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Good Enough Is Never Enough! Encouraging Improvement Through Change

Posted on 12/10/2012 by ·

"The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind." -- Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher. Just about everyone has experienced the "new broom sweeps clean" effect. We've watched, and often suffered, as a fresh leader came onto the scene and changed everything just because they could—regardless of how well the existing system functioned. Whenever this happens, chaos reigns and productivity plummets for a while. Sometimes it never recovers, whereupon another broom soon appears to start its own ambitious cleaning project. However, many changes are inevitable and desirable. Otherwise, old inefficiencies may pile up until workflow grinds to a halt...or worse, something explodes and flies apart in a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,

Zig Ziglar

Posted on 12/07/2012 by ·

So my friend Michael Sliwinski, editor of the Productive Magazine and founder of www.nozbe.com, tagged my handle (@laurastack) in a tweet about Zig Ziglar’s passing, which I basically deflected. But then Michael sent me an email (ack!), and directly asked me what was up: “Please accept my condolences for Zig. I know you knew him personally, and I know (you told me!) what kind of influence he was on you. I meant it on Twitter that when you're ready, I'd love to read a blog post from you about Zig and how he influenced your life. It'd be a great story to read and share and inspire others.” Kind of hard to ignore that. I know that thousands of people have attested that Zig changed their lives, and I’m no exception. But I admit it—I’ve been feeling a bit melancholy about Zig’s passing. I’ve … [Read more...]

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2013 Productivity Workflow Makeover

Posted on 12/03/2012 by ·

Due to a special plea from a reader, I am hosting a New Year’s productivity workflow makeover on Friday, February 1, 2013. Eight people will come to my home office in Denver, CO, to revamp their organization, email, and time management systems. To ensure everyone will get one-to-one hands-on instruction, this opportunity is limited to the first eight people who register. No exceptions. In this hands-on workshop, you'll spend a full day in my home office with your smartphone, laptop, tablet and time management system. Find out more about my special 2013 Productivity Workflow Makeover and register today before all the slots fill up.   "This is not a sit-and-watch seminar. This is a hands-on, overhaul-your-system, implement-new-techniques work session, where I will grill the new habits … [Read more...]

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Decluttering

Posted on 11/30/2012 by ·

Get rid of 25% of your books, tools, sporting equipment and so on.  You'll have fewer things, but you'll use a higher percentage of what's left. For more productivity tips, follow us on Twitter, and sign up for the weekly Productivity Pro newsletter.   … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: ,

Delegation: An Extension of Your Hands

Posted on 11/28/2012 by ·

"I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow." -- Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States "The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States. Smart leaders soon learn the value of delegating responsibilities and authority to team members. You can try to do it all, but if you do, you'll keel over within a few weeks from sheer exhaustion. Obviously, you need metaphorical hands to extend your reach. You have a staff for a reason. Ideally, each possesses talents, knowledge, and abilities that combine to form the extra hands Mother Nature didn't see fit to give you. That being the case, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork, Performance · Tagged: ,

Bridging the Gap Between Good Enough and Great

Posted on 11/26/2012 by ·

"As for the genius of innovation, clearly the one percent spark of inspiration is nurtured by a positive culture. But the 99 percent perspiration ingredient comes from employees who love what they do, as well as where they do it, and who invest in that Holy Grail of productivity called 'discretionary effort'." -- Organizational consultants Stephanie Quappe, David Samso Aparici, and Jon Warshawsky. In one of my Organizational Management courses I took while working on my MBA, we watched a series of TV commercials by Amalie Motor Oil, bragging about how its products exceeded all minimum government standards, ending with this tagline: "Better than it has to be—Amalie." I remember being confused: Why were they proud of being just good enough to squeak by? As I gained more experience in the … [Read more...]

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Every Day, in Every Way: Fostering an Attitude of Continuous Improvement

Posted on 11/19/2012 by ·

"He who stops being better stops being good." -- Oliver Cromwell, British soldier and politician. When he was 10, my son Johnny took guitar lessons. Before long, he'd taught himself to play Sweet Home Alabama. I was impressed—and surprised to discover he wasn't interested when his guitar teacher offered to show him how to play it even better. When I asked Johnny why, he just shrugged and told me, "None of my friends play the guitar, so they think it's cool no matter how I play. I figure I'm good enough, so I don't need to work to play it better." This answer rocked me back on my heels a little. I've based my career on helping people continuously improve their productivity, so my dad’s “good enough for government” expression (my dad the retired A.F. Colonel) expression doesn't fly with … [Read more...]

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Encouraging Productive Team Behavior

Posted on 11/14/2012 by ·

"In motivating people, you've got to engage their minds and their hearts. I motivate people, I hope, by example—and perhaps by excitement, by having productive ideas to make others feel involved." -- Rupert Murdock, Australian-American media mogul. "Productive achievement is a consequence and an expression of health and self-esteem, not its cause." -- Nathaniel Branden, Canadian psychotherapist and author. One of the best things about being a leader is being responsible for the productivity of an entire team. That's also one of the scariest things about being a leader. Your team's accomplishments (or lack thereof) reflect upon you, so you have to run a tight team. Now, that doesn't mean you have to channel a military commander. My father, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, taught me that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,

Think Beyond Your Desk: Applying Cross-Functional Thinking to the Workplace

Posted on 11/12/2012 by ·

"No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it." -- H.E. Luccock, former Professor of Homiletics at Yale Divinity School. In 1988, the great Peter Drucker predicted in a famous article, "The Coming of the New Organization," that most organizations would have embraced cross-functionality within 20 years. In contrast to the purely functional ethic defined by Adam Smith and Frederick Taylor, businesses would more readily coordinate and share tasks across all levels, increasing response time for the customer's benefit. As visionary as he was, Drucker missed the boat here. While most business schools do emphasize the cross-functional approach nowadays, relatively few real-world organizations practice it in any significant way. Indeed, corporate training often teaches the … [Read more...]

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Lead, Then Get Out of the Way: How a Good Manager Makes Life Easier for the Team

Posted on 11/07/2012 by ·

"A good manager is a man who isn't worried about his own career but rather the careers of those who work for him." -- H.S.M. Burns, former President of Shell Oil. "One of the most important tasks of a manager is to eliminate his people's excuses for failure." -- Robert M. Townsend, American economist. From a productivity perspective, one can describe a workplace team using the metaphor of a precision machine. Team members are interlocking parts, which while they vary in significance, all require the others for the engine to function effectively. As in a car, alone and disengaged, the individual parts aren't good for much. As team leader, you play several crucial roles here: a) MECHANIC. You keep the productivity engine in good repair and provide the lubrication it needs to purr like a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,