Here is the weekly roundup of activity from Laura Stack’s blog, columns, podcast, and other featured articles. Scroll down to read the complete roundup of productivity resources to help you create Maximum Results in Minimum Time. This week on the Blog Quick and To the Point: Texting and Instant Messaging Protocols in the Workplace Communication may be the most important factor in any partnership, and it’s certainly a glue that binds a team together. But it comes in many forms, especially in the workplace. Two of those are texting and Instant Messaging (IM), which are common means of modern business communication today. How do we make the best use of each in a teamwork environment? Read the full article. This week on LinkedIn: Pairing Up: The Advantages of a Team of Two at Work Though … [Read more...]
Quick and To the Point: Texting and Instant Messaging Protocols in the Workplace
"Email, instant messaging, and cell phones give us fabulous communication ability, but because we live and work in our own little worlds, that communication is totally disorganized." -- Marilyn vos Savant, American newspaper columnist. Communication may be the most important factor in any partnership, and it's certainly a glue that binds a team together. But it comes in many forms, especially in the workplace. Two of those are texting and Instant Messaging (IM), which are common means of modern business communication today. How do we make the best use of each in a teamwork environment? At first glance, IM and text seem very similar, and sometimes we use the terms interchangeably. But they actually refer to distinct methods of electronic communication. Text is of course phone-to-phone, … [Read more...]
Call Him, Email Me, Text Her: The Many Methods of Business Communication
“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said." – Peter F. Drucker, Father of Management Theory Recently, I read an article discussing how, in addition to basic methods of written and verbal communication, savvy workers also learn to decode non-verbal communication. While I agree that represents a valuable ability and an interesting subject, it struck me just how many different methods of language-based communication the average business has access to nowadays. Less than 30 years ago, we had just a few. All you Millennials now moving into management and starting businesses of your own have access to an amazing array of communication methods, whereas I can still remember the days before CDs and desktop computers (floppies, word processors, and interoffice mail). The … [Read more...]
Managing the Unpleasant Tasks of Your Job
How do you handle those tasks that just aren't pleasant? Listen today and find out! (C) 2015 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved. www.TheProductivityPro.com … [Read more...]
Happy (Work) Days: Appoint Yourself the Team Morale Officer
“I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance, but by our disposition." – Martha Washington, America's first First Lady. Few things are more depressing than working in an environment where the negativity just grinds you down. I suspect most of us have experienced this, and many still do; otherwise, the percentage of engaged workers would be higher. But does unhappiness arise from the job itself, or do the workers bring it with them? If you see work as a penance you must perform to pay the bills, you just might be the latter. Even if have a horrible job, remember: with few exceptions, you choose where you work. If you can't find anything else, … [Read more...]
Accomplishing More by Doing Less
Do less but get more done? How does that work, exactly? Tune in to my podcast today and I'll tell you! … [Read more...]
Quietly Toxic: How to Deal With Team Members Who Couldn’t Care Less
“If you can't get rid of a toxic team member, isolate them.” – Dan Rockwell, American business blogger at Leadership Freak. Few things kill productivity faster than a toxic teammate—someone so awful they poison the workplace environment. (click to tweet) You can work around or repair a lack of resources, poor training, terrible leadership, an uncertain future, shoddy work processes, even micromanaging; however, toxic workers destroy from the inside out. Like a cancer, their dissatisfaction and distrust eventually metastasize to others, leading to a sick team that nothing short of radical surgery can save. A bad attitude is contagious and spreads quickly. Unfortunately, team-wreckers aren't always obvious. Gossips, saboteurs, and unhappy loudmouths usually make themselves … [Read more...]
Yakkety-Yak: Top Ways Coworkers Waste Your Time
"Much talking is the cause of danger. Silence is the means of avoiding misfortune. The talkative parrot is shut up in a cage. Other birds, without speech, fly freely about."—Sakya Pandita, 13th century Tibetan spiritual leader. The gift of language is something like being your own boss, in that the good news and bad news are basically the same. In this case, the good news is, we humans have the capacity to communicate more effectively than any other species on Earth, and we can use it for great good. The bad news? We have the capacity to communicate more effectively than any other species on Earth, and we waste it on stupid things. During a recent survey, I asked my readers about the things their coworkers do to waste their time. My goal was to raise awareness about unproductive … [Read more...]
Testing an Assumption: Are Happy Teams Really More Productive?
“The driving force seems to be that happier workers use the time they have more effectively, increasing the pace at which they can work without sacrificing quality.”—Daniel Sgroi, British economist. We tend to take certain things for granted in the business field. For example, we once assumed—because we’ve seen it again and again—that successful entrepreneurs almost always fail before they succeed in a big way. But research published in the Harvard Business Review proved this a myth years ago. Indeed, previous failure does not determine future success. Some entrepreneurs succeed on their very first try, and those who’ve failed before succeed no more often than those who haven’t. But I’m happy to report that another “everyone knows” fact actually enjoys support from the research … [Read more...]
Using Stress Productively
We all have stress. How can you make it work for YOU? Listen to this week's podcast by Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro! (C) 2015 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved. www.TheProductivityPro.com … [Read more...]
