How’s Your Communication?
I recently facilitated a work/life balance presentation for a client. I believe work/life balance isn’t final. That you don’t just achieve it and stay there forever. That it ebbs and flows as life changes and work alters and we need to be able to deal with all the physical, mental and emotional strains this places on ourselves and our teams. In a world of instant access, this simply means managing time and managing expectations – our own and others. However, one of the challenges with this is that we often apply our own expectations to other people and as a …
Optimisation
Optimisation Nelson Mandela once said “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” At the start of the week, it often seems like we have so much to do, but often it just “feels” that way. One easy way to get what needs to be done out of your head is to do a simple brain dump. Take a blank piece of paper (or utilise the task feature in your email program) and simply jot down all the things you need to do. It doesn’t matter if they are business or personal, just get it all out! Once you’ve got it …
Brain Dump
With so many tasks, expectations and deadlines it is easy for things to fall through the proverbial gaps if you don’t have a strategy for collecting, sorting and categorising the importance of tasks to be done. When you don’t have a strategy, or it is very loose, the results can vary, from missing important deadlines, being unprepared for meetings or worse, feeling anxious and stress resulting in grumpiness when you get home or trouble sleeping. Whilst working with a global brand we explored the concept of a brain dump. A brain dump is simply an allocated block of time where …
Is It Really Necessary?
Even though I have been a speaker and trainer in the area of productivity with technology for over twenty years, I’m still surprised by the volume of people who overuse technology just because that can or because it’s “easy”. It’s easy to send of an email and feel like it’s ticking and item off your to do list, but the question I encourage all organisations to discuss is, “Is it really necessary?” Before working with a team within an organisation, I conduct a pre-session survey. I ask a question relating to the percentage of the emails they received daily that …
Less is More
Don’t be tempted to put every single word you plan to say on the slide or a sheet of paper. When presenting to your colleagues, a board or at a conference, the audience want to hear what YOU have to say not read a screen or document. Too often because we know too much about our subject we A Overwhelm our audience with too much information so they remember very little B Sensory overload them with data or images in on screen presentations that distract or do not support what you are saying C Talk too fast Sometimes less is …
The Gift of Attention
Motivational Speaker and author Jim Rohn is quoted with saying “Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.” In a world where a majority of people are constantly shifting from one task to another, where two minute noodles take is too long to cook, the art of presence and attention is often lost in amongst the “ticking” off of to-do items. Whilst multi-tasking may make you feel like you are getting more done without the gift of attention you may miss the one thing that could have made a difference. A difference to …
Asset vs Liability
Awhile ago, recruitment company Hays said it can cost up to 2 1/2 times an employee’s salary to replace them when they leave an organisation. Now sometimes you can stop people from leaving because maybe there was something missing that they were looking for in the organisation and that’s the only reason that they’re leaving. However, in a lot of instances, organisations tend to look at their staff as a liability rather than an asset. Realistically human capital is the most expensive thing in a business today. Sure you can have equipment, but equipment you can “rely” on in general …
The Main Thing
One of my favourite quotes comes from Stephen Covey, author of classic productivity book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It is to remind ourselves to keep the main thing the main thing. Which simply means when you are overwhelmed with things, noise, tasks, projects, and stuff to be done, take some time to work out the main thing you need to focus on right now. If your inbox is full of emails, your desk covered in papers and your voicemail bursting with messages, give yourself some time out and think what is the main thing you need to …
How to Communicate More Productively
Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is credited with saying “The deepest desire of the human spirit is to be acknowledged.” I’m a big believer in communication without technology. That might sound strange coming from someone whose expertise lies in productivity with technology, but the “angle” I take is that just because we have technology doesn’t mean we should use it all the time. When it comes to communication and technology, here are some ideas to help increase your communication with others without relying on technology. Stop Using Emails to Communicate Everything I’ve never heard …
How do you plan to measure your productivity this week?
How do you plan to measure your productivity this week? Workplace expectations haven’t changed much in the last twenty plus years. When I started working in the late 1980s, “productivity” was measured by the number of hours you spent in the office. That was the way you “measured” it. Today it seems to be unconsciously measured by the number of emails that are being exchanged, who has received them and the time they were sent, like a digital badge of honor. More often than not, busyness is perceived as a sign of being productive, but does busyness equate to productivity?” …
