Three Simple Ways to Increase Productivity

As individuals, it is our responsibility to do a good job at work. Productivity is a big factor in who is selected for certain assignments as well as who gets promoted up the chain of command. This matters because most of us are looking for new challenges and indeed for more money and benefits. There are some ways to increase your personal productivity at work in a big way.

Prepare The Night Before

A big struggle for many is getting to work in a mood that is conducive to being productive. In a world where there is so much expected of us, getting enough sleep often gets pushed to the back burner. People like to believe that they can push off sleep and that it won’t have an impact on them. Those people are mistaken. Getting a good night’s sleep is critical to work success.

Schedule Yourself Appropriately

Most workers have the misguided notion that they can avoid planning out their days. They think that they can simply tackle tasks as they come along. This is a bad idea to have. Apcevent.com suggests to make “appointments” with your work. Block out time on your calendar daily to work on specific projects or assignments. Start with the end in mind. Once you know how long a task will take, work backwards from the end of your day to see where to best allocate time for that particular task. Set a time every week to stay on top of your documents’ organization, to clean out files and emails before your storage gets unmanageable.

The better categorized your day is, the more that you accomplish throughout the day.digital distraction interruption work productivity bridge between

Lower The Amount Of Interruptions

The number of interruptions that can face a worker are at an all time high. There are the co-workers popping in to say something, the e-mails flying in at a rapid pace, and the websites that are just begging you to take a look at a quick video or article. Minimizing these distractions is a key way to accomplish the things that you have set out for yourself.

Contact us to learn more about how to accomplish tasks you have set out for yourself through the day and increase your productivity at work. We’re curious…which type of interruption at your work is hardest to avoid?

Why Development Based Training Is A Wise Investment

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Success in business involves wise investments. Perhaps the wisest investment of all is the development of your employees. By considering the personal and professional goals of each individual, development based training will ensure that your people will thrive and your business will grow. Consider the following when choosing a training program:

Personal Development

Each person who works for your organization is unique and has different strengths. With the right guidance, each individual can set personal goals and identify the steps needed to achieve them. Personal development helps individuals better understand themselves and build on their inherent skills. This, in turn, creates and environment of enthusiasm that breeds success.  When people have a vested interest in what they are doing, there is a natural shift from going through the motions to being truly motivated.  Likewise, when people feel their employer is interested in them as a person, they are more likely to give their best.

Professional Development

Every organization has their particular values and mission statement. To realize these values and missions, ongoing professional development is a necessity. The most effective development programs motivate team performance and enhance leadership skills. Good leaders realize that communication is key. Knowledge is not used as power to hold down others, but rather as the power to mentor others and help them advance.

Success is a journey, not a destination. Continual education and development creates a culture where people want to succeed. When individuals take pride in their abilities and accomplishments, the whole team benefits.

Contact us to discuss the best development based training programs for your continued success.

How Business Leaders Encourage Employee Engagement

A recent Gallup study regarding employee engagement has highlighted
an underwhelming percentage of employees who are engaged (29%)
versus those who are disengaged (54%) and even worse, those who are
actively disengaged (18%).

The study went on to unfold that engaged employees contribute
significantly to the profitability of a given company, to overall customer
satisfaction, and to overall productivity, by upwards of 20% and more.
While disengaged employees – those who are less than satisfied, not
motivated, and ultimately, saving face to receive a paycheck, actively
disengaged employees actually act on their lack of happiness, even
bringing other employees into their level (or lack thereof) of engagement,
and obviously hurting a company’s bottom line.

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Engaged employees are motivated to contribute to the success of their
company. They are happy at work and their customers want to continue
doing business with them.

So how do leaders of businesses – both big and small – develop and
encourage employee engagement, and thus, overall company
performance?

Offer Purpose
The first thing that business leaders must do is to consider and promote
the mission of a company. People are motivated by purpose; they like to
feel like they have contributed and connected to something above and
beyond themselves. Consider and evaluate your company’s mission
statement. Is it inspiring and does it encourage passion and “buy-in”
from the employees who are hired to fulfill it? Consider the passion and
purpose behind your company, display it, and share it often.

Model Engagement
Leaders of engaged employees must be engaged themselves. Engaged
leaders are passionate; they want to make a difference through and in
their job. They set the bar high. They are committed to their work and to
the betterment of their colleagues’ performance in a way that is
infectious. They are cheerleaders for their company’s successes and they
are cheerleaders for those below them. It is important that organizations
select managers who are not simply dedicated to getting things done, but
who will go the extra mile to get to know their team’s strengths and
weaknesses, to encourage fulfillment of a company mission, and to get to
know employees on a personal level.

Celebrate Often
Leaders need to highlight and celebrate, often, the positive change that
their company and its employees are bringing to the community, to
customers, to vendors, and to employees themselves. As often as
possible, through weekly meetings, newsletters, and social media, look
for, recognize, and tout the good things that employees will, therein,
want to be apart of and contribute to.

Pay Attention
Business leaders and managers will increase employee engagement by
offering consistent feedback. Leaders should encourage employees to
set goals, and then take note of how those goals are being reached.
Effective leaders should observe and encourage individual strengths and
guide employees to fulfill goals by utilizing those strengths. Engagement
will result when leaders offer feedback to encourage and support
employees toward reaching those goals. By understanding that someone
in leadership appreciates their efforts, employees will be motivated to
perform.

Trust & Empower
While evaluating the very employees that leaders want to engage, it is
crucial to make them feel trusted and empowered. Many companies
make great efforts to hire the best they can, only to micro-manage and
disempower. The most productive employees are those qualified
employees who are often reminded that they were the best candidate for
the job, and their decisions are trusted and encouraged.

Love
Lastly, leaders who want to engage employees need to get to know and
appreciate them on a personal level. Humans want to be connected –
even at work. Any employee who feels valued as an individual will want
to perform. Really get to know – and love and appreciate – employees on
a personal level. Knowing that what is nearest and dearest to their hearts
is of value at work will undoubtedly encourage engagement on the job.

Companies who avoid prioritizing employee engagement, or who are primarily
focused on the bottom line, end up losing the money that engaged employees would
make. Even worse, the cost of the disengaged employee turnover hurts a company’s
bottom line. Is it time for an engagement injection in your company? We can help!
Contact us today.


Reagan Sowa received her bachelor’s degree in marketing from Southern Methodist University.  After
working in various marketing positions for a few years, and helping her husband start and grow his
business, she received a master’s degree in secondary education from the University of Denver and
now teaches Business and Marketing.  She loves connecting with people, as well as skiing, running,
writing, and reading, but her favorite thing in life is raising her two amazing children.

Three Components of Emotional Intelligence

For a long time, intelligence was divided into “book learning” and “street smarts.” People now come realize the importance of emotional intelligence. A person with emotional intelligence produces better work, knows how to relieve stress, manages emotions well, and forges stronger relationships. They also get along better with people and can work well as team members and leaders alternately.  Whether your particular brand of intelligence involves book learning or street smarts, you can still develop emotional intelligence and become successful in your field.

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  • See the Glass as Half Full. A key component of emotional intelligence on which everything else depends. How do you develop the talent of seeing the positive side? One excellent way is by watching what you say. If you find that you are a critical person who tends to see the glass as half empty, make an effort to see things the other way while you’re talking to people. Instead of saying, “Bill never finishes anything on time,” you might say, “Bill is a very detail-oriented person who takes his time doing things. However, he does them well.”
  • Make Yourself Happy. Oftentimes people focus on keeping others happy. You may spend a lot of time doing the things others want you to do. As you go through your day, you need to ask yourself if the things you’re doing are making you happy.  In the eastern traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, this is called mindfulness. In truth, it’s using self-awareness. Ask yourself how you feel and use your feelings as a map.
  • Stay Healthy. As any psychologist will tell you, physical health is an important constituent of mental health. If your body is unhealthy, your mind is also going to be unhealthy. Your very first priority in life should be your physical health. Make an effort to eat healthy and exercise every day. Keep in mind that you don’t have to push yourself more than absolutely necessary. If you’d rather take a brisk walk than do weights, then by all means, take a brisk walk.
  • Surround Yourself with Positivity. You can literally surround yourself with positivity by changing your surroundings. Paint your walls a cheery color. Hang paintings or posters that you like. Buy books that appeal to you. Listen to music that recharges your batteries. Make friends who are also positive so that you can learn from their example. Work in a place that you find encourages positivity. Honing your social awareness will enable you interact well in groups by recognizing dynamics and picking up on social cues.

Where are areas you want to improve your emotional intelligence?

Contact us for help in using emotional information to guide thinking and behavior.

Five Tips to Take Your Productivity to the Next Level

In life, you want every advantage you can get. One of those advantages comes from your personal level of productivity. These five tips will help you discover a new, higher level of productivity based on your values.

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  • Always add value. Deciding what to do each day can be difficult, doubly so when there are more things to do. Start each day by thinking about which of your tasks adds value to your life and goals. If there is something on the list that doesn’t, cross it off and forget it.
  • Save your energy. Too often do people put too many tasks on their lists. Save your energy by putting only 3 to 5 things on your list and concentrating on getting those done. Concentrating on fewer tasks actually gives you the energy to see them through to the end.
  • Do one more task for you. Who said life has to be all about work? After you get your few tasks done, add one more for yourself that aligns with your interests. If you’re doing it right, your interests will overlap your values and it won’t feel like work anyway.
  • Have a system. According to Natasha Vorompiova, a professional systematizer for corporates and individuals, creating a system for everything can make the difference between running in place and always moving forward. The reason why it works is because you can fall back on the system you’ve created when something inevitably comes up unexpectedly.
  • Embrace technology when needed. In today’s world technology is front, center, and often on the peripherals of everything we do. Why not make it easier on yourself by using technology which syncs your tasks from one platform to another? Startup entrepreneurs at Insanitek Research and Development highly recommend Zapier for it’s ability to cut across platforms to sync tasks no matter what you are doing.

Productivity should not be a word that saps your energy and creativity. It should be a word that makes you excited to get up in the morning to see what you can do. We can help you with that  contact us. We’re listening!