The Snowball Effect
Technology was supposed to make it possible to achieve more, with increased productivity and less risk and stress. But instead, it has resulted in a “snowball effect,” and there is often an underlying sense that being overloaded or constantly struggling with your workload is normal. Learning how to produce a report more efficiently in Excel or automate a regular email helps making your day less stressful and also reduces the risk of errors. Sometimes making the investment of time, and sometimes money, upfront can end up saving you hours of stress and frustration. Don’t accept the “snowball effect!” A simple …
What business can do to make it easier, not harder for staff to be productive
The lightning speed at which organizations shifted to online during the COVID pandemic meant many workers had to learn new technology to access organizational data remotely and participate in workplace meetings online. In a recent Raconteur article, Five Priorities for CIO’s in 2021, CIO’s identified the importance of engaging and educating their workforce with system capability. Whilst to many this may seem obvious, every organization has workers with different skill levels, confidence and exposure to technology that impacts on their perception of their capability. As restrictions start to relax and staff are settling in to returning to work or a …
Productivity isn’t about deflecting, it is about supporting
I’ve been working with a client who is trying to shift the organization’s “culture” when it comes to support using programs such as Microsoft Excel or Word. The culture has been one of passing the buck. Responsibility for “fixing” things they didn’t know how to do, where to find files or documents resulted in constant calls to the IT “help desk”. The culture was, they were called the help desk for a reason…. “they’re there to help right??” In this organization, technology training was considered an expense with the help desk looked upon as the source of all answers as …
Better Decisions
Does having access to more information mean we make better decisions? Not necessarily. Regardless of the amount of information we have access to, we can always get more. It may take more time or more resources to access. Sometimes we decide to hold off and gather more information. Other times there may be a sense of urgency, real or perceived, that requires us to make decisions and act based on the information we have at hand. I remember watching the movie “Sully” with Tom Hanks. It is the story of Chesley Sullenberger the pilot who landed his damaged plane on …
Workplace Learning Transformation
Interesting infographic from Racontuer Publishing. A much higher demand for digital learning post COVID with over 90% of learners broadly satisfied with virtual learning experiences. Not a surprise but, 94% of workplaces surveyed have changed their learning and development strategy since the pandemic, 59% think their digital learning adoption is in its infancy and 21% have implemented a new digital learning solution. As we move out of COVID to a new way of working a “one size fits all” approach to learning and development won’t work for everyone. Virtual or digital options need to be part of our blended learning …
Do something different.
When I first start working with clients, they always wanting to fast track results. Whether it is getting their Inbox under control, building and delivering more effective presentations or analysing data in their Excel spreadsheet, they KNOW there will be work involved, but they want to get there quickly! Reality is we didn’t get to where we are, overwhelmed and overloaded, overnight and a one day workshop, one hour seminar or reading a book is not going to “fix” our sense of overload. In his latest book, A World without Email, Computer Science Professor Cal Newport beautifully encapsulates where we …
Review and refine
We often think, “if only I knew how to do X, it would make things so much easier.” Time is then spent exploring how to learn what we think we need. But how we work with technology is a bit like cooking. For example, adding more liquid to cake batter that is runny won’t make your cake better, it will just make it runnier. Sometimes, adding is NOT what you need. To continue the cake baking metaphor, to resolve it, you may be able to add more flour, or if it is too far gone, you may have to let …
Lead by example
Human nature is to replicate the behaviours of those we are closest to. If you turn up to meetings late, others assume it is acceptable and they will replicate that behaviour. The best way to get increase the personal productivity of others, regardless of whether they report to you or not, is to lead by example. If you demonstrate you are productive by delivering on your promises and putting your hand up when something goes wrong, others around you are more likely to do the same. Being productive as a leader or a team member requires courage to commit to …
Virtual Training….how things change.
The traditional approach to training in the corporate world has often lacked tangible outcomes despite massive investment. With the shift to remote working in many parts of the world, virtual training became the only mechanism training and development could be delivered. Inadvertently, it opened up the possibilities of learning and sharing globally without the associated costs of bringing staff from various areas of the globe together. Despite what many may have experienced regarding training in the virtual world during the COVID crisis, McKinsey suggest there are real opportunities to close capability gaps with the added benefit of reducing costs. How …
Do you budget your time as well as you do your money?
Regardless of who you are, we only have 24 hours each day. Leading productively means budgeting your time as you would your money. So much time can be lost on activities that add little value. You can reclaim time by asking yourself “Is this the most productive use of my time?” If the answer is NO, then communicate quickly and if necessary provide a bit more detail. Let others know you can’t attend that meeting because you have a client deadline at the end of the day, or you can’t complete a task within the desired timeframe, but you can …
