RAM Professional Management eNews - 05/25/2005 (Plain Text Version)

Henry Dubro, Chair
New York, NY

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In this issue:
A Word from the Chairman
Property Management Professionals Gain Opportunity to Earn Education Credits At Multi-Housing World
RAM Celebrates Tomas Padilla: The 2005 RAM of the Year Pillars Awardee
Implementing A Preventive Maintenance Program
I’m So Far Behind, I’ll Never Catch Up!
RAM Recognition Reception: A Good Time Was Had By All
Cooper Square Realty Announces Opening of On-Site Learning Center
Property Management Calendar: BuildingsNY; Fall Board Meeting; Multi-Housing World

I’m So Far Behind, I’ll Never Catch Up!

Perhaps we just have too much to do! We all know how difficult and frustrating it can be to get some things done – much less everything done! For years now, we have been doing more and accomplishing more with less and less. It does not appear that this will change anytime soon.

Working in digital time, our work schedules and tasks are rushed, rapid-fire and sometimes relentless. We try to cram 20 pounds of “things to do” into a 10-pound bag of time to do them. It’s been said that we are “wired up, but we are quickly melting down.”

Many management professionals will agree that we could get a lot more done if it were not for those INTERRUPTIONS (the number one productivity killer)! It has been said that it takes approximately 15 – 20 minutes to get back up to speed on a task once it has been interrupted. These interruptions result in inaccurate information plagued with numerous errors.

The teams at many small and medium-sized apartment communities will tell you that seldom is any task completed without multiple interruptions. The nature of our business is service and the opportunity to serve is constantly arriving via telephone, walk-in visits and e-mail. Most of our time is “boss-imposed” rather than “personal-imposed time” which means that we are often not in control over much of our time.

What if you are not in charge and still must get things done? Here are some things to remember and/or consider when taking a serious look at improving the organization of your work and personal life:

YOUR ROADMAP
Are your daily, weekly and personal goals in writing with a deadline? Remember, “if you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you will keep getting what you’ve been getting.”

GETTING STARTED
Have you have ordered time management or organizational books or made a visit to the library to check out such books, videos or CD’s or audiobooks? Have you made a determination to document at least two things you are going to implement from each of the above with a deadline to accomplish them? Turn your intentions into action. Remember the old adage – “what gets measured is what gets done.” Get busy! Author Dale Kirby has six steps to getting started:

List reasons why you need to get started now.
List reasons why you don’t want to get started now.
List all obstacles you may encounter.
Recall what happened when you successfully got other tasks done.
List the negative ramifications of not doing this now.
Think of how you are going to feel when it is all done and over with!

CAUSE NO SURPRISES & CONFUSION
Once you begin to implement the new organizational and/or time management techniques, let those that work around you (or at home) know that you are trying out these new ideas.

CREATING A BEGINNING, A MIDDLE AND AN END
If it is not in writing, it doesn’t exist! Map out a hectic week of your life. List the activities you are responsible for in the different parts of your day. You can use headings like WAKING UP, OFF TO WORK, HEADING HOME, GOODNIGHT TO ALL. Do you see patterns? Can you group any activities? This is a lot like process mapping. You could actually do this in a hallway at home with post-it notes. I know one manager (after mapping her days) that began including in her voicemail message that she would return calls every day between 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm. You might be able to make similar groupings.

PSYCHOLOGICAL & ORGANIZATIONAL ROADBLOCKS
Throughout our endless flow of work, bits and bytes of data and information are slowly replacing bits and pieces of paper. Remember that it takes a minimum of 30 days to break a habit and replace it with another (hopefully better) habit. Give that new pocket organizer/palm pilot system or other information management tool enough time to work. Often managers forget that for the first 30 days, they will be simultaneously working with their old methods while trying to adjust to the new tools. This doubles their time and frustration and often drives them back to the old habit or method. Get over the initial three-day hump and you may just be surprised. Mark your calendars!

DELEGATION
Effective delegation not only frees up time to work on pressing projects, but it will also help team members learn new skills. Sometimes managers and supervisors forget that if they practice a Degrees of Delegation or a Levels of Freedom delegation model such as below, that initially it will make new demands on their time.

Team member waits until told what to do – manager acts.
Team member asks what to do – manager acts.
Team member recommends – manager acts.
Team member acts and reports results.
Team member acts on own.

Eventually, if practiced in degrees, delegation can free up considerable time. Remember that not delegating can subtly sabotage your home and work life.

CHANGING YOUR PARIDIAGM
Perhaps managing your time is not what matters, but managing your energy is what matters. If you can balance your personal energy, you can balance your personal and work life. A new book published this year “The Power of Full Engagement” by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, lays out new rules for getting exceptional results in any performance context. They have found to their surprise that the performance demands most people face in their everyday work environments are often tougher than those professional athletes face. This book is a scientifically-based approach to managing your energy more skillfully both on and off the job.

LASTLY
Continuing to work at peak capacity that results in constant overload can have serious outcomes: you quit your job, you get fired and/or you get seriously ill. The hardest part is to start working a new plan, Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to try some of the techniques and tools that other management professionals have been recommending? Why not start today?

Remember that “successful people do things that unsuccessful people won’t do.”

Visit Shirley online.