As an EHS professional, it can be common practice to focus on the problems of the day: knocking out inspections, analyzing regulatory or policy requirements, evaluating work tasks and doing our best to influence team members who have priorities that often compete with our objectives.

But, in this state of focus, it can be all too easy to overlook the tools that might help us step back from the fires and approach work more strategically.

• We allow ourselves to tinker and waste time creating (or fixing) the 12 spreadsheets we use to manage our programs.
• We stress about the stack of papers piling up on our desks.
• We waste countless hours sending and receiving emails in an