I noticed an action log for a meeting was getting pretty clogged and we were spending a long time on it at meetings, so I've started sending out the action log when I request agenda items, so I can get updates before the agenda goes out and save time going through it in the meeting.  We’ve managed to close quite a few and get through it quicker in the meeting.

When my manager is really busy, and I need something from her urgently or just a confirmation, rather than put it into a paragraph in an email, which means she would need to open it, I just write it in the subject line - which saves her opening the email. She can see straight away what is needed and respond.

With Microsoft Teams, when I book in meetings for colleagues, where possible, I block at least five to 10 minutes after each meeting, to allow them time to reflect, make notes and to have a comfort break. Looking after ourselves and our colleagues is important.

When saving items, think about the name you give a document. Would other people be able to find it easily? Put a team, date or version number on it too.

With our intranet, flo, did you know that areas you are interested in can be added to the section Content for You. This can save a lot of time searching for things.

One more thing, for teams who have generic inboxes, you can create a group email contact list which will save time, as your fellow team members can access the group email contact rather than creating a new one in their own personal email account.

I launched another 15s30m mission at the beginning of 2022. I receive multiple requests for purchase orders from the team. These usually come via email and not all the information is provided. It is then a case of several emails going backwards and forwards to find out this information.

I have now created a purchase order request form for the team to use to capture all the information I need, which will make it a lot easier and quicker for me to request purchase orders on Business World.

It’s helpful when organisers of meetings send all papers embedded into calendar invites, this is another time saver, or if information is needed for an internal meeting the invite could include hyperlinks to it. This makes things easier.

Another tip, is to mark your annual leave and the annual leave of your colleagues at the top of your calendar. In our team we colour co-ordinate this, so we can see who is off at a glance.

Little things can make a big difference. Rather than just putting an out of office on, if everyone added who to contact in their absence, with a phone number and email, this would really help colleagues and save them time.

Only copy people into emails if they really need to see the content. Set the standard that if someone is CC’d in, then it’s just for their information, and then they can prioritise if and when they read it.

• If you want a group of people to reply to an email by a certain date, put that in the subject header. Also put in there if it’s FYI or for action, to allow the recipient to prioritise it.
• Don’t reply all if not everyone needs to know your reply, in particular large generic emails from reception, for instance.
• Keep your email message short with clear reason why you are writing and any action you want taken – use bullet points and highlight text you want to draw attention to.
• Consider if you need to send an email. Could you pick up the phone instead and just talk to the person to get a quick answer.

With meetings, respond to invites to meetings as soon as you can to avoid the person organising having to email/re-email people to understand who is and isn’t coming.  This can waste so much time and could result in the meeting not adding value if key people are not in attendance to make decisions/drive things forward.

Taking a record of your own actions from a meeting, alleviates the need, on occasion, for minutes to be taken.

Our colleague is also looking at minute taking apps and will possibly do this as an improvement project.

To help you manage your emails, you might want to set up a folder in Outlook where all of the emails you are copied into go.

This can be useful if you go on leave, as when you return, you know that all the emails in your inbox are for action.

To set this up:

• Create a new folder called cc in Outlook
• Click on the rules icon
• Select create rule
• Select advanced options
• Select where my name is in the cc box
• Select move it to the cc folder
• Click next and then finish

Use the pin option in Outlook to pin important emails to the top of your email list, to save time searching for something later.

Simply right click the message you want to pin and then select pin. When you’re finished with it, right click again and select unpin.

With the West Kent Local Referral Unit (LRU) being a single point of access for more than 15 services and with the team working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, having the most up-to-date information a few clicks away is vital.

For this reason, LRU office manager Karen Bell put together a spreadsheet, containing embedded documents ranging from Rio top tips and an 8x8 user guide, to contact details, eligibility criteria and details of teams people might want signposting to. The spreadsheet is saved in a shared folder, which members of the team can access at any time. She was supported by the IT department.

Sophie Lees, administration manager, Specialist Clinical Services, who saw the support tool while shadowing the team, said: “This allows the team to deliver an excellent admin service.”