Tag: productivity

Productivity is Catching: How to Boost Team Productivity

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How modeling effective productivity skills can have a positive impact on your team members.

You know the old saying that kids do what you do, not what you say? Employees are by no means children, but there is a grain of truth to the concept, even for adults!

The single biggest barrier to productivity in the workplace is… drum roll, please: managers. Team members saddled with an ineffective, discouraging, uninspiring and unmotivating leadership will not be as productive. Of course, there are other factors in how productivity is missed, but poor leadership is top of the list.

When it comes to productivity, leaders who model the desired behavior, as well as encourage, inspire and motivate, will find the productivity of their team members goes through the roof.

First and foremost: Walk the walk

Engage in and model the behavior you expect your team to display. There is nothing a leader can do that is more compelling and motivating than applying the rules to themselves.

If you expect your team to be respectful of one another, be respectful to each of them. You expect them to communicate with one another? Do the same. You expect them to provide peer feedback that is constructive? You need to model that.

A leader who walks the walk, instead of just talking and then going in another direction, will be respected; this is of major importance to the high productivity of a team.

Understanding the difference between working long and real productivity

Productivity is not about the hours spent sitting in a chair, in a cubicle or at a workstation. An employee who arrives at 8 and leaves at 7 is not necessarily being productive with their time. Unfortunately, many lesser managers engage in and reward that behavior instead of praising the employee who gets their work done and done well.

Why? When asked, some managers feel that the one employee’s behavior sets an example to others about tenacity and working hard.

Note to this manager: it doesn’t.

What does set an example are leaders understanding what their team is accomplishing and what individual members are contributing. Rewarding effort, not time in the chair, makes all the difference.

Recognizing the value of training

Anyone who says they know it all is lying. Every level of an organization can benefit from training at some point or other, which enhances productivity. Being open to learning and change, at the highest levels, models behavior that a team will more readily adopt.

Supporting the value of training, as well as other needs the team might have, shows an openness and adaptability that can only enhance productivity across the board.

Feedback and recognition

As noted in the beginning of this post, productivity is affected most by ineffective, discouraging, uninspiring and unmotivating leadership.

Modelling the right behavior is an indirect way of encouraging team members. If paired with more direct methods, such as constructive positive feedback and recognition of effort, a leader is providing inspiration to each and every team member — motivation that can be returned to them in productivity and loyalty.

Whatever you are looking to achieve with your team, modeling the right behavior is the surest way to get what you want from them. Respect is a two-way street and employees who receive it will return it.

If you want to make changes to how you lead and work, take it 5 degrees at a time for substantive, long-term results. The 5 Degree Principle will help you to attain your goals, in work and in life, one step at a time.

Productivity Tips for Leaders | BridgeBetween.com

Essential Productivity Tips for Leaders

Shannon Cassidy 1 Comment

Working your way toward sustained success.

You were not born productive or with a manual filled with productivity tips for leaders. If anything, most of us spent the better part of our youths being the opposite. Productivity is learned and if it’s a skill that you haven’t quite mastered yet, it’s not a hopeless ideal!

There are some essential things you can do to be more productive in your day to day and as a leader, modeling the kind of attitude and behavior that you’ll no doubt want to see in your team.

After all, the old saying: “Time is money” has a ring of truth to it, doesn’t it? Wasting time ultimately wastes money, along with other resources along the way, so eliminating as much waste as you can is essential.

Have clear goals

This can’t be overstated: if you don’t have a clear vision as to what the end goal is, you will not be able to find a productive path to get there. Once your vision is clear, you can establish the tasks that need to be taken to achieve said goal.

It might seem redundant to say that you need to prioritize your tasks, in addition to knowing your end goal, but it bears repeating. Team members and leaders alike can end up dithering and flailing around in a multi-tasking quagmire, and ultimately not being very productive, if they aren’t sure where to begin.

Don’t forget, too, that short term (weekly/daily) goal planning is just as important: it will help you with prioritizing the tasks at hand.

In line with clear goals is the ability to refuse tasks. You have to say no sometimes. If you are constantly taking on meetings, speaking engagements and in general tasks that aren’t related to the goals you’ve set out, your productivity will get bogged down from going in too many directions at once.
 

L.I.F.E. @ A GLANCE PLANNER: Organize your priorities and invest your time wisely.

 

Productivity isn’t about time in the chair

Most leaders who have understood the principles of effective team management have long gone past the point where they equate time in the chair with productivity, in evaluating their team members.

The same applies to you, as a leader. Being the first into the office and the last to leave does not make you productive and it doesn’t really serve to show your team members an effective method to achieve productivity.

A good way to maximize your time is to block off time where you can’t be reached. Notifiers can become the ultimate distraction. Turn the phone to ‘do not disturb’, block the time on your calendar for everyone else to see… disconnect. As a leader, you can’t get away with it everyday, but once in awhile, it’s a great way to get on top of a runaway list of tasks.

Know yourself

Are you more productive in the early morning? Late at night? Right around noon? Do you think better after a workout? Make sure you block off time in your schedule during those productive times, so that you can get the work done that requires a lot of intensive thinking.

Schedule the more routine tasks—like answering emails—for when you’re at a lower point on your productivity scale. A lot of people find that to be middle of the afternoon but to each their own!

TIP: Many high level executives avoid email first thing in the morning. You can get really bogged down in the details of things that you actually don’t even need to be involved in, losing out on what is a highly productive time for most people.

Don’t be afraid to take a break if you need it: slogging through tasks when you’re overtired and undernourished isn’t going to result in good work. This too is a good behavior to model for your team members: if you feel okay taking a break now and again, they will be too.

Choose the tools—and team—that work for you

Some people swear by their phone calendars or apps designed to remind you about everything. Others like to kick it old school and rely on pen and paper (hint: I’m more the latter!) Use what tools work for you, not what’s ‘in’ or ‘trending’!

Having the right team is a major factor in personal productivity as a leader. It’s not about having people who can run with the job without even talking to you: it’s about trust. If you know they can get something done, you will feel comfortable relinquishing the task to them, instead of micromanaging it and losing out on productivity. It’s a win-win too because a team member who feels nurtured but not hovered over will respond with outstanding effort.

Confront the task you hate the most first

Getting rid of the most daunting task first sets the tone for the rest of your day. You can envision it being smoother and more productive if you get rid of the one thing that’s been bugging you or dragging on for a while. A lot about being productive is about mindset. Free your mind from something that was getting between you and creativity and you will see your productivity levels skyrocket!

 

An essential element to productivity is knowing what’s happening today, tomorrow and in the not so distant future. It’s easier to prioritize if you know what’s coming down the pipeline, and a tool like the L.I.F.E. @ a Glance Planner will help you drive your tasks towards your end goal by “Living In Focus Everyday”.

managing your energy photo Shannon Cassidy

Managing Your Energy

Shannon Cassidy Leave a comment

When you think of energy management, you might think of this standard definition: “Energy management is planning and operation of energy production and energy consumption units.”

But what about energy management in people?

A human’s capacity for energy is finite; a fact that many of us ignore. We work for long hours, telling ourselves that as long as we have caffeine or motivation, our energy will go on and on.

It won’t.

To achieve maximum productivity, you must manage your energy. That’s the message of Allison Green Schoop, associate strategy director at global design firm frog.

So how do you manage your energy? Look at it as sprints and recovery. We all know we are going to have big sprints — that’s what makes pursuing a project or business so exciting. The balance between sprints and recovery is key in being your most productive.

How do you manage your energy? Look at it as sprints and recovery.
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To Manage the Sprints:

Monitor your energy levels. We all have different internal rhythms: Some of us are night owls, while others’ brains shut down after 10 p.m. To find out what time of day your energy levels are at their peak, try setting your smartphone to beep every hour and note what you’re doing, how your energy is and what might have affected it, such as whether you just ate a huge, carb-heavy lunch. At the end of a week, assess your notes and look for patterns.

Don’t force it. Once you know your natural energy rhythms, try to honor them. If you experience a 3 p.m. slump every day, for example, trying to power through it will do more harm than good. You won’t be working efficiently, your results will be poor, and you’ll drain even more energy from your mind and body. Instead, during a slump time, try taking a quick walk or doing stretches in your office.

Adjust accordingly. You don’t have to be a slave to your energy levels, of course. Test different ways of energizing yourself, such as exercising, eating different foods, getting lots of water or sleeping more to find out what works best for you. One of my friends finally motivated herself to work out every morning when she realized that doing so eliminated the 3 p.m. slump that had plagued her for years.

To Make Room for Recovery:

Schedule it. No matter whether or not you think you need a break, schedule fun or relaxation activities in advance and stick to them.

Double the break you think you need. You might say, “Sure, I’ll take a break this evening— I’ll give myself a whole hour off!” Not good enough. Whatever the break you think you need, double it. You are most likely underestimating the toll that all of your hard work is taking on your body and mind — even if you’re having fun.

Enlist family and friends. If you schedule a weekend get-away with family or friends, you’ll have no excuse but to unplug. Family and friends can be great accountability buddies for taking the breaks you need.

Break down your biggest goals into achievable, measurable chunks and reward yourself often! For every day that you make a massive to-do list, add a “reward” item at the end that brings you joy.

Sources:

http://www.inc.com/leigh-buchanan/maximize-productivity-manage-energy.html

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/7-ways-to-manage-your-energy-for-optimum-productivity/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/yec/2011/05/30/5-tips-for-managing-your-energy-not-your-time/#27e509816c4a

Three Simple Ways to Increase Productivity

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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?

Five Tips to Take Your Productivity to the Next Level

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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.

energy soul man suit

  • 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!