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The Missing Piece of Effective Onboarding

Photo by Bambi Corro on Unsplash

We all know that onboarding is essential to the success of your organization and to ensure your employees are set up for success in their roles. There are a ton of articles and resources about this topic. Here are a few I’ve come across recently: 7 Steps To Building The Best New Hire Onboarding Program, 10 Best Practices for Successful Onboarding, and How to make 2018 the best year yet for employee onboarding. These articles are all great, offering sustainable and meaningful advice on developing impactful onboarding experiences. However, they are all missing one key component – a holistic understanding of the company. 

The best onboarding I’ve encountered was at McMaster-Carr. We had 3 full-weeks – yes, 120 paid hours! – of company onboarding. Notice, that does not include department or role-specific training, that happened after was also extensive, lasting another 6 weeks.

Words like redundant, unnecessary, time-wasting or frivolous may be popping into your head right now. I will concede that it is a significant investment for a single employee, not to mention an entire company. However, I can also assure you that ROI is even more significant. Take these statistics for starters:  

69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experienced great onboarding 

The organizational costs of employee turnover are estimated to range between 100% and 300% of the replaced employee’s salary

It typically takes eight months for a newly hired employee to reach full productivity

Check out this article for more stats.

Why do I recommend that every boarding process include overarching company-wide training?

It provides employees an essential understanding of the company as a whole which fosters cheerleaders and advocates.

Employees get a sense of how the work of each department impacts and engages with one another, leading to more collaborative, sustainable, and lasting cross-functional solutions.

It shows that you value your employees. By showing that you are not trying to squeeze every bit of work out of them from day one, allowing them to time to adjust and transition into the organization and that it’s your plan to retain and invest in employees long-term, you’re going to get more engaged employees willing to invest in you.

Highlights professional growth opportunities. Have a holistic view of the company can shed light on other areas employees are willing to explore and where their skills and interests may lie. Again, leading to more fulfilling engagement and options for future growth that both you and they are able to see.

Your employees will build meaningful relationships. During my 3 weeks of company training, I also was set up on lunch dates with people across the company and at all organizational levels. While a bit awkward at first, I quickly came to appreciate having the time and space to develop relationships with my new co-workers. If you don’t already know why having friends at work is crucial, check out this article from The Muse.

Obviously, I’m not suggesting you replicate 3 weeks of training, but even dedicating a day to chat with people in all areas of the company or spreading it across the first week are great places to begin.

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The Reality of “Working Around Your Energy”

One of the new hot topics in the world of work is managing your energy or, using your natural energy rhythm to be more productive. Here are a few articles for reference: Schedule Your Day Around Your Energy for Better Results,  Manage Your Mental Energy to be More Productive at Work, and The Secret to Better Work: Manage Your Energy Not Your Time.

As someone, that’s naturally efficient and fairly conscious of my energy and mental engagement at any given time, my initial thought to this was – duh! However, I came across this article recently, How to Design Your Ideal Work Day Based on Your Sleep Habits, and was outright mad. The premise is simple; sleep expert, Michael Breus, identified four “chronotypes” that correspond to your body’s natural sleep habits and energy patters. These chronotypes are classified using animals – bears, lions, wolves, and dolphins. Breus’ believes that “your chronotype can offer a roadmap for taking advantage of your body’s natural energy flows.”  

Makes sense, so why was I mad? Because, what the article didn’t take into account was that our decisions can impact behavior and thus, we can choose to sleep differently, and almost everything we do impacts our energy. For example, choosing to take a walk versus grabbing another cup of coffee, can extend your energy level, but may not provide a burst of energy has a high as the coffee might.

I forwarded this article to my personal trainer, Stephen Cornely of Triad Wellness Philly. We’ve been working together for 3 years now and I respect his opinion as an expert in comprehensive health and wellness. His response was surprising so I wanted to share a physical trainer’s perspective on this new work trend.

Q: Steve, what are your initial thoughts on managing your energy or, using your natural energy rhythm to be more productive?

A: I’m not sure I agree with the statement that we all have a “natural” energy rhythm.  The human body is a very adaptable organism and I believe our “natural energy rhythm” is based on our daily obligations and lifestyle.  For example, when I became a personal trainer, I needed to start working at 5 AM because that’s an opportunity bring in clients before starting their work day. Currently, I work all morning, have a little afternoon siesta and then work again in the evening when people are done with their typical 9-5. In college, I was regularly up until 4 AM and slept until noon. My daily schedule had to change drastically and quickly.  Now even on days I don’t work, the latest I can sleep will be 7 or 8 AM. So, there’s nothing is really “natural” about my rhythm – or yours - at all, rather, it is a product of my lifestyle.

Q: What does the average person need to know about their body’s energy levels?

A: The average person needs to know that the body is a highly complex thing.  It can take months to years to figure out exactly what is affecting your energy levels and how to take control of those things. Also understand that your energy levels are exactly that: YOURS.  Now granted, there are everyday stressors in life that are out of your control but the things that you should prioritize to keep your energy levels in a good place (nutrition, exercise, sleep, mental health) are in your control. If you take the time to make these things a priority and create schedules for yourself, your body will most certainly adapt over time. 

Q: Say more about how past behavior or decisions can impact energy now?

A: Some basic examples of how past behavior can affect current energy levels include the obvious – caffeine and food. Caffeine will cause an immediate increase in alertness or energy whereas a huge meal where you overstuff yourself will decrease your energy level.  

A more complex example is something called cumulative fatigue. This is fatigue that happens over the course of days or weeks and is more commonly referred to as burnout.  

Let’s say in the new year you jump into a new workout routine after taking 3 months off and you’re doing 60 minutes of HIIT (high-intensity interval training) 3x/week!  On top of that, you’ve seriously changed your diet to cut out processed food and lowered your calorie intake by 200 cals/day.  Simultaneously, things at work get busy and you have to work an extra hour/day 2 days a week.  Your kid starts hockey practice in January so you have to get up 30 minutes earlier 2x/week to drop them off at the rink.  And “This is Us” is starting a new season so you have to stay up an extra hour to get your weekly cry session in before bed, obviously.

What do you think will happen to your body with the increase energy expenditure, decrease in caloric refueling, decrease in sleep, and higher stress at work and with the kids?  This is too much catabolic processes (break down) and not enough anabolic processes (build up) to keep the body healthy.  Chances are you will either end up getting sick, hurt, or just quit your exercise, diet, or tv watching (as if) and replace it with sleep and/or overeating.

This is why its imperative to create small, manageable changes in lifestyle and see how they affect your energy levels over the course of a few weeks and allowing your body to adapt to one change at a time!

Q: How can and can’t you improve or increase energy levels?

A: As discussed earlier, the body adapts to the stimuli that is presented to it and over time it can get really good at dealing with these stimuli. The issue is that it needs TIME to adapt.  If we don’t run on a schedule everyday then our body wont know when to be energized or when its time to relax.  However, if you keep your wake-up time, bed time, and meal times roughly the same everyday, your body will be able to better regulate energy levels.

Some other things that you can do for sustained energy levels are to exercise more and eat more nutritious food – meaning foods that have more vitamins and minerals per calorie (learn more about those foods here) because the body uses these to help fuel metabolic processes. Creating a good exercise habit is difficult and tiring in the beginning but start slow, give it time, and you will see that movement begets energy because of the body’s natural adaptability.

Gaining energy can also be about removing the things that are depleting your natural energy levels such as a reliance on caffeine and unnecessary sensory input from electronics. Yes, caffeine can provide a boost when necessary however if you “need” it on a regular basis at a certain time of day, its likely your body has become dysfunctional and reliant on a drug which in turns prevents the body from running on its own energy.   

Our use of television, phones, and computers at night before bed also impact our energy levels.  The external stimulus, although feels relaxing because we typically have to do less critical thinking and can zone out to the entertainment, actually excites our brain through our senses (loud noises & bright light can make our brain think its ready to be energized).  It would be better to actually relax through reading, journaling, meditating, or small discussion with loved ones prior to bed in order to start the down-regulation process required to fall asleep.

Q: What’s your advice to people that want to be more productive throughout their work day?

A: Prioritize your own health first, set goals for the day & complete them, and cut out the things that won’t make you proud of yourself tomorrow.

Want to find sustained energy? Contact Steve for a free, 1-hour training session, virtual or in-person! To get more accomplished during the day, send me an email.

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Setting My 2018 Resolutions

Every year, we set resolutions to improve our lives, make better choices, and put an end to bad habits. And every year, about the time Spring rolls around, we have given up, decided none of those things are realistic, or have been confronted with a new set of challenges caused by the resolutions meant to make things easier. Four years ago, this is where I found myself – frustrated by my lack of progress on my 2014 New Years’ resolutions.

So, for 2015 I decided to set my goals in a different way. My goals now are either very specific, with a target number, or very general. I also started shifting my mindset around failure because conceiving things as failures only made it harder for me to make any progress at all. Each time I make a new decision, be it eating healthier, communicating better, or learning a new skill, I can choose a better option than I chose previously.

Here is my goal-setting framework and behavior in action:

“Eating healthier” turned into remove grains from 1 meal per week, then 3 meals, then 2 days, etc. Eventually, working my way up to remove grains from my diet completely (save for special occasions). Every time I confronted a choice about what I would eat or drink, I had a new opportunity to choose better. Even if I had one, or two, of those amazing cookies my boss brought into the office, I hadn’t failed on my goal.  

I also don’t list my resolutions (I know, I’m surprised too), I mind-map them! While I love lists, a list of my goals felt daunting, especially as you’re just getting started. Many of my friends create vision boards so I combined that idea with my lack of magazines, and did a brainstorm map like you did in grade school. I group my goals thematically; topics include professional, intellectual, relational, etc. Needless to say, this method works well for me and quite honestly, it’s pretty fun!

Once I’ve laid out my resolutions for the upcoming year, I set up additional pieces of paper for me to track progress on those goals with explicit numbers and attach them to my map. For example, this year my goal is to read 1 book per month and take 1 class per month so I have a page with months going down the left side and ‘Book’ and ‘Class’ as the column titles.  As science as proven, we are more likely to accomplish goals or tasks if they are written by hand.

Now, toss your phone, tablet, and computer to the side, and get started on your 2018 resolutions – Happy New Year!

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Maintaining Work-Life Balance as a Remote Employee

Ashley Starr and I are colleagues at Everwise. We’re both Experience Managers, responsible for customer and partnership support. Typically, we have our days booked with customer calls and responding to inquiries via email and phone. Our entire team works remotely across the globe. Ashley has a Life Coaching business and blog you can check out here.

Q: How can I stay productive during the holiday season?

Shameika: I’m very intentional when it comes to my schedule and ensuring I’m productive. The first thing I do is map my energy. During the holidays, it gets darker a whole lot earlier so I get up early (about 7 am) and work on some of those personal things I’d like to get done - shopping, gift-wrapping, writing my holiday cards, that way I’m focused and ready to work by the time 9 AM rolls around. And, when those one-off things cross my mind, I have either post-its or a notepad on hand to jot them down - out of mind but accounted for. The other big thing that keeps me productive are treating myself to small things to remind me of the joy of the season. For instance, working with a cup of hot cocoa or lighting a holiday scented candle.

Ashley: This year is out of the norm - I’ve been traveling all of December! However, since I’m generally more tired in the winter so it’s harder for me to get up early so my entire schedule has to be shifted forward. I honor my tiredness in the cold, wintery mornings by staying in bed as long as possible! Once I’m out of bed, I make a quality cup of coffee and bring it back to bed where I do my morning practices, catch up on email, and do small things to ease into my workday, like responding to Slack notifications, organizing my calendar, and getting set up for the day. It’s essential for me to conserve my energy around the holidays because I give a ton of it away moving from holiday parties to family events so I utilize the mornings to feel cozy and rested, but still productive.

Shameika: Ashley, I love your phrase - “I honor my tiredness.” It’s so important to practice self-care throughout the year! I hop into bed for that coziness in my evenings, opting for a power nap and cup of coffee pre-holiday festivities.

Q: Where do you typically work? How can I set-up my office?

Shameika: I work from a home office, a second bedroom in my apartment. I like having a set place I go to work so that I have a clear delineation of work and home. When I leave my “office”, aka step out of the room and close the door, I (almost) immediately stop thinking about work.

I started working remotely with a very clear sense that I needed a space I would look forward to working in and one that would be both comfortable and productive. I set up art that inspires me, brought in a candle and humidifier for some of those more relaxing elements. I also, invested in some key office supplies to ensure I had everything I would need at my fingertips - post-its, highlighters, white-board, note-pads, etc.

Ashley: I thrive on change - especially changes to my environment so it’s pretty important for me to know what type of environment I need around me for specific tasks rather than going to the same space each day for all types of work. I work from everywhere! I agree with Shameika though, having a dedicated workspace that I look forward to is important. I’ve incorporated Feng Shui design into my workspace and invested in a rug, desk, accessories, etc. - things that make me feel calm, give me a laugh when I need it, and inspire creativity. All this being said, I tend to be a bit more fluid and decide where I want to work based on how I am feeling that day and what’s on my schedule. For task-oriented and ‘get shit done’ days, you’ll find me at my desk in my workspace. Other days, especially ones require more creativity, I’ll be on the couch in my front room where I have huge windows that let light in and allow me to people watch or stare at the trees - both very important to my creative bursts.

As I said, I’m traveling this year so I still try to have a dedicated workspace - in most cases, the dining room table, but I also have to be more flexible - lying in the grass with my laptop, finishing up emails in the passenger seat on the way to our next destination - having a good hotspot has changed my life!

Q: How can you stay connected without checking in during off hours (Slack, email)?

Shameika: Our office uses Slack a lot so I installed the app on my phone, but turned off the notifications. That way, when I’m in the kitchen preparing lunch, I can always check in, but my attention is not constantly drawn to it. Thankfully, I have a work computer that stays off on the weekend and outside of my daily 9 to 5.

Ashley: I admit, I struggle with this! I also have Slack on my phone and have gotten in the habit of ‘snoozing’ notifications for the weekend or after hours, but then I get curious and do a *quick* check-in. Same with my work email - it’s on my phone too - eek! I am good about keeping my work computer off, small wins! Awareness is the first step to recovery. I’m actively finding ways to still feel connected or feel that I’m not missing out without letting work and life lines blur. One thing I’ve found helpful is moving my Slack and email apps to the very back ‘page’ of my phone, making it more difficult to reach and remember to check.

Q: How do flexibility and travel play into your how you manage your calendar?

Shameika: Honestly, I’m still trying to figure this one out. I definitely want to take advantage of the fact I can work from anywhere, but I’m also one of those people, that throws herself into an experience fully and I don’t want to work on an international vacation!

Ashley: I left my corporate job in May 2015 to travel and when I came back, I had a panic attack each time I thought about going back to a cubicle. The reverse culture shock has since subsided and I could probably handle life in an office again but thankfully, I don’t have to! I was very intentional about not only the type of work I wanted to be doing next but also that I wanted a remote or flexible work environment.

Travel is a huge part of my life and I want my work to be one part of my life as well without it controlling or dictating my life. I took the first 6-months of my current job to get comfortable with the role and establish my expectations. After that point, I started to look at how I could incorporate travel into my work week. I went to work in Chicago a handful of times in the first 6-months of my role because I used to live there and felt comfortable working from my friend’s house. My first big ‘work trip’ came this past June when I spent some time in Boston staying with another friend. He is part of a small startup and they work in a coworking space so he was able to get me a buddy pass to work with his team.

For the past 3 weeks, I have been away from home traveling through Colorado and Utah - via RV! My boyfriend is off during the winter months and we dreamt of living in a camper van and traveling the country. It’s definitely a bit more difficult for me to have a job and live in a camper van...so we took his mom’s 5th wheel and are traveling the US for the winter in that. It works well because it’s a mini house/office on wheels. I haven’t noticed much of a difference in terms of how I work except that I do feel more creative -  travel always gets my ideas flowing!

One challenge though, speaking to Shameika’s point, it is difficult to take an actual vacation. Because I can take my work anywhere, I have a hard time justifying (to myself) that I should take the time off. However, I am taking a few days of PTO in between our camper adventures to go to Costa Rica and fully disconnect from work. I CANNOT WAIT!

Q: How do you set boundaries for work/life as a remote, home-based worker?  How do you set boundaries with your family, roommate, S.O., etc as a home-based worker?

Shameika: Lucky for me, my boyfriend has a traditional office job, so I’m at home alone for the most part. When he is home, I give him a list of my calls and video meetings so he’s aware in case he comes in and out of the office or wants to chat. Otherwise, people in my life know that I’m focused when I work and don’t expect my engagement or interactions to be different than if I worked in an office. My cell phone stays on silent and I respond to personal messages and emails when I have a minute between calls or after 5 pm.

Ashley: As mentioned above, my boyfriend works seasonally and is off during the winter months. I don’t notice much of a difference because he still has a lot of things he does during the day and definitely takes advantage of his time off to sleep in. He’s very respectful of my work, even created my dedicated office space upstairs. Similar to Shameika, I let him know what my schedule looks like for the day and he is good about leaving me to my work. My family is a bit different. They are always asking if I can pick them up from the airport, go run this errand, or meet them for lunch. It’s has been more difficult getting them to understand that while I do have flexibility in my job, my schedule is booked and far less flexible once my work hours are set.

Q: How do you stay connected to others (at work and outside of work) when you’re home all day?

Shameika: I’m very purposeful to reach out to my co-workers, setting up coffee dates to chat about our experiences and get to know them generally - like I would if we were in an office together! I “stop-by” and say hi, see how their day or week is progressing, and ask for advice.

I also set up personal activities outside of my work hours to make sure I’m consistently growing my external relationships and getting out of the house! For instance, I schedule my errands for either before or after work, I set up breakfast, lunch, or dinner dates with friends in the area during the week, and I have started to work from a coffee shop at least once a week. I’m going to check out some co-working options in the new year. I also, do a lot of volunteering outside of work so I’ve been surprised to find I’m not missing any human interaction.

Ashley: This was the hardest part for me when I started in this role for many reasons. I had just moved to Minneapolis, had almost no friends locally and this was my first time working full-time remotely.

I moved a lot in my life after college and have always made friends, finding my tribe pretty quickly in new locations. Like most people, many of those new connections came from work so when I didn’t have that as a source of friendship (face-to-face, hang out after work at a happy hour type friendships) it got rough. I joined a gym, got on Bumble & Bumble BFF (success story over here - boyfriend AND one of my good friends came from this beautiful app), and found myself heading to Target a lot to chat with the cashiers in order to get some real human connection. Basically, I now know what it must be like to be an 80-year old widow and my heart hurts - stop and chat with the next old lady you see or the rando-girl that stops in every day and lingers to chat a bit too long, please!

I also became a serious “scheduler” and drove some of my friends nuts to make plans for the next 2 weeks. I wanted to make sure I had something to do after work and on the weekends. However, I quickly found myself burning out managing my work schedule and these extracurriculars. I did some scaling back on my obsessive scheduling. Now, I check-in with myself regularly and typically, know when I’m in need some human interaction.

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How can I be productive when I’m stressed and overwhelmed?

This question may seem answerless. I’m here to tell you, it’s not. Many people come to me when they need to get things done, but are truly at a loss and overwhelmed. Today, we’re going to get through this together.

**NOTE: I don’t want to hear anyone say they “don’t have the time.” If you’re reading this, if you can complain about your stress, you do have the time.

No matter where you are right now, I want you to stop. Drop everything you are doing and just stop. Now, ask yourself, does this have to be done right now? If the answer is yes, ask: will it be done right now? If you said yes again, finish it up and return when you’re done. If your answer is no, reach out to whoever it is to let them know it will be late – your boss, your spouse, your kid’s teacher, whoever.

Now, we’re all free to fully reset.

Spend the next 3-10 minutes doing something that puts you in a good mood. My current go-to is listening to Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man and singing my heart out. Maybe yours is sitting in silence, grabbing some coffee or tea, or screaming aloud. Whatever you need to do, do it.

Here’s a list of productive activities you can do. Feel free to go through all of them or pick and choose those that match your needs right now. 

·      Write a list of everything you’ve accomplished today and cross it off. When I’m feeling particularly down, I include things like got out of bed, showered, brushed teeth, etc. You’ve actually done a lot today – give yourself some credit.

·      Move! Take a walk outside, go to the gym, do some stretches at your desk. Your health is always a productive use of time.  

·      Do an essential, but tedious repetitive task. This can include things like inputting data, folding laundry, tracking your finances, and cleaning out folders or email. Doing repetitive tasks has been proven to decrease stress and have a calming effect on your mood - plus it needs to get done anyway.

·      Make a to-do list of only 3 things you have to do today. Yes, only 3 and one of them has to be something you’re looking forward to. Start working on that list, feel free to jump to the fun one.

·      Talk to someone. Whether a friend, colleague, or pet, talk about what’s stressing you out and why you’re worried about it. Sometimes we just need to get it out. Either way, it’s a great start. If there’s no one immediately available, free write.

·      Draft an action plan and start. Make sure everything is actionable (see example below). Block off time to do it and when that time comes, do it – whether or not you want to, just start.

For example, change ‘complete donor presentation’ to:

o   Add slides to donor presentation:  

§  Title page and welcome

§  Organization mission

§  Our program/how we get there

§  Program statistics

§  Overall impact with testimonial

§  Needs and upcoming year’s plan

§  Q & A only (no photo)

§  Thank you with instructions to give and contact information

§  + 1 photo per slide

§  Send to X for review

I hope by now you feel less stress and productive. Remember, take it one step at a time.

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Taking Back Your Calendar

“I’m so sorry I was late. I have 3 separate calendars and it’s just a lot going on.” 

When my friend said this statement as she arrived for dinner, my Type A personality almost took over. Instead, I shared these practical tips for taking back your calendar:

1.     Share multiple calendars.

I only have 2 calendars, a personal and a work calendar. In order to manage them and stay on track, I share them and allow each “user” (in this case my work self and my personal self) to edit and modify the events. This way, I can always reference the other whether I’m on my work computer or my phone. Learn how to do it here.

2.     Color code events.

For example, in my personal calendar, events that would be nice to go to, but are not essential are purple, required events are in green, and flexible events (i.e. low-key hangouts with friends) are in blue. I have another color coding method for my work calendar, separated into one-on-one versus group meetings, administrative time, times I’m out of the office, etc. By color coding my calendars I can mentally prepare for the amount of energy and/or work my day will require. I also know automatically what can be removed when necessary.

3.     Give yourself more time.

When you schedule events do you block off the transportation time it takes to get there and back? Hell, do you even look at where it is and how long it’ll take you to get there? This is particularly crucial at work. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen someone who has a 3 PM meeting out of the office, actually leave the office at 3 PM. Not because they were busy, but because they just didn’t think about it. This will take an additional 3 minutes or so on the front in, but I guarantee it’ll pay off.

4.     Use your calendar for task reminders.

This is one of my favorite things! My AAA account was up for renewal this month. Why is this relevant you ask? Because when I signed up for my account I set up reoccurring events in my calendar for my annual renewal date to remind me to do it. I hear people shouting that they get emails and mailed notices for that. Maybe that actually works for you, but if you’re anything like me, you see those emails, think you’ve made a mental note of it, and then months later are forcefully reminded you forgot to do it. I do the same thing with doctor’s appointments. I don’t know when I need to schedule that dental cleaning, but my calendar does!

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The Ultimate Time Management Tips

A good friend of mine recently started grad school, and like many making major life changes, wanted to reassess the way she managed her time. Originally, the goal was to treat grad school and the subsequent work like a regular full-time job – go to class, study, complete assignments all between 9 AM and 5 PM Monday through Friday.

The problem here was two-fold. My friend hasn’t worked a traditional 9 to 5 job since 2013 and when she did, she hated it because it didn’t allow her the space to do what she wanted in her free time – connect with friends, go to yoga classes in the middle of the day, volunteer, etc.

This is a problem I hear of consistently: people trying to pigeon-hole themselves into life-changes that they hate all in the name of productivity and time-management. Full disclaimer: you can obviously learn to like, even love, things you originally hated. All changes can start out hard. However, I find this is truer of activities rather than work styles.

1.     Work around your internal rhythms.

If you’re not a morning person, don’t force yourself up at the crack of dawn. Instead, figure out how to make your evenings work for you. Shift tasks that require low mental energy to your regular morning hours and incorporate things that require the most focus to when you’re most awake.

2.     Know yourself and schedule around it.

A HUGE pet peeve of mine is when procrastinators do not plan to procrastinate. You know you’re going to do it, I know you’re going to do it. So, why not incorporate it? I told my friends this throughout college and all I received back were eye-rolls and scoffs of dismissal. Until my roommate began coming to me for help planning her schedule. She was astounded by how well it worked. What does this look like in real time? Let’s say, you procrastinate until you’re out of underwear to do laundry which happens every two weeks, but you’re always kicking yourself for not doing it sooner. I hear you. Now, get over it! Schedule to do your laundry every two weeks and don’t think about it until then.

3.     Incorporate your needs.

This one is particularly hard for me. A new goal of mine is to get more exercise and now that I work remotely I have no excuses. Regardless, I sincerely struggle with working out on my own. Currently, I pay a personal trainer twice a week in order to side-step that issue. Paying for more training time is not financially feasible. What is feasible, is creating a plan with my trainer for me to follow on my own, complete with a written routine, weekly goals, and incremental changes until I get to where I want to be. To keep me on track and accountable, my trainer will additionally check in with me via text while my boyfriend covers the home-front.

Your time is yours – take it!

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The Problem with Knowledge Hoarding

In nonprofits, there is a significant amount of knowledge hoarding. Knowledge hoarding is when the know-how of any process or skill is held in the hands of very few people within the organization. Frequently, you’ll hear in nonprofits that only 1 person is able to do such and such, maybe two if you’re lucky. But why is that? The response regularly given is, “because there’s no time to train someone else” and/or “we don’t currently have the resources for it.” Sure, both of these statements may be true, but how much time and money is wasted when the only person that can do it is out sick, on vacation, or busy with other responsibilities?

In my most recent nonprofit stint, the Administrative Assistant was on vacation for almost 3 weeks, which happened to coincide with my start date. My first few days on the job, I tried to get a much information from him as I could before he left. However, because I was so new, there were plenty of things I was missing. I figured, other people will still be in the office and able to help me when necessary.

Boy, was I wrong.

No one, including the Executive Director, could easily provide me with the expense report from last year’s annual event that I needed, sign a reimbursement check because you needed two signatures, or tell me who printed our branded materials. All of this information and more was in the hands of our vacation-taking colleague. Now, don’t get me wrong - I am a strong believer in taking unconnected vacations. This is an expected part of being an employed adult. However, a single person’s vacation should not hinder or halt every day work.

So, what low-cost solutions are there for the money-strapped nonprofits of the world?

1.       Having an intuitive, organized file sharing system

Files should be intuitively organized within an organization’s shared drive. So often people are spending 10-20 minutes searching for a file because of how poorly organized systems are. Some organizations are definitely worse than others on this front. Regardless, you should: have clearly labeled, project-specific folders, archive outdated materials, and name files explicitly with the content they contain.

Additionally, many people save their work to their individual work computers rather than the shared drive and typically, those documents that are available are the final versions and thus, do not include background information, notes, revisions, or are even editable. I am a strong advocate of having an individual working folder on shared drives, where you can manage your workload, but also make these available to your peers when necessary.

2.       Creating how-to and handover documents

I cannot stress this enough, create organizational how-to’s and handover documentation! If you don’t know what these are, I’m about to make your life easier.

First, make a list of all your reoccurring tasks. For instance, updating the website News page, hosting webinars, managing contact lists, holding an annual event, and so on. Now, imagine that you were to leave your job today, what information would the next person need to be successful? One-by-one, start building out each processes step-by-step. Use a numbered list and add screenshot. Be sure to include key information such as deadlines, where things should be saved, etc. 

Here is an example of my how-to for using Zoom:

Handover documents are very similar, but have much more details. They are often for long-term projects (like an annual conference) and include timelines, contact information, past venue locations, etc. After you create them, make sure your share them with your team and save them in the appropriate folder.

Doing these two things consistently and well will prevent knowledge hoarding, allow for easy cross-training of current employees or onboarding training of new employees, and never leave you in bind.

[shameikablack]

Immediate Savings or Long-Term Success?

If you’re familiar with the ins and outs of the nonprofit sector, you know how inefficient, short-sighted, and rushed far too many projects and tasks are; there is a palatable urgency in the air and desire to “waste” as little money and time as possible. I argue this is one of the biggest mistakes that can be made in any organization – valuing immediate cost savings over long-term benefits that will have continuous returns for the organization. When it comes to setting up your organization for long-term success, sustainability, overall efficiency, I argue you should take the time on the front end to do it right.

Here’s a recent example:

I received a 25-page Word document with a list of approximately 300 names and contact information, in the format:

First Name Last Name

Title

Organization

Email Address

First Name Last Name

Title

Organization

Email Address

I was to send out a Mailchimp e-blast to everyone on the list. Now, for any person who has been faced with this task or is familiar with managing lists, you understand how time-consuming this task would be – Word documents do not easily transfer into mailing lists.

I had two options: 1) highlight all the email addresses and copy them into Mailchimp or 2) transpose everything into an excel sheet and then upload that sheet into Mailchimp. The first option would be the fastest way to get the blast out, it would still be laborious and would entail a lot of focus so that I didn’t accidently un-highlight them all before I was able to copy. The huge downside to this method is that we wouldn’t have their complete information or be able to easily reuse or reference the list. The second option, would take slightly more time, but we’d then have their complete contact information, be able to personalize the blast with their names, and would have a manageable list to later reference and reuse either in whole or in part.

Because the blast obviously had to go out the following morning (there’s that urgency I mentioned), and it was currently 3 PM in the afternoon. I presented the options to my team, advocating for the second. I was met with a strong preference for the first since “we needed to get it out” and “we didn’t need to personalize the blast.” It was true, the email didn’t need to be personalized, but shouldn’t it be? Since ultimately, the goal of any business or organization is to build relationships with their customers, clients, and stakeholders. Also, after going through almost 20 iterations of the email itself, the email didn’t go out for another 3 business days – something I fully expected as a normal occurrence in nonprofits. Because of this, and who I am, I transposed the list into an excel sheet any way – it took just over 2 hours.  

Because of this extra effort on the front end, we had a sustainable spreadsheet for future use that wouldn’t need any additional work down the line.

[shameikablack]

Document Management on the Go!

Have you ever sent an email with a typo? Received a document to complete, but because it’s a PDF had to print it, complete it, and then scan it back into your computer? If you’re over the hassle of managing paper documents, these resources will make it a thing of the past. 

Docuhub

Docuhub is a computer add-on that allows you to upload and edit PDF files online including signing important documents.

Evernote

Evernote is your one-stop shop for note taking, task management and yes, managing your contacts. Our favorite feature on the mobile version: taking a photo of a business card and Evernote will save their information into your phone and add them on social media sites.

Grammarly

Grammarly is another computer add-on that prevent grammatical errors in real time – in your emails, Facebook updates, Twitter posts, and more.

CamScanner

CamScanner can turn your phone into a tablet. You can “scan” documents by taking a photo and fax - yes, fax - email, or upload them directly to the cloud!