less thing you need to remove in the security line.

Ziploc only - make sure every possible gel, liquid and cream is in this bag. Save yourself time by complying with this rule to avoid bag checks and more wasted time waiting in lines.

Smile - understand these people are trying to do their jobs to keep us all safe, make their lives easier and your trip more pleasant by smiling at them and greeting them whenever you can.

Take reading material - some lines are very long at certain times in the day and times through the year. Be prepared to wait and take a book or magazine to help you pass the time. This is a great opportunity on catching up on all those journals you have been 'meaning to read'.

Apply these simple guidelines today and your next trip through security at the airport will be more productive.

How to boost your communication skills and be more approachable

2007-07-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

How to boost your communication skills and be more approachable

For some people I meet they are not naturally outgoing or friendly and yet their role requires them to be constantly managing and leading people. Here are a few strategies you can apply to help boost your communication skills and make others feel so pleased they have met you.

Smile – this obvious gesture can not be underestimated. Not only does this exercise your face but it will make those around you feel more comfortable.

Be positive – choose to be in a good mood (even if you are not). Your role is to choose a good frame of mind and that will reflect on those around you.

Make others welcome – use language and phrases that make people pleased they decided to spend time with you. I like sentences like “I am so glad you are here”, “I am so pleased you made it”, “thank you for coming”, “it is great to see you”. All of these words should become part of your daily language.

Eye contact – look people in the eye when you meet them. People appreciate your complete attention and focus, stop what you are doing and make an eye to eye connection with the person in front of you.

Make them important – ensure the person you are talking to feels like they are the most important person you have spoken to all day. You can achieve this by standing still, looking them in the eye, smiling and listening to them.

Listen intently – focus on the words of the person in front of you, stop yourself from being distracted and try and understand not only their words, but the meaning and tone of the words they use.

Nod frequently – show someone you are listening by frequently nodding and acknowledging you are involved in the conversation.

Stand straight – face the person you are meeting straight on. Show them you are interested by giving them you undivided attention.

Be the hostess – when you see one person standing alone, go and introduce yourself and help introduce them to others. People like to be included.

Ask questions – the best conversationalists I know constantly ask questions. Create a list of questions you can use when you meet someone. I like these questions:

What do you do?
Where do you work?
How long does it take you to get from home to work?
What do you like to do in your spare time?

Take a genuine interest in people when you ask them questions and listen to their responses.

Watch others – if there are people you meet that are great communicators, watch them and learn from them. Follow them around a room and watch how they treat others and try those behaviours too.

Be authentic – turn up as yourself 100% of the time be you and others will appreciate it. If you don’t like you, then work on making the changes that you are happy with.

Stop – don’t rush from one person to the next. Stop and have a quality connection with a few people, you will enjoy communicating with people more this way.

Dress well – people make assumptions about you in 7 seconds. In that time they assess your age, income, marital status, education and interests… in 7 seconds! Make that first impression even more powerful by paying close attention to your personal appearance. Don’t forget your hair style, jewellery choices, and fabric of your clothing, shoes and skin maintenance. If you look good you feel good – very simple!

Thank someone each day – I make a point of telling someone how much I appreciate them every day. I use hand written thank you notes, email, phone calls, flowers and brownies. Decide to do this daily and you will build stronger relationships and you will feel better too.

Gratitude daily – each morning before you get out of bed remind yourself of what you are grateful for. This will set up your day in the right frame of mind and will help you in your communications all day.

Ask for help – if you know your communication skills aren’t where you want them to be, ask for others help, feedback and suggestions for enhancement. People want to help you and feel honoured you asked.

One thing – choose one thing to work on and do it constantly. By adding a new item each month you will have transformed your communication skills within a year.

Investing in yourself and building your communication skills and making yourself more approachable has many personal and business implications. Start today.

Productivity Travel tips for Attorneys: How to be a productive road warrior

2007-07-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

You have seen them, they all look alike, the regular attorney ‘road warrior’ with their determined expression, wrinkle proof suit and pulling a beaten up carry on bag…whether you travel a little or a lot with your firm there are many ways you can boost your personal productivity when you travel. These before, during and after strategies will help you maximise your time, limit your stress and overall increase your travel productivity.

Before You Travel

Buy the tools – you wouldn’t build a house without the right tools, travel is no different. To be a productive traveler you want to ensure you have a variety of tools to assist the comfort and productivity of your trip. Tools to consider purchasing are quality luggage, Ipod, noise cancelling earphones, soft briefcase and GPS system.

20-22 inch Carry On expandable luggage – I like Briggs and Riley, it is durable, light weight, expandable, self healing and well made. Check out http://www.briggsandriley.com/. These are allowed in the US and other countries as carry on baggage. When you are buying luggage look for features such as pull along, strong wheels, stability foot on the bottom (in case it gets too heavy), external zippers (to hold travel documentation and the Ziploc toiletry bag) and also make sure the pop up handle is a ‘one pull’ action.

IPOD or MP3 – this is not a luxury, this is a requirement for any travel. I have a created a selection of play lists, including one with very relaxing music so that when it is time to sleep I can turn to this group and fall asleep.

Noise cancelling earphones – these are a little bit of a luxury, but I wouldn’t travel anywhere without them. My husband previously flew many long international flights and he turned me onto this great invention. I prefer the Sony small ear bud type and take them where ever I go http://www.sony.com/

Briefcase – I like a soft tote briefcase that allows me to include personal and work related items. My favourite is from Coakley Business Class (sorry guys these are just for women) and they are the best travel briefcase I have ever found (and you can use it everyday!) http://www.coakleybusinessclass.com/. For the gentleman, try the soft Samsonite one, it has great suspension in the shoulder strap. When looking for a brief case also make sure it has the feature to be able to slide it over your carry on luggage (many have a soft strap or a zippered section to allow you to do this).

GPS (Global Positioning System) – this was the best gift I ever got! They are now getting smaller and smaller and are perfect to plug into your rental car when you arrive in another city. Also when we were in Italy last year we downloaded the European maps and it was great fun to get around tiny little towns. I have named mine ‘Bella’ – she keeps me company when I am driving late at night or in a city where I don’t know my way.

Consider clothing – When you are regularly on the road I suggest a few strategies to help make your life easier for both packing and arriving looking together.

Travel Outfit – Create your own travel outfit, yes it can be the same every time. Mine is a pair of black pants, black top (I have a short sleeve one for summer and a long sleeve one for cooler months), pantyhose and a pair of black patent leather flat slip on shoes. I wear the same silver jewellery with it all and I know when I arrive at the security line I don’t have to remove anything (except my shoes) – that is why pantyhose (or socks) are good when you have to take off your shoes. The fabric of this outfit doesn’t crease and is comfortable (which makes a huge different on those long flights).

Airport shoes – think about the quality and make of the shoes you wear to the airport. I suggest slip ons of some description so you are not awkwardly trying to tie up laces or straps. Also ensure they are comfortable and well made as you often have to walk long distances between gates or to the parking area.

Carry a pashmina – for our female attorneys, I recommend you invest in a dark coloured pashmina that has many uses. On the plane it is a great blanket (and so many airlines in the US don’t supply pillows and blankets). When I rent a car it becomes a booster seat for me (he he). When I have to sit on an airport floor (yes I have done that living here in the US) it is great to place on the floor … oh and yes I can wear it if I need to keep warm.

Jewellery – wearing the same silver jewellery when I travel I know I can wear it the next day and I can walk through the screening area without having to remove it. It simplifies the process and speeds up the line.

Belts – if possible, don’t wear an outfit that requires a belt as it is only one more item of clothing you have to remove at the airport line.

Productive Packing – there are many opinions on what to pack and I find the most productive way for me is having a series of pre-packed bags. This includes luggage, carry on plane survival kit, brief case, make up and toiletry bags.

Pre-packed luggage contents includes:
v Ziploc toiletry bag
v Underwear
v First aid items (band aids, safety pins and head ache tablets)
v Make up bag
v Gym gear
v Clothes brush
v Book of interest
v Cell Phone charger
v Laptop power pack
v Stamped stationery (note cards and envelopes)

Carry on plane survival kit contents include:
v Ipod
v Noise cancelling earphones
v Spare battery for noise cancelling earphones
v Lip balm
v Eye mask (for those long flights)
v Pen
v Eye drops
v Travel size toothbrush and toothpaste
v Breath mints

Make up kit – ladies if you travel alot I suggest you buy a full set of make up and make up brushes and tools and keep them in a separate make up bag so you never have to go looking for something and you never forget something on your trips.

Ziploc Toiletry Bag contents include travel sized:
v Decanted shower gel
v Skin care
v Hair care products
v Travel sized perfume or aftershave (most brands now supply a smaller size compliant with airline safety standards)
v Toothpaste
v Spare contact lenses

Many department stores and pharmacies carry a range of travel sized products. I was fascinated when I was in Sephoria in Times Square recently that the merchandising near the payment counter had changed significantly and provided 50+ choices of regular band products in travel sized convenient containers.

Plastic helps – My friend Camille was an airline goddess for many years and gave me this great tip, using the plastic you receive from your dry cleaners around your clothes helps avoid creases.

Duplicate copies – to be more productive (and for a few extra dollars) consider investing in duplicates of everything you travel with. If you are a regular traveler, having a pre-packed bag will allow you to leave with minimum notice and save time and stress before any trip. On your list of items to buy you could include:
v Toiletries available in travel size
v Brushes – make up brushes, hair brushes or combs
v Cell phone charger
v Laptop power pack
v Make up
v Stamps and stationery
v Spare items i.e. pantyhose, clothing brush.

Choose your seat – I like to sit in an aisle seat so I can get in and out and I don’t feel cramped by others. For longer flights (especially the red eye), my friend Shawn books the window seat so you can lean against the window to sleep, choose your seat wisely. If you have an option of an exit row choose this seat as it gives you more leg room. You may like to check out http://www.seatguru.com/ – it is a great website to see exactly what your seat will be on most major airlines.

Pre-print your boarding pass – whenever possible go online 24 hours before you fly and select your seat and print your boarding pass. This will save you time in the long lines at the airport check in and also help you find the seat you want.

Join airline clubs – if you fly frequently to same cities join the airline programs of those major airlines so you can also gather frequent flyer miles for all your travels. You may be able to use them for a fun trip with those you care for later on.

Join airline lounges – if you fly with the same carrier regularly to invest in a membership for that lounge so you have a quiet place to snack, get changed or to catch up on reading. I noticed in Australia this was a great use of money and well worth it however in the US the gates and lounges are so spread out and there are so many options to travel with different airlines this hasn’t been a worthwhile investment for me here, however if you fly the same airline every time it might be worth it for you.

Create a one page itinerary – create a one page template that includes your confirmation codes of all flight details, hotel and rental car information. Include on this template all your frequent flyer clubs and associations also so that if you arrive and they haven’t included this in your booking you can quickly get credit for your travel.

During Your Travel

Allow extra 30 minutes – add at least 30 minutes onto any amount of time you think it will take you to get to the airport or park. This additional time will save you stress if you are stuck in traffic, can’t find a car space or the security line is longer than you expected. If you have pre-packed a book or magazine you can use that 30 minutes to read or to connect with a friend or client.

Know the Parking Garage – if you regularly travel on the same airline, know the shuttle system or design of the car park so you can get in and out quickly.

Take your ticket – when you receive a parking receipt/ticket on your arrival place it in the same compartment of your bag or briefcase so you know where to find it upon your return.

Write the parking space on your ticket – in the US the parking garages are so big that I always write the colour and space on my parking receipt so that when I arrive back after a few days away (often late at night), I can quickly find my car and not waste time wandering around the parking garage.

Ground transport notice – when you enter an airport, notice where the taxis, rental car shuttles or parking garages are. This will save you time when you return and allow you to quickly make your way to the next place.

Regular rental – Use the same rental company each time you travel will also boost your productivity because you will expect a certain standard each time you fly. You might also consider joining their frequent customer program too. I like using Enterprise because they are affordable and also each time you arrive they look so happy to see you and they pay attention to small details including water bottles in the car and also pre-printed local lists of radio stations and areas of interest.

Play music – by creating different play lists on your IPOD you will enjoy your travel more if you can listen to music and block out the noise around you. This is effective in the airport lounge, at the gate and on the plane. You might also like to include a CD in your packing checklist for the rental car.

Getting through security – there are several tips to help you get through the line faster:

v Wear an outfit that doesn’t require any removal of items or have any metal.
v Place your cell phone and keys into your briefcase or purse before entering the security line.
v Keep your Ziploc bag of toiletries in an outside zippered compartment for quick access.
v Get your laptop out of your briefcase before you reach your place in line.
v Place your laptop, shoes and toiletries in one container on the security screen belt.
v Keep your boarding pass and photo identification in your hands.

Check in or carry on – I always carry on luggage (up to a five day business trip), I have learnt to pack well and have invested in a minimum number of outfits. I think there is so much time wasted waiting for luggage (not to mention the concern it may not arrive with you!) wherever possible try and carry on luggage for your business travel.

Laptop … or not – if your trip doesn’t require you to take your laptop, leave it at home. It is one less thing to juggle through security and some laptops add significant weight to your briefcase. Leave it behind if you can. If you have to take it with you consider buying a smaller, light weight model one that is easy to use and you can balance in small places. You do pay more for smaller, lighter models but it is money well spent.

Keep a reading file – as you collect articles, newspapers or journals you want to read, take them with you when you travel. Each week I receive the Philadelphia Business Journal and I take it with me on the plane to read and enjoy. It is a paper that keeps my interest and small enough it doesn’t crowd the person beside me.

Buy bottled water – part of my routine as soon as I get through the security line is to head to the nearest store to buy 2 bottles of water. During the flight it is essential to drink water to keep you hydrated, two bottles allows me to drink before the plane arrives (has been helpful when there are large delays) and during the flight.

Eat healthy – many airlines don’t supply quality food on board so try to find healthy solutions within the airport to satisfy your hunger. You may also like to buy something to eat on board for longer flights so you are snacking on healthy items. I like to travel with a bag of almonds and pecans so that I always have a yummy (and healthy) snack available. AS you are flying from the same airport each week, become familiar with the food offerings inside the terminal so you can quickly find something you enjoy eating.

Hotel routine – no matter what time I arrive at a new hotel I have the same routine. I open my suitcase, remove my suit and hang it on a hanger. If it has gathered small creases in the travel I take it into the bathroom, hang it up and turn on the hot shower to create a ‘steam room effect’ and this removes any creases. Now for my Australian readers who are experiencing a drought right now that seems very wasteful so you may want to hang these clothes while you are showering the next day to avoid water waste. You might like to take this opportunity to iron your clothes instead. I then plug in my laptop, set up my cell phone charger, set my alarm and pull out the documents or reading for the next day. By having the same routine each time you will be productive and not forget important details (and you save time in the morning also).

Exercise – if you don’t have a gym in the hotel consider either taking a walk outside at the beginning of your day or exercising in your room. I often place a towel on the floor and then do a series of stretches, yoga, sit ups and push ups. You can establish a routine especially for travel that doesn’t require any equipment i.e. push ups, sit ups, squats and any yoga.

Call a client – you often have down time in the airport so it is a great time to reconnect with a client or colleague. I use this time to touch base with important people in my life and it becomes part of my business development time.

Be strategic – time in hotel rooms can be lonely or unproductive so I use this time to design new products, review my business plan, catch up on reading and design new models or programs for my business. Some of my best ideas have come while sitting in my hotel room – use this time for strategy and thought space instead of turning on the TV to keep your company.

Stay connected – when you arrive at your location notify someone important to you. I like to call my husband when I have arrived in my hotel so he knows I am safe and sound and I get to hear his voice. Calling your family or friend is a great way for you to keep connected on the road.

Write thank you notes – because I carry stamped stationery with me when I travel, I use the flight home to write notes to people I met during my trip. When I arrive my next destination I post them. It is a great way to reconnect with people after you have met them and is a productive use of flight time.

After Your Travel

Know the quickest route home – understand the quickest and least traffic congested way to get out of the airport so you can be home with those you care for in the smallest amount of time. Where I live there are 2 major ways home and if you take the wrong one at some particular times during the day it can add up to an hour to your ride home (not so much fun after a long flight) so know which ways are best at different times during the day.

Unpack quickly – if you arrive home early enough, unpack your bag, refill any necessary toiletry items and allocate clothes for washing or dry cleaning.

Refill and replace – update any items in your ‘pre-packed’ toiletries or luggage that need attention to save you time for future trips. Note any additional items you may have forgotten on this trip and place them in your luggage so you don’t forget them next time.

Debrief your trip – recall any items you missed, notice things that you enjoyed or frustrated you and make the changes that are within your control. Each time you travel you may learn something new that will help you save time or save you frustration for your next travel experience.

Thank your team – if you have an assistant, let them know what went well about the trip and any enhancements you would like to make for your next trip. Thank your travel agent for the trip planning and also let them know if something didn’t go well and discuss how to fix it for the next trip. Thank your client for the opportunity to work with them. If you experienced great service at some point in the trip take the time to email or write a thank you note to that organisation. The simple art of thanking people is often overlooked but is one of the most powerful things you can do to boost your productivity and make someone else’s day!

Gather your receipts – there is so much paperwork collected on trips including boarding passes, rental agreements, and food and hotel receipts. Keep this in a central place when you travel (I take a clear plastic folder for this very purpose each time I travel). When you arrive home quickly sort through the paper, action business cards and file any receipts or keep them aside for your clients. Process all your paper within 24 hours.

Action business cards – if you have met new people during your productive trip take the time to now action those cards. You might like to write a ‘nice to meet you’ note, scan them and add them to your database and write a note for any follow up action required. Following this process diligently each time you travel will avoid piles of business cards gathering on your desk (reminding you of action you haven’t taken!)

Be grateful – if you are travelling for business it means you have a successful practice that is supporting you and your family. Stop hating it and start enjoying it. Giving thanks for the opportunity to see new places, meet new people and share your experience is a privilege.

Change your language around travel, enjoy it, embrace it and you will be more productive! Next time you see another road warrior smile at them and let them know you understand. You can be more productive every time you travel by applying these before, during and after you travel strategies… now where am I off to tomorrow?

Productivity: How to use email productively

2007-01-18T03:56:00.000-08:00

I believe that email was originally designed to help us become more productive, but in talking to my attorney clients it seems to now take up so much time, attention and energy that we are ‘unproductive’ with our email systems.

Here are a few quick tips to help you use email in a more productive way:

Use “Out of Office” facility – if you are unable to respond to emails or you will be out of your office for a long period of time, or in a long court case, leave an “out of office” auto responder on your email system. This helps you manage other’s expectations and gives you more time to respond to people.

Don’t copy everyone on your email – only send the email to the relevant people who will action it. If you have multiple people on an email distribution, list their name within the text of the email and what is required of them and by when. People will appreciate your direct approach and this will clearly communicate why you sent the email to them.

Get off electronic lists – if you are subscribing to ezines and newsletters you never read or on lists you don’t want to be on, unsubscribe and get off the lists so you can eliminate some of the messages in your inbox that you won’t read.

Think and write in bullet points – keep sentences short and to the point. Don’t use email to create long paragraphs or criticise people’s performance. Ask others who communicate with you to keep their emails short also.

Always use a greeting – take the time to greet your contact in email just like you do in person. Some people also like to use emotion icons eg. :) – These can help add tone to your message.

Learn the functionality of email – spend time finding out what facilities are available within your system to maximise your use of email.

Colour code your emails – use the functionality of colour coding incoming emails so at a glace you can see who in your inbox is important and who you need to respond to first.

Only check your email 2-3 times per day – so much time is wasted responding to emails throughout the day, focus your energy on checking and responding only 3 times a day, once when you start your day, after lunch then one hour before you leave your office. This will ensure you can handle important communication in a timely manner.

Delete once actioned – don’t let emails stay in your inbox, this is not your task list. Once actioned, delete them. If you need to take action from the email, book time to complete the task and then delete it.

Productivity: How to Make This Your Most Productive Year Ever

2007-01-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

Each year we start the year thinking about our goals, our job, our health, all the ‘new’ routines and commitments we make to ourself to make this our best year yet… but two weeks into January all our planning and resolution goes out the window! You can make this your best year ever by applying some of these simple ideas (and re-reading this article each year to keep you on track).

Make a date. Make time in your schedule to find a quiet, comfortable location to set your goals. I spend a morning at my favourite cafe in January every year to review my goals and set new ones for the year ahead.

No more New Year’s Resolutions! Instead, focus on creating realistic goals for all areas of your life – I call these your top 5.

Take five. Create five categories for which to set goals: physical, educational, spiritual, financial, and relational. By setting goals for each of these areas of your life, you will be taking a balanced approach and not neglecting any important aspects of your life.

Write it. You must write your goals down – it makes them more powerful. Use positive language – words like “I will” and “I am” – this will help you to feel as though you have already achieved your goals and to change your behaviors accordingly, for example, “I am going to the gym three times per week”. Make sure you allocate a specific timeframe for the completion of each goal, for example, “By the beginning of March, I am going to the gym three times per week”. Now, identify a reward for achieving each goal – don’t just make a list of rewards, relate a specific reward to the achievement of a specific goal. This will inspire you even more toward the achievement of your goal. And finally, list the possible obstacles that will get in the way of you achieving each goal, and how you will overcome these. This will help you to pre-empt the things that might go wrong and immediately swing into action with your solution, rather than giving up on your goal.

Review constantly. I have been told that the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire is that a billionaire reads their goals twice a day. Simple really. I keep a copy of my goals in several locations around my house (on the bathroom mirror, on the printer, outside the shower screen, on the fridge, on my bedside table and in my wallet), which makes it easy for me to see my goals and be reminded of what I am working towards several times a day.

Use it or lose it! I recently read – people who spend a thousand dollars or more each year on their personal development will increase their business by 20 percent. Read more books, attend workshops, find a new networking group, listen to tapes or CDs in your car, do online courses or enrol at college or university. Keep your brain active.

Make time. Eliminate time-robbers from your day – make a list of all the things you do that rob you of your time, such as watching too much TV, running errands inefficiently, checking and responding to your email too often, making long phone calls, waiting in traffic and even other people. Focus on controlling your time – organising your day efficiently and getting rid of the things in your life that are not a high priority.

Create a paperless desk. Remove all paperwork from your desk: establish files for your projects; reference folders for information you need to access regularly; a reading file for articles, reports, journals and FYI documents; and a daily-file for administrative, miscellaneous and day-specific tasks, and keep these on shelves or in drawers.

Out of sight, out of mind. Remove your in-tray from your desk or get rid of it all together if you can! Keep it out of sight so the contents don’t distract you and so that people don’t drop new items into it without you noticing.

Hang a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign. If you have an actual office in the firm with a door, this one is easy. But many firms today are open plan and it’s difficult to alert people to the fact that you don’t wish to be interrupted – but there are ways around it. I know one workplace where each person has an item (in this case, a toy frog) which when placed on top of their computer means that they are not available – that they are trying to concentrate on something. When the frog comes down, everyone knows they are available again. With the agreement of everyone in the team, this system works particularly well for an open plan environment. Another technique is to use headphones – when people see you have headphones on they know you are not tuned-in to what’s happening around you – you don’t even have to be listening to anything if you find that too distracting – just put your headphones on to signal your ‘do not disturb’ request.

Book a daily meeting with yourself. Block-out the first 60-minutes in your calendar every day. Treat it as a standing commitment and protect it from being eaten into by other people’s meeting requests. Overtime, people will learn that you are not available until a certain time (which will vary depending on when you schedule your 60-minutes) and they’ll work around you.

Unplug. Schedule one TV-free night each week. Switch off the set and instead listen to your favourite music, play a board or card game, read a book, enjoy a quiet meal by candle light (alone or with someone whose company you love), go on a date or soak in a bath. Start being aware of your television viewing habits and make a point of only watching programs that you truly enjoy and stop wasting precious time in front of the TV.

Manage your reading. Create a reading file and put it in your briefcase. If you don’t already have one, start a reading file and carry it with you on your way home. You can get through a surprising amount of reading while on public transport to and from work and while waiting in queues.

VIPs Only. Surround yourself with VIPs (Very Inspiring People) and eliminate VDPs (Very Draining People). Spending more time with VIPs will inspire, motivate and invigorate you. Minimise your time with the VDPs in your life. It can be difficult to make the switch – be strict with yourself and you’ll reap the rewards of being among the VIP crowd.

Where are you going next? Plan your next vacation, even if you’re already on one! Block-out your holidays and short breaks at the beginning of each year. By scheduling and planning for your vacations in advance you’ll not only have something to look forward to but you’ll have a much better chance of avoiding the usual pre-holiday stress which comes with trying to complete everything before you go – and much less chance of neglecting to take those much-needed breaks.

Find a mentor. When you identify the person you believe would be a suitable mentor, spend some time watching them in action. Ask around to find out what other people’s opinion of your chosen mentor are and find out all you can about their achievements, beliefs, values and way of operating. This will give you insight into them before you approach them about mentoring you.

Leave a detailed message. Whether it is voicemail or with the person who does answer the phone. Make sure you include the time and date you called, a brief mention of what you are calling about and how and when they can contact you. If you are going to be difficult to catch or have scheduled some time during which you won’t be taking phone calls yourself, by leaving a contact time you can avoid a frustrating game of ‘phone tag’.

Schedule email time. Email messages popping into your inbox all day long can be an enormous distraction, particularly if your email is set to alert you every time new mail arrives. To check in on your emails and respond to them as they arrive not only distracts you from whatever tasks or projects you are working on but can rob you of an entire day, responding to other people’s needs while your own are neglected. Schedule a couple or a few times each day to check and respond to emails rather than constantly looking-in on your inbox or being bounced there by your email program with every new message.

Your signature. Use your email program to create an email signature block that will automatically attach to all of your outgoing messages; it’s a little like an email letterhead. It saves you the effort of including your contact information every time and brings a professional touch to your communications. You might simply include your name, firm's name, contact details and website or you might also include a sentence or two about your business, a special promotion you are running with a link to your website, or even a favourite funny or inspirational quote.

Spelll chceck. Email makes each one of us an instant author – and, that’s not necessarily a good thing! Always, always re-read your emails before you send them to make sure they make sense and to fix any spelling or grammatical errors. I recommend you set your email to automatically spell-check every message before it is sent. And if you need a second opinion to check for clarity, tone or correctness, ask a colleague to look over it for you. It might be inconsequential to you, but a poorly worded email that conveys the wrong tone and is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors can destroy your creditability and relationships.

Spring clean. Schedule time to clean out your email regularly, once a month should be enough to keep you on top of it. Empty your deleted items and any unnecessary sent items, and go through any completed project or task folders and ensure that anything you are keeping is essential to your records. Cleaning out your email will ensure you are managing your email files and disk space effectively.

Set up systems. When using filing cabinets, decide how you will allocate your space to make it easiest to locate your files: for example, rather than mixing all your files together you might decide to keep current customer files in one drawer and potential customer files and marketing information in a separate drawer, or you might choose to store current projects in one drawer and research and reference information in another, or you might decide to file everything in alphabetical order – you get the idea – look at the type of files you have and decide how to logically divide them into categories. Then, label the front of each drawer with the type of files it contains.

Colour it. Use colour coding to further systemise your files and to enable you to identify different types of files at a glance. Choose a range of coloured manila folders and allocate a different colour to use for different file types: for example, blue for client files, purple for staff or associates files, pink for project files and so on. Make a reference list of what each colour represents until you are familiar with your system.

Create a confidence journal. We don’t all feel confident every day and sometimes it helps to take note of our feelings and how situations affect us. By writing down how you feel each day in a confidence journal you can track your responses to situations and also identify areas of your like you might need some help with. Just do this for 30 days and then spend an hour at the end of the month assessing where you find your confidence gets shaken and then determine strategies to help you overcome that in future.

Choose to be amazing! It’s as simple as making a commitment to yourself every morning that you will have an amazing day. Remember, life is not a dress rehearsal – we only get one performance, so let’s give it our best!

Neen is an International Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy – and where they focus their attention – Neen helps attorneys to rocket-charge their productivity and networking performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate educator, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Find out more and subscribe to Neen’s free monthly ezine at http://neenjames.com/

Productivity for Attorneys - How to Conduct Productive Business Development During the Holiday Season

2006-08-12T05:50:00.000-07:00

Productive Business Development During the Holiday Season for Attorneys

It seems during the crazy holiday time many organisations, clients, associations, companies and social clubs have a networking event for you to attend. How can you possibly do it all? Well… you can’t. To ensure your business development and networking is proactive, productive and profitable this holiday season you can apply these productivity tips for the holiday season.

Choose your activity – you will receive many offers to attend functions, choose wisely. Determine what time of day is best for you to attend. Do you prefer breakfast events, luncheons or after work activities. Assess when the function is being held and if it is the best use of your time. Ask yourself, ‘why am I attending this event’? If you are attending to ‘be seen’ that might be important for growing your practice or are you attending from a sense of obligation? That is OK too, but be very clear on your personal agenda and why you are attending the event. If you just want to have a great time that is OK too!

Don’t accept every invitation – just like you need to choose which functions to attend, you also need to decline many invitations. You simply can’t attend every activity at this time of year and still run your practice and meet your business goals and billable hours. Respond quickly to invitations, send a ‘thank you email’ to the organiser and decline some invitations.

Take a raincheck – one of the most polite ways to decline an invitation to any event is to ask the person “may I take a rain check”. This simple question lets the person know you appreciate their invitation but you are unable to attend at this time.

Meet a friend – many people want to catch up with you during the holiday season, ask them to join you at a networking function, this way you can enjoy their company, meet new connections and make the most of the this busy time of year.

Send a ‘Happy Holiday’ follow up card instead of a thank you card – you have heard me say before I think it is important to re-connect with people after each business development event by sending a thank you card or a ‘nice to meet you’ card. At this time of year replace this with a ‘happy holiday’ card and include your business card for their records.

Shop the display tables – if you are fortunate enough to attend functions that include trade displays, use the time wisely to also purchase holiday gifts. This will save you time battling the store lines with other holiday shoppers while supporting other businesses.

Book follow up time – when you book a networking function into your schedule, make another appointment with yourself the day after the event for 1 hour of follow up activity. Use this time to write your ‘happy holiday’ cards, send company information that was requested from you or make follow up phone calls. This will help you be more productive and know all those new connections you made and the new business cards you collected, won’t sit on your desk for the coming weeks or maybe months! Remember this one-hour of time (although not billable) can translate into new business for the coming year.

Arrive early, stay late – to maximise your time at functions you decide to attend, arrive early to meet the committee, speakers and hosts. Stay late to make new connections with people you have just met.

Don’t book multiple functions in one day – don’t make the mistake of rushing from one networking event to the next. Be fully present while you are at an event and enjoy the conversations and the connections you make. Many people try to fit in multiple events this time of year and don’t do justice to any of them. Choose wisely.

Book 1 hour to review your involvement in business development activities and networks – it is easy to join multiple networks but not be involved in any of them. Take one hour to assess every network you belong to, determine which networks you want to remain involved in for next year and decide which networks have not been valuable for you this past year. By conducting this activity before the end of the year, you can start 2007 afresh. This will help you make quick decisions about which invitations to accept and decline. Use these questions to help you:
What can I contribute to this network?
What is the investment I need to make?
What is the R.O.N?

Pro-Networkingä R.O.N is a way of calculating ‘Return on Networking’ – I use this proprietary formula to determine if the network is worth my time, attention, energy and money.

Set up your appointments for 2007 – now is a great time to schedule your January through March appointments, don’t overlook this time for planning your next year. Conduct reviews with clients; meet prospective clients and book time with your associates to help them set their goals for 2007.

Neen is an International Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy – and where they focus their attention – Neen helps people to rocket-charge their productivity and networking performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate educator, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Find out more and subscribe to Neen’s free monthly ezine at http://neenjames.com

Productivity for Attorneys - Being Productive During Summer: How to Continually Grow Your Business

2006-08-04T10:05:00.000-07:00

Being Productive During Summer: How to Continually Grow Your Business

Why is it that when summer arrives business slows down, networks stop meeting, work attendance decreases, business development activities grind to a halt – and yet we still have budgets, goals and targets to achieve? How do you handle the ‘unproductive’ attitude that summer brings? How can you juggle vacation schedules? Historically, summer may have been a time for you to take it easy, do the minimum amount of activity while you focus on what you will achieve when fall comes around…not this year. Decide to make this your most productive summer ever, here are some strategies that will help you do that and continually grow your firm's business all year round.

Take advantage of the weather. Use the longer hours of daylight savings to conduct meetings later in the day, take advantage of warmer conditions and meet people at outdoor venues and cafes, meet clients for lunch where you will enjoy lighter food and warm sunshine.

Review your business plan. Make a two-hour appointment with yourself to review all the actions in your business plan – including your cash flows and billable hours targets – and spend time determining what you need to achieve your goals for this financial year. Your business plan should not be hiding in your bottom draw or collecting dust on a shelf, it is a living document that can be reviewed regularly – make summer your time to determine your next steps.

Revisit your marketing plan. What plan you ask? If you don’t have one, now is the time to sit and write one. If you need help there is an abundance of talented consultants who can assist you build a customised business development & marketing plan for your business. If you already have one, review your progress, determine what actions need to be taken and schedule time during the summer to complete those tasks.

Conduct a six-month business review. Spend two hours reviewing your business achievements for the past six months. Ask yourself these 11 questions:
1. How would I rate the past six months’ firm's performance (1-10 with 10 being the highest)?
2. Did I achieve my financial goals each month?
3. If not, why not?
4. If not, what do I need to do differently in the next six months to meet my annual budget or plan?
5. If I did meet these targets (congratulations to you), were they big enough?
6. Have I conducted reviews with my team? If not, why not? And when?
7. If so, have I rewarded my team adequately?
8. Do I need to invest more in my team or personal development?
9. Is my marketing plan on track? If not, why not?
10. If not, what activities do I need to conduct to implement more marketing strategies?
11. Have I done sufficient practice development / networking to grow the firm or my connections? If not, why not?

When you have completed these questions, create a series of tasks, actions or projects to implement some of your strategies to help you really achieve all your targets for the next six months.

Invest in your personal development. Have you been meaning to read the latest business book? Is there a summit you could attend? Is there an online program you have wanted to complete? Is there a web seminar that you’ve wanted to register for? This is a great time of year to invest in yourself, refresh your memory and learn a new skill. Summer is conducive to learning.

Conduct a summer clean. Just like a spring clean, but during the summer months. Your summer clean could include:
v Clearing, deleting or filing those read emails in your inbox.
v Unsubscribing from all those newsletters that you don’t read.
v Allocating one hour to get your paper filing up to date (if you have more than one hour’s worth, do one hour per week until it is all complete).
v Throwing out unwanted, unread journals that you have been ‘meaning’ to read, but haven’t and won’t.
v Reviewing your ‘tasks’ on your to-do list or in your Outlook file and removing those tasks that simply won’t be completed.
v Spending 15 minutes cleaning the top of your desk, removing unnecessary stationery, putting away files, cleaning the dust off your family photo, throwing away empty water bottles and wiping down your computer keyboard and screen. A clean and clear desk will help you be more productive any time of year!
v Entering details into your contact management system of the business card pile that is gathering dust on your desk.

Hold a team development activity. If you manage a team of people, allocate some time to meet for lunch at an outdoor café; take three hours and visit the local zoo as a team (work out which animal best represents each member of your team...only joking!); meet early for a game of golf or tennis before work; bring food to share for lunch and conduct a meeting in your local park. Spend time listening to your team, their challenges and achievements. Plan your next six months and how you will achieve the targets for the whole team. Use the warmer weather to conduct outdoor versions of activities you normally conduct indoors.

Conduct focus groups. Invite a select number of key clients to your office and ask them about your business, their expectations and experiences, and how you can better serve them. Collate the results and seek your team’s input on how to action them.

Create a list of new business development targets. Once you have made your list, sort it into three groups: ‘spheres of influence’, those that are able to make decisions about your products or services; ‘centres of influence’, those that are already your advocates; and ‘strategic alliances’, those that you can refer business to and that can also refer business to you. Once you have your list completed, book appointments with these people to include lunch, breakfast or even a ‘tele-coffee’. Create a plan within your schedule to contact them regularly. Contact could include a phone call, email, sending them an interesting article you’ve found, inviting them to a networking event with you, sending a parcel of products or a face-to-face meeting.

Book a ‘tele-coffee’ with your clients. What is a ‘tele-coffee’? It is where you both make a coffee and meet by teleconference. It is a more productive way of meeting (and avoids time wasted in travel).

Visit a new networking group. Many networking groups don’t meet during the summer, but those who are serious about building their businesses are still networking and still making valuable connections. Find out which groups are meeting and plan to attend at least two new groups this summer. This is the perfect time to develop new relationships and valuable connections.

To continually grow your firm you do need to be mindful of the seasons but don’t slow down in summer – get more productive. Use this time to get a head start on all those fall meetings you can conduct when people return from vacation, ensure plans are in place to achieve your annual results, tidy your work environment so you are not distracted by clutter, and experiment with new products, focus groups and new networking opportunities. Embrace the warmer weather for outdoor meetings and events and enjoy all that summer brings for your business growth.

Neen is an International Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy – and where they focus their attention – Neen helps people to rocket-charge their productivity and performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice (Aussie accent), sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Subscribe to Neen’s free monthly ezine at http://neenjames.com

Productivity for Attorneys - How Attorneys Can be More Productive and Increase Billable Hours

2006-08-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

How Attorneys Can be More Productive and Increase Billable Hours
By Neen James – www.neenjames.com

A constant question in the mind of many attorneys is ‘how can I increase my billable hours while completing all these other tasks on my ‘to do’ list?’ – this is not a simple question to answer but there are a number of solutions that can be implemented into every practice to ensure more billable hours and more staff satisfaction at every level of the practice.

Delegate – to some this is a hard concept to grasp but when attorneys embrace the concept of delegation everyone benefits. Many staff want more responsibility and variety in their daily work tasks. By delegating different projects and tasks, support staff enjoy an increase their interest in their roles and feel more satisfied. Delegation of regular occurring tasks, scheduling, administration, follow up and routine activities frees up time for attorneys allowing more billable hours. Delegation is a learned skill; it does not come easily to most and must be handled in a way that both parties trust the process and each other. When delegation is practiced within a law firm it ensures career paths are created and skill sets are increased, this is beneficial for any growing firm. For more tips on delegation go to: http://www.neenjames.com/tips29.html

Review – implementing monthly and annual reviews with all members of the law firm will allow every partner to keep a firm grasp on performance and activity of every staff member including paralegals, secretaries, technology support, communications and marketing staff. A monthly review may include a 30-minute meeting with each direct report to check performance against targets, outstanding issues, and project updates and staff morale. By checking in on a regular basis both partners and employees can recognise future opporunities and identify potential issues. An investment in annual reviews with each employee will also create career progression opportunities, identify training needs and help support staff feel more valued in their role. It is recognized that recognized and valued employees are more productive employees.

Happy Hour – conducing a regular ‘happy hour’ with your team members weekly or monthly will allow both parties to review tasks, projects and identify potential productivity challenges. For more tips on Happy Hours go to: http://www.neenjames.com/tips42.html

Measure – productivity can be measured by every practice through increased billable hours, increased client satisfaction ratings, increase in new cases and a feeling of more ‘control’ for partners. Support staff will measure their own productivity a number of ways. Firstly by their feeling of ‘completeness’ of all activities and tasks in their everyday ‘to do’ list. Secondly by the feedback from their superiors, feedback is an essential element to boost productivity in all staff members. Thirdly through their own job satisfaction. When a support staff member enjoys their work and environment they will be more productive.

Use Downtime – unfortunately we can’t eliminate downtime but we can be productive in times where things are not in our control. Being prepared for downtime will allow you to make the most of every opportunity. This simply means to be prepared. When you are waiting in offices, waiting for decisions to be made, waiting for communications, this can be frustrating. Eliminate the downtime and the frustration by regularly having a file of ‘down time to dos” – this file might include articles or journals you have been wanting to read, completing non-urgent paperwork, reviewing or editing documentation and replying to correspondence. Always carry a file in your briefcase that is filled with non-urgent tasks so you can make the most of these times. Get into the habit of taking this file with you when you leave your office, travel on public transport, attend meetings, arrive at appointments – keep it with you.

Systemize – many activities in each practice can be documented and systemized. This initial investment of time and resources to achieve this may seem difficult, but the long-term rewards far outweigh the initial costs. If your team doesn’t have this skill set internally, consider outsourcing this to a Productivity or Organization Expert. These people can quickly identify tasks and activities that can be systemized; they can document the processes and train the staff on how to implement them.

Be flexible – implement a company policy that rewards not only good performance but productivity as well. Identify within each role in your practice where people can be productive, this will be different for each role and each team member. Some people are more effective working early mornings and others late at night. Investigate if some of your team members can have flexibility in their work environment to really maximize their performance. Identify if there may be opportunities for them to be measured on their outcomes rather than the time they sit at their desk or cubicle. Flexibility is great recognition for high performers: it rewards productivity and outcomes rather than office hour attendance.

Reward – consider implementing a reward system for high profile or long-term cases. Within each practice there are opportunities to share the rewards. Many support staff will increase their productivity when recognized for their efforts. These rewards do not always need to be monetary (although that is always appreciated…) but can include gift cards, time off, gifts and praise. Take time to recognize your support teams.

Educate – one of the most effective uses of your resources is to invest in productivity training or workshops for your support staff (and partners). Many experts can give practical solutions and tips in short workshops that are designed to maximise the skills and efforts of each of your team.

Apply any or all of these tips today and you will definitely notice an increase in the support staff productivity, billable hours and increased client satisfaction.

Neen is a Productivity Expert: by looking at how attorneys spend their time and energy – and where they focus their attention – Neen helps you develop productive business development strategies and increase performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you bill more hours. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. www.neenjames.com