Do you find yourself typing the same block of text over and over again in emails? There is a great feature in outlook called Quick Parts that allows you to insert boilerplate text boxes into your emails and it is so easy to setup and will save you a heap of time.
I use a meeting scheduling service and so I can’t remember how many times I have typed the text
“if you use the link http://booknow.so/TelusPartners you can see my calendar and propose some times that might work for a “
Now with Quick Parts I type book and then press enter and voila my text block is inserted and I can continue on.
Here is how
To create Quick Parts:
To Use a Quick Part
You can insert Quick Parts manually, by selecting the Quick Part from the Insert tab, Quick Part gallery or semi-automatically, by typing enough of the Quick Part name to be unique and pressing F3.
If you have Show AutoComplete Suggestions enabled in the Outlook editor options, when a matching Quick Part is found, a screen tip will tell you to press Enter to insert it. In the example shown in the screenshot, the Quick Part name is “New QP”.
Note: You will need to type at least the first 4 characters of the Quick Part name.
To enable Show AutoComplete Suggestions from either Outlook’s main windows or a new message form, go to File, Options, Editor Options and select Advanced. Note: if you open the Options dialogue from a new message form, close the form, do not use it for a message. Settings may not ‘stick’ if you send a message using the opened message form.
Early in the practice, we get tied up in our accountabilities they can sometimes be seen as the limit of our work. It is important to remember that it is the purpose that is what drives our Roles it is the purpose that provides our authority in the Role and allows us to take any action or project we deem necessary to attain that purpose. Our accountabilities are obligations of the Role from other Roles in the Circle. Accountabilities are what is expected of our Role from other Roles not the limits of the work to be performed. As we settle into the Role it is important to remember we energise the Role best and the Circle and Organisation by striving to fulfil the purpose of the role not just performing the accountabilities.
As we mature in our energising the Role, we also need to remember that the purpose when we initially take on a role should also is not the ultimate boundary of the Role. It is a placeholder put in place by the circle for what it believes is need now from the Role. As you energise the Role, you need to re-evaluate regularly its purpose, its fit in the Organisation. Where you see the purpose limiting the roles ability or opportunities to enhance, your Circles purpose you should propose changes. Allowing the Role to grow just like we as humans constantly re-evaluate our reason for being here and adapting to our world.
As the fervour and anticipation of 2015 approaches, the optimistic traditionalists among us are dutifully setting goals and strategies for the year ahead. An activity the realists abhor for a fear of failure and a desire for rebellion.
Regardless of whether the pressing nature of the impending New Year has significant meaning for you or not, planning is an essential ingredient for the success of any organisation. But before you go crazy making lists, let’s take a moment to celebrate your victories and acknowledge your shortcomings from this past year. This is extremely important in understanding the strengths and constraints of your business and let’s face it, you as its leader. Don’t worry, you don’t have to walk alone and as you approach those forks in the road, the decision of which way to turn will soon become clear.
Holacracy is a social technology used for organisations providing a distributed authority system built around an organic structure and grounded within the organisation’s purpose. Consider Holacracy as the anti-thesis of traditional management hierarchies to create a management-free environment focused on getting things done. Holacracy provides a different take on your annual strategy and planning sessions by providing a guiding light through the overwhelming decision making process. I challenge you to make a difference to your strategy process by adopt a dynamic approach to manoeuvring your way through the minefield of running a business. Once you’ve strategized using this different method all will be revealed about where to invest your time, money and resources.
Here are some examples of the strategic outcomes born from this process, they provide a clear direction when making decisions throughout the year:
Focus on:
Internal meetings held within an organisation are not about winning friends and influencing people, they are about getting things done. I’ve attended meetings and found myself in the middle of a power struggle or relationship maelstrom and left questioning the outcome and purpose.
Internal meetings can be frustrating, confusing and a waste of everyone’s time. Or they can be satisfying, clear and productive if a structured process is applied where the main focus is on getting work done.
Here’s how:
Operations (tactical) and Governance meetings are two types of meeting processes. Tactical Meetings deal with the operational aspects and focus on specific actions and projects. As outlined in the insert, this type of meeting can have the most immediate effect on an organisation when run correctly. A strictly process-driven tactical meeting creates clarity on what work needs to be done while allowing the team to synchronise quickly and effectively. Governance Meetings are directed at power, authority and structure.
Holacracy is a real-world-tested social technology for organisations where Tactical and Governance meetings are just part of the process. It drives agile and purposeful organisations by radically changing the structure, altering how decisions are made and redistributing power.
Check-in Round
Goal: Notice what’s got your attention, call it out, let it go.
Sacred space: no cross-talk. Get present, here and now; grounds the meeting.
Checklist Review
Goal: Bring transparency to recurring actions.
Facilitator reads checklist of recurring actions by role; participants respond “check” or “no check” to each for the preceding period (e.g. the prior week).
Metrics Review
Goal: Build a picture of current reality.
Each role assigned a metric reports on it briefly, highlighting the latest data.
Project Updates
Goal: Track updates to key projects of the circle.
The Facilitator reads each project on the circle’s project board and asks: “Any updates?”
The project’s owner either responds “no updates” or shares what has changed since the last meeting. Questions allowed, but no discussion.
Agenda Building
Goal: Build an agenda with placeholder headlines.
Build agenda of tensions to process; one or two words per item, no discussion.
Triage Issues
Goal: Get through all agenda items in the allotted time.
To Resolve Each Agenda Item:
Closing Round
Goal: Harvest learning from the meeting.
Each person can share a closing reflection about the meeting; no discussion.
Do any of these symptoms show up in your organization?
Welcome to my new blog this blog will be dedicated to my thoughts, ramblings and insights with relations to my new Venture Telus Partners. Telus Partners will be a leading edge Business Training and Consulting firm based in Australia.
Telus Partners will provide concrete process’s and practices to business seeking to stop worrying about how to run the business so they can get on with job o f getting things done.
This will be done through the use of some amazing tools and technologies available that help organisations to evolve and achieve their real purpose. It is not about highly intellectual or theoretic ideas but concrete practices and process’s that can free the organisation to evolve and develop as it needs.
The main benefits are a more productive and efficient organisation that can quickly respond and grow within its environment, a defined clarity providing a better and happy workplace and less friction in the organisation increasing productivity and profits.