Modern Business Magazine April 2016 | Page 59

MODERN BUSINESS calendar to organise meetings. Now you could see others schedules in real time, and make sure that the right meeting information was in everyone’s calendar at the same time. You could not do that with a paper diary! So today I work in organisations where everyone, and I mean everyone, uses an electronic calendar to manage their meetings. Yet, only 20% would use an electronic task list, or would use a tool like OneNote to manage meeting notes. I wonder if we are looking at the wrong level of value again? I was working with a Leadership Team in a tech company recently, focusing on their use of OneNote to manage meeting notes. One of the managers was very wedded to her paper notepad, and proclaimed at the start of the session that she was unlikely to move away from it. Yet she had a tablet PC that actually allowed her to either type meeting notes into OneNote, or write them onto the screen using a hi-tech pen. Her rational was that when it came to capturing notes, it was easier to just bring a pen and paper. She was not wrong. But her focus level was on capturing, not on utilization or on sharing. When she realised that she was missing out on the ability to search her notes across many meetings, or to schedule meeting actions straight into her task list and collaborate using shared notebooks in OneNote, she began to change her tune – and her tools. So, you have some powerful technology at your disposal. To work smarter with it, you need to value it, embrace it and practice using it. If you do this, I can promise productivity gains that you only dreamt of. Or maybe that was just me! Dermot Crowley is a productivity thought leader, author, speaker and trainer. Dermot works with leaders, executives and professionals in many of Australia’s leading organisations, helping to boost the productivity of their people and teams. He is the author of Smart Work, published by Wiley. For more information, visit www. dermotcrowley.com.au or email dermot. [email protected] April 2016 ModernBusiness 59