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Promises to Keep: Productive and Reliable Goal-Setting Strategies

Posted on 01/07/2014 by ·
Promises to Keep: Productive and Reliable Goal-Setting Strategies by Laura Stack #productivity

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." -- Henry David Thoreau, American writer and philosopher. Workplace goals are the knots that tie together all the other factors crucial to modern business success: flexibility, agility, engagement, empowerment, hard work, self-discipline, teamwork, cross-functionality, you name it. They shape attention and give us direction in an increasingly chaotic world. German-American theorist Hannah Arendt once wrote, "Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible." Goals represent a species of promise, and they apply to corporate teams as much as they do to any other human endeavor. Arendt knew quite … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,

Free New Year’s Resolution Card

Posted on 01/06/2014 by ·

The good folks at AlphaCard have made a fantastic offer for our subscribers! Get your FREE New Year's Resolution card today.  Limited quantity available. AlphaCard believes in the importance of setting & achieving goals, so we are excited to offer Free 2014 New Year’s Resolution Cards. For a limited time, you can get a FREE custom card or key tag with up to three of your New Year’s resolutions printed on the front. You can also upload a picture of your choice onto the backside of the card to help you stay motivated, and to remind you of the reasons behind your goals –your family, your health, your dream house, or those jeans you hope to wear again. There won't be any shipping fees or attempts to sell you anything. As part of our AlphaCard Cares initiative, this is truly a free … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged: ,

Shape the Culture

Posted on 01/02/2014 by ·
Shape the Culture by Laura Stack #productivity

Employees make hundreds of independent decisions every week without consulting their superiors. What guides them? Organizational culture. It tells them how to respond to workplace situations, from handling unprecedented service requests to whether or not to risk telling the boss a new idea. Many senior managers struggle with this concept, because they find it difficult to define. Culture is like a cloud: You know it’s there, but it’s nearly impossible to grasp. How do you come to a consensus on culture, and then get dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people to think and act the way you’ve agreed on? You don’t, really: culture evolves over time. But you can direct its evolution. Keep these things in mind while doing so: 1. Develop an attitude of excellence for your team to follow. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: , ,

New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on 01/01/2014 by ·
New Years Resolutions

According to University of Scranton, only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s Resolutions. Why is this number so low? Researchers say our resolutions are often intangible, too extreme, and too long-term. We use terms like “lose weight” or “get out of debt.” Instead, be more specific and make a concrete checklist or to-do list of obtainable goals, outlining specifically how you plan to achieve your New Year’s Resolution. For example, if you want to get out of debt, your checklist might look like this: Transfer credit card to low-rate card Only charge what can be covered Eat out once every two weeks Close unused credit cards Put a freeze on credit Sign up for a personal finance class Buy Suzy Orman latest debt book Consolidate student loans Researchers say that if you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: , ,

The Only Thing That Matters: Trading Theory for Action—and Results

Posted on 12/31/2013 by ·
The Only Thing That Matters: Trading Theory for Action—and Results by Laura Stack #productivity

"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is." -- Yogi Berra, American baseball manager. "Human beings must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it." -- Albert Einstein, German-American physicist. Procrastination. Perfectionism. Waiting for more information. Fear in all its forms. There are dozens of reasons—probably hundreds—for staying safely within your comfort zone rather than stepping out into the dangerous, prickly world of change. Some may even seem logical. After all, you're going to face change whether you like it or not; so why deliberately add even more to the agenda? Well, there's the old "stagnation is death" argument: If you don't change, you can't grow. But maybe you don't care about growing, just … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,

Improve the Fulcrum

Posted on 12/26/2013 by ·
Improve the Fulcrum by Laura Stack #productivity #strategy

Improve the Fulcrum To take full advantage of workplace leverage, strive not only to strengthen yourself and your employees, but also to reposition or even replace your fulcrum. The fulcrum is the hinge or pivot a beam acts against to multiply the input force. It could be a handy rock, a log, or a seesaw pivot point. At work, a good fulcrum should be the right size, height, and position to work most effectively with your productivity machine. So how do you make sure you’re using the correct fulcrum to coax maximum leverage from your system? 1. Equip your team members with the right tools. Provide employees with laptops, software, smartphones, fast Internet—whatever it takes to maximize their productivity. In fact, let them provide their own tools if they want. If someone is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: ,

Strengthen the Beam

Posted on 12/19/2013 by ·
Strengthen the Beam by Laura Stack #productivity

Once you've optimized the force you apply to the strategic execution lever, you'll need to make sure the lever itself can handle the force before you apply it too vigorously. In our leverage model, the lever's beam represents your employees, both individually and collectively. The best way to strengthen the beam of your organizational lever is to have the right people in the right places, armed with the skills they need to execute in the moment and get the job done. It’s up to you to strengthen each team member's ability to execute strategy in every way possible. 1. Balance talent and hard work. Find the person with the right strengths needed to maximize the Personal Return on Investment (PROI) for each job on your team. Talent is a wonderful thing, but let's face it: it's useless … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

Maximize Your Leadership Input Force

Posted on 12/12/2013 by ·

In the leadership leverage machine, your input strength is nothing less than your leadership ability. You get more power into your lever by becoming a stronger leader. Today’s simpler information exchange, better communications, and increased mobility have changed the meaning of "leader." Here's how you can take advantage of the recent reset in business attitudes: 1. Accept that the dictatorial days are over. The most effective leaders no longer just hand down pronouncements from on high; they act as partners with the front-line workers responsible for execution. 2. Delegate your authority widely. You can’t keep up with everything in your field, especially if you’re not on the front line making it happen daily. You're better off delegating your authority as effectively and as widely … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: ,

Making 2014 Your Most Productive Year Yet: The ONE Thing You Can Do Every Day

Posted on 12/05/2013 by ·
Making 2014 Your Most Productive Year Yet: The ONE Thing You Can Do Every Day by Laura Stack #productivity

I'm not a big believer in New Year's resolutions. Frustrated by bad habits like procrastination, disorganization, or a lack of exercise, many of us vow to change. We make a New Year's resolution such as, “This year, I'll walk on my treadmill three times a week!” By March, the treadmill is gathering dust down in the basement. Defeated, we give up further attempts to change. Why does this happen? I believe it’s because we don’t make reasonable resolutions to begin with and thus fail to keep the ones we make. So people either stop setting goals (never a good choice), or they make resolutions that are ridiculously easy to keep. The solution? Stop focusing on massive gains. Instead, make it your goal in 2014 to improve 1% each day. If you can improve 1% each day, you’ll double in ability … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged:

Congress, Deadlines, and (Lack of) Productivity

Posted on 12/04/2013 by ·
Congress, Deadlines, and (Lack of) Productivity by Laura Stack #productivity

I was interviewed today for a piece on Marketplace, the public radio business and economics program, based in the show’s Washington bureau. I got so fired up I decided to write it down and get your take. I was asked about all of the deadlines Congress faces after the Thanksgiving holiday (to come up with a budget, to avoid “sequestration,” to pass a funding bill, and to raise the debt limit, etc.), given that legislators have already missed or extended many previously. I was asked to comment on the Congress’ productivity and what they can learn from a “productivity expert.” Okay, so first they would have to learn how to be productive. What is productivity? A ratio of input to output. This Congress is the most unproductive in history. If you take the number of days congress has been in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged: ,