Hot Potato Hot Potato

Are you passing the baton or throwing a hot potato?

Remember the game “hot potato” when we were kids?  That game which involved a circle of people tossing a small beanbag or tennis ball to each other while music played?  The player who is holding the “hot potato when the music stops, is out!”

Many tasks, issues, queries and complaints fly across our desks every day that need to be addressed. Often we may not be the correct person to address or solve these tasks and issues, and I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of throwing a hot potato onto that person. And when that music stops, they are left holding the hot potato.  Perhaps we’ve been the person left holding the hot potato - the unresolved issue or angry client.

It’s time to stop throwing a hot potato to your team mates and start to look at how you can turn property management into a super efficient baton pass.  Remember the relay team that train for hours to ensure the timing, speed, release and capture all run seamlessly for a perfect handover? 

We need to bring the baton pass into property management, helping our team mates, managers and even clients by taking responsibility to ensure that all of the information and intelligence is handed over to the correct person, quickly, efficiently and seamlessly. 

By taking responsibility and spending a few extra moments to capture and relay more information (ensuring we’ve done all we can from our end), we can actually save time for ourselves and the other person.  This way they won’t have to come back to you asking the questions, or spend time picking up the pieces later, in turn saving ourselves some stress along the way.  Not to mention saving potentially the client having to re-explain themselves over and over again. 

I challenge you to ask yourselves this week as tasks and issues are handed over and allocated across your team and even to your clients, are you throwing a hot potato or passing a baton! 

If you missed last weeks 'To Do List', simply click here for a copy!

Hermione Gardiner

Need to increase your productivity? A lesson in distractions.

By Fiona Blayney

Heading back into the office this week after being offsite for the past two months (we had our second child), I started to think 'how the hell am I going to make this work?' Many mums out there will understand that fear (but that's a whole other article).

What I want to share today is more about one of my resolutions... To increase my focus by removing my distractions.

The first part of this was to quickly establish what my primary distraction is, what was the number one thing that took me off track each day. Step 2 was to set about reducing or removing it from my work life. I knew if I could do this I would increase my productivity in the time I'm in the office, be able to leave at a reasonable hour and be 'present' for that short window of time we have with our kids between arriving home and putting them to bed.

You may or may not be surprised by what I found out about myself this week. I am the distraction!

By this I mean, perhaps I get too excited about our business but I love interacting with our 8 team members, I'm keen to be across the 'activity' in the office so I can support them, I tend to interrupt others when I have a not so pressing question, and know I can be a mosquito .... attracted to the bright shiny lights of business otherwise known as the fun stuff, the ideas.

Really I have always known this shocking reality, but as your external responsibilities grow you have a new found driver to stay focused, not over commit and communicate effectively.

So far I'm on track, I have maintained my level of awareness, empowered my team to continue to act like I'm not here, make decisions like I'm on holidays and identify their own distraction....

It's perhaps not uncanny that they too found the same distraction.... Themselves