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Lifting Your Spirits: Pumping Up Productivity with Pleasant Surroundings

Posted on 07/01/2014 by ·
Pumping Up #Productivity with Pleasant Surroundings y Laura Stack

"We are what we see. We are products of our surroundings." -- Amber Valleta, American actress. While there are jobs that take place in harsh environments, if you're reading this article, I doubt you do. However, perhaps it’s sterile, or uncomfortable, or hot. Poor working conditions can lead to decreased productivity and inferior performance. For example, we know that poor ergonomics cause repetitive motion injuries, so addressing these issues costs less in terms of insurance costs and lost productivity. Nowadays, desks tend to be at the right height, computer screens at the right distance to avoid eyestrain, and keyboards easier to use. What are some other ways you can make your office a better place to work? 1. Bring a little of the outdoor world inside. Did you know that in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: ,

Consistent Improvement: Four Ways to Take Your Team from Good to Great

Posted on 06/26/2014 by ·
Consistent Improvement: Four Ways to Take Your Team from Good to Great by Laura Stack

"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking."— Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer and philosopher. While perfection may not be possible, there's no reason not to strive for it—as long as you don't focus so tightly on that goal you can't actually accomplish anything. Instead, by continually improving your systems, processes, and productivity over time, you’ll go from mediocre to superior. I realize some readers might look askance at this idea, since just about every CEO in America has read Jim Collins' 2001 book Good to Great. If upgrading from good to great were easy, then why do everyday companies still outnumber the great by a factor of hundreds to one? Surely, if the process worked, we'd have seen a flood of great companies by now—and clearly, we haven't. But … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

The Danger Within: Internal Risks to Look Out For in Your Team

Posted on 06/24/2014 by ·
The Danger Within: Internal Risks to Look Out For in Your Team by Laura Stack #productivity

“Many people overlook inside risks— possibly because they are risks for which they themselves are responsible." -- Michael Bruch, British business writer. Sometimes failure is an inside job. As much as we worry about external dangers like the economy, global competition, technological change, financial crises, and a host of other outside factors in our assessments of business risk, we humans are just as likely to cause the problems that bring down our organizations. We don’t do it on purpose of course, but the worst aspects of human nature do sometimes overwhelm our better nature. Yet too often, those of us tasked with leadership simply can't see the internal risks due to our focus on the external. In a sense, you might say we can't see the weeds for the forest. A few years ago, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

Effective Persuasion: How to Sell an Idea at Work

Posted on 06/19/2014 by ·
Effective Persuasion: How to Sell an Idea at Work by Laura Stack #productivity

"Persuasion is often more effectual than force." –- Aesop, ancient Greek storyteller. Every innovation—from the fishhook to the miniskirt to the Space Shuttle—started with a simple, intangible idea. In business, new ideas help us improve everything from mechanical and work processes to our product lines. In a very real sense, businesses depend upon ideas to survive. This does not mean, however, that those who operate those businesses are invariably open to new ideas. They may prefer sticking with what they know, rather than taking a chance on something unproven. You can yank up your ideas like weeds before they have time to mature. This may be a good thing, but may also prove bad if you can't—or won't—distinguish between the true weeds and the flower seedlings. There may come a time … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,

Cleaning House: Identifying and Rooting Out Team Weaknesses

Posted on 06/17/2014 by ·

"Over the years, I've learned that a confident person doesn't concentrate or focus on their weaknesses—they maximize their strengths." –- Joyce Meyer, American speaker and author. As the old saying goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This principle applies to business "chains" as well as the mechanical kind—and sometimes I’m surprised to see the weak link high on the chain of command. It was the top execs at oil transport company Enron who ruined that company back in the early 2000s, taking the auditing firm of Arthur Anderson down with them. More recently, Hewlett-Packard canned career exec Leo Apotheker for his poor communications skills and bad choices—including the decision that HP would stop making computers—that put them on the verge of mortally injuring their core … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: ,

Looking for a productivity boost? Go back to school this fall!

Posted on 06/12/2014 by ·

NEW Complimentary eCourses from Laura Stack, delivered right to your inbox! In more than twenty years of helping leaders create high-performance cultures and accelerate growth, I've identified four key factors that must be in place for a leader to execute strategy efficiently. Without these elements, execution can fail—even when it's based on a mature strategy. The Four Keys to Effective Strategic Execution—Leverage, Environment, Alignment, and Drive—represent solutions to the 36 Execution Obstacles and form the L-E-A-D Formula™ outlined in www.ExecutionIsTheStrategy.com. The following four eCourses comprise the Four Keys to Efficient Strategic Execution (each one is a 13-week eCourse): Leverage Environment Alignment Drive Register for these additional complimentary eCourses … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: ,

Increasing Your Team’s ROI: The Benefits of Consistent Training

Posted on 06/12/2014 by ·
Increasing Your Team's ROI: The Benefits of Consistent Training by Laura Stack #productivity

"Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you're not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were." -- David Rockefeller, American banker. Great managers understand that in order for your team members to be productive and do a great job, they need to have the right tools. Some need blazing-fast computing power; others require smartphones and tablets that let them do their work on the go; still others might require specialized instruments to maximize their performance. Whatever the case, all of them need consistent training, undertaken as often as necessary to stay ahead of the changes roiling through the business field even as I write this. No one wants to spend money when we can avoid it, especially the funds … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , , ,

Bitter Reality: Making the Wrong Decisions vs. Making No Decisions At All

Posted on 06/10/2014 by ·

"It doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions." –- Jim Rohn, American motivational speaker. By the time you reach management, you certainly know the consequences of paralysis analysis. This "vapor lock" of the brain can kill a project through indecision and perfectionism as surely as pulling its funding. In fact, pulling a project's funding represents a cleaner fate, because the project dies suddenly, rather than flopping around like a fish out of water, pretending to be viable for months or years, causing damage to the entire organization. One of my clients, a massive consumer products organization, has a highly “collaborative” culture, which is code for taking forever to guy buy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: , ,

Thinking Outside the Box: Five Behaviors of Successful Leaders

Posted on 06/05/2014 by ·
Thinking Outside the Box: Five Behaviors of Successful Leaders by Laura Stack #productivity #leadership

"I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out." -- Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. If I had to pick just one piece of business advice that's become pure cliché over the past few decades, I’d select "think outside the box." I’ve heard this so many times in business circles, I have to resist rolling my eyes when I hear it. However, the intent has merit. Although overuse has run it into the ground, the lesson remains valid: don't let your preconceptions, habits, lack of information, and narrow-mindedness keep you from considering all possible aspects of a problem. Get outside your own mental constraints and consider all the information at your disposal, allowing yourself to see beyond your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

Sowing the Seeds of Hope: How to Boost Team Productivity Through Coaching

Posted on 06/03/2014 by ·
Sowing the Seeds of Hope: How to Boost Team Productivity Through Coaching by Laura Stack #productivity

"In both children and adults, there can be a hard-to-deny link between a robust sense of hope and either work productivity or academic achievement." -- Jeffrey Kluger, senior writer for TIME Magazine. Today's leaders communicate a vision for the team and blaze the trail for everyone to follow. They figuratively fire up a bulldozer, clear out the brush, and smooth the way from here to there. Leaders make it easy for people to get where they need to go—and give them hope that they can. Coaching has always been one of the primary ways to achieve this, by offering workers the opportunity to improve. To paraphrase an old Meineke Muffler commercial, coaching can “make them fit.” Coaching isn’t just for executives. A recent article in Forbes magazine pointed out that coaching most often … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged: , ,