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Giving of Yourself: Tips for Building Trust With Your Teammates

Posted on 08/27/2015 by ·
Giving of Yourself: Tips for Building Trust With Your Teammates by Laura Stack #productivity

“A relationship without trust is like a cell phone without service. All you can do is play games." – Origin unknown Business is supposed to be strictly about financials and hardnosed, logic-based decisions, based solely on what's best for the company and its shareholders. Right? This seems to be the public perception of business, anyway, fostered by the popular media and sadly, by certain corporations where the quest for cash regularly overrides human concerns. Those of us who actually deal with businesses on a daily basis know this perception is mostly untrue. What’s more important that the human side of business—the most important asset? In large businesses, whole departments exist that do nothing but find good workers and try to keep them happy. Of course, there's an equilibrium … [Read more...]

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

Accomplishing More by Doing Less

Posted on 08/21/2015 by ·
Do less, accomplish more.

Do less but get more done? How does that work, exactly? Tune in to my podcast today and I'll tell you! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity, Podcast · Tagged: , ,

The Breaking Point: What’s Your Team’s Minimum Operating Capacity?

Posted on 08/13/2015 by ·
The Breaking Point: What's Your Team's Minimum Operating Capacity? by Laura Stack #productivity

"Bus factor (noun): the number of people that need to get hit by a bus before your project is completely doomed." – Brian W. Fitzpatrick, American software developer and author. In recent years, the software development field has contributed a significant number of productivity terms, concepts, and methodologies to the business world at large. No surprise there, since software development is a fast-paced field that prizes speed. Admittedly, not all these ideas have come to the rest of us unchanged; the methodologies of Scrum and Agile Project Management, for example, don't quite work for most other disciplines, though many of us can adapt the underlying principles to our own work. Brian W. Fitzpatrick, author of Team Geek, defines one software development concept, the "bus factor," in … [Read more...]

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

Yakkety-Yak: Top Ways Coworkers Waste Your Time

Posted on 08/10/2015 by ·
Yakkety-Yak: Top Ways Coworkers Waste Your Time by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE

"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...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: , ,

Testing an Assumption: Are Happy Teams Really More Productive?

Posted on 08/06/2015 by ·
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...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged: , ,

Assuming Command: Taking the Lead When You’re Not the Leader

Posted on 08/03/2015 by ·
Assuming Command: Taking the Lead When You’re Not the Leader by Laura Stack #productivity

“Lead, follow, or get the heck out of the way.”—Traditional American saying, source unknown. In an enlightened workplace, one of the most important aspects of taking initiative is adopting the thoughts and actions of a leader. A decent executive, especially one who cares about succession planning, will ask or encourage different people under his or her authority to take the lead in meetings, specific projects, and certain types of tasks. After all, most of us learn best by doing. These leadership opportunities may be explicit, in that he or she will deliberately give you the opportunity to lead. Or, they may be tacit, where the leader expects someone to step up and do the job without being asked, even if it’s something as small as making a call to ensure a client got a package on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

Getting the Job Done: Five Secrets of High-Performance Teams

Posted on 07/30/2015 by ·
Getting the Job Done: Five Secrets of High-Performance Teams by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE

“When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality.”—Joe Paterno, American college football coach. In business, we both expect and encourage teamwork. Teams understand the importance of working together on goals that align with organizational goals that move the whole organization forward. Most people make serious efforts to accomplish this, but somehow, a few teams always seem to outshine the rest. Why is this the case? Manfred Kets De Vries, writing in the European Business Review, calls teams and organizations where people consistently perform at their best “authentizotic.” The term derives from two Greek words, authenteekos and zoteekos, that translate to English as “authentic” and “vital to life,” respectively. Applied to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged: , ,

Take Back Your Time From Technology

Posted on 07/24/2015 by ·

Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, discusses how to make your technology work for you.   … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcast · Tagged: ,

Time and Again: the 2014 American Time Use Survey

Posted on 07/23/2015 by ·
Time and Again: the 2014 American Time Use Survey by Laura Stack

Every June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the results of the American Time Use Survey for the year before. A regular publication since 2003, ATUS provides a fascinating glimpse into the habits of everyday Americans age 15 and older, from how much they sleep and watch TV to how many hours they work daily. In 2014, the BLS gathered survey data from interviews with 11,600 individuals all across the United States, in all walks of life. It turns out we Americans work harder than many people suppose, though a casual glance might suggest otherwise. Keep in mind, however, that the Survey sample included high school kids, the retired, the unemployed, the disabled, and those who hold part-time jobs as well as those who work full time.  Some averages also include weekends, holidays, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Management · Tagged: , ,

Instant Productivity: Break Your Routines

Posted on 07/20/2015 by ·
Instant Productivity: Break Your Routines

How productive is your team, really? You may think you're moving along just fine, until you encounter another team whose productivity just leaves yours in the dust. Even if you're genuinely doing fine, there are simple practices that can increase your productivity from the moment you implement them.     Opting Offline Some jobs require constant Internet access, whether for answering customer chat and email questions or conducting research. However, many don't; and if you're like most people, you probably spend a little time daily checking personal email and social media. Even if you don't, some of your teammates do. Since 10 wasted minutes a day add up to over 43 hours a year, imagine how many workweeks your team's losing to the lure of the Internet annually. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: , , ,