The HSE Profession can be demanding in many ways. It can be difficult to get everything balance the many demands that we face on a daily basis. How can you improve productivity as an HSE Professionals?
While I strongly believe there is no substitute for hard work, there is room for us all to develop and sharpen our skills in order to be more efficient. Here are some practical tips for boosting your productivity as an HSE Professional.
P.S. these are not productivity hacks. These are strategies, skills and habbits that may take some time to develop. However, I can assure, if your do implement them, the impact will be real and lasting
Be More Productive – Learn how to Type!
In the mid 90’s, while I was still in elementary school, computers were not as essential to everyday life as they are nowadays. However, luckily for me, my school district had the foresight to mandate that students take a typing class. So, being the good student I was, I took the class and developed my typing skills. Years later, after entering the world of work, this under the radar skill has been saving me tons of time over the years!
Consider this example. Recently, I was facilitating a task based risk assessment for a fairly complex work activity with a large team. My job, in this activity, was to engage the team of subject matter experts to identify hazards, assess risk and define the control measures applicable. I was also recording the findings in the organization’s Task Based Risk Assessment template. We had been going for a few hours when I needed a break. A fellow HSE colleague then took over the facilitation role. When I returned to the room, about 15 minutes later, I was greeted by cheers! I then understood that team had grown incredibly frustrated with the slow down in progress that was being made simply due to the new facilitator not knowing his way around a keyboard. It had a significant impact on the meeting and the participants were unwilling to continue at that pace.
Besides the scenario above, this skill comes in clutch for every day word processing type activities including, email and report writing, drafting procedures and many others. When you consider the time saved and how it compounds it can really be a huge productivity hack. If fact a study done by Ratatype, a free online typing tutor, shows that increasing your typing speed by only 20% can save up to 21 work days per year! An extra 21 days per year can do wonders for your productivity!
Build a Reliable and Supportive Network
A true mark of an HSE professional is the ability to influence change in an organization. We need to be able to get things done despite all the challenges and constraints we face. It’s a tuff job and I’ve learned that we can’t do it alone.
In my experience, one of the best ways to be more productive is through leveraging relationships with the right people both internal and external to your organization. Here are some import areas to prioritize relationship building:
- Key representatives from your regulators. Their advice and guidance will be clutch when dealing with compliance issues.
- The “informal leaders” in your organization. Their influence and support, in many cases, can be more valuable than management
- Operations and Maintenance Supervisors. They tend to very hands on and practical. They can get things done for you.
- Other HSE professionals. Can be used as a sounding board or to provide coaching when you need guidance
- Occupational Doctors/Nurses. They can provide quick guidance for managing injuries
Systematize Your Reports
Reports, we all have them and I’m thinking, it’s a safe bet, we all hate them! Reporting seems to be an inextricable element of our beloved professional. But it’s necessary and important. So it presents an opportunity for us to systematize our reporting. Consider the following:
- Determine the frequency of reporting. Make sure it’s feasible and negotiate longer frequencies if needed.
- Begin with the end in mind. Consider how you are going to collect the data and from whom and format the report so the data entry is simple and convenient as possible.
- Master the software! Whichever software is used for reporting spend some time to get and advanced understanding of how to use it. I use Microsoft Excel for certain reports. Over the years mastered many functions that help minimize the time I spend entering and processing data.
- Keep it Simple! Many times we can be guilty of generating convoluted reports that, while being visually beautiful, add very little value due to much of the reported information being irrelevant to goals of the organization.
Use the Reminders Apps for Improving Productivity
If you’re like me, during a hectic workday, you’re forced to focus on high priority items leaving little brain power to take care of some of the smaller detail oriented tasks. This has come back to haunt me on many occasions. At a point in my career, I was actually known for forgetting things and unfortunately my team had to compensate for my inadequacy in that area.
Recently, I have decided to change that! I started using the reminders app on my iPhone and it has been a fantastic improvement. It’s simple to use and very effective. All I need to do is press a button and tell it to set a reminder to do the activity on the particular date and time! When it’s time to do the activity my phone will alarm and prompt me accordingly. It’s definitely a game changer for me. Besides who still uses sticky notes in 2023?
Embrace Digital Planning and Note Taking
I’ve always admired people that took notes in meetings and referred back to them for guidance after. They always seemed so professional and dedicated. Admittedly, this was never one of my strong points. Whether I lacked the discipline to do it or it just wasn’t my style could be debated. In my defense I did actually try it at different times in my career and it certainty did help to be more productive. But my notebooks and pens always got borrowed or misplaced and they weren’t always around when I needed them. So I did my best to get by, using my aforementioned questionable memory.
Again, I turned to a tech related solution. I purchased an 11” iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil 2 as a rewards for myself for passing my ASP Exam. After receiving it and using it for a while I wondered what else it can be used for. One day I took it to work and naturally started using it to take notes in a meeting and plan my day and it really was a pleasurable experience. Since then I started taking notes at every opportunity.
After that I began to use a digital planner on my iPad. Again not something I was super into before but somehow doing it on the iPad was much more enjoyable for me. I also didn’t have to worry about losing it like my old note books because it cost me $800.00 and there was no way I would let it out of my sight!
If you, like me, struggled to be a note take, I recommend giving a digital solution a try. For me it’s now a must have.
Be a Continuous Learner!
I’ve saved the best for last!
Many of the limitations we have are self imposed. Including limiting beliefs about what we can and can not accomplish. As the old saying goes, if you believe you can or you believe you can’t….. you’re probably right. But isn’t it sad that we are, so many times, our biggest stumbling blocks? Sad but true! We just aren’t as productive as we could be because we don’t believe in ourselves.
My strategy for addressing limiting beliefs in my life was to develop a habit of continuously learning. So, what does it mean to be a continuous learner? It just means to constantly seek out opportunities to gain knowledge in order to improve myself. By improving myself I naturally build my competency and become more confident. Making this a habit will have a compounding effect. The effect on my productivity was immense.
I went about this by:
- Reading books
- Following personal development influencers on social media
- Doing certification courses
- Seeking out mentors and being teachable
- Be intentional about my growth
Pro Tips:
- Listen to audio books during your commute
- When facing a challenge read/listen to a book about it. Don’t just learn enough about the topic to overcome the challenge. Become an expert.