Unbeknown to me, as I have been teaching this technique to people over the years myself it was actually first taught to Charles M Schwab of Bethlehem Steel by a training expert called Ivy Lee.

Charles went on to make Bethlehem into the biggest steel company in the world, and in turn paid Ivy Lee $25,000 for the tip that he had learnt. It must be something amazing, right? Well, it is but…..

This technique is so simple that you are likely to think “is that it”, however, like all great ideas, the beauty is in its simplicity.

“So what is it then”, I hear you ask. Well, here it is….

The world’s best time management technique

1. At the end of every day, make a list of all the tasks you need to do the following day.
2. Then, prioritise the list and number in them order of importance.
3. At the start of the next day, begin at number 1 and work on it until you complete that task. When it is done, cross it off the list.
4. Then, move onto task number 2 and complete it as well. When done, cross task 2 off the list also.
5. Then task 3 and so on through the list.

The most important aspect of making this technique a success is that you must turn the process into a habit. To make it a habit you need to do this each and every day. A good habit needs to be developed and Denny suggests that you should do this for a minimum of 30 days. That sounds like good advice to me.

I told you it was simple, but here is how and why it works.

Doing the list the night before

Most people make a list of what they want to get done first thing in the morning. This is the time that most people are at their most productive, and most enthusiastic. Making a list first thing uses up and wastes this time, which would be better used on active tasks.

Conversely, making the list at the least productive time of our day (just before we go home) turns and unproductive time into a productive time. This is something I love.

Doing the list the night before also has the added benefit of allowing us to ‘sleep on’ the tasks for the next day. We can leave the office content that our following day is taken care of, content also (from a more NLP type perspective) that our unconscious mind is working through things for us overnight.

Writing it all in a list lets us go home to enjoy our down time, without thinking about work. A great help in unwinding, and letting us focus completely on family and friends. This benefit is so helpful in maintaining a balanced life.

Getting the key tasks done first 

You have to accept that there are only so many hours in the day, and some days you will only be able to get a proportion of the list done. That is fine, because you will be getting the most important tasks done first. When you make your list for the following day, you will prioritise again, and the tasks that didn’t get done will be put into their logical positions going forward. They will get done at the right time, eventually.

Crossing tasks off as you complete them

Physically crossing tasks off a list (or the electronic version) has the subconscious benefit of motivation. We see ourselves progress, getting the important things done. The cumulative effect is that we see and feel the achievement in our work. And this is great, we see achievement, not simply activity.

Make this a habit 

Having worked this system for many years now, I know how much more effective and purposeful I am as a result. Why not try it yourself? Before you leave work this evening, start the process off. Try it for 30 days, and see what a great difference it can make for you too.

Is it so hard to say something like “I’ll just put you through”, or “Mr So-and-so is on the phone at the moment, can anyone else help, or can I take a message and ask them to call you back?”

Getting it right is so easy

This is such a simple thing to get right. And getting it right is a matter of a small amount of training and a fair amount of attitude.

Remember, that the person on the phone has taken the time to call you, over your competition. Treat that call like the magic thing it is. We all work very hard to get business, and when it comes so easily, please respect it for what it is.

Handling incoming calls is so easy to get right. Here are my top 10 tips for answering and handling business calls properly:

Top 10 Tips for answering and handling business calls

1. Answer the phone quickly

There is nothing worse that a phone that rings for ages before being answered. It is nothing short of unprofessional. A business line should really be answered on the 3rd ring.

Any less is too quickly, anything more is too much.

 2. Be warm and welcoming

A simple smile on your face when speaking will help enormously. I know it sounds corny, but it really does work.

3. Introduce yourself and your business

Never just bark the company name as you answer. I hear “XYZ Co” as a greeting all the time. Its off-putting, unwelcoming, and almost aggressive.

Say something like “Good morning, XYZ Company, Jonathan speaking. How many help you?”

For a personal mobile phone, “Hello, this is Jonathan” is fine.

This will not only confirm that the caller has phoned the right place, but sets the tone for a professional conversation.

4. Speak clearly

Nothing is more off putting to a caller than a fast talking person who sounds like that don’t care. Speak slowly and clearly, in a moderate tone, so that you can be easily understood.

The caller should never have to ask you to repeat what you said.

5. Do not use slang or buzz words

I know that I really shouldn’t have to say this, but you must use professional language at all times. Slang, jargon and words like ‘u-huh’ or ‘cheers’ are a definite no-no, and never ever ‘mate’, ‘yep’ or ‘I don’t know’.

If you genuinely don’t have the answer, simply say ‘let me find that out for you and come back to you as quickly as I can’. This shows interest and an eagerness to help.

6. Ask before you put people on hold

Be sure to ask the caller if its alright to put them on hold before you do so.

“That line is busy, would you like to hold or can I take a message and ask them to call you back?”

Then, update the caller every 30 seconds or so and offer them a choice “I’m sorry that line is still engaged, can I take a message and ask them to call you back?” is great.

7. Don’t just put calls through 

Just putting a call through to a line without saying what you are about to do really comes across as abrupt, and breaks any rapport built immediately.

A simple “I’ll just put you through’, or ‘one moment and I’ll connect you’ is perfect.

8. Don’t use hand-free to answer calls

It sounds like you are not fully engaged and disinterested, even if you are.

9. Take messages properly

If you are taking a message, be sure to check all the details, and confirm any spellings that you are unsure of. Jonathan will not be happy when he receives an email back with his name spelt ‘Johnathan’.

I am often called Nathan on the phone, even after I say my name is James Nathan. You would think that at my age I’d be used to it, but it still gets my back up. It feels sloppy and shows a lack of care.

Furthermore, offering the caller voicemail over taking a message, is just not good enough. It is poor from a service level perspective, but equally important from a commercial perspective you may have lost that business, especially if the message left is incomplete, doesn’t include a return number, or the caller hangs up and calls a competitor!

Before taking a message, find out if anyone else can help. 9 out of 10 times, an initial enquiry can be dealt with just as well by a colleague.

10. Only use answering phones if you absolutely have to

Answering phones are so impersonal and I am sure that most first time callers who hit voicemail simply hang up. If you must use one, please make sure that you call back as soon as possible.

Remember also, that people who leave messages out of hours are just as important as those who call during the business day. If you get a lot of call out of business hours, or over the weekend it may be sensible to invest in using a professional answering service. Many are very cost effective, and extremely professional.

Make the most of those calls

Making simple changes to your businesses telephone handling really can make an enormous difference so quickly. Getting new clients and to keeping those we already have takes a huge amount of effort. When they call, treat them with the service and respect they deserve.

One problem that people in business face is deciding whether they can trust numbers and words that come from other people in business.

If the numbers and words used by a person in business are wrong, that person may decide to do the wrong thing and hurt their business.

The best way of making sure that the numbers and words used in business are not wrong is for a different person to check those numbers and words. This different person must know how to check numbers and words well, and must tell the truth about what they have seen.

There are five things that must be in place for this check to be of use to business people.

One: Three people

The person who does the checking needs to be different from the person who makes the words and numbers. Both of these people need to be different from the person who uses the words and numbers once they have been checked. This adds up to three different people (or sometimes to three different groups of people).

Two: a matter to be checked

Before the numbers and words can be checked, all three of the people need to agree which numbers and words make up the matter to be checked. If it is not clear which numbers and words should be checked, there could be a problem.

Three: a way to decide what the numbers and words should look like

Before the checking person can say whether the numbers and words are good, all three people need to know what good numbers and words would look like.

Four: enough things for the checking person to look at to show that the numbers and words are good in the way that was agreed

The person who put together the numbers and words should be able to show that the numbers and words are good. The checking person must make sure that they have seen enough things to be happy saying that the numbers and words are good in the way that was agreed.

Five: writing from the checking person saying what they have found

The checking person must write up what they have found so that this can be joined to the numbers and words. The person using the numbers and words can read what has been written and decide what to do in their business.

If you think you can explain this hard idea better, go to this place and give the ten most hundred used words a try.

The recent growth in shared equity e-platforms such as Crowdcube and Seedrs, raising money via subscription for shares in small companies direct from retail investors, highlights an interesting anomaly. It is now infinitely easier for a member of the public to invest directly in the shares of a privately-held company, on the basis of limited financial and other information, than it is to buy shares in a new issue on the London Stock Exchange. Anthony Hilton captures this latter issue of retail investors being efectively shut out of new issues perfectly, in a piece in the Evening Standard.

As members will be well aware, any company undergoing an IPO will have produced reams of financial information and must comply with the Listing Rules - which have developed over time to provide appropriate protection of investors. The Corporate Finance Faculty will certainly be pursuing the argument expressed in a report by Peel Hunt which draws attention to the difficulty faced by retail investors in subscribing direct for IPOs.

But is the balance right just now between the tax-break enhanced potential rewards that might just arise from investing via e-platform in shares in illiquid small companies and the difficulty faced by members of the public who may wish to participate in the IPO of a substantial "blue-chip" company? I should add that the faculty is an active supporter of business angel and early stage venture capital investment, but should the position which appears to have evolved recently, enabling e –subscription for shares in virtually any small company, be extended to include shares in larger companies to be listed on a regulated exchange? If we take this to one logical conclusion does this render the Listing Rules obsolete? Shares in e-South Sea Company anyone?

For example, what if you’re looking for new people to follow on Twitter who may be potential future clients?  One way may be to search through people’s Twitter bios to help identify potential clients.  Using terms like ‘SME’ through Twitter’s search tool can help uncover people who use that term in their names or bios.  You can also combine search terms like ‘SME’ and ‘Liverpool’ to help narrow your search to people closer to you.

There are also other free tools outside of Twitter that can help with proactive searches.  Websites like Twiangulate and FollowerWonk can provide additional search options to help you seek out new people to connect to.

There are also options to follow people based on what they say or tweet.  For example, what if you were interested in finding people talking about RTI (perhaps business owners who are asking questions on this issue)?

One option is to use a social media management platform like Hootsuite and set up keyword searches there.  You can create a stream set to keywords so that you will only see conversations that involve a term like ‘#RTI’.  You can also get involved in those conversations by offering advice, sharing your experience, or pointing them to your website for more information.

What tools or strategies have you used to connect with new people?  Please share your advice on what you have used!

• Tailored support on exports and expansion into new markets via UKTI's Overseas Market Introductory Service that spans 96 posts throughout the globe
• Access to private sector International Trade Advisers and priority placement to trade missions and business delegations
• Future Fifty mentors from world-class service organisations, including law firms, banks, accountants and financial intermediaries to provide guidance on corporate governance and assistance in preparing businesses for the public markets
• Advice on immigration issues including the Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur Visa and Exceptional Talent Routes
• A programme of promotion, events and engagement to help reach investors, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders and to help attract top talent
• Advice on structuring partnerships and deals in overseas market

Applications for the year-long programme are now open. Programme places are available to fifty high-growth companies from the UK and the EU, as well as UK-controlled foreign companies. Selected companies will be drawn from multiple sectors and will need to have been trading for at least 24 months with revenue growth of at least 100% year over year.

For further details on how to register as a company or an advisor to the programme go to the Future Fifty site - you will be asked to complete a short form, which I believe then goes to the UKTI.

The faculty contributed to the London Stock Exchange's consultation process prior to the launch in March of the new High Growth Segment with wider eligibility criteria aimed at improve access to the public markets for high-growth companies. 

In the last budget the Government also announced the abolition of stamp duty on AIM shares and a change in regulation to allow their inclusion in ISAs. These moves should reduce the expense of investing in smaller, fast-growing companies, boost liquidity in their trading and significantly lower their cost of capital.

George Osborne said: "We're going to be rolling out the red carpet to the world's fastest growing companies, and making it as easy as possible for them to list in the UK. This is yet another demonstration of our determination to make the UK the best place in the world to build and run a fast-growing company."

Joanna Shields, Chief Executive of Tech City said: "There is a rising tide of successful, high-growth businesses in this country. But if we want to enable them to achieve their true potential, transform the markets in which they operate and generate significant economic benefit, we must do everything we can to help them grow. While the UK already has some of the best and far-reaching support available for entrepreneurs, too many companies leave our shores when they become successful. The Future Fifty programme will reverse this trend and ensure that the UK remains the best place in Europe to imagine, start and grow a business."

Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive of London Stock Exchange Group said: "Recent measures, including our new High Growth Segment and changes to the tax treatment of AIM shares, will mobilise equity capital towards the UK's most dynamic companies. The road from start-up to stardom is not an easy one, but these major steps forward have put high growth businesses centre-stage and will create an environment in which they can flourish."

The aim of the Future Fifty is to connect high-growth businesses with tailored information and expertise, helping accelerate their growth and laying the foundations for a successful listing in the UK. But is the problem really a shortage of expertise in London? I'm not sure I'd agree with that.  The real issues here are more fundamental.  High growth companies burn cash and I’m not sure UK investors are as sympathetic to those business models as, say, investors on NASDAQ. 

Advisors and companies interested in being involved with this latest initiative can find further details on the link below www.futurefifty.com.

For those of us concerned about the environment, it is great when financial and environmental objectives are aligned. But what if they are not?

On the same day as the webinar, I attended the launch of Carbon Tracker’s new report “Unburnable Carbon 2013: Wasted capital and stranded assets”. It analyses listed companies’ fossil fuel reserves and compares them to carbon budgets developed by the Grantham Research Institute. It concludes that 60-80% of the proven reserves must remain in the ground if we are to have a reasonable chance of limiting temperature rises to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, yet $0.7 trillion per year is being spent on discovering and developing reserves.

At the launch, Lord Stern stressed that the current market valuations of hydrocarbon companies are inconsistent with many governments’ stated policy of limiting temperature rises to two degrees. This suggests either that market participants are not aware of the inconsistency or that they do not believe the two degree commitment will be met. A lot of work is being done, not least by Carbon Tracker, to raise awareness of the inconsistency. In terms of the second explanation, market participants could be forgiven for being sceptical of governments’ commitment to tackle climate change. For example, the Climate Change Act 2008 commits the UK to an 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2050, yet the Government is not heeding the Committee on Climate Change’s warnings about relying too heavily on gas in generating electricity and delaying the introduction of an electricity decarbonisation target.

We are currently in a situation where people increasingly recognise the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions – Lord Stern painted a sobering picture of the economic and social disruption that is likely with a three degree temperature rise and organisations like the International Energy Agency are warning that we are on track for larger rises than this – yet they are reluctant to be among the first to take action on the scale needed. In the finance sector, this problem is particularly acute because of the large number of players in increasingly intermediated investment chains.

Carbon Tracker cited a revealing quote about investment managers’ concerns that they might disinvest from the hydrocarbon sector “too early”. In other words, if they disinvest before climate change concerns start to be reflected in share prices, they risk lower financial returns (at least in the short-term). Indeed, their current investment mandates may constrain their ability to disinvest, either directly or indirectly by benchmarking their performance against market returns. However, the scientific evidence for climate change provides a strong moral case for significantly scaling back investments in the hydrocarbon sector.

We’re frequently told that appealing to morality rather than the business case won’t work. But if the business case isn’t convincing, then we may need to appeal to morals after all, not least to change the institutional framework in ways that create and strengthen the business case. One of the themes of the Finance Innovation Lab (co-founded by ICAEW and WWF-UK) is helping people reconnect with their inner values, recognising that most people want to do the right thing, in their professional lives as well as in their personal lives. It also fits with ICAEW’s latest corporate governance thought piece which encourages companies to recognise a wider range of responsibilities than just maximising financial returns to shareholders. These initiatives indicate ways forward for issues like unburnable carbon where short-term financial returns and longer-term human well-being seem to be in conflict.

• Success stories, such as Skype, Cambridge Silicon Radio, Biovex, MessageLabs, Spotify, Rovio, MySQL and Wooga.    
• New VCs – e.g. Notion Capital, Atomico – emerging alongside successful veterans included in EVCA’s report, such as Amadeus, Earlybird and Wellington Partners.
• Corporate venturing appears to be making a comeback.
• A cadre of experienced entrepreneurs who have earned their stripes since the dotcom boom – and some have now turned to VC and angel investing too
• And – as we recently highlighted in Corporate Financier magazine http://tiny.cc/zlp9sw – tech hubs and clusters are burgeoning.

But EVCA admits that there is still a big relative scarcity of institutional capital to support European VC – in spite of €4.8bn in new funds in 2011.

The need is particularly stark when it comes to follow-on VC rounds, when businesses need tens of millions of dollars/euros/pounds of equity finance to expand fast.

With banks and insurers being pushed out of this kind of investment by Basel III and Solvency II – this is Europe’s huge ‘undercapitalisation’ challenge.

It’s one that entrepreneurs, financiers, professional advisers and policymakers now need to move up the ‘growth agenda’.

Miss Brown is quoted as saying “I have fallen into the trap of behaving with bravado on social networking sites. I hope this may stand as a learning experience for many other young people.” This may seem as though it’s a folly of youth, but one only needs to look towards celebrity and corporate accounts to see how easy it is to post an ill-advised comment.

So was this PCC the target of an unfair witch hunt, or the architect of her own downfall? Given that her comments were made before she took the role, some may argue the former – but there is more than enough evidence to support the latter.

Anonymity or online correspondence often has the potential to bring out the worst in people as not only do you not see the person’s reaction but you’re unable to hear them as well. When you’re publishing messages borne from a stream of consciousness – it’s all too easy to forget that these are being published in an archive. Be it Twitter (which tends to be public) or Facebook (which if your privacy settings are correct counts as a closed network), everything is broadcast to your networks, with a record of it remaining online. This may not seem like a big deal, until you learn that 91% of recruiters use social media to screen prospective employees, not forgetting that if you publish something online, then you are legally responsible for the content which you produce.

For most people who don’t post controversial material this has few repercussions, however if you post anything which may cause offence then anyone within your network can take a screenshot of your post, and present it as evidence of whichever misdemeanour you have committed. This can be most common with work colleagues who may not appreciate certain jokes or comments about certain issues.

For this, there are 3 solutions that I can think of:

1. Ensure that all your social networks’ privacy settings are limited only to those who you trust.
2. Remove all references and traces to your personal details from your online accounts, and don’t divulge your identity to anyone you may know in real life.
3. Think before you post.

Choosing option 2 is not ideal – mainly as you lose any ‘social’ aspect of the online experience. Option 1 is the most sensible, but still leaves you open to your network passing on anything you may post. The safest and most sensible option just so happens to be emboldened. If you wouldn’t want any comment attributed to your name, then it’s best that you don’t post it.

The consultation is based on an online survey. If you would like to participate in this consultation and have not received an email from the National Housing Federation with a link to the online survey, please email the National Housing Federation using policy@housing.org.uk  with your details and the link will be provided.  This link is uniquely tied to your organisation and email address, in order to ensure that the National Housing Federation receives one response per organisation. 

The consultation closes on Friday 17 May 2013. Comments received will be reviewed by the SORP Working Party on Tuesday 18 June 2013 and submitted to the FRC on Thursday 18 July 2013. A formal consultation on an exposure draft of the Housing SORP is scheduled for autumn 2013.

ICAEW will be  responding to this consultation. If you would like your comments to be considered for ICAEW's response, please email MaryLouise.wedderburn@icaew.com by Friday 3 May at the latest.

This is not just good advice, it is vital advice.

But, I don’t have time

The problem is that we don’t have the time, or we don’t make the time. We are busy, we react to our businesses, we respond, we rarely control. And further more, when we do make the time, many of us try to do this on an ad hoc basis or sitting at our desks.

“And what’s wrong with that?”, I hear you ask. Well, quite a lot actually.

To get you started, here are my 4 top tips for giving yourself thinking time

1. Plan your thinking time

Block out some time in your diary, where you won’t be disturbed. Make it as important as a client meeting. Make it unmovable.

Place the time at a point in your week when you are at your least active. 10am Tuesday morning is not the time, but how about early Friday afternoon? Late Wednesday afternoon? A time where you won’t feel that you should be doing something else. Make a less productive time productive.

2. Take yourself away from your desk

We naturally do certain tasks in certain places. We become anchored to those places, and when we are in those places, we default to those things. These habits are good, and when we control them, can be very powerful.

The problem for thinking is that we are often anchored to active, client focused behaviors at our desks. We check email, we phone, we research, we do active things. And, when we are not doing those things, we often use the internet. We kill time by browsing. We don’t think at a higher level there.

So go for a walk, head to a cafe or coffee shop. Get away from the places that you do other work things. And when you do this a magic thing happens. Your mind starts to wander. You start to have ideas. You start to think.

3. Let your mind wander

Don’t push the process. Thoughts and ideas will come naturally, as you give yourself permission to consider things. Let go of the ‘I must work’ thoughts. Start by thinking about a part of your business, or a particular issue. And if you need help, do something else and let your less conscious mind wander. Thoughts will come.

4. Anchor a new thinking place

If you continue to use the same places and activities to think, you will start to anchor new behaviors. You will establish behaviors that trigger thinking, and you will have built new good habits.

This is great, and then whenever you want to think or consider something, you just go to that place, or do that activity, and away you go.

For me this is when I am waking my dog, when I am on a long drive, when I am gardening, and then I am in the shower. Places where I am doing something else consciously, places where my mind can wander.

Start now

Start now. Open your diary and block out some time. Where might you start to think?