You've heard the saying 'You don't know what you don't know until someone shows you'.

Nowhere is this more true, or of paramount importance, than to understand the wastage occurring behind every computer at your company. In your members company. Within your clients companies. I'm not referring to staff fiddling around with social media or Online auctions. Measures can be put in place to curb that. Let me give you three examples to illustrate the problem I'm writing about.

Scenario one: The Managing Director said no
I was finalising details for training the administrative team of an organisation with a very large member database. I said to the Managing Director "Since I'm flying in anyway - shall I throw in some training on database management with the email marketing while with your team? "Oh no, it's not necessary" the Managing Director responded, "we've got a great database."

Later, on site, I had a spare half hour so I innocently said to the ladies "your MD said you don't need any help with your database, what else can I help you with?" The ladies were incredulous. Horrified. Their reply: "The Director comes to us, and asks for a list. Then he goes back to his office and closes the door. It might take us a few hours, but most often takes us a few days. We do get the list to him. He has no idea what we go through to create that list." I asked them to show me a few of their problems managing the data.

It was my turn to be scandalised. I was immediately able to show them several different Excel functions that instantaneously could do what was taking them hours or days to complete. Row by row. By row. By row. They nearly fell over in joy. The hours they had wasted over the years. The hours they would now be able to save.

Scenario two: The Executive Team didn't know
An inbox productivity workshop for 14 senior managers including the Managing Director. As you expect their time is valuable, they're all highly paid and of course they all spend a considerable amount of time working with email. I asked them "do you know you have your own private inbox secretary? Ready to automatically read all the emails you receive and the ones you send; then answer the emails, file, forward or delete them? Not one of the 14 executives knew this inbox function called Rules. Just this one tip alone with creative thinking thrown in would save each one of them at least ½ an hour a day. This equates to112.5 hours per 45 working week year. Per Manager. What an opportunity cost. What a waste of overhead - over $100,000.

Scenario three: Interviewing an Office Manager applicant.
"I'm superb at the computer" she said, and continued with all the ways over the years she has used software. Proficiency with MS Office was one of the main job requirements. When it was my turn to describe the Office Manager role, in an offhand manner I mentioned something about email. "Oh, I'm just great with Outlook" she replied. Thinking my luck couldn't get any better with a more suitable applicant, I innocently asked "so, tell me, how do you use Rules?" A blank quizzical stare was her only response. I was stunned. How could someone professing to be so good on the computer not know about Rules? In my opinion, the Rules function in email programs is one of the most important items to know. Full stop.

These three separate true stories all point to the same fact. Almost everyone works very inefficiently with their software. From the Managing Director down.

Most people perform actions manually or ways they've eked out. Why didn't the Managing Director know to ask his team why a list took them two days to prepare when it should have been made in 20 minutes?

The solution to the problem is helping individuals to discover the diamonds of productivity waiting at their fingertips. If they take the time to look or listen to the better way of doing things, it can save them time, and depending on staff numbers - tens of thousands in reduced overheads.

The education can encompass formal training to the informal of books, manuals or even implementing a share a computer tip portion to regular meetings.

I've taken my ten years of learning, and put it into a very easy to read book. It's in a problem/solution format that focuses on where you'd like to improve most; in communication, sales, workflow, response management, customer service. Imagine accomplishing this by simply making a few simple tweaks to the way you work.

Debbie Mayo-Smith is a sought after international speaker and bestselling author. She works with businesses that want more effective management and staff. http://www.debbiespeaks.co.nz