The Productivity Pro(R) Blog - Time Management and Productivity Tips » Efficiency

A Fun Little Tool for Increasing Productivity

LauraStack — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 07:35:30 +0000

It’s frustrating to want to print from a website when the formatting doesn’t work. It’s inefficient to try to copy and paste into another document to print. I found a useful little tool on the web that makes it easy to print from websites, so I wanted to share it with all of you! Check out PrintFriendly when you need to print from a website. It allows you to see a preview of how your printed page would look, and also allows you to print as a PDF. Just enter in the url you want to print from:

Click “Print Preview” to see what your page will look like, then select Print or PDF and you’re all set!

Increases efficiency, saves ink, and saves time. Very handy!

Laura Stack’s EFFICIENCY DIGEST: July 2011

LauraStack — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:15:40 +0000

While we commend you for setting proper boundaries and not getting caught in digital quicksand, here’s a little digest so you can catch-up with Laura all in one place … what WILL you do with the extra time YOU have?

Productivity Pro® Blog

Leaders: Get More Done Through Others! How Micromanagement Can Kill Productivity & Creativity

Productivity Minute Video: Procrastination – Can We Talk About This Later?

SuperCompetent Speaking: How to Cram LOTS of Information in Limited Time

During Which Period of the Day DO YOU Feel Most Productive?

Facebook Fan Page

Laura Stack > I’m pleased to be featured with fellow National Speakers Association board member and legendary speaker Brian Tracy in the Success Magazine Audio Series “Boost Your Productivity.”

Laura Stack > You cannot do it all. The sooner you come to terms with this fact, the better off you will be.

Laura Stack > 10 Traits of Highly Productive People …which traits have you acquired?

Laura Stack > To remain consistently optimistic, learn to reframe challenges, change, and adversity as opportunities.

Laura Stack > Most people fail to recognize opportunity knocking because it comes in the form of hard work and commitment. The speaking profession is no exception…looking forward to being with my colleagues at NSA 2011!

Laura Stack > Time management is about making the most of the hours you have, not magically finding more.

Laura Stack > Be willing to reinvent yourself when your work environment changes. It may not be fun, but it is

necessary. What adaptation could YOU make today?

Laura Stack > Please enjoy these Organizing Freebies!

Laura Stack > The ONLY true failure is a failure to learn. Look over each failure, learn from it, and adjust for the future.

Twitter Feed

@laurastack :: Bosses, the employees who treat your business as if it were their own are the ones you want to hang on to.

@merylhooker :: In honor of @neenjames and @laurastack, I’m proud to announce my InBox is EMPTY. No, please. Hold you applause. #productivity

@laurastack :: Take personal responsibility for handling your time & productivity. Never lay the blame on anyone else.

@laurastack :: Someone’s bad mood or crotchety personality isn’t a reflection on you, always be your capable, competent, positive self!

@laurastack @turbosaleslady :: It’s so true! It just flew 20+ hours to get to Singapore and wrote a speech, an article, and a new MP3 program!

@laurastack :: These days, the novelty of speaking in person can go a long way toward building productive relationships.

@laurastack :: Successful individuals fail often, but instead of dwelling on it, they get up quickly and move on.

@laurastack :: Just because something has been done a certain way for years does not make it the best way to do it.

@laurastack :: “Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out” ~Robert Collier

@laurastack :: Refuse requests when appropriate; learn how to say no graciously. Remember, your time is limited.

@MeganWBrown :: Just wrote my personal mission statement. What a powerful activity. Starting tomorrow, it is central to my life. Thanks @laurastack!!

@laurastack :: Try not to micromanage subordinates. Trust them to do their jobs without constant oversight.

@laurastack :: Quit expecting things to just happen without action. You have to WORK.

Productivity Minute Video: Get a Move on and Make a Decision

LauraStack — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:45:59 +0000

Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R) talks about the importance of making decisions so your productivity doesn’t get stopped in its tracks. (C) 2011 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved http://www.TheProductivityPro.com

Increasing Productivity: Productivity Minute Video: Create a Process to Simplify the Task

LauraStack — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:30:42 +0000

Productivity Minute Video: Do Your Picky Standards Keep Others From Helping You

LauraStack — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:07:56 +0000

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Productivity Minute Video: Get Things Done Without Doing it Yourself

LauraStack — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:52:13 +0000

Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), gives tips on conquering the to-do list without doing it all yourself.

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Productivity Management from a SuperCompetent Perspective

LauraStack — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:20:00 +0000

As you probably know, John Wiley and Sons released my latest book, SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best, this past August 9. Like my previous books, SuperCompetent addresses productivity from an individual viewpoint, in this case describing how the reader can achieve career success by applying six specific productivity keys in the workplace.

Within days of its release, a client asked me how SuperCompetent applies to managing people, not just individual productivity. In other words, how does the Six Keys philosophy work in a team environment? This set me to thinking, especially when I considered the issue of employee engagement (last month’s newsletter article), and how that factor impacts productivity.

Formulating the Matrix
Because engagement is a managerial concern more than it is personal one, I didn’t address it specifically in SuperCompetent. However, I believe that it does apply to all six of my productivity keys to one extent or another. Attitude—that is, the intensity of an employee’s motivation, drive, and proactiveness—is clearly the most pertinent of the Six Keys, because attitude is nearly synonymous with engagement.

But any experienced manager can tell you that Attitude is not an accurate measure of performance, because the factors that predict high employee engagement aren’t the same ones that cause an employee to perform well. From my own research, it’s clear that all the other productivity keys (Activity, Availability, Attention, Accountability, and Accessibility) must also be in place and functioning properly for SuperCompetence to emerge.

Ultimately, performance and engagement are independent variables—and this natural variation can result in an odd mélange of employee types that confuses the issue of achieving a group level of SuperCompetence. Fortunately, it’s possible to clear up most of this confusion through the use of a very simple tool.

If you combine high and low aspects of Performance and Engagement, you get a matrix that you can use to gauge your employees and even your teams. Ladies and gents, I give you: the Productivity Management Employee Engagement/Performance Matrix!

In this diagram, we’ve got four quadrants that describe nearly all the employees in a typical workplace. I won’t claim that it covers everyone, but from personal experience, I can guarantee you that 95% of your employees will fall into one of the categories.

So let’s take a look at the quadrants in ascending order, starting with the worst: the dreaded Camper.

Campers
Campers are the classic low-engagement/low-performance employees. Think bureaucrats. These people are lifeless drones, low-performance deadwood who do little more than fill a chair, waiting for retirement. They vary from unengaged to actively disengaged, and couldn’t care less. They come to work just to get a paycheck…and Heaven forbid you should ask them to go one iota beyond their job description or stay late during crunch time.

If you have Campers on a team, the team will suffer: no ifs, ands, or buts about it. At the very least they’ll slow you down, but dedicated Campers are much worse: they’re not just non-productive in and of themselves, they infect everyone else, since their coworkers have to do all the work they won’t. This is bound to cause strain. They may not be doing it maliciously, but they’re doing it.

The only alternative to firing a Camper is to put a corrective action plan in place, in hopes that you can somehow engage them. You’ll need to sit down with them, make it clear that they’re on probation, and let them know why. Tell them flat-out that their behavior can’t continue, and then lay out your action plan step by step. Give them a fair amount of time to turn things around—thirty days is good—and make it clear that they won’t have a job if they don’t. Be sure to set mileposts and check to see that they’re met.

If you’re very lucky, the Camper will start working their way toward productivity; and if they do, be sure to encourage their growth. But more realistically, they won’t even try, or they’ll just give up on you and go elsewhere…which is fine. Either way they’ll still be a problem, but they’ll be someone else’s problem.

Defectors
The employees I call Defectors are low-engagement/high-performance personnel who are mostly just biding their time until they can leave you. A variety of factors may cause or contribute to their lack of engagement: boredom, contempt for authority, and arrogance, for example. But even when they’re actively disengaged, something drives them to perform at a high level. Maybe it’s pride, or showmanship, or sheer talent for what they’re doing. Whatever it is, you benefit from it.

It’s better to have a Defector on your team than a Camper, but you can’t tolerate them forever. They’re unreliable in the long term, because as soon as they find a greener pasture, they’re going to disappear. That’s no good for you, given the costs and annoyance involved in replacing truly productive personnel; and it’s no better for them, though you’d be hard-pressed to convince them of that.

The good news is that if you can engage a Defector, they’ll instantly mature into one of your Productives, as their high-performance ways dovetail with their increased engagement. You should be aware, however, that the Defector is unlikely to respond to traditional team motivation efforts, which they may consider superficial and silly.

Your best bet with a Defector is to be both frank and direct. Approach them in a semi-formal setting and lay the cards on the table. Let them know you’re aware of their lack of engagement, but that you value their high level of performance. Make it clear, however, that their obvious disinterest in the company is hurting both them and the team. Ask them what you can do to help them become more engaged—and be sure that they understand that if they do become engaged, you believe that the synergy between their performance and engagement will shoot them straight into the workplace stratosphere.

That’s nothing less than the truth, but they may find it to be flattering; and for that reason alone, they may be willing to try harder. It’s equally possible that if you make them aware that they’re considered problematic, they’ll buck up and try to improve. Conversely, it may simply make them realize that both you and they would be better off if they bowed out gracefully.

It’s also possible that their cynicism is more than skin deep. If that’s the case, and they make their scorn for you, the team, or the company overt, you should get rid of them. They’re more trouble than they’re worth, and you needn’t be a stepping stone for their ambitions.

Cheerleaders
While social talent and enthusiasm make up for a lot, they aren’t everything—and Cheerleaders are the classic workplace example. They love the company, but they don’t produce results, which makes them something of a liability. Even so, in my book a low-performance Cheerleader beats a high-performance Defector hands down. Cheerleaders have already sold themselves on the company; now you just have to help them become better workers.

Start by coaching the Cheeerleader. Sit down with them in a casual meeting, and gently point out that their productivity needs some work. Carefully explore the reasons behind their lack of productivity. Maybe they’re not suited for the job they’re in; or maybe they’re just bored because they’re insufficiently challenged.

Be encouraging and supportive during your coaching sessions. That’s a good idea with anyone you coach, but it’s crucial with a Cheerleader. Laying down the law as you might do with a Camper or Defector is a losing strategy with Cheerleaders, because you don’t want to damage their sense of engagement. Be supportive, so that they remain optimistic. Tell them that if they can just fix a few small things, they’ll become the ideal employee—which is true. If they can become fully productive, they’ll slide over into the high-engagement/high-performance Productives category in no time flat.

During your coaching sessions, you may discover that the Cheerleader just needs some training to become more productive. Don’t hesitate to provide what they need (within the limits of your budget, of course). It’ll be a wise investment, because shifting a Cheerleader into the Productives quadrant is a management coup. Your entire team will become more productive as a result, making you shine all the brighter.

Engineering that shift may be as simple as providing the Cheerleader with more challenging tasks—work that will make them stretch a bit to achieve. If they succeed in the challenge, then not only will they become more productive, but they’ll be happier and more likely to remain fully and actively engaged.

Productives
We’ve all encountered workers who not only do their jobs amazingly well, but do them cheerfully and with gusto—always productive, rarely complaining. These are the individuals that Campers like to say “make the rest of us look bad.” Well, no. If that’s the case, it’s a reflection on the Camper, not on the Productive.

Productives are easy to recognize. These are the true workplace SuperCompetents: the people you give the critical assignments to, so you can be sure that the work is getting done as perfectly as possible. When management gurus talk about setting up an organization so that it can run like a well-oiled machine without your constant input, these are the people they assume you’ll have on your team.

But tread carefully here: Productives can become the victims of their own success, because after all, the reward for work done well is more work. You can’t put everything on their heads, because overloading will lead to stress and exhaustion, which inevitably leads to negative emotion—and before you know it, your Productive is sagging toward the Defector quadrant as their engagement level fails. So before you dump another task on their plate, ask them if they can handle it.

Gently pressure them to be honest, and to tell you if they run into problems later on. Keep an eye on them, too; most Productives don’t like to admit that they’re not supermen. If you must ease their load, don’t be abrupt about it, because that may lead to resentment and worry. Explain why you think they need to rebalance their load, and get their direct input on what they think they can or should give up.

On the other hand, you can’t just assume that your Productive has enough interesting work to keep them happy; check in with them on occasion. And never, ever let yourself believe that a Productive is irreplaceable. As the old saying goes, if you’re irreplaceable, you can’t be promoted—and you can rest assured they’re aware of this. Productives need the lure of promotion as a reward for their excellent work, so you always need to provide them with opportunities for growth. If you don’t, you’ll be stirring the pot of negative emotion again.

Conclusions
While it can be dangerous to generalize about anything in this life, you also need to be able to quickly categorize things (including people) if you expect to accomplish anything at all. When it comes to judging SuperCompetence, at least from a management perspective, I believe that the classification system I’ve outlined here is an effective rough-and-ready way to estimate where your people fall on the engagement/performance scale.

Give it a try, and let me know how it works for you!

Make it a productive day! ™

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Work Life Balance: Video – Getting Ready for the Next Day at Night

LauraStack — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:58:37 +0000

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Increasing Productivity: If You Think It, Ink It!

LauraStack — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:39:29 +0000

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. — John Steinbeck

My father had a saying he used to repeat often. He always carried around one of those little Mead spiral notebooks, which he liked to call “his brain,” and whenever an idea would strike him he’d write it down and say, “If you think it, ink it!”

That used to just drive me crazy…but Dad was absolutely right. You can’t depend on your meat brain to remember everything, especially when you’re in the middle of another task. Nor is it a good idea to drop the task you’re working on and go haring off after the new idea. Oh, you can do that, but if make a habit of it you’ll never finish anything—and your productivity will be shot to heck.

So when you have a random thought that sounds good, get it down on paper (or electrons) down ASAP. You can use a little notebook like my father’s shirt-pocket “brain,” a handheld device like a Blackberry, a compact voice recorder, 3 x 5 index cards, or a standardized planner—whatever works for you. According to his autobiography, whenever science fiction writer Piers Anthony gets a new idea while writing one of his novels, he just sets off a new paragraph in brackets, types the new idea, then goes back to the project he’s working on. The idea will be lifted out and documented elsewhere during an editing draft, when he has time to deal with it.

Angling for Ideas
It’s been said that ideas are like slippery little fish that you have to capture with a pencil, or else they’ll get away. And as the saying goes, “the dullest pencil (pixel?) is keener than the sharpest mind.” So capture your great idea however you may, and get right back to your original task.

Another great thing about recording your ideas is that when you do so, your brain will think you’ve done something about it and stop bugging you, so you can focus. Even if your idea is of the non-bugging kind, if you write it down, you don’t have to waste any energy trying to remember it later. It’s recorded right there in black and white. By “inking” it, you’ve made it real.

And oddly enough, writing down your ideas often seems to make you have more of them. That may simply be a function of the fact that you’re just not remembering them all when you don’t record them; but on the other hand, some would argue that it’s some Higher Intelligence trying to tell you something.

By the time you review your notes, you may have forgotten the idea altogether, so you may just be pleasantly surprised by what you find. And what do you end up with when you’re done? Why, a little list of things to do…now, why does that sound familiar? Yep, you got it: your ideas (or at least the best of them) end up on your to-do list, so that you can focus your attention on them properly. And if you come up with another brilliant idea while you’re working on your new tasks, well…if you think it, ink it!

From Fish to Seeds
Now, I’ve compared ideas to slippery fish, which you have to capture; but once you’ve done that, they turn into something else. (And I’m not talking about fishsticks here). These ideas you’re struck with—whether while working on something else, during your daily commute, or in the middle of the night—become seeds once you gather them in. They may never germinate, of course; and even if they’re viable, you may never use them. You can’t do everything you imagine, because there’s just not enough time!

But if you carry those little idea seeds around with you like Johnny Appleseed, you may very well come across fertile soil in which they can sprout. That’s when you stick ‘em in the ground and stand back, so you can see what they’ll become.

Ideas are important, folks. Even the most audacious and ambitious of undertakings, from the Great Wall of China to the International Space Station, started as nothing more than an idea that someone eventually recorded. Once they did that, it went from meditation to action—and changed the world.

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Workplace Productivity: Tips for Maximum Enjoyment as an Administrative Assistant

LauraStack — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:19:47 +0000

1. Don’t take personalities personally.
I have heard many stories from admins whose boss was a grouchy type of person, who say to me, “Oh, he doesn’t like me. We just don’t get along.” When the boss gets a promotion she thought, “I’m going to be left behind.” He said, “Are you kidding? I can’t do anything without you.”
Do not think that just because someone is in a bad mood that it reflects on you, or if someone has a crotchety personality that s/he doesn’t like you. Always be your capable, competent, positive self.

2. Change your focus.
Focus on the 175 things that you did right today, not the one thing that you did wrong. So many people get upset when they make a little mistake. They made a typo in a letter or sent an email to the wrong person or copied someone they shouldn’t have.
Mistakes happen. That does not mean that you are a failure. That means you can learn from that one thing. But really focus on all of the ways you do provide value, and that you are an asset to your manager.

3. This is not brain surgery.
Take your job seriously, but take yourself lightly. Ultimately, on your deathbed, you are not going to say, “Oh, gee. I wish I would have spent a little more time typing up that document. Oh, if I had just reviewed that email for another ten minutes, it wouldn’t have gone out with that mistake.”
You can love your career, but you exist beyond what you do for a living. Take pride in what you do, but remember to keep a sense of humor when things that go wrong.

4. I am not just an admin!
Repeat these words to yourself frequently: “I am not just an admin!” When someone asks you, “What do you do for a living?” do not reply, “I’m just an admin.”
You are a valuable member of the team. Your position is important. Admins are the heartbeat of an organization, and much falls apart when you are not around. Look what happens when you take a day off! You are an important contributor, so hold your head high and be proud to be an admin.

5. Practice preventative assertions.
When things go wrong and deadlines aren’t met, go back to the person who missed it after-the-fact and explain what you need in the future.
Say, “It’s important that I receive this information in a timely fashion to make the deadline. This time was rushed, and some mistakes were made. The next time, I need this information from you on this date. How far in advance do you want me to provide it, so you can return it to me on time?”
Set those criteria, so that people know better how to interact with you. Don’t just always be the fall gal or the scapegoat.

6. Do not cross your ethical and moral boundaries.
Some admins confided that people have asked them to break the rules. “Oh, I know you’re supposed to send this through Processing, but can you just do it really quick and not send it through there?”
Just respond back, “I don’t want to make a mistake. I need to follow the procedure in this case to ensure that this goes out as it should.”

7. Be assertive.
If you are under the gun and someone’s hovering over your shoulder watching you, and they won’t go away, you are probably feeling a little more nervous because they’re standing there!
Be assertive. Say to them, “I’d get this done much more efficiently if you can come back in 30 minutes.” Speak your mind. Do not be passive and just let everybody take advantage of you. Do not be aggressive and make enemies, but come from the heart in an honest place and state what you need.

8. Manage in advance.
Don’t wait for crisis. Always be looking ahead. Be proactive. What’s happening next week? Is there a meeting coming up that you need to help with documents and copying?
Plan ahead. Is there a trip that’s coming up in a couple of months? What could I do to prepare my manager for that trip long before he or she ever asks me for the information?

9. How can you help your manager be more efficient?
Always exude the attitude, “I am here to help. It is my job to help you be successful.” The more the people you support who are successful, the more you will be successful.
Hopefully these nine tips have given you ideas on great strategies for success as an administrative professional.

To find out more about The Productivity Pro®, Inc. or have Laura Stack speak at an upcoming meeting or event, please visit at www.theproductivitypro.com.
Make it a productive day! ™

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