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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...]

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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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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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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...]

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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...]

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How to Be a Fixer, Not a Finger-Pointer

Posted on 03/20/2013 by ·

"When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself." -- Louis Nixer, noted American trial lawyer. "I never yet heard man or woman much abused that I was not inclined to think the better of them, and to transfer the suspicion or dislike to the one who found pleasure in pointing out the defects of another." -- Jane Porter, nineteenth century Scottish novelist and dramatist. Few of us truly appreciate criticism, because no matter how valid or constructive, it can be embarrassing or annoying (especially when someone fails to offer a solution to the perceived problem). Poking holes in something is much easier than repairing them—yet most critics don't let that stop them. Hence the saying, "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; … [Read more...]

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Blowing Past the Bureaucracy: How To Think More Like An Entrepreneur

Posted on 03/13/2013 by ·

"Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies." -- French author Honoré de Balzac. "Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status." -- Laurence J. Peter, Canadian-American educator and formulator of "The Peter Principle." Remember the Biblical story of David and Goliath? It's a classic of its type, right up there with Jack and the Beanstalk. In both cases, a little guy shocks the world by using speed, agility, and audacity to bring down an "unbeatable" giant. Corporations must become nimble and flexible enough to out-maneuver larger competitors. Consider Apple, which the late Steve Jobs saved from terminal bureaucratitis with innovative thinking and outside-the-box leadership. Jobs didn't just blow past corporate bureaucracy; he scoured … [Read more...]

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Slow Decisions Can Kill Your Momentum

Posted on 03/06/2013 by ·

"A peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one." -- Rita Mae Brown, American novelist. "In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions, which a minute will reverse." -- T.S. Eliot, British poet and playwright. The ability to consistently make good, solid decisions lies at the heart of any productivity initiative, especially those affecting entire teams or organizations. Those of us concerned with maximizing positive outcomes have invented a wide variety of guidelines to help people make such decisions. Some experts argue that all significant decisions deserve careful consideration and consensus building before implementation, which results in a slow, deliberate decision-making process. I can't say they're necessarily wrong, because decision-making style depends at least … [Read more...]

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In the Decision Comes the Dilemma

Posted on 03/05/2013 by ·

It’s the little moments that count. Specifically, one moment: The space in between choosing what to do or what to work on next. It’s that second when you think to yourself, “Okay, what should I do next?” In that space of time, you choose to be productive…or not. We face these moments in the normal course of our days. They represent a fork in the road, where we choose our behavior. For example, if someone cuts you off in traffic, in that split second, you choose whether to flip him off and or apply the brake. It’s not that you’re still not angry¬—you are—but you’re making a purposeful choice in how you’re going to let your self-talk manifest itself. If your partner is in a foul mood and says something snippy to you, in that following second, as you inhale, you choose whether to escalate … [Read more...]

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Machines Melt Minds

Posted on 02/18/2013 by ·

Machines melt minds. And not in a good way, like warm butter melting on a fluffy stack of pancakes. No, in a bad way, as in a meltdown that sends profits into a death spiral. Productive workers get this. That’s why they come out from behind their machines and keep their minds fresh and buzzing at the company softball league, the annual Holiday bash, the weekend corporate retreat, or a trip to a motivational seminar. Productive workers know that blazing one’s eyeballs behind a monitor all day can fry brain cells. So don’t overlook the value of going to the health club or fostering deeper relational bonds by getting off your bottom and walking over to a coworker’s office to talk about a heated issue. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs may have given us the tools we need to get the job done. But, … [Read more...]

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