Great presentation skills are a powerful asset for a salesperson. Lousy presentation skills are a serious liability. Even if you have the best product, service, delivery, warranty and price, a poor sales presentation can shatter your prospect’s confidence in your company, causing them to run in the other direction.

If your presentation skills suck—or aren’t as stellar as you’d like them to be—use some of these strategies to get them up to snuff.

1. Study others
Watch and listen carefully to people who are great presenters. Pay close attention to what they do and how they do it. Notice also what they don’t do. Take detailed notes whenever possible. And if appropriate, ask them for advice.

2. Read books
There are hundreds of books on presentation skills. Browse your favorite book store or Amazon.com. Cash flow a little tight at the moment? Hit your local library.

3. Invest in audio or video programs
Audio training programs allow you to learn while you drive, bike or roller blade. They also enable you to hear examples of good presentation techniques. Video programs go a step further and show you examples of effective presentation visuals.

4. Practice
No amount of reading, listening or watching will make you a better presenter unless you practice. To be a better speaker, you need to speak. As much as possible, as often as possible. Build practice time into your schedule.

5. Get peer feedback
It helps to practice in front of a live audience. Especially if that audience contains other experienced presenters. Ask your colleagues, bosses and anybody else who has a stake in your sales success to listen to you and critique you.

6. Videotape yourself
Get feedback from your toughest critic: yourself. Record yourself and watch the video. You’ll be amazed, impressed and horrified by what you see.

7. Join Toastmasters
If you’re not familiar with Toastmasters International, it’s a non-profit organization with thousands of clubs around the world. You can develop your presentation skills at your own pace, in a supportive environment. For more details and to find a club near you, visit www.toastmasters.org.

8. Hire a coach
A presentation skills coach is a significant investment, but it can produce massive dividends quickly. A coach can identify your biggest problem areas and help you correct them fast. Because of the immediate impact coaching can make on your sales, your company may pay the tab. If not, your investment is still tax-deductible. And well worth it.

I’ve seen enough sales presentations to know that many—if not most—salespeople don’t do them well. Which means sharpening your skills can give you a huge edge over your competitors. Don’t risk another sales with a sub-par presentation. Boost your skills and you’ll boost your sales.

By combining his sales expertise and performance skills with intensive research, Don Cooper delivers programs that are industry and even company specific. So audience members get unique insights and practical, relevant tools they can use immediately to increase their sales—which is why Don is typically the highest-rated speaker at conferences and why his corporate clients bring him back again and again.

“Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.”
14th Century Proverb, Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

The Society for HR Management recently reported that expected hiring levels for May 2010 “could reach levels not seen since 2007″ and that this “spring fling” has led to increased difficulty in hiring qualified candidates.

In conjunction with the increased hiring many organizations will be implementing in coming months, we can also expect many current employees will take the opportunity to job hunt actively as the economy continues to improve and new opportunities open up.

And in the May 2010 Fast Company Magazine, Chip & Dan Heath argue that, “When you own the talent factory, you’ve created a permanent competitive advantage.”

Given these realities, now is a good time to examine the ways in which training and development directly impact YOUR organization’s employment life cycle and some high-return actions you can take to ensure you are positioned to take advantage of improving conditions.

The Employment Life Cycle Seasons

SPRING: Hiring & On-Boarding
At the beginning of the employment life cycle, training & development plays a crucial role in both identifying appropriate candidates and bringing them into the organization effectively. On the hiring front, you can help your supervisors and managers incorporate behavioral interviewing to ensure consistency, take the guesswork out of hiring, and increase your ROI by ensuring a better fit between your organization and new employees.

On the on-boarding side, there are a variety of tools you can use to get new employees up to speed quickly. In addition to the standard instructor-led orientation sessions, savvy organizations are also incorporating technology-based self-paced modules, peer mentoring programs, a flexible orientation curriculum that allows new hires to opt out of subjects in which they can demonstrate mastery, and similar innovations.

SUMMER: Needs Assessment & Skills Development
Ongoing skills development is the traditional province of training & development programs and remains a critical component to your organization’s success. Employees need product- and job-specific knowledge to perform their individual roles effectively; they also need to be able to function effectively as team members to improve organizational performance. Smart organizations conduct regular needs assessments to ensure they are providing development opportunities that meet the needs of both individuals and various teams/departments.

Summer is also an excellent time to identify the tangible skills and intangible knowledge each employee will need to succeed and advance within your organization—do your employees know what they need to know to be promoted? Do you?

FALL: Performance Management/Giving Feedback
Once you’ve identified the skills and knowledge your employees need to grow, the next step is to provide continuous, effective feedback. The Wall Street Journal recently shared a tongue-in-cheek quiz confirming that, “Yes, Everyone Really Does Hate Performance Reviews.” Since it’s unlikely that most organizations will banish annual reviews, at a minimum you must ensure that your organization’s review process is effective, efficient, and as painless as possible.

Even more important, however, is making certain that your employees know how to give constructive feedback on an ongoing basis. Supervisors and managers are of course your front line reinforcement team and need to know how to coach and mentor effectively; you can also implement peer feedback and mentoring as well.

WINTER: Succession Planning
Now that you’ve brought your new employee on-board, identified what skills s/he needs to succeed, and implemented a cycle of continuous feedback, the next stage is to ensure your organization’s succession planning process supports the ongoing cycle and the return to spring. Quick: can your managers identify their “A” players by name? Can they tell you exactly what their “B” players need to make the A-team? Have they identified their direct reports who would be appropriate for reassignment to another role or to be let go?

Effective succession planning doesn’t need to be complicated or involve giant spreadsheets and 100-page reports. It does require ongoing assessment of your employees and that continuous feedback discussed in the fall. It requires an understanding of where your organization is going and how each individual team/department will contribute to that destination. And it requires your leadership team to know their role in the process.

Ensuring you have the appropriate training opportunities at each stage will position your organization to hire rock-solid performers, retain key talent, develop your employees, function more effectively, and help all of your acorns grow into mighty oaks!

Ashley Andrus is President of Zoe Training & Consulting. Her passion is making HR folks and meeting planners look like *rock stars* by providing one-stop access to 90+ speakers, trainers, facilitators, coaches, and consultants.

Is it possible to motivate someone just by being a really good listener? I think so, and I’d like to share an experience that backs this up…

I was talking to a friend yesterday who was having problems with her boss at work. Her boss happened to be one of those managers who a) thought he knew everything b) didn’t and c) refused to listen or take any advice from anyone (sadly, it probably comes as no surprise that managers like this exist in the world. Probably in much higher quantities than they should).

After a particularly annoying and frustrating interaction with him, she called me on the phone to vent about it. After listening to her vent for a bit and asking a few questions, I gave her a little advice on what she could do next.

At the end of the call she said, “Thanks, you are a very good motivational speaker. Although you didn’t say much, you mostly listened. So I guess you are a very good motivational listener!”

“Motivational Listener”? I had never heard that before, but the phrase resonated with me. Sure, there are plenty of motivational speakers in the world – the people who get up on stage and talk to you about how to make your life better (by quite a few definitions, I am one too). But motivational listening? To be able to motivate people to action by simply (or mostly) just listening to them…hmm…

I realize that this is not unique to me; the best advice givers in the world are mostly great “motivational listeners.”

So what is motivational listening? As mentioned above, it is simply the act of moving a person to action by listening to what they say. Sure, you’ll eventually have to say something, but it starts with listening.

Here are a few tips to help you become a great “Motivational Listener”:

Shut Up

(Just be quiet. Use tape if you must)

The simplest, most important technique to be a great listener. Shut up and listen! Let the other person talk and sort out what they are thinking. Often, the first few minutes a person’s venting needs to get out of the way so they can clear their heads and get to deeper feelings. If you jump in on the first sentence or two, you are cutting them off before you get to the more important stuff.

Pay Attention

(Focus on the other person!)

Shutting up is great, but it’s not enough. When someone is talking to you you must really pay attention. Don’t let your mind wander, and push away random thoughts that pop up in your head. Also, resist the urge to immediately come up with a solution to what they are saying. If you pay close attention, you may find that your solution would be irrelevant to what is really going on.

Try to Understand

(Stop! Before you give any advice, understand the other person)

One of Stephen Covey’s habits in “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” is to “seek first to understand, then to be understood.” These are great words to live by. Before you start jumping into solutions and “here’s what I would do” advice, make a real effort to understand the other person’s needs, wants, and motivation. Too often we forget that everyone is an individual, and two people can come to us with the exact same problem but need very, very different solutions. By understanding first, you can determine the best way to help them out.

Ask Non-Leading Questions

(Questions are great. Unless of course you use them to commit crimes)

A great way to gain understanding is to ask questions. They key, though, is to ask questions to get more info, not to lead the person to where you want them to go. A common, and often annoying, technique is to ask people leading questions. “Don’t you think it would be a good idea if you tried this?” That’s fine in a debate, but if you want to be a great motivational listener, your questions should be about uncovering the other person’s thoughts. By using questions, not only do you learn what they need, but you force them to articulate what they are thinking. By doing this, you get them to start realizing their next steps without you having to say much.

Give Advice From Their Perspective

(In advice, as with Talking Heads’ suits, one size does not fit all)

If you do the above four things, you will be well on your way to motivational listening. However, once you have listened, paid attention, and really understood what is going on, it may be time to offer some advice. This is great, just be sure to offer them advice from their perspective, not yours. What I mean by this is that often when we give advice we apply a “one-size fits all” idea that has worked for us in the past. It may very well not work for this person in this situation. I like it when people try to help me out by giving me advice. I hate it when they give me advice without any understanding of my desires, needs, and long term goals. That smacks of arrogance, stupidity, and close-mindedness (can you tell this annoys me?) To soften it a bit, it smacks of people giving advice from their perspective without considering the perspective of the recipient. After you’ve done your listening, give advice based on what you think will work b est for the other person in their situation with their strengths and weaknesses and their long-term goals.

(Random plug: This is why I love The Speaking School so much. By spending four days with a small group of people, we can really get to know everyone’s strengths, weaknesses, and long term goals. By day two we are able to give very targeted customized feedback on what is going to work for each person in their situation)

Motivational listening won’t work in every situation; sometimes you just need to grab a person by the shoulders and tell them straight out what to do. But in many cases simply shutting your mouth, listening, understanding, and offering very specific advice can be all the motivation a person needs. Give it a try the next time a friend or loved one is in a mini-crisis; you may be surprised by the result.

Avish Parashar is an innovative, energetic, and humorous speaker who uses his 15+ years of experience performing, directing, and teaching improv comedy to deliver unique and refreshing presentations to a variety of audiences.

A coaching client asked me recently how she could “create more time” for her personal and professional interests. While we all have the same twenty-four hours in a day, the way we use that time varies wildly. Here are four great tips for getting more out of the time you have!

1. Clearly define what your priorities are for each day. Writing them out increases the chances exponentially that the most important things will get done.
2. Understand what your compelling purpose is for achieving a specific result. Doing this simple association turns a “nice to have” into a “Non Negotiable” result. If a result or action doesn’t have a compelling purpose attached to it, that result or action cannot be a priority for you.
3. Get proactive. The average American worker spends three to four hours a day on email. At the risk of driving readers away from my own email announcements, limit your email. I answer personal business email in three fifteen-minute time chunks per day. Quitting all-day email must be like quitting heroin, but you must do it to create more time for yourself.
4. Find partners and make them a part of your team. I love my bookkeeper Chris because she updates my financial reports every other month. In the past, I’d spend three to four hours every month updating QuickBooks myself. That took me away from my job as the creativity specialist and visionary for my company. Updating my financial ledger was mindless, painless, and the exact opposite of what I do to serve clients and stay in business!

Try these out for thirty days and see what happens to your business. We all spend far too much time being reactive in life, whether it’s personally or professionally. The key to time management is to take control where you can. This trains your mind and body to be more judicious with your time, and more focused on the activities that create wealth and fulfillment.

Mike Faber is an award-winning sales professional, business leader, and television personality. He’s also a speaker and certified professional coach who has taught thousands of business leaders to communicate passionately and effectively. Mike brings the lessons of a 30-year career in sales, management, and broadcasting to audiences in a style that combines humor, candor, and lessons that can be applied to all walks of life.

With all the attention on social media over the past couple of years, it’s easy to forget that face-to-face networking is still extremely valuable. However, it isn’t enough just to meet people at networking mixers once in a while. People need to really get to know you. And they need to remember you, like you and trust you before they’ll want to do business with you. So try one or more of these tactics to speed that process along.

1. Volunteer
Every organization needs volunteers, and savvy networkers jump at the chance. People will see you in a position of responsibility and service. You also get a chance to showcase your talents and learn new skills.

2. Work the Registration Table
You’ll meet virtually everyone who attends the event. More importantly, they’ll meet you.

3. Donate a Door Prize
Your product or service will be showcased in front of the entire crowd. And everybody loves to win things. For maximum effect and goodwill, make sure the prize is an outright gift rather than a discount or coupon.

4. Join Committees
In most organizations, the majority of the work (and the majority of the networking) occurs in committees. Because committees typically meet on a regular basis, you get an opportunity to see the same people frequently, giving you all ample opportunity to get to know each other well. By the way, this is also where you will often find the “movers and shakers” who you most want to meet.

5. Write Articles
Virtually every trade association and business group has a newsletter, magazine or journal. And they are all in need of articles of value to their members. Contact the editors of these publications and ask about needs, schedules and editorial guidelines. Write according to their guidelines and include your contact information for the authorship credit. (Bonus Tactic: Be sure to get reprints to include in your promotional materials.)

6. Speak for the Group
Speaking at your group’s events can give you valuable exposure at absolutely no cost. Anything from a ten-minute talk to a two-hour seminar can serve your audience while positioning you as an authority in your field. And everyone wants to meet the speaker!

7. Host an Event
For several hours people will see your facility, employees, products and/or services. You can even take guests on guided tours and give away samples or coupons to increase your impact. To reduce the cost, time and effort involved in hosting a networking event, consider sharing the event with a caterer or restaurant. You provide the location, they provide the food and you both get the credit. And the exposure!

Use these seven tactics to raise your profile in your community and you’ll see your sales increase as a result!

By combining his sales expertise and performance skills with intensive research, Don Cooper delivers programs that are industry and even company specific. So audience members get unique insights and practical, relevant tools they can use immediately to increase their sales—which is why Don is typically the highest-rated speaker at conferences and why his corporate clients bring him back again and again.

There is continuous talk in business about having a compelling mission and vision for your company but who really cares? Well, you should. Whether you are a large corporation or a small business owner, having a vision is essential to be able to communicate a picture of the future of your business that others can see, understand, and support. A vision helps motivate people into action. A vision engages, excites, and empowers people to move forward in a consistent direction together. A vision makes people more willing to make small sacrifices today for the hope of a better future. A vision helps people know what to do.

Convinced yet? I thought so. Then read on to develop an effective vision for your business with 7 key characteristics to include in your visioning strategy discussion.

7 Key Characteristics to Developing an Effective Vision

• Be sure your vision tells a story that people can imagine. Can they see it? Can they see themselves in the story?
• Appeal to the long – term interests of your key stakeholders. What do they care about? How are their values tied to your future?
• Be sure people believe its possible.
• It’s exciting. People are excited to hear about it, talk about it, and share it with others. That excitement builds momentum that begins to shift culture and align behaviors with how you will get there.
• The vision helps to identify what people should be focused on and what they should prioritize.
• It’s easy to talk about and explain to others.
• It’s flexible enough to remain relevant even when shifts in the industry, technology and customer needs take place.

When reading through these 7 characteristics ~ how does your company vision hold up? Perhaps this article will prompt you to engage in crucial conversations about your vision, where you’re heading, and how to ensure that your vision is compelling enough to propel your company into the future.

© 2009 Powers Resource Center

International trainer, consultant, and founder of The Toxic Workplace, Tara Powers partners with organizations interested in improving their company culture to boost their bottom line. If you’re ready to make changes in your business that will make employees happy AND make you money, get your FREE tips now at PowersResourceCenter.com.

Well, it’s the time of year for “best of” and “Top 10″ lists, so in honor of the brand new 2010, we thought we’d share a run-down of the most popular training topics our clients are planning for this upcoming year:

1. Behavioral Interviewing
There is nothing more important than hiring the right people. Hiring the right person for the right job provides tremendous organizational benefits by increasing employee productivity, reducing training time, and controlling the high cost of employee turnover—not to mention the positive impact on team morale. You’d think, with double-digit unemployment rates across the country, that it would be easy to hire right now…right? Well, maybe. Read more…

2. Business Writing
Many experts estimate that as much as 90% of human communication comes from non-verbal clues such as voice inflection and body language. In business writing, however, you have only the words to get your meaning across, so the way the writer uses those words becomes more important. On-the-job writing matters—to your company, to your readers, and to you as a writer. From sales proposals to client emails to internal communications, your employees represent your organization every time they write an email or craft a document. Read more…

3. Coaching/Mentoring
Coaching can help managers and supervisors provide a structure for enabling their employees to achieve high performance. But the bewildering array of both available resources and management duties can complicate the process. What situations call for coaching vs. counseling? What’s the difference in coaching and performance management? How exactly do you give constructive feedback? Read more…

4. DiSC
There are, of course, many different assessment tools that rate behavior, preference, attitudes, etc. and provide a framework for understanding the way in which you see the world and the differing ways in which others may approach the same set of facts or circumstances. Myers-Briggs/MBTI, Emergenetics, Lominger, Insights and many others remain popular, but the most common tool we see clients utilizing is the DiSC. Read more…

5. Emotional Intelligence/EQ
All managers can relate horror stories about employees or team members who were clearly intelligent, technically capable, and able to perform the duties their job demanded…and who wreaked havoc on their teams because their social skills or self-management capability was lacking. When it comes to individual and team success, IQ is not enough; in fact, the skill set known as Emotional Intelligence (EQ) has consistently proven to be a better indicator of workplace success. Read more…

6. Facilitation Skills
Most of us feel like we spend too much time in meetings. Meetings that are too long. Meetings that have too many participants. Meetings that don’t have clear objectives. Meetings that get sidetracked by off-topic discussions. Meetings can be a waste of time…but with an effective facilitator, that doesn’t have to be the case. Read more…

7. Harassment Prevention/Respectful Work Environment
Even when training budgets are tight, harassment prevention and awareness remains a topic of interest to many organizations due to the legal liability issues that can be involved. Ensuring that both individual contributors and managers understand the policies/procedures and responsibilities of the organization is essential, but may not be enough. Read more…

8. Networking Skills
Networking…it isn’t just for salespeople! Although for many people the word “networking” conjures up a cringe-inducing image of a pushy salesperson shoving a business card into every hand she can find, the reality is that networking is about serving as a resource—about giving, not taking—and it’s essential for both individual and organizational success. Read more…

9. Project Management
In past years, much of the project management training offered by organizations was geared towards those employees who were planning to become a Project Management Professional (PMP) and whose job title or function specifically encompassed a formal project management role. Today, however, we see organizations recognizing that many employees manage projects (albeit on a less formal basis) and recognizing the benefits of a project management overview. Read more…

10. Work-Life Balance/Stress Management
It goes without saying that the state of the economy, mass layoffs, and ever-increasing demands on our employees’ time creates a perfect storm of stress. The negative impacts of stress can range from the physical to the mental and can have devastating impacts on both individuals and teams. Organizations are exploring a variety of resources they can offer to help weather the storm. Read more…

Wishing you an excellent and productive 2010!

Ashley Andrus is President of Zoe Training & Consulting. Her passion is making HR folks and meeting planners look like *rock stars* by providing one-stop access to 90+ speakers, trainers, facilitators, coaches, and consultants.

Stanford University School of Business conducted a study that monitored a group of MBAs 10 years after graduation. What did they learn? That their ability to converse had a huge impact on their success and grade point averages had no bearing whatsoever.

The ability to connect with others through small talk can lead to big things, according to Debra Fine, author of The Fine Art of Small Talk (Hyperion 2005). A former engineer, Fine recalls being so ill at ease at networking events and even the 10 minute coffee break during a meeting that she would hide in the restroom. Now a motivational speaker, Fine believes the ability to develop relationships with people through small talk is an acquired skill.

Fine offers the following tips for starting − and ending conversations:

• Come up with three things to talk when preparing for a function along with a couple generic questions that will get others talking. If you’ve met the client before, remind yourself of things about her, such as a vacation she was headed to or specifics about her family.
• Be the first to say “hello.” If you’re not sure the other person will remember you, give the gift of your name to help out. For example, “Jared Holst? Debra Fine… good to see you again.” Smile first and always shake hands when you meet someone.
• Take your time during introductions. Make an extra effort to remember names and use them frequently. Exhibit host behavior by introducing others that join the group to each other.
• Get another person talking by leading with a common ground statement regarding the occasion or location and then asking a related open-ended question. For example, “What do you hope to gain from this conference?” or “What have you heard about the speakers?” You can also ask them about their trip in or how they know the bride or groom.
• Show interest in your conversational partner by actively listening and giving verbal feedback. Maintain eye contact. Never glance around the room while they are talking to you.
• Listen more than you talk.
• Be prepared to have something interesting to contribute. Staying on top of current events will provide you with great conversation builders, leading with “What do you think of?” Have you heard?” What is your take on?” Spare us from your opinion unless you remember to follow up with “What is your opinion?” or “Tell me your thoughts on …”
• Be aware of your body language. People who look or act ill-at-ease make others uncomfortable. Act confident and comfortable even when you’re not.
• Have a few exit lines ready, so that you can both gracefully move on. For example, “I need to check in with a client over there,” “I skipped lunch today, so I need to visit the buffet,” or “Who do you know at this meeting that could help me with …?

Turn every conversation into an opportunity for success!

Debra Fine, is the author of The Fine Art of Small Talk (Hyperion). She presents keynotes and seminars on conversational skills and networking techniques internationally. Debra is a 15+ year member of the National Speakers Association, presenting her programs to hundreds of audiences around the world to clients that include General Electric, Lockheed Martin, American Bar Association, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Credit Suisse First Boston, and New York University Stern Graduate School of Business. Her recent media appearances include The Today Show, The Early Show, NPR Morning Edition, Fox Business News, and CNN.

Let’s be honest…this time of the year can be very stressful. Shopping, decorating, addressing greeting cards, hosting and attending parties, mailing gifts, studying for school finals, housing out of town family members and winding down your business for 2009 are all stressful activities. The fact that we’re expected to do them all simultaneously forces me into the fetal position, rocking and sucking my thumb!

How did things get so out of control? The intent of this time of year is to stop momentarily and step off the merry-go-round of life and focus on the people and things in your life that you’re thankful for. Actually letting people know how much you appreciate them, is the best gift you can give someone.

I admire people who have walked away from the commercial focus of this season doing away with the traditional gift orgies that leave most of us in debt this time of year. Many of these creative people I have met have chosen to have family “white elephant gift exchanges” where everyone brings a gag gift, tacky Christmas sweaters or an inexpensive theme gift where the focus is on just being together and having fun.

I recently attended a family holiday party where we “adopted” a family that had just gotten their first Habitat for Humanity home and we all brought a house warming gift for the single mom and her three sons. We all went around the room and said what we were thankful for, all 62 people, including children. Every single person mentioned their family and friends. When you really think about it…is there anything else that really matters more?

This year my family opted to give each other an “experience” instead of traditional gifts and we’re heading to Hawaii for Christmas! I think ten years from now my children will not remember what gifts they were hoping to open Christmas morning, but I’m betting they will remember everything about this amazing experience we’re giving them instead.

If you need a little reminding of the “reason for the season” here are a few ideas to consider:

Perfecting Connecting® Action Steps:

• Look for a volunteer opportunity in your community that you can do together with your family/friends. Sharing a giving experience together is a great way to reconnect.
• Introduce a new and creative idea that takes the focus off of the commercialism and puts it onto the importance of family and friend connections like adopting a needy family, white elephant gift exchange or taking a trip together with no gifts exchanged. Just being together is the gift.
• Pick up the phone, write a letter or send a card to 5 people you’re thankful for and let them know how much you appreciate them and how grateful you are to have them in your life.

I’m very thankful to all of you in my network and I look forward to our paths crossing in 2010.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!

Sarah Michel, CSP, is an international speaker who works with organizations and associations, creating behavioral changes by teaching people how to intentionally connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime through her Perfecting Connecting® keynote and training programs.

Efficiency expert K.J. McCorry, author of Organize Your Work Day In No Time, thinks that the world could be a better place if we’d all cut back on our consumption of paper. With the help of technology, that long-awaited goal might even be manageable.

Today’s employees are inundated with data, finding it more and more difficult to manage this overwhelming amount of data and yet be effective and efficient at their jobs. One of the keys to gaining efficiencies in data management and increasing productivity is to reduce the paper pileup.

Disadvantages of Paper

Although some workers still need, desire, and perhaps even love paper, it comes with some disadvantages:

• It takes up a lot of physical space. In fact, paper costs on average $314 per filing cabinet solely for the real estate it consumes.
• It has limitations, being accessible in only one place, and difficult to move in large quantities.
• It doesn’t offer easy ways to alter or edit its contents, without printing the entire document again.

Frankly, paper doesn’t provide users with advantages other than a physical form.

By contrast, electronic data has much more flexibility:

• It can be filed easily in many folders, instead of just one physical file.
• It can be searched by keyword.
• It can be cut, pasted, and moved easily.
• It allows for better collaboration among employees, who can share, edit, and develop documents together.
• Electronic data also allows employees to work where and when they’re most productive. In this electronic age, workers have the opportunity to work from home or another location that might offer a more suitable and less interruptible environment.

Starting the paperless momentum offers an organization four primary advantages:

• It improves knowledge and data management.
• It increases data efficiencies.
• It improves worker productivity.
• It prepares the organization for the increasing mobile workforce trend.

Improving Knowledge and Data Management

In this new knowledge economy, intellectual property and information are just as important as the manpower that produced them. Longevity of knowledge is achieved through successful organization of documentation. Information that workers produce can get lost with the passage of time and/or people leaving an organization to go to another job. Paper files have buried nuggets of information that tend to be more useful to the person who created the file than to the organization. Instead of sorting through paper documents, most workers prefer to search electronic hard drives for past knowledge and historical data. Improving knowledge and data management within a company means having data readily accessible and available to workers in an instant.

Even in this digital age, paper is still abundant as a primary data source. Much of corporate memory still resides on paper. But a single piece of paper usually can be used by only one person at a time, making it difficult for others to use the information on that paper. The ability to access, edit, and distribute documents at any location and time can increase knowledge and allow information to be used more effectively. Workers already spend too much time looking for missing information stored on paper. Deloitte & Touche reported in the early 1990s that U.S. managers spent an average of three hours a week looking for paper that had been misfiled, mislabeled, or lost. The act of becoming paperless can help with finding and retrieving information instantaneously, ensuring that an organization uses its personnel effectively and makes information available immediately.

Increasing Data Efficiencies

In some cases, paper can be an effective tool and medium, but more and more businesses are finding that reducing paper increases efficiency in the office. Managing paper is very time-consuming, as workers are inundated with more and more paper. Once a printout to hardcopy is made, that paper must be handled and managed—processes that could include sorting, organizing, copying, filing, purging and eventually discarding. These labor costs are often more expensive than the paper itself. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the average organization spends about $20 in labor to file each paper document, approximately $120 in labor searching for each misfiled document, and $220 in re-creation of a document. In addition, when paper is the primary source of data and information, we have to spend additional time and money purging outdated information—at some point, all data becomes obsolete. By contrast, electronic information is easy and cost-effective to file, access, search, and purge.

Improving Worker Productivity

Large quantities of paper on work surfaces create a feeling of being overwhelmed, which tends to paralyze workers, causing procrastination and avoidance of important tasks and activities. Getting rid of the paper clutter helps individual workers to focus better, improving their productivity. Working in a clutter-free workspace leads to deeper concentration.

Reducing the paper pileup also gives workers the option to work in other environments. Most workers are located in the “active-communication” zone every day. This zone is usually at a person’s desk, where the computer and phone are located. In this area, workers check email, manage day-to-day tasks, and conduct central communications via email and phone. It’s a busy environment where employees are accustomed to multitasking and providing immediate response. This location is often in an office-wide “open” setting, conducive to employee interruption. Although this is a necessary and primary zone for most workers, it isn’t the best zone or environment to accomplish certain tasks (such as reading, writing, development, and strategic thinking) that require more thoughtful attention, concentration, and less external distraction. Being paperless gives workers the flexibility to work in other “zones” to increase their effectiveness.

Another way to increase worker productivity is to create more automated processes, replacing paper-intensive procedures. Before going to an automated paperless system, it’s important that you understand completely how paper inhibits or improves a particular work process. Often, a worker’s attachment to paper, as well as lack of trust in equipment such as computers, inhibits processes from becoming more automated. However, inefficient work practices can often be blamed on out-of-date and obsolete paper processes. As they move toward paperless processes, companies often find these processes to be an improvement over traditional paper-based processes, because searches, retrieval, editing, communication, and archiving can be done more efficiently and quickly.

Preparing for the Mobile Workforce Trend

According to the most recent IDC Worldwide Mobile Worker Population Forecast, close to 75% of the U.S. workforce will be mobile by the end of 2011. This increase is due to the fact that organizations have multiple locations, office space is costly, and workers are seeking companies that offer flexible work environments. Such flexible work environments can improve productivity; some studies suggest a 40% increase in productivity for teleworkers. This improvement is due in large part to savings in commute time, fewer interruptions and distractions, and more concentrated work time.

Companies need to prepare for this mobile workforce trend by eliminating the paper barrier and increasing accessibility with electronic data management systems. It’s difficult for a worker to be mobile while lugging filing cabinets from one space to another. The volume of paper is usually the biggest obstacle and challenge for most remote workers. Encouraging a paperless office creates easy access for remote and teleworkers to come and go from the office.

It’s also important from a team collaboration viewpoint. Work teams are constantly formed between various departments and divisions, often located in multiple offices around the U.S. or worldwide. As an office becomes more paperless, managing data within project teams becomes much easier.

Summary

In today’s knowledge-based economy, relying on crucial data and information on paper is an outdated strategy, and can be a tremendous detriment to an organization, regardless of size. It’s important for businesses to understand the use of paper in their own office before undertaking radical paperless-office changes. Even a preliminary investigation of paper use will often show immediate opportunities for reduction. Possible approaches to these paper reductions vary in labor intensity and IT investment; some are simple, some can be larger initiatives. Each business must understand the role of paper in its operations, as well as how reducing paper and using electronic data systems can not only reduce paper but improve efficiencies, reduce personnel time costs, and increase worker effectiveness.

Since 1996, K.J. McCorry has been president of her own consulting and training company specializing in efficiency, productivity, and office organization for individuals, corporations, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. She is the author of Organize Your Work Day In No Time and is currently working on her second book, The Paperless Office (scheduled for publication in 2009).