Small Business: Work hacks - Samantha Gadd, HR Shop

Samantha Gadd, founder and managing director of HR Shop.

Small business editor Caitlin Sykes this week interviews a handful of small business owners about work hacks.

Samantha Gadd is the founder and managing director of human resources firm HR Shop, which has offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

What are the particular challenges you face in terms of working smarter, not harder as a business owner?

During the last three-and-a-half years, since starting HR Shop, the hours I've needed to put in to get things off the ground have been significant. Just the number of emails I get and the level of face-to-face meetings I have every day means that evenings are often set aside for catching up.

So what kind of hours do you generally work each week?

I generally work between 55 and 65 hours on any given week.

Time management must be pretty important for you given the heavy workload. What are some practical things you do to manage your time effectively?

I've tended to stack my days with all of the face-to-face and time dependant meetings I need to do, and then do my admin and follow-ups after hours, because I can do these from home or anywhere else. I also keep on top of emails daily. I've found that letting them build up just creates more stress so I quickly deal to the ones I can, and delete or archive as I go. Then I tend to block time in my diary for chunks of strategic work. That means I can concentrate on what needs to be done without being distracted.

Technology is another area that business owners tend to find can help make them more productive. What's been your experience in this regards?

We use quite a few cloud-based technologies to make sure the wider team has access to all the information they need about particular projects. It also allows the team to work remotely and at any time. We now use cloud-based systems for everything from file management, time recording, finance, sales, quoting, and internal comms. We've found these systems really do give us much more flexibility around when and how we work as a team. But the one downside with technology is that we're now 'always on', which also has its risks.

Do you have any other tips or tricks for working smarter, not harder?

We're working hard to share responsibility across the business, and we've implemented a new organisation design that's inspired by holacracy. The aim of this kind of system is to share authority and decision making across the business and it also allows individuals to play to their strengths. One of the key reasons we decided to implement this was to make sure all decisions weren't escalated to me.

I also think being genuinely passionate about what you do really helps you to be productive. I spend a lot of time reading and keeping up to date with new working trends; everything you read provides a little bit more insight and fresh inspiration to make sure how you're working is smarter, not harder. This constant desire to look forward and learn keeps me energised too.

What's been your biggest learning in terms of working smarter, not harder that you'd like to share with other business owners?

Surround yourself with people who are good at the things you aren't. In the early days of the business I was doing everything from client delivery, sales and finance. I quickly realised that I would be much better off hiring really smart people to help me with the areas that weren't my strengths, freeing me up to grow the business.

• Coming up in Small Business: 'Handmade' products are a growing consumer trend. How have some crafty folk built businesses around their handmade goods, and what markets are they developing for their offerings? If you've got a story to tell, drop me a note at nzhsmallbusiness@gmail.com.