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Promises, Promises: What To Do When Your Coworkers Fail You

Posted on 04/29/2013 by ·

"Gain a modest reputation for being unreliable, and you will never be asked to do a thing." -- Paul Theroux, American travel writer and artist. "From the backstabbing co-worker to the meddling sister-in-law, you are in charge of how you react to the people and events in your life. You can either give negativity power over your life, or you can choose happiness instead." -- Anais Nin, French-American diarist. Volunteer leaders, freelancers, and corporate employees alike all depend on others to contribute or provide work. At some point, you will run into people who fail to deliver what they've promised. How should you react when people leave you in the lurch? Your reaction depends on a number of factors: • Was the failure an oversight, or did they outright break a promise? • Was this a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged:

Increasing Creativity in Your Organization: Six Ways to Spark Innovative Thinking

Posted on 04/24/2013 by ·

"You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore." -- André Gide, French author (winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947). "An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all." -- Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright and poet. While the business environment requires a certain level of built-in routine in order to maximize productivity, that doesn't mean you can't have creative fun at work. Remember what Peter Drucker taught us: "The business enterprise has two—and only two—basic functions: marketing and innovation." So what does that have to do with creativity? Just this: when you reduce it to its essentials, innovation is creativity. Innovation facilitates the agility and flexibility all organizations require to survive. So … [Read more...]

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A Review of Laura Vanderkam’s newest eBook: What the Most Successful People Do at Work

Posted on 04/22/2013 by ·

No matter what your field, you no doubt know a few superstars: people who somehow manage to outshine everyone else in terms of productivity, while keeping health and sanity intact. Every field has its Einsteins and Hawkings. You may even be one of them. In recent years, my colleague Laura Vanderkam has scrutinized how such superstars handle the 168 hours a week we're all gifted with, and what makes them so much more productive than most. She's reported the results not only in her bestselling 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than you Think, but also in e-books like What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend and What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast. On April 23, Portfolio/Penguin will release the latest in the series, What The Most Successful People Do at Work. Like its … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged: , ,

How to Determine How Much Work is Enough Each Day: What is the Limit to Your Productivity?

Posted on 04/19/2013 by ·

"Too much work and too much energy kill a man just as effectively as too much assorted vice or too much drink." -- Rudyard Kipling, British author. "Don't smoke too much, drink too much, eat too much, or work too much. We're all on the road to the grave—but there's no need to be in the passing lane." -- Robert Orben, American humorist. Recently, I held a public seminar where one of the participants posed an interesting question to me in the Q&A section: “Laura, how much work is enough? I could work 16 hours a day, but I'm not sure when to stop! What is a good gauge?” What a great question! One of the audience members said (only half-jokingly), "I stop when I finish my to-do list or can't stay awake any longer." In my case, it depends: I work constantly and consistently when I travel … [Read more...]

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Warts and All: Taking Ownership of Unlikable Tasks

Posted on 04/17/2013 by ·

"Eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." -- Mark Twain, American writer and lecturer. "Many people today don't want honest answers, insofar as honest means unpleasant or disturbing. They want a soft answer that turneth away anxiety." -- Louis Kronenberger, American critic and author. Have you found that perfect job yet? Of course not, because the perfect job doesn't exist. Every job in the world includes unpleasant tasks that may bore you to death, strain your capacities, or require such brainless repetition you'd rather go hide in the nearest swamp. Whatever your job's deficiencies, though, you've got take ownership of those tasks—or how can you say you've done your job? Here are a few suggestions that'll help you stay … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: , ,

Roll Up Your Sleeves and Lead By Example

Posted on 04/15/2013 by ·

“Never separate the life you live from the words you speak.” -- U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone. As a leader, you're also a teacher: both in the leadership-by-example sense and in the instructive sense. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What you are speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you are saying." Employees learn partly by watching you and partly by receiving instruction. Unless you're a spymaster or a military commander, never ask anyone to do what you aren't willing to do yourself. For example: 1. Arrive early and stay late. Ever had a boss who rolls in at 10, then heads out at 5 after telling everyone to stay late to hit the big deadline? How’d that work out for you? Isn’t that double standard inspiring? Don't ask someone to work long hours if you refuse to. But on the opposite end of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged:

Using Scoreboarding to Measure and Advance Your Goals

Posted on 04/12/2013 by ·

"Money is a scoreboard where you can rank how you're doing against other people." -- Mark Cuban, American businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. "It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises but only performance is reality." -- Harold S. Geenan, American businessman and former CEO of ITT. It's harder to fix what you can't measure, because it’s harder to know if you’re improving. All business leaders require a decent understanding and consistent knowledge of basic performance metrics, like last quarter's sales figures or the week's labor percentage. But how often do all team members see figures telling them how they're doing or how their work contributes to the bottom line? Very rarely—except when … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,

Making Time for Strategy and Tactics

Posted on 04/10/2013 by ·

"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved." -- Sun-Tzu, Chinese strategist. "Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in." -- Napoleon Bonaparte, French general and (later) Emperor Which function should demand the lion's share of a leader’s time: short-term tactics, or long-term strategy? The short answer, as is often the case, is “it depends.” Good leadership requires a continual balancing act. On the one hand, you've got to keep the team fueled up and running smoothly on a day-to-day basis; on the other, you have to set strategic priorities and plan for the future. For those at the executive leadership level, the stakes become especially high. Let's look at a few points … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

Helping You Helps Me

Posted on 04/08/2013 by ·

In some situations, the concept of taking accountability for productivity and performance extends beyond your own job—especially when you find yourself in a leadership position—and team productivity becomes paramount. In situations like these, doing your job well also means helping others do their jobs better and more efficiently, so their performance dovetails with yours in a satisfyingly synergistic way. Carefully cultivated, the result can be a fruitful cycle of productivity, forming a positive feedback loop that expands into all aspects of the workflow process, making work life easier for all involved. As a manager, you must constantly refine your organization’s workflow processes and streamline your systems. Actively pursue opportunities to eliminate nagging time bandits, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged:

Strategic Planning, Then and Now

Posted on 04/03/2013 by ·

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." -- Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, nineteenth century Prussian Field Marshal. "Plans are nothing; planning is everything." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, American five-star Army general and 34th President of the United States. Recently, the concept of strategic planning has become a popular business focus, especially among companies scrambling to keep up with our brave new world's frantic pace. We've always practiced strategic planning at some level, of course, but what we meant by the term a few years ago barely resembles today's reality. This should come as no surprise in an era when last week's smartphone can't even run this week's apps. Once upon a time, strategic planning was a leisurely process, hidebound and bureaucratic. Some managers … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,