COFL Office of Management & Budget Director Wins GFOA's #TimeBackChallenge

Congratulations to Office of Management and Budget Director Laura Reece ! Laura was recently spotlighted by the Florida Government Finance Officers Association (FGFOA) and was recognized as a winner of the #TimeBackChallenge.

Organized by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) , this international competition was designed to help shed light on workplace productivity in local government. Laura's?thoughtful insights will not only help her team get time back in the workday but also set?an example for other GFOA members?and anyone interested in improving workplace productivity more broadly.

To regain time, our OMB team has implemented the following:

Avoid rework by:

• Creating clear?written instructions and procedures
• Providing?detailed training to client departments and staff
• Sharing mistake-proof documents by locking cells?in Excel?and creating templates that limit input fields

Meeting improvements:

• Schedule meetings with large groups at the beginning or end of the day to avoid interruptions to schedules.
• Send final agenda 24-48 hours before the meeting.
• Only invite attendees that have a role in the meeting. Make sure that everyone knows their role?so that there is full participation. If someone doesn’t have a role don’t waste their time.
• Plan for follow-through from meetings and next steps, including action items and commitment date.?Review these during meetings and get alignment from the team regarding deliverables.

Looking to enhance productivity in your daily workflow? These are some of the ideas that emerged from the Challenge:

• Booking meetings in 25-minute increments in order to keep them short?gives participants time to tie up loose ends?and still get to their next meeting on time.
• Clear agendas, objectives, and follow-up minutes?can help teams save time while staying on track and understanding the path forward.
• Remote work and video meetings were also a top time-saving theme?and likely wouldn't have been as prominent before the pandemic.
• Some participants said they block out specific times of day to respond to email?and/or stack meetings back-to-back so there are larger blocks of time to get projects done.
• Others come into the office early or stay late so they can have quiet time to work when there are fewer colleagues around.
• Tactics like closing the office door and/or silencing device notifications to encourage focus during work blocks were also popular.
• Prioritizing and delegating work items by importance.

For tips on how to conduct efficient meetings, listen to a recent episode of the GFOA podcast featuring #TimeBackChallenge grand prize winner?Dan Olivieri?with the City of Maple Ridge, British Columbia. Listen to the podcast on Anchor

GFOA has published a series of reports on the three villains—meetings ,?interruptions , and?rework —featuring strategies to help local government employees reclaim time at work.

More information on the #TimeBackChallenge at: gfoa.org/timebackchallenge .