Our Clients' Testimonials

May 12, 2015

Dear Mr. Brown and Dr. Cohen,

My team and I were offered to join Cohen Brown’s Structured Time & Workflow Management (STWM) pilot starting in December 2014.

There was a skeptical attitude of the employees at the beginning of the pilot, but the surprising way of Cohen Brown’s approach (leader-led, interactive, clear messages, and techniques and tools that can be applied on a daily basis), resolved the skepticism immediately.

Although we didn’t achieve the agreed quantifiable results, clue to unexpected external factors, the final outcome of the pilot was 100% positive.

The main conclusion is that this process has made us understand and believe that there were still quite a few productivity growth possible within the team. Structured Time & Workflow Management’ is the direct reason for the start-up of a reorganization/ optimization of our team “successions”, based on elements from Cohen Browns conceptual clock.

We are now a true believer and STWM does exactly what is promised, give people time back to work more efficient, decreases the stress level even in a difficult period of illness and a huge increase of to be handled files and supported us to be more focused and concentrated on the tasks we have to do.

Time Lost Prior to STWM

During STWM we calculated that we lost on average 2, 5 hours/day clue to unplanned and unwanted interruptions.

After evaluating the pilot we gained back on average 0, 5 to 1 hour per day.

Time and Benefits gained with STWM

During the STWM pilot our employees learned how to reduce unwanted interruptions to gain time back, how to mentally focus and concentrate on the tasks they had to do, how to plan better and more efficiently and how to better work together.

In the training evaluation, when we asked the question “Are you going to use what you have learned in your daily work?” 9 out of 14 employees scored as a response with a 9 or higher (being 10 totally agree). The question “Are the skills and techniques you learned going to help to make you more effective and successful in your work?” was scored by all employees with a 7 or higher.

After the training everyone left with an action plan and commitment to implement what they learned.

During the whole pilot we received positive reactions from all employees and it built up an even better team spirit. Even during a difficult period (mainly throughout the whole pilot period), due to unexpected external factors, employees complained less as they would have done before they received the STWM training and also they could handle the situation with less stress as before.

Employees were able to decrease the interruptions within the team and respected each other’s time lock signs/agreement.

Qualitative results

Script Writing and Objection Handling: Before the pilot, post office employees (our Time Bandits) called us constantly with questions regarding information about the files that they easily could find in the system. Also they didn’t fill in the necessary documents in the right way.

The scripts we practiced are used daily and because of that there is a decrease of calls from post offices, there is more respect between the pilot team and post office employees and the quality of the documents with the right information has highly improved. Also we became professionally better in overcoming their objections.

Time Locking: The use of the time lock signs and the technique of time locking makes the team able to handle more files in better quality than before. The team members are more motivated to take over some tasks of their colleagues during a time lock period then before the pilot.

Focal Locking: Because of this technique the team members are more focused on their work and are more concentrated to achieve their goals

Team optimization: Based on and as a direct result from the STWM techniques/ tools and pilot learnings we decided to reorganize and optimize the team by splitting up the team in two groups. Group 1 will now only focus and be responsible for all the client calls and group 2 will focus and be responsible for handling the client files.

Employee Feedback

Since it is important to me to know what the team’s feedback is regarding what they have learned and experienced during the STWM pilot, I asked their feedback which I would like to share with you. Here are some examples of comments I have received from employees:

• “the interactive way of learning is totally different to the standard more theoretical workshops”
• “the approach and tips are daily applicable”
• “we are looking forward to the next Cohen Brown workshop”
• “script writing has become a part of the way how I communicate”
• “remarkable what impact a simple sign (STOP sign) has on our way of working”

I am happy with the positive outcome of Cohen Brown’s STWM pilot and I would certainly recommend other organizations to implement this Structured Time and Workflow Management process as well.

Warm regards,

Head of Customers & Accounts
Marketing & Sales Support

March 7, 2016

Dear Mr. Brown and Dr. Cohen,

My team and I were offered to join Cohen Brown’s Structured Time & Workflow Management (STWM) pilot starting in December 2015.

We very much appreciated Cohen Brown’s approach and way of working with our team (leader-led, interactive, clear messages, and techniques and tools that can be applied on a daily basis).

Although we didn’t achieve the agreed quantifiable results and we couldn’t take advantage of all techniques and tools during the whole pilot period, due to unexpected internal challenges and factors, we are very positive about the pilot and the results we did achieve.

The main conclusion is that this process bas made us aware of, and we understand and truly believe in still more productivity growth within the team. Although we all had some kind of experience with time management techniques and tools, Structured Time & Workflow Management provided us with a behavioral process that focuses not only on time planning but also created awareness how much time we were losing due to interruptions. We also learned how to deal with our time bandits and how to deal with stress related to time management problems.

We are convinced that STWM does exactly what it promises, it gives people time back to work more efficient, helps to prioritize tasks with our huge workload, decreases the stress level and increases the motivational level by being more focused, getting tasks done on time and being better prepared for meetings.

Time and Benefits gained with STWM

During the STWM pilot our employees learned how to block their time to reduce unwanted interruptions, how to communicate with our time bandits, how to best prioritize our tasks, how to mentally focus and how to concentrate on the tasks we had to do, how to plan better and more efficiently.

In the training evaluation, when we asked the question “Are you going to use what you have learned in your daily work?” 6 out of 6 employees scored a response with an 8 or higher (10 being “1 totally agree”). The question “Are the skills and techniques you learned going to help to make you more effective and successful in your work?” was scored by 5 out of 6 employees with 7 or higher.

After the training everyone left with an action plan and commitment to implement what they learned.

Qualitative results

Time Locking: Blocking time in agendas, switching off telephones at certain times, the decision to move to another floor created quiet time, serenity and time to be able to finish important tasks. Time locking created time to be more prepared for meetings which decreased the feeling of stress.

Focal Locking: Because of this technique the team members are more focused on their work and are more concentrated to achieve their goals.

Prioritization and planning: The weekly written plan, visible on our desks increased the focus and awareness of doing the right tasks. Also the motivational level and the feeling of having added value has been increased by being more focused.

Personal time and communication: Due to dear communication with colleagues and managers, employees succeeded to go home on time more often, only being called/ interrupted at home when an emergency arises, being able to protect themselves from their time bandits.

I am happy with the positive outcome of Cohen Brown’s STWM pilot and I would certainly recommend other organizations to implement this Structured Time and Workflow Management process as well. I also want to give a compliment to Brenda Schafer for her patience, knowledge and enthusiasm for the method, coaching and warm personality. She did a terrific job and I would recommend her and the method to colleges.

Warm regards,

Drs. Elaine Carpenter
Operational Director Business Consulting & Solutions