How to Make Sure Your Next Meeting Online Doesn’t Send People to Sleep! – Warwick Merry
In the last eighteen months online meetings and events have been part of everyday life for most people in business. After a few months, Zoom fatigue set in and a lot of people found themselves more exhausted by online meetings than they had ever experienced in face to face environments. It’s hard to keep the energy up when the meetings you have seem endless and boring. Enter this episode’s guest Warwick Merry. With over 10 years in IT, two degrees, and a passion for improv, singing and acting, Warwick Merry’s world of hosting live events changed in 2020 when …
The Impact of Wellbeing in the Workplace – Laura Timbrook
Despite the best of intentions, life can get busy and stressful. Soon we start to notice we aren’t as energetic, focused or alert as we used to be, leaving us feeling less productive, frustrated and looking for a quick fix. With fad diets, stress management apps and fitness gurus, it’s hard to get back to a place of feeling healthy, happy and energetic. My guest in this episode, US based, national board certified health and wellness coach Laura Timbrook sees this all the time! Laura believes in practical, straight forward solutions to get results and she’s passionate about …
Helping Audiences Engage with Intent – Jon Yeo
We are often too busy to consider the impact of our work with each other. In a world of 24/7 connectivity, it is somehow hard to find the time to just get our immediate work done. But by altering our focus in our everyday communications, we can increase our productivity work towards intentional outcomes with clients and colleagues. In this episode I speak with Licensee and Head of Curation of Tedx Melbourne and Communication Coach, Jon Yeo about how we can help our audiences engage with intent. To find out more about Jon, visit www.brightstar.net.au To find out more …
Make it Simple & Easy
Starting a new role there is generally some sort of induction. A number of years ago as a contract trainer I worked with a global consultancy firm training graduates starting with the business and experienced new hires in the organization’s use of email and database management with Lotus Notes. Graduates were taken through a full day program and experienced new hires a half day. The investment of both money and time was made in ensuring these new staff members had a strong understanding of how the infrastructure was used in the organization. These days, when a new employee starts, they …
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 …
Different Experiences
The past twelve months have forced us to be more present to life in general. Things we have taken for granted we now appreciate a bit more, time with family, friends, exploring your local area and realising how blessed we are to be safe. As we start to come out of hibernation, I’ve been noticing that the kindness and compassion we shared with our community doesn’t seem as strong as it once was. It may be fatigue, or people being keen to simply get on with life many people as back to the pre-COVID busyness. For some COVID has been …
Productivity with Excel doesn’t have to be hard!
When I mention copying and pasting, I metaphorically see those perceiving themselves as “more advanced” with Excel rolling their eyes expecting a lecture reminiscent of a school teacher telling students to click here, then there but never actually understanding what or why they are doing something. Reality is, sometimes with Excel we EXPECT things to be complicated not simple. I’ve lost track of the number of times I have been shown the “long” way of how someone does something, only to show them a couple of quick steps that shaves minutes or even hours off the time it takes to …
Productivity Possible
Until Roger Bannister ran a mile in four minutes in 1954 ’s, no one believed running a mile in four minutes was possible. In much the same way, many organizations considered having staff work from home permanently, or even on a part time basis impossible. But with the pandemic forcing lockdowns and work from home orders across the globe, many executives would now be hard pressed to remember how skeptical they were. Productivity working from home IS possible! As we start to move out of the pandemic and move into what will be a new way of working, like the …
