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Overcommunication: Five Tips for When You Need to Talk Too Much

Posted on 09/04/2024 by ·

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE "Over-communicating is the glue that holds a high-performing team together and keeps them focused in the same direction. And, it circles back to clarity. Without good, consistent communication, you don’t have clarity." ―  Lee Ellis, leadership consultant, author, presenter, retired colonel, USAF. As managers, it's drilled into us that we shouldn't micromanage —that instead, we should hire well-qualified, intelligent self-starters, then give them their instructions and get out of the way. And while this strategy is generally sound, you’ll always find some exceptions that test the rule. In recent years, some business experts have begun backing off a bit from the approach outlined above, expounding on the virtues of overcommunication. In the past, we've … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Performance, Tools & Systems ·

What’s The Big Deal About Artificial Intelligence?

Posted on 07/30/2024 by ·

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE "Artificial intelligence would be the ultimate version of Google. The ultimate search engine that would understand everything on the web. It would understand exactly what you wanted, and it would give you the right thing. We’re nowhere near doing that now. However, we can get incrementally closer to that, and that is basically what we work on." ― Larry Page, co-inventor of the Google search engine. Is there anyone in the Western world who hasn't seen (or at least heard about) the Terminator or Matrix movie franchises? As much as we've loved our Tamagotchis, Furbys, and Roombas, we still worry our digital and robotic creations will grow beyond us so fast and so far they'll learn to hate us or simply become indifferent to our presence, destroying us in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, General, Performance, Tools & Systems ·

When It All Falls Apart: Five Tips for Rebuilding Your Productivity

Posted on 04/30/2024 by ·

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE "The best laid schemes of mice and men/often go astray." ― Scottish poet Robert Burns Sometimes, unexpected events occur that tear apart a carefully planned life. Hopefully this hasn’t happened to you, but if it ever does, your productivity is likely to come crashing down… and really, no one could blame you. But some people might anyway. You may even lose a job, especially in this gig economy where speed reigns supreme. This recently happened to a colleague of mine, who had been his mother’s primary caregiver for several years. In March 2023, they experienced a perfect storm of health crises, culminating in his mother entering her final illness. My colleague focused tightly on his mother’s health, to the point where he ignored his clients, and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, General, Performance ·

Taking it Easier: Four Arguments for a Shorter Work Week

Posted on 02/02/2023 by ·

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE "Don't count the days; make the days count." ― Muhammed Ali, American boxer. We'd all like to work less, wouldn’t we? It would be nice to take our retirement in installments, like John D. McDonald's sleuth Travis Magee, but that's not an option for most of us. One thing many of us try to do is arrange to work fewer days. This usually involves cramming the same 40 hours into fewer days, such as working four ten-hour days while taking Fridays off. But with "flex-time," as it's generally called, you still end up working 40-hour weeks, minimum. But how about shorter workweeks, period? Study after study has shown that workweeks of 32-36 hours tend to be more fruitful than their 40-hour counterparts. Here are four reasons why: Productivity … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Life Balance, Time Management ·

Generation Z Productivity: What to Expect from the Newest Worker Demographic

Posted on 01/04/2023 by ·

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE “…A new generation is on the rise, and the first step to communicating with them is understanding they aren't just another Millennial." ― Pamela La Gioia, American business author. The post-Millennial generation of workers, born from about 1995 -2010, has now entered the American workplace in earnest. Some 74 million strong, this diverse cohort comprises about one-quarter of our population, and almost 40% of the workforce. They're more plugged into the digital world than any generation before them and have never known any other lifestyle. Although Generation Z's oldest members have worked steadily for a decade, some business pundits still don't know what to think of them or how to handle them. And as with Millennials, many of the experts' … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Leadership & Teamwork, Performance ·

Machine Work: Three Ways Artificial Intelligence is Impacting Business Productivity

Posted on 11/16/2022 by ·

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE “Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.” — Ginny Rometty, American business executive Artificial intelligence (AI) gets a bad rap in pop culture. For every fictional Jarvis or David, there are a half-dozen Skynets or Ultrons. In the real world, most workers believe artificial intelligence is something we're still waiting on. But it's already off and running in corporations around the world, though not necessarily in forms people tend to think of when they hear the term "artificial intelligence." Some visionary authors call what we have "artificial stupids,” but whatever you call them, they can get the job … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Performance ·

What’s Next? Four Productivity Predictions for 2023

Posted on 10/05/2022 by ·

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE  "The best way to predict the future is to create it."—Peter Drucker. Making predictions about the future of productivity can be dangerous business. Remember all those people who predicted that the Internet would be a flash in the pan? Yeah, me neither. What I do remember is how wrong they were. That said, I'm going to make a few predictions about what might happen in 2023 in the productivity field, based on what we’re all hearing lately. Inflation will continue to eat at your productivity. Inflation has many causes, so we're not looking to blame it on anyone here. But as prices for everyday costs like food, housing, and energy rise, some substantially, your dollars buy less — especially, as has been the case for decades, when pay doesn't rise … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Personal Productivity ·

The Economy’s Short-Lived Recovery: The Results of the 2021 American Time Use Survey

Posted on 08/22/2022 by ·

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE  "The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."—Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist, in War and Peace. Late in June 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the results of the previous year’s American Time Use Study (ATUS), as it has annually since 2003. I've reported on it each year for more than a decade. The ATUS data for 2020, released in 2021, reflected significant effects from the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the nation since March 2020. Fortunately, during 2021, the crisis loosened its stranglehold on the economy, allowing it to bounce back to pre-plague levels. However, the economy has since fallen behind again due to the rise of the worst inflation since the 1980s (sure to be a significant factor in next year's report). A … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Performance, Personal Productivity, Time Management ·

Return-to-Office Resistance: Adapting to the New Status Quo

Posted on 06/09/2022 by ·

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE Few things have changed the modern workplace more than the COVID-19 pandemic. Large-scale remote work, which many corporations tried and discarded as unmanageable not so long ago, suddenly became required in most businesses. Nascent and underutilized technologies experienced rapid development and widespread implementation. While the pandemic paralyzed some industries for a while, the white-collar world not only adapted quickly, but it also thrived. According to most studies, individual productivity increased slightly after employees went home to work. Familiar surroundings, flexible schedules, and a lack of commutes led to happier, more engaged, and less-stressed workers… to the point where most of the rank and file simply didn't and still don't want … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Performance ·

Upskilling: Four Simple Steps Toward Upgrading Your Work

Posted on 05/04/2022 by ·

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE In a rapidly changing environment, it's no surprise that new "buzzwords" occasionally pop up on your bingo card. One of recent example is upskilling. At first glance, the definition seems obvious, but it means more than you might think—especially after our shared ordeal with the COVID-19 pandemic. These days, we all need to take the time to upskill and refresh our work habits, which the World Economic Forum predicts will raise the global GDP by up to $6.5 trillion by 2030. Upskilling involves taking your work to the next level, to better fit your job's current and future needs. It's not good enough to just tread water. You must consistently work to advance your career, if only to keep pace with change. The white-collar professional never really stops … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Performance, Personal Productivity ·