Working long hours and feeling like you aren’t accomplishing enough? Are you ready to learn to be more productive? Laura Stack is presenting her flagship productivity class at a rare public seminar in Denver on Tuesday, December 9, 2008!
Here is your opportunity to learn from The Productivity Pro® herself. Get the tools you need to become more productive at work so that you can achieve Maximum Results in Minimum Time® and Leave the Office Earlier®!
Become a Productivity Pro(R) with Laura StackDate: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 Time: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.Location: Denver, CO, EKS&H Public Accountants
Nearest Airport: Denver International Airport
Grab a colleague! Reduced rates are available when registering three or more people from the same organization.
With all the US Presidential election behind us, regardless of your political persuasion, let’s talk about the big message of the Obama campaign: change. If you want to become more productive, you’ll have to be willing to make changes and create new, positive habits and leave old habits behind. It is easy to become set in our ways and continue doing things the way we’ve always done them because, well, it’s how we’ve always done them. I’ll take a line from Dr. Phil and ask “How’s that working for you?” Content, satisfied people are not apt to make changes. After all, if everything is going along swimmingly, what’s to change? But people and organizations must continue to change for things to improve. If your relationship with your significant other never changed, it would never grow stronger over the years. If organizations didn’t change, the buggy whip industry would have died if it didn’t become the transportation industry. If the company you work for doesn’t change, you should be very, very worried.
How do we get ourselves in the mindset where we are ready for change? People are ready for change when the pain of not making a change outweighs the stress of actually taking the action to change. Some people just naturally are go-getters and constantly seek ways of being more productive while most people need a little more motivation to change. If you’re the latter, take some time to think about why you want to change. I talked before about finding your “why.” Once you’ve done that, it’s time to actually take the steps to make changes.
Don’t try to change EVERYTHING right now. Pick a couple of things to work on over the next 21 days. Make a concerted effort each day related to that habit you want to break or create and in just three short weeks, turn around and look at how far you’ve come. Each time you take a step in the right direction, it will become easier to do more and eventually be as productive as you desire to be.
Humor in the workplace is a productive thing, according to Psychologist Maren Rawlings from Swinburne University of Technology. In a recent study, Rawlings “found a direct correlation between the climate of good humor in a workplace and employee satisfaction.” Previous research found a link between job satisfaction and productivity, so the logical leap is that humor is good for productivity. Of course this doesn’t mean we can spend our entire days cracking jokes, but it says to me that we can lighten up and laugh a little. Rawlings also noted “If employers take measures to encourage a positive humor climate in the workplace, they are more likely to retain their staff.” Keeping the staff you have rather than experiencing turnover is clearly more productive than re-hiring and training new folks.
Find creative ways to lighten things up around the office. My assistant told me of a place she used to work where the Sales Director hung a punching bag in the doorway to his office so that his sales reps could take out their frustrations on it. The same Sales Director, when sales were dragging, decided that if sales were dragging, it was time to have sales “in drag”…so the reps came to the office the next day in gender-bending outfits. Everyone laughed and had a great time, and my assistant tells me they hit a sales record that month. It is no big secret that when people are enjoying themselves, they can get more done and stay positive about what they are doing. Have some fun at work. It’s allowed, really!
Why is productivity important? More importantly, why is productivity important to you? There is not just one pat answer to this question. My “why” is likely different than your “why.” One of the keys to productivity is finding YOUR “why.” For most people, an external reason like “My boss expects more of me” is not always the most motivating factor. For me, getting to the heart of why I do what I do is most motivating. Is the need to be more productive exciting and motivating to you, or does it drain and exhaust you just thinking about it? If the latter is true for you, perhaps you haven’t gotten clear on why being productive is important.
It all comes down to your personal goals and what you want the picture of your life to look like. Sure, you may need to be more productive at work to make your boss happy or boost company revenues. How can you turn it around and make it important to you personally? If time with your family is what motivates you, make getting things done at work about finishing that project on time so that you can enjoy your weekend free from work stress. If making more money is what drives you, give yourself achievable daily or even hourly goals of what you need to accomplish to make those extra sales. Search yourself and find what truly motivates you, then try to relate each task to a goal you have set for yourself – not a goal someone else has set for you. For example, if you are in sales, your organization sets a sales goal for you. Absolutely do your best to achieve that – but at the same time make it about you. How many sales do you need to earn the commissions to take that family vacation or buy that fabulous pair of shoes?
It’s only human to be motivated by what feels good. Use that. What makes you feel good? Know that each task you accomplish, however difficult or dull, gets you closer to that great feeling. Figure out how productivity relates to your personal goals and the quest for it becomes exciting, rather than overwhelming.
It happens all the time. You just want to get some brief information to someone but when you call you get sucked into a long conversation. Sometimes you don’t WANT the person to answer their phone – you just want to leave a voicemail. It’s nice to catch up, but what if you just need to pass on some information and get to the next task? Well friends, someone has come up with a solution for this problem! Check out www.slydial.com. It lets you just leave a message – simple as that. It is a free service, and they do offer some premium services for a fee. It is well worth checking out.
While on the subject of voice mail - here’s a quick tip. Before making a call, jot down the bullet points you want to cover. This way you have an outline for the call, or if you do get voice mail you have a simple list of what you need to cover. It will save time and help avoid rambling messages.
Today I feature an article by guest columnist Rosa Say and her blog Managing With Aloha Coaching. If you enjoy the article below, I suggest you subscribe to her blog.
If I am hard pressed to recommend one and only one tool as THE most essential one in every manager’s tool kit, there is no question for me what it will be.
It is the very first tool I teach new supervisors (and any struggling manager) to use;
No matter the industry they are in.
No matter the country they are in.
Whether they are new to their positions or seasoned pros.
Whether they have just one employee or thousands.
Whenever it is calm, and they are caught up.
Whenever it is frenetic and crazy, and they can’t see that light at the end of the tunnel.
Pretty much no matter what the circumstances are.
And get this – even more than my beloved Daily 5 Minutes®.
The One Tool that every manager must work with, and work with daily, is this:
A simple list kept easily and best with pencil and an 8×10 sheet of paper folded into three columns.
This is not just any list, but a very special one.
It is the list that will endear every manager to every employee, every boss, every supplier or vendor partner, and every customer.
It is the list that can single-handedly reinvent a manager’s reputation, as it simultaneously functions as that manager’s best training and coaching architect.
At the top of this list is its name, and right beneath that, as the headings of its three columns, are all the instructions managers will need.
This magic manager’s list is called, THE FOLLOW-UP I NEED TO COMPLETE.
Those headings of its three columns are,
What I must Do to Honor my Word
Who I need to Follow-up with, and By When
Why it is so Important to Them, and thus, to Me.
When management is a calling (as it should only be) managers work more for other people than they do for themselves. The work they do for others IS the work they do for themselves, for when they elevate the human condition, improving it as it aches to be improved, they are most fulfilled in the work they are most needed for, discovering that being a manager can be the most satisfying and rewarding work that exists.
When employees cry out to me that their managers “don’t know what they are doing,”
or “are never around when we need them”
or “are too poorly trained; it’s like we have a revolving door of management trainees here”
or “don’t really care about us”
or “always seem to be working on the wrong things at the wrong times”
or “said they’d take care of it, but we all know what that means”
… the complaining and whining goes on and on… nine times out of ten I will discover that the manager they are referring to has lost all credibility due to a horrible lack of follow-through. They may start with the best of intentions in very sincere conversations, but they have no reliable system for finishing well, and they are not held accountable.
On the other hand, the managers with exceptional follow-through are referred to as “the great ones.”
A key point is that great managers don’t necessarily do all the work and tasks involved; what they do is orchestrate them well, and they keep work flowing, moving all road-blocks out of the way, human and otherwise. They work to remove any obstacles or adversity (or excuses and yeah-buts) and they communicate to everyone involved about status and progress consistently and reliably.
If you are a manager, is that what you do?
Let’s talk a bit more about those three columns;
1. What I must Do to Honor my Word
This column is described this way because a conversation with someone is likely to be what will trigger the entry you are making. What did you agree to follow-up on? This column will teach managers to “eat an elephant one bite at a time.” A common reason good intentions will fall apart is because we’ll make promises that are way, way too big for us to keep. Using this list over time, managers learn to work from conversation to next conversation and tear issues, problems, and projects into doable baby steps. Then the following column becomes a simple status-check conversation of “Here’s where we are now, what should we work on as our next steps, and how much time will that need?”
2. Who I need to Follow-up with, and By When
This may seem obvious, but in my investigations of trip-ups that have occurred, I am amazed at how many times a manager did follow up, but never reported back to the person they’d made their commitment to. Their reputation and credibility has gotten marred by a bad assumption that “the results will speak for themselves.” Well, not really, and not always. In fact, the norm is that they seldom do. This column also helps cure avoidance behavior; if you didn’t get something done yet, just honestly say so and make a new agreement. Don’t just hope the other person will forget about it; trust me, they probably won’t, and the next column helps you understand why.
3. Why it is so Important to Them, and thus, to Me
This column is a teacher called “Empathy Practice,” one whom all managers need to spend more time with. For us to help people best, we need to see a problem or issue in the way that they see it, and since we can’t usually “walk a day in [their] shoes” the best way to understand their point of view is to key in on why an issue is important to them. I coach managers to work with people without robbing others of the engagement, satisfaction, and growth of doing their work for them – the mantra we speak of is “Do with, not for.” There is a balance to be achieved, that this column helps us understand one person at a time.
Management is a situational art. Coaches like me try to help with certain things, and we can provide tools and tips that shorten the learning curve, however a manager’s best teachers, bar none, are their employees and the other people they work with and are committed to. This is the same reason The Daily Five Minutes® works so well: All you need to know about you can find out from the people you work with side by side, day in and day out.
Managers get trained on the job in the flow of the work they are responsible for. When they follow-through consistently, they excel because they deliver well; they exceed expectations. Their word is believed and trusted.
So take this from me; the 1 best list that every manager must work with says THE FOLLOW-UP I NEED TO COMPLETE at the top, and has those three columns. What they write on it, and how consistently they work through it day by day will determine that manager’s success. Just ask their employees.
Today I’m pleased to feature a guest blogger and fellow productivity consultant, Matthew Cornell. He has interviewed me in the past and featured me on his blog. I’ve been following his good work and musings on productivity and wholeheartedly recommend you subscribe to his feed.
I’d like to tell you about three phrases you and I use that actually mean the opposite, and, when used improperly, hurt productivity and weaken your mind (Gasp!) Fear not, I’ll also share the only times they are OK to use. And I’ll start with a biggie.
“Let me think about it”
This is a classic in being indecisive. Situation: Have you ever been asked for something or had an offer made to you and you answered “Let me think about it”? Typically what this answer really means is “The answer is no, but I don’t want to disappoint you so I’m going to pretend to think about it.” Implied in this is “…and I hope you forget to bring it up again.” Nasty!
In this case, you’re is using the phrase as a crutch, and it has a cost:
It’s going to dog you until it’s resolved.
You’re misleading someone and wasting their time; it’s disrespectful.
You’re training yourself to be indirect and less decisive.
What you’re really doing trading is clarity for a temporary reprieve in disappointing someone. It’s a bad practice. If you know the answer, train yourself to be direct (but sensitive) and get closure right then. If you want to leave the bridge open, fine, but not if you really don’t want to discuss the issue again.
That said, this phrase does have a few specific productive uses:
You need to collect more information. However, ask yourself whether this is an excuse to put off deciding. It’s frequently better to make a decision early on, with less than 100% of possible information, than to strive for perfection. Most decisions can be mitigated later.
You need to clear or verify it with someone else. In this case, commit to a specific date to get back to them, no longer than a few days.
Germination: You really might have to let it germinate. The blogosphere is rife with creativity stories around the subconscious, and hey - who am I to take away your productive shower time But be honest about whether you really need to sit on it.
Here are a few rules if you do decide to defer:
Only one defer allowed per person. Think of it as a rare coupon you don’t want to squander.
Make your decision time bound: Limit how much you’re willing to spend on it, and don’t make it too big - one hour max, say.
Commit to a decision by a specific date (no longer than a week), and tell it to them. Then keep your word.
“Let’s get together sometime”
This really means “I’m not interested (or mildly interested), but not enough to follow through.” The solution here is simple: Pick a date. I found myself weaseling out last week. I really did want to get together with a friend and peer, but I was having a weak moment and used the phrase. It felt weird. Thank goodness she called me on it and said “Let’s set a date. how about next Monday at lunch time?”
A common variation: “We’ll be in touch” - sadly not uncommon when applying for a job or sending an unwanted proposal. Please, put me out of my misery and get it over with! (I’m told companies sometimes get so inundated with resumes that they make it easier on themselves by not sending “sorry” letters. I don’t respect this practice. Disclaimer: I’ve never been in the hiring role.)
“Interesting”
This is a true classic, and often means “That’s really uninteresting” and/or “I disagree but don’t want to get into it with you.” To be fair, this can also mean “I don’t understand or agree, but I’m willing to think about it.” Also, it rally depends on the tone.
Instead of saying this, try getting into question asking mode and being genuinely curious. (For more, see How to help people, step 1.)
(An example: I once sent a resume to a company, waited a few weeks, heard nothing, then called the hiring person. She said “We got your resume. It was … interesting.” Her tone made me think “We thought your use of crayons for the resume was innovative.” Not getting hired worked out much better, BTW.)
Others?
Do you have any favorites? A few others:
“Send me a brochure” (”I’m not interested, but I won’t say so.”)
“That’s something” (”I have no idea what to do with this gift.”)
“She’s not here right now” (”She’s here, but she doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“Thank you for sharing” (”That was wildly inappropriate. Save it for you psychiatrist.”
Time is money. Guess which group of people utters this phrase most frequently? Commissioned salespeople. Hands down. It’s almost a rite of passage that you can’t be a salesperson unless you rinse and repeat daily. Salespeople know how to turn time into money: spend a majority of time on selling activity, namely generating leads, business development, and follow-up. Simple. What makes it so hard? All the non-selling activities that need to be done.
I believe many salespeople have lost sight of the value of their time. They run for coffee, socialize with friends, check the latest blog postings, schedule personal appointments, surf the web…all which tends to increase when a sale is made…as if now they can relax a bit.
As a salesperson, if you really want to get clear about if the activity you’re currently working on is worth your time, figure out how much your time is worth. Then you can objectively ask, “Is what I’m working on right this minute generating the sales goals and income targets I’ve set for myself?”
So let’s do a little bit of math.
1. How much do you want to earn this year? (Ex: $80K)
2. If you’re lucky enough to have a base, subtract that out to get your target earnings. (Ex: $80K - $10K = $70K)
3. To realize those target earnings, how much would you have to sell to achieve it with your commission structure? (Ex: at 7% commission, you’d have to sell $1M)
4. How many weeks do you work after you subtract out vacation? (Ex: 52 weeks minus 2 weeks of vacation = 50 weeks)
5. Divide your annual sales goal by the number of weeks you’ll work to arrive at your weekly sales goal. (Ex: $1M / 50 = $20K)
6. Divide that by the number of days you work each week to get your daily sales goal. (Ex: $20K/5 = $4K)
7. IF you could meet that goal each day, how much would an hour of your time be worth? Divide your target earnings from #2 by #4 to reach your weekly income target. (Ex: $70K / 50 = $1400)
8. Find your daily income target by dividing by the number of days you work each week. (Ex: $1,400 / 5 = $280)
9. Figure out your hourly income target by dividing that figure by how many hours you work each day (Ex: $280 / 8 = $35).�
10. Lastly, determine your to-the-minute rate by dividing by 60 (Ex: $35 / 60 = $.58).
Now you start to ask yourself the tough questions. If time is truly worth money, is what you’re doing this minute worth $.58? Is five minutes of your current activity worth $2.91? If an hour goes by, did you produce $35 of value? If someone were watching, would they reach into their pocket and pay you $35 for what you just produced? My hope is that by tying the clock to your pocketbook, you might be more aware of the time…and money…that slips by when wasted.
I’ve worked full-time from my home since 1992 and can’t imagine doing it any other way. Whether you work full time out of your home, occasionally telecommute, catch up on work in the evening, or run a household, you need some sort of dedicated “office” space in your home. Offices can serve as the family computer center, a place to do paperwork, and the occasional work-at-home office.
The first big question is where to locate your home office. Until the last few years, most builders didn’t catch on to the popularity of a built-in home office. If you have a computer, you probably need more than an antique writing desk in the living room. But if you only use your “office” to pay bills, write letters, and return phone calls, you can get away with a corner of the kitchen.
In most homes, extra space is difficult to come by, so you’ll need to get creative. I’ve seen people attempt to use a hallway, part of a bedroom, and even a closet. However, it’s difficult to work while children are running around you, you see your bed and think about napping, or when it’s too cramped. So I’ve always commandeered the “formal” dining room or living room—no one ever used it anyway—so it’s wasted space. Or perhaps you can steal the guest room.
Set yourself up for success. If you are going to be working from your home full-time, use this checklist to ensure you’re set up for success and maximum productivity:
• Where will you set up your home office?
• How will you modify the space to meet your needs?
• Can you lock the door? Can you lock the windows?
• Do you have sufficient lighting for that area?
• What office supplies you will need?
• Where are the electrical sockets located? Will you need additional power sources?
• Do you have enough storage space, such as a file cabinet, bookcases, credenza, closets, etc.?
• Where you will store back-up disks? Is the storage area safe from fire, flooding, etc.?
• If your home office is in the basement, and if the basement tends to get damp, do you have a de-humidifier?
• Do you have a personal computer that you already use at home? Will you need different software or upgrade the RAM? Will others need to stop using it for personal purposes?
• Do you have sufficient office equipment for your home office?
• Do you have a desk? Is it large enough to do office work?
• Do you need to have a modem installed on your home computer?
• Are there sufficient phone jacks in the area you’ve designated for your home office?
• Do you need a separate fax line, Internet line, and business line?
• Do you have voice mail or an answering machine?
• Do you have a smoke detector in your home office area?
• Do you have a fire extinguisher located hear your home office?
Regardless of whether you work full-time from home or a few times each month, your home office has some common requirements:
Furniture and storage
• A professional office desk and worktable
• Sturdy filing cabinets and drawer space for files. Invest in quality pieces that won’t fall apart.
• An ergonomically correct chair
• Bookcases or shelves to hold binders, trays, phone books, and reference manuals
• Stackable storage units that maximize your space vertically
• Large garbage can
• Supply caddy/accessories
• Stackable trays for “in” and “out” boxes
• A large, standing document sorter with slots for envelopes, fax paper, letterhead, etc., that fits under your desk for easy access.
Computer and peripherals
• A computer with lots of RAM, a large hard drive, and a DVD burner
• External back-up system (like www.godaddy.com or an external drive)
• DSL or cable or satellite Internet connection (no dial-up)
• High-security remote access to your offsite office computer (like www.GoToMyPC.com)
• USB hub such as Linksys 2.0, which has seven easy access ports to plug in your keyboard, iPod, PDA docking station, digital camera, USB flash drive, etc.
Software
• Spam filter, such as www.mcaffe.com
• Internet security and virus protection, such as www.norton.com
• Integrated contact management, such as ACT (my favorite) or Goldmine
• Fax within the computer, such as WinFax Pro
• Postage, such as www.stamps.com, www.pitneyworks.com, or www.dhl.com
• Accounting, such as QuickBooks Pro for business or Quicken for home only
• Email software, such as Microsoft Outlook
• Calendar, such as Microsoft Outlook, or a paper planner, such as www.daytimer.com/laurastack
Other technology and equipment for people who work at home
• A separate business phone line and fax line if you conduct business from home so your clients don’t get voice mail saying, “You’ve reached the Smith residence.”
• Wireless headset (I use GN Netcom plus receiver lift)
• Cell phone and PDA, which can be separate, but optimally a SmartPhone, which includes PDA and email access
• Pager or text pager (only if you’re required to carry one)
• High-quality laser printer, copy machine, and scanner (separately or all-in-one)
• Telephone with voice mail
Who knows…setting up a clean, organized, productive office space at home might allow you to consider more work-at-home or other home-based business opportunities.
Look around you, at work and home. Do you feel overjoyed or annoyed? Your environment affects your moods, attitudes, emotions, and energy level. What things sap your energy? You need to figure out ways to reduce, eliminate, or change your environment, so that it lifts you up rather than brings you down. These tidbits might help.
1. Clear the clutter. This requires effort and can be time-consuming, but the real reason people dread clearing clutter is emotional attachment — and because you no idea how to organize what you keep. Focus first on the areas of the home that are most important to your health and vitality, especially the bedroom.
2. Thin out the incoming stream. We all have a constant stream of mail and new possessions coming into our lives. If you don’t develop a regular habit of thinning it out as it walks through the door, it’ll pile up and zap your energy in no time.
3. Create space with the right layout and equipment. If you get buried in clutter simply because you don’t know where to put things, learn to make creative use of the space you have — including vertical space.
4. Learn to live more simply. Instead of piling on new possessions until you just have to many, stop buying and take a hard look at what you have. Don’t equate material possessions with wealth or happiness, or — worse yet — self worth.
5. Get rid of it. If you don’t learn how to get rid of things, you’ll be overwhelmed with your possessions. Unworn clothing, unwanted gifts, ancient paperwork — get rid of it. If you haven’t used it in two years, ditch it.
6. Accentuate the positive. Separate the trash from the treasure. You don’t need to keep unwanted gifts simply because they’re gifts. And don’t be afraid to get rid of things that are dragging you down with emotional baggage: there’s a reason women burn photographs of their old boyfriends.
7. Keep your office desk organized. No, a clean desk isn’t the sign of a simple mind: it’s the sign of an efficient, energetic mind! The more space there is, the less crowded your energy is. File rather than pile, and gather up those sticky notes!
8. Make a list of the home improvement projects you want to accomplish. Nagging, incomplete projects not only create clutter, they also drag your mood down because another thing on your to-do list is staring you in the face. Dispatch routine tasks as soon as possible, and work to get the others off your calendar.
Clearing away clutter may seem like too much work, but you need to learn how to do it effectively for your own benefit. Once you cut down on the clutter in your life, you can move on to more productive levels of emotion and energy that put you ahead of the game.
But be honest about whether you really need to sit on it.
