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Please Leave a Message: Business Voicemail Etiquette Tips

Posted on 10/19/2015 by ·
Please Leave a Message: Business Voicemail Etiquette Tips by Laura Stack #productivity

"Why do extroverts have voicemail? To never miss a call. Why do introverts have voicemail? To never answer the phone." ~ Devora Zack, American business writer 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 Please Leave a Message: Business Voicemail Etiquette Tips Of all the communication methods commonly used in modern business, telephony—e.g., telephone calls and associated technology—is probably the oldest and best established. For the Millennials among us, there hasn't been a time when voicemail didn't exist; in fact, many of you grew up with it on your cell phones. Some of us, on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: ,

Deciding What NOT to Do Next

Posted on 10/16/2015 by ·

Sometimes NOT doing something is the more productive choice. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity, Podcast · Tagged:

The Perfect World: Helping Your Team Understand and Commit to Team Goals

Posted on 10/15/2015 by ·
The Perfect World: Helping Your Team Understand and Commit to Team Goals by Laura Stackn #productivity

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." ― Jim Rohn, American business and motivational speaker. In a near-perfect world—the type most people would love when they join a new company—a department, division, or team's leader would act purely as a facilitator, establishing the group's goals, communicating them plainly to everyone on the team, and clearing the way from the team's current location to their future destination. He or she would promote the team goals in a way that made it clear what each team member should expect, precisely what they needed to do, and how the tasks the team member accomplished moved the entire organization toward its ultimate goals. These near-perfect conditions do exist in some organizations I’ve worked. They aren't common, and they don't … [Read more...]

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

Where You Fit: Understanding Your Role on the Team

Posted on 10/12/2015 by ·
Where You Fit: Understanding Your Role on the Team by Laura Stack #productivity

"Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." – Vince Lombardi, American football coach. 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 Where You Fit: Understanding Your Role on the Team In some ways, the modern workplace represents an odd bundle of contradictions. At one level, each of us focuses on our own careers, the goal being to work our way up the ladder until we reach a comfortable spot—or even the top. We expect others to see to their own well-being and careers. But on another level, because … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork, Personal Productivity · Tagged: ,

Getting Clarity of Outcomes for Decision-Making

Posted on 10/09/2015 by ·

This week on the podcast: Getting Clarity of Outcomes for Decision-Making. (C) 2015 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved. www.TheProductivityPro.com … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcast · Tagged: ,

Leadership by Consensus: The Self-Sustaining Team

Posted on 10/08/2015 by ·
Leadership by Consensus: The Self-Sustaining Team by Laura Stack #productivity

"Manage by exception. Only require reporting when there is a deviation from the plan." – Brian Tracy, American motivational and business author and speaker. There's an approach to business leadership call "Management by Exception," where the team leader allows their team or work group to go about its merry way without much in the way of guidance, intervening only when something goes seriously wrong. In most particulars, it's the exact opposite of micromanaging; and while it's a valid approach, I believe a manager should have an active role as a teammate as well as a leader, especially in these days of smaller, more flexible teams and lightning-fast execution. Indeed, in the modern business arena, the leader has a special role as a facilitator. He or she scouts ahead and clears a trail … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

Peer Accountability: Policing Yourselves So the Boss Doesn’t Have To

Posted on 10/06/2015 by ·
Peer Accountability: Policing Yourselves So the Boss Doesn't Have To by Laura Stack #productivity

"If you are building a culture where honest expectations are communicated and peer accountability is the norm, then the group will address poor performance and attitudes." – Henry Cloud, American self-help author. 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 Peer Accountability: Policing Yourselves So the Boss Doesn't Have To Have you ever attended a meeting as a guest but couldn't tell who the leader was, because multiple people asked their teammates tough questions? I've been to a few where if I hadn't already known the leader, I wouldn't have been able to guess. Those … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General · Tagged: , ,

Clear Expectations: Enhancing Your Team’s Sense of Satisfaction

Posted on 10/01/2015 by ·
Clear Expectations: Enhancing Your Team's Sense of Satisfaction by Laura Stack #productivity

"When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute." – Simon Sinek, British-American inspirational author and speaker. As I explain in my upcoming book Doing the Right Things Right: How the Effective Executive Spends Time, executives are no longer limited to the C-Suite of a company. Strictly defined, an executive is anyone who executes business strategy to benefit their organization. In our Brave New Business World (to paraphrase Aldous Huxley), the gap between leadership and workers has decreased significantly in recent years. But whatever the business conditions, it's always helpful to put your heart into achieving your team's goals. In part, this means helping make sure the whole team is willing, not just able, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

Laura Stack’s Productivity Pro eNewsletter, September 29, 2015

Posted on 09/29/2015 by ·

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 Group Decision-Making: A Brief Guide  One of the hobgoblins of teamwork is groupthink. This occurs when a team rubberstamps the decisions of the team leader or a particularly strong personality without debate. Groupthink destroys creativity and innovation, and it often occurs because people have learned that fighting for something isn’t worth the effort. If they get punished for even trying, or no one listens to them anyway, they will stop giving input. This results in a declining, hidebound team that just goes through the motions … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged:

Quick Group Decision-Making: A Brief Guide

Posted on 09/28/2015 by ·
Quick Group Decision-Making: A Brief Guide

"Most of us are going through life without interrogating whether our decision-making processes are fit for purpose. And that's something we need to change - especially when the stakes are high and the decisions are of real import." – Noreena Hertz, English economist. One of the hobgoblins of teamwork is groupthink. This occurs when a team rubberstamps the decisions of the team leader or a particularly strong personality without debate. Groupthink destroys creativity and innovation, and it often occurs because people have learned that fighting for something isn't worth the effort. If they get punished for even trying, or no one listens to them anyway, they will stop giving input. This results in a declining, hidebound team that just goes through the motions and falls apart when the guiding … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: , ,