I'm curious to know how often you check your email each day. Please vote in my poll: http://linkd.in/nTAJVK. Please comment; I'd love to hear your thoughts on the impact email has on your daily productivity. … [Read more...]
Time Management Skills: Taming the To-Do List
Posted on 09/20/2011 by ·
Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R) gives tips on working with your to-do list. (C) 2011 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]
Managing Your Time: What Would You Do With An Extra Hour A Day?
Posted on 09/12/2011 by ·
"I'd try to keep a balance, as I try to do with my 24 hours now. So with one more hour, I'd work half an hour more, and spend the other 30 minutes working out, or reading, or having a drink with friends." -- Rosa Garriga Mora, poll respondent, Spain. "Work out, read some books, take some dancing classes with my daughter... rest sometimes...one hour more per day would positively impact my life!" -- Yurila Ramos, poll respondent, Venezuela "Going on experience, I would spend it trying to solve annoying software bugs that are only happening because the computers are all out to get me." -- Tarot Atkinson, poll respondent, U.K. What would you do with an extra hour a day? That's a question I posed in a LinkedIn poll this past July, and as with my earlier poll (in which I asked voters … [Read more...]
The Implications of Declining Productivity
Posted on 09/06/2011 by ·
"If demand remains weak, there’s a danger that businesses may try to boost productivity by cutting jobs." -- Paul Dales, American economist, regarding the recent 2011 Q2 productivity drop. "Nowadays, business is all about productivity—and our folks produce." -- Senator John Hoeven, former governor of North Dakota. "[If] you don't have a very motivated working class, it starts to affect the dynamics of the economy. If workers are disenchanted and disenfranchised, productivity losses will go along with that." -- James Sinegal, American businessman, founder and CEO of Costco. From a business perspective, productivity is defined as the rate at which goods or services are produced per unit of labor. It's an important measure of corporate success, and, on a wider scale, a primary metric of … [Read more...]
Laura Shares the Six Keys at GROW 2011
Posted on 08/31/2011 by ·
Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), shares the Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best at the GROW 2011 conference in Dayton, OH. … [Read more...]
Should You Try to Learn from Failure…Or Just Forget It?
Posted on 08/29/2011 by ·
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." -- Traditional saying. "The better a man is, the more mistakes he will make, for the more new things he will try. I would never promote to a top-level job a man who was not making mistakes... otherwise he is sure to be mediocre." -- Peter Drucker, Austrian management consultant and social ecologist. "Remember, you only have to succeed the last time." -- Brian Tracy, Canadian self-help guru. In the modern business world, failure is often made out to be something glorious, a virtue that almost inevitably leads to success in the long run. Oft-cited examples include Edison's 1,000+ unsuccessful attempts to invent the light bulb before hitting on the right solution, and Bill Gates' unsuccessful first computer business. We're told, again and … [Read more...]
Assertiveness and Direct Communication: Your Wording is a Critical Productivity Tool
Posted on 08/25/2011 by ·
One of the factors that sets human beings apart from the rest of Creation—that has, in fact, helped make us the dominant species on this planet—is our ability to communicate in great detail, with a minimum of confusion and unproductive "noise." That said, it's amazing how easy it is to fail to communicate properly. The annals of history are replete with episodes of poor communication (or a complete lack thereof) that led to widespread misery and pain. On a lesser scale, individuals and businesses have to deal with miscommunication issues every single day; and in the workplace, such issues can have a severe impact not just on individual productivity, but on the overall bottom line. Even when the lines of communication are wide open, you can fail to communicate if you use the wrong words … [Read more...]
Organizational Skills: How to Process Email and Deal With Information Overload
Posted on 08/24/2011 by ·
I was reading an article in Information Week appropriately titled, “Eaten by the Email Monster.” http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2006/08/eaten_by_the_em.html It links to several useful articles on how to handle information overload. I thought I’d add my thoughts on how to efficiently process email: the 6-D Information Management System™: 1. DISCARD = Delete it 2. DELEGATE = Forward it 3. DO = Reply immediately if it will take you three minutes or less 4. DATE = Needs work but not now. The key is to somehow get it out of your in-box. Pick one favorite method and try to be consistent, so you don’t confuse your brain about what you did with that email. Options: * Move to a process folder called “Action” or something similar. * … [Read more...]
Time Management Skills: Email Tips
Posted on 08/19/2011 by ·
Clarity in workplace communication is highly important in any format, and these days, more and more business is conducted through email. Therefore, it's beneficial to learn how to maximize the content of your email messages, while minimizing the possibility of confusion. You should start with an informative, keyword-rich subject line that grabs the reader's attention. Don't leave the subject line blank, and don't be vague or non-specific; on the other hand, don't overuse exclamation points or capital letters. Either might lead an inattentive recipient to think your email is spam, resulting in it getting deleted—something that might range in consequence from minor to disastrous. If you're replying to an existing email, don't change the subject line unless you must. Otherwise, the recipient … [Read more...]
Increasing Productivity: HR’s Strategic Role in Improving Workforce Productivity
Posted on 08/16/2011 by ·
Please join me on August 31 for a special audio conference through the Workplace Training Center. The topic is HR’s Strategic Role in Improving Workforce Productivity: Working with Your Managers to Create High-Performing Employees Employees are expected to be competent. But the really successful employees are SUPER competent—the ones that companies fight to get, fight to keep, nurture and develop, and see as future leaders in their business growth. How do you know who the “A” players are? HR professionals are in a unique position to work with managers to identify productive employees and help them become even greater performers. Using a model that assesses engagement and performance of each employee, HR professionals can work with managers on improving individual employee … [Read more...]
