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Stemming the Email Tide

Posted on 03/18/2014 by ·
Stemming the Email Tide by Laura Stack

Email may be the ultimate double-edged sword of the Information Age. It's never been easier or cheaper to communicate, which seems wonderful at first glance. Productivity should come easier than ever, right? In many ways, it does. But ironically, cheap and easy communication also means the signal-to-noise ratio is worse than ever. With email, we have to filter out the productive datapoints from the static of spam, lengthy threads, endless CC strings, single replies of “thank you,” and noisy “Me To” people. On the one hand, we don't need email adding more to the information blast we face daily. On the other, we do need email to receive new tasks, deliver our work, stay informed on developments in our field, maintain contact with coworkers, network with colleagues, serve our customers, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tools & Systems · Tagged: , ,

Five Reasons Why Execution Needs to Happen More Quickly Now Than Ever Before

Posted on 03/13/2014 by ·
Five Reasons Why Execution Needs to Happen More Quickly Now Than Ever Before by Laura Stack #productivity #strategy

Back in the golden age of American business—before the dot-com meltdown, the Great Recession, and the banking crisis—most business leaders considered strategy and execution two different (if related) factors in the business equation. Strategy was something arrived at gradually at high-level meetings that took days, typically defined in 3-to-5 year chunks. At best, execution represented the downstream outcome of the leadership strategy, which was to be implemented by the management team. We all know better now, having realized the hard way that strategy and execution are actually aspects of the same business continuum. In its most simplistic sense, execution is the process of moving from A to B, or from a stated strategic initiative to a tactic. Efficient execution, then, is the shortest … [Read more...]

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

Withstanding the Pain: How to Accept and Act on Constructive Criticism

Posted on 03/11/2014 by ·
Withstanding the Pain: How to Accept and Act on Constructive Criticism by Laura Stack #productivity

"To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher. No one enjoys criticism, but sometimes we need it. No matter where you stand in an organizational hierarchy, you can always improve your game. While many of us claim we're our own harshest critics, that's rarely true. It’s usually more helpful to have someone else point out our flaws…if you trust the source. Criticism can be difficult to hear, but pain helps us learn and improve ourselves. As former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once stated, criticism is necessary because, like physical pain, "it calls attention to an unhealthy state of things." Once we feel that pain, we can take measures to correct it. As a leader, you’ve probably received more than your share of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged: , ,

Execution Is Always in Style

Posted on 03/06/2014 by ·
Execution IS the Strategy by Laura Stack

Like the old gray mare of legend, strategic execution just ain't what it used to be—a point that hit home repeatedly as I conducted interviews with high-level executives in a number of industries while researching my latest book, Execution IS the Strategy. Ideally, a strategic plan serves as a vehicle for continually reminding organizational leaders to evaluate the direction of their businesses according to their overall goals. But this doesn't always happen. Why? Because there's barely enough time to stop and take a breath anymore—much less implement a tool that may be stale before it's a month old. Today, leaders rely on their front line workers to help them make solid, reliable decisions on how to best execute the objectives that advance organizational strategy. The Four Keys … [Read more...]

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

A Better Measure of Success: Value Yourself, Value Your Time

Posted on 03/04/2014 by ·
A Better Measure of Success: Value Yourself, Value Your Time by Laura Stack

"How did it get so late so soon?" -- Dr. Seuss, American children's author. What is your time worth? How much do you personally value it? We all think about these questions at some point. However, you may never have seriously considered their implications...possibly because you don't really want to know. But to lead effectively, you have no choice but to learn the answers to these questions. Unlike many things associated with business, you can't replace or supplement time. You get what you get and not a second more. That being the case, the value of your time ties directly into your sense of self-worth. As psychiatrist and writer M. Scott Peck once put it, "Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it." Peck was … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: , ,

Eliminate Time Wasters

Posted on 02/27/2014 by ·
Eliminate Time Wasters by Laura Stack #strategy #productivity

How much of the average worker's day is spent doing things that have nothing to do with furthering their work? It varies according to the person and job, but you know it happens. Time wasting—whether deliberate or not—may be the most pervasive obstacle to productivity in the white collar world. Just as you would smooth your team's way by removing procedural obstacles and providing methodologies and technologies that propel them forward, it's up to you to chop out the time wasters, too. Here are some ways to help you and your team recapture your time. 1. Root out procrastination. This may be the worst time waster of all. We all procrastinate sometimes, whether because we feel overwhelmed, fear failure, dislike a task, don’t want to run out of work—or know we'll be overwhelmed with … [Read more...]

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

Talent Transformed: Tips for Developing Your Employees

Posted on 02/25/2014 by ·
Talent Transformed: Tips for Developing Your Employees by Laura Stack #strategy #productivity

"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." -- Stephen King, American writer. Every organization has its Campers—uninspired workers who hunker down and do only what they have to, waiting for the weekend to come...and eventually, retirement. They meet the minimum requirements of their positions, but you rarely get much more out of them. They've either reached their career goals or given up on their dreams, accepting what they've achieved as the best they can do. They'll stay where they sit, thanks very much. Fortunately, that’s the exception—most people do want to do their best and get ahead. As a leader, you face the irony of having to keep your team members happy by developing their skills and offering … [Read more...]

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

Add Enablers to the Equation

Posted on 02/20/2014 by ·
Add Enablers to the Equation by Laura Stack #productivity #strategy

In addition to smoothing the way for your team by removing procedural obstacles, it behooves you to facilitate their work in other ways as well. The less time they have to waste, the easier it will be for them to maximize their productivity and their ability to execute in the moment. The enablers I suggest in this chapter include: 1. Employ the THINK method. Urge your team members to better themselves by Taking care of their health, Honing their memories, Improving focus, Nourishing their brains, and leveraging Knowledge as power. 2. Keep technology up-to-date. The right equipment—such as fast computers or double monitors, the right software—such as instant messaging and webcasting, and the right equipment—such as video conferencing, can all increase productivity when used correctly. … [Read more...]

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Shaping Your Destiny: Aligning Your Mission With Your Organization’s

Posted on 02/18/2014 by ·
Shaping Your Destiny: Aligning Your Mission With Your Organization's

"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer and Philosopher. Independence has always been a part of the American character, from frontiersmen hacking farms out of the wilderness to modern-day entrepreneurs hacking niches out of the marketplace. As a nation, we're well aware of this; after all, this is the Land of Opportunity, where rags-to-riches stories are a dime a dozen. As the statesman William Jennings Bryan once pointed out, "Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved." Bryan is a case in point, a man born to relatively modest means who graduated as valedictorian of his college in 1881, then went on to serve as Secretary of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: , ,

Remove Obstacles from the Path

Posted on 02/13/2014 by ·
Remove Obstacles from the Path by Laura Stack

As it relates to a system or machine, efficiency is defined as “achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.” As it relates to people in the workplace, it’s achieving “maximum results in minimum time”— the trademark and tagline of my firm, The Productivity Pro, Inc. Time is the most costly component of human capital. As a leader, one of your jobs is to make it easier for your people to succeed more quickly. You can act as the team bulldozer by knocking over anything that interferes with their accomplishment. Here’s how: 1. Challenge people to work though processes more effectively. This may involve everything from finding time to think more strategically, to switching from a reactive approach to a proactive one, to putting sticky notes on a way to diagram a … [Read more...]

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