Delegation and Workplace Productivity in the Global Village

Delegation and Workplace Productivity in the Global Village

Modern job descriptions, especially those at the managerial level, often specify more responsibilities than anyone can accomplish within an ordinary workweek. This may seem ludicrous at first blush, but it reflects the reality of the business world as it exists today. No one really expects upper-level managers to directly handle all their responsibilities; nor could they. Trying to do so would wreck their lives inside of a week. It’s called "management" for a reason. True achievers know to parcel out most of the items on their plate to subordinates or even to people outside of their organization, before focusing on the few things they do best that profit the company the most and produce the highest value for the time worked. In other words, leaders delegate like crazy to those who can … [Read more...]

Super Bowl Time Management Tips

There’s a Lot to Learn About Personal Goal Setting From Football It’s that time of year again! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – The Superbowl offers a great acrostic game opportunity for learning productivity techniques.   What does time management have to do with Super Bowl football? Everything! Football pros competing in the Super Bowl use great goal-setting techniques. By studying the game, you too can learn a lot about how to set objectives. Successful football teams devote a great deal of thought and time to planning how to move the ball down the field. And successful people devote time to planning what they’ll accomplish in business and in life. Ask the coaches who’ve led teams to the Super Bowl. They know you can’t win without a good game plan. The term … [Read more...]

Email and Productivity at Work, Part II

"My first reading of an e-mail is actually a screening process to determine what needs attention...I'll decide on the spot what to delete and what needs that second reading prior to taking action." -- Junior Morales, poll respondent, Puerto Rico "Depends on the message. If it's spam or FYI, then once is enough. If it's asking specific questions that need thought and/or research to answer, then as often as needed until it's clear how to proceed. " -- Davyd Breeskin, poll respondent, Washington, D.C. Several months ago, I posted a poll on LinkedIn asking how many times a day my followers checked their email. The results were rather eye-opening, and as you may recall, I blogged about them in early October 2011. Because I found those answers so intriguing, I posted a follow-up poll in … [Read more...]

How to Escape a Workplace Productivity Rut

How to Escape a Workplace Productivity Rut

To the casual observer, you might seem like a great performer—you’re keeping up with all your work with perfect consistency and maintaining an empty inbox. But you personally know you’re stuck in a productivity rut—a place where you get your work done, but only at a minimal level, and certainly without flair or inspiration. Your personal return on investment (PROI) in your job is very low, and you feel “stuck.” We've all been there at one time or another, for any of a number of reasons. Basically, you end up going through the motions, doing what you have to in a just-in-time fashion and staying busy without necessarily adding to your organization's bottom line (whether fiduciary or otherwise). Think back to your school days and the kind of grade such a level of effort might earn you … [Read more...]

Managing Your Time: Consider the Value of Your Time

Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), shares her thoughts on managing your time, the value of time and why you should protect it. (C) 2011 Laura Stack. All Rights Reserved. https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]

Time Management Skills: Group Productivity Issues

Time management training tends to focus on individual workplace productivity; and while that's all well and good, most of us actually work within team environments. It's not a good idea, therefore, to just ignore the productivity issues affecting your coworkers. Your team workflow process can't function smoothly if the individual parts are broken. Raising awareness of group productivity issues requires little more than circulating an informal survey among your teammates, and then distributing the results. Simply ask something like, "What are your X biggest time management challenges?" You can make "X" any number you like, depending on how much time and resources you have to dedicate to the issue. Needless to say, your team's manager bears the ultimate responsibility for maintaining an … [Read more...]

Top Ten Time Management Traps for 2012

Top Ten Time Management Traps for 2012

These days, despite technology intended to make life easier, we tend to work harder and have less discretionary time than ever before. Why? After 20 years speaking at conferences and implementing productivity-improvement programs at Fortune 1000 companies, I've come to recognize certain nemeses most of us face repeatedly. While clients do occasionally surprise me with the nature of their time management headaches, about 95% of the time, the traps they find themselves mired in fall into the same familiar handful of categories. So to kick off a productive 2012, let's take a look at the ten biggest time traps faced by the modern worker. I'll discuss the common variations of each, and offer some advice on how to overcome them. Trap #1: Prioritization Setting workplace priorities is by … [Read more...]

Managing Your Time: Challenge the Status Quo

Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), talks about getting out of a rut. You don't always have to do things they way they have always been done. (C) 2011 Laura Stack. All Rights Reserved. https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]

Increasing Productivity:How Reflective Thinking Impacts Workplace Productivity

"Reflective thinking requires the continual evaluation of beliefs, assumptions, and hypotheses against existing data and against other plausible interpretations of the data." -- John Dewey, American educator. "Reflective thinking turns experience into insight." -- John C. Maxwell, American author and leadership guru. "By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the most bitter." -- Confucius, ancient Chinese philosopher. As a savvy SuperCompetent, I suspect you take a few moments occasionally to examine your workflow process, carefully considering what works and what doesn't so you can maximize your productivity going forward. Psychologists call this process "reflective … [Read more...]

Time Management Skills: Are the Boxes on Your Calendar Bursting With Meetings

Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), gives pointers on keeping your schedule under control. (C) 2011 Laura Stack. All Rights Reserved. https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]