A holistic approach to increasing your get-up and go, from the productivity expert whose previous books showed people how to Find More Time and Leave the Office Earlier. If you want to be productive but are just too tired all the time, you need to read this book! Laura Stack combines invaluable insights and practical advice in this guide to becoming more energetic and more productive in every area of life. Stack describes the factors that contribute to low energy (the "energy bandits") and explains how to reduce their effects and build up or renew sources of positive force (with "energy boosters").
Find More Time. You can't add more hours to the day, but Laura will help you make the most of the time you have and get things done. Available now from Amazon.com.
Leave the Office Earlier, Laura shows you how you CAN get more done than you ever thought possible and still get home to your real life sooner.Available now from Amazon.com.
NEW!
Streaming online learning library of Microsoft Outlook videos! Ten one-hour
modules available for 2003 or 2007--includes detailed workbook with screen shots
and step-by-step instructions!
Normally $39 each module. Special through October 2009: ALL TEN modules for
$319. Use code ALLTEN in coupon code. Pick Outlook 2003 or 2007.
NEW Monthly Poll
Answers to last month's poll: Have you
had some success in shaving off unexpected and unwanted tasks as a result of a
new habit or behavior? We received two great tips:
1. Our multi-purpose large copier at work has a "scan" function that lets you
turn your documents into PDFs. By scanning things I used to save as paper files,
I can now file everything electronically, which also makes it easier to
organize, sort, and search. An added bonus is that it is easier to share files
electronically rather than mailing or faxing.
2. I simplified my monthly reporting by inputting brief comments from meetings
directly into MS Outlook calendar entries immediately after the meetings are
over. Then, at month end, I simply have to export them to Excel and submit the
report.
"Never tell people how to
do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their
ingenuity." -- George S. Patton
"The vision is really about empowering workers, giving them all the information
about what's going on so they can do a lot more than they've done in the past."
-- Bill Gates
"Devising and maintaining an atmosphere in which others can put a dent in the
universe is the leader's creative act." -- Warren Bennis
Where in the World
is Laura?
If you're interested in bringing Laura to your organization to present a training seminar for your employees on the day prior or the day after one of these engagements below, please contact John Stack for special "piggyback" pricing.
Hopefully by now we all get it: this economy is challenging,
things are changing, and everyone is looking for ways to do more with less.
Unfortunately, as many companies struggle to adjust to this new reality,
opportunities are being missed. Often we are so focused on stretching an
organization's financial and other resources that we become less effective in
managing our human resources.
Why do you think that is? A lot of the time, it's just a matter of focusing on
the tangible rather than the intangible. If you can improve a machine's output
by 10 percent, that's obviously a good thing. But improving an employee's
productivity...that's much more difficult to turn into a percentage (or a dollar
figure).
Regardless, it is the manager's job to get the most out of his or her employees.
And that goes far beyond counting hours or studying performance evaluations. How
do you get them to want to do more with less, work harder, and actually care?
You engage them in the process.
Engaged employees are invested in what they do and are committed to their own
success and to the success of the company. A disengaged employee will do what is
necessary to keep receiving a paycheck. An engaged employee will go the extra
mile. And the gap between the two can be the difference between the success and
failure of an organization.
Read on for five ways to build a more engaged - and thus more productive -
organization:
Regain focus. When you are under pressure to produce results, sometimes
you just need to step back and acknowledge that you and your team can't do
everything. And chances are many activities eat up time but don't add tremendous
value to the organization. Be merciless as you get rid of low priority tasks
that aren't advancing the big-picture objectives of your group. The better your
team is able to focus on activities that are at the heart of what they do, the
happier, more engaged, and more productive they will be.
There's a good possibility that regaining focus is something you've been
struggling to accomplish anyway...maybe for years. The recent perfect storm of bad
economic news might be a good opportunity to finally make it happen. Minds are
open. Limitations are being acknowledged. Hard choices are being made. The
timing might finally be right to make the case for getting back to basics.
Empower your people. Nothing kills engagement like not having the
authority or resources necessary to do the job at hand. Of course if your staff
feels powerless, frustrated, or micromanaged, they'll be less effective. But
also consider how those feelings will influence morale, day in and day out.
Eliminate as much needless bureaucracy and as many levels of approval for things
that you possibly can. Weigh the importance of double or triple-checking every
task against what would happen if a mistake were to slip through. You've hired
people to do a job. It is important that they be allowed to do it without
feeling like they aren't trusted or seen as capable.
Sometimes being a good manager means realizing that sometimes it really is
better to ask forgiveness than approval.
Communicate. Uncertainty will eat away at productivity from the inside
out. Keeping your folks in the dark about what is happening with the company
will lead to problems ranging from general anxiety and gossip to infighting and
résumé polishing. None of these are conducive to an engaged staff or a
productive working environment.
Even if there is nothing particularly consequential going on at the corporate
level, it is important to repeatedly communicate with your staff about how
things are going, what level of performance is expected, and what might be on
the horizon. Keeping them in the loop shows that your value their perspective
and respect their feelings. That makes them much more likely to be there for you
when you need performance that is beyond the ordinary call of duty.
Ask the experts. When it comes to employees' everyday responsibilities,
nobody knows the subject better than they do. Never underestimate how much there
is to be learned from your team.
And don't just observe. Interact. Ask questions. Let them speak.
Hold a small, informal, low-pressure meeting where your people can tell you what
ails them. Ask about their big frustrations. Then ask about their small ones.
Not only will you develop a more intimate perspective on the work they do, you
can also find opportunities to identify and tear down productivity roadblocks
that you might not even realize are there.
Just remember, your job is to listen, guide discussion, and find ways to use
your position to advocate for better ways of doing things. Doing so can lead to
great, innovative ideas that save money, eliminate waste, and improve
productivity at every level.
Manage the clock. Asking people to put in long hours is a great tool but
a lousy way of life. If you overdo it, your team will end up tired, resentful,
and burned out. There will always be more to do than hours to do it, so turning
a 60-hour workweek into the norm isn't going to solve problems in the long term.
The time to rally the troops with longer than normal hours is when you have a
specific, tangible objective that can be met in a reasonable timeframe; a
particular project that needs to be done; or a specific goal that needs to be
met. Make sure that everyone understands what you are trying to accomplish with
the longer hours and get them working together towards that end.
Once the need for extended hours is met, take the time to acknowledge success,
celebrate accomplishments, and show your people how much you appreciate the
effort.
So what's the bottom line here? Engaged employees are more motivated, better
focused, and more likely to buckle down and perform when you really need them
to. It's easy to see why improving engagement is good for the bottom line,
especially when the ideas that I've mentioned here tend to cost little, if
anything, to implement. If your goal is to get more than 40 hours worth of value
out of a 40-hour work week, a happier and more engaged workforce is priceless.
Make it a productive day!(TM)
(C) Copyright 2009 Laura Stack. All rights reserved.
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Expert
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Letters to the Editor
Hi Laura,
I DID use some info I learned from the seminar last Tuesday -- I saw a trade
show article I liked and posted it to my Linked In page, then signed up for
Twitter, shortened the article URL on tinyurl.com and posted the article with a
Twitter comment. All worked like a charm! Thanks for the great seminar and tips.
Linda C.
Time Tips and Traps Offered by Subscribers
1. Independence isn't doing your own thing; it's
doing the right thing on your own.
The same can be said for raising children or managing employees. Your business
needs people you can rely on to "do the right thing...on their own." Otherwise,
you spend more time babysitting than managing. The people, process, and
leadership demands of building a business are, in fact, a lot like the demands
of raising children. Growing Up, a new book by successful author Elizabeth
Calder, helps you:
Prepare your people, processes, and leadership for growth,
Apply the wisdom collected by parents over the millennia to move your business
forward, and
Spend less time in meetings and more time on the golf course.
Special offer! $1000s of bonuses with your purchase. To learn more
click here.
2. Think how much happier you would be if you had a truly effective blueprint
for coping with all the madness going on around you at the workplace. Imagine
how wonderful it would be to wake up in the morning and know that when you get
the office you are no longer powerless when it comes to dealing with bad bosses,
bullies, cranky clients, gossipy co-workers, slackers, and all the other
difficult people who make your 9-5 world miserable. Am I the Only Sane One
Working Here, written by bestselling psychologist and conflict resolution guru
Albert J. Bernstein, identifies the 101 types of major office pests (the kind
you'll find at every workplace) and offers concrete strategies that you can use
to nullify their negative effect on you. You can't change how difficult people
behave. But you CAN change how you deal with them. When you buy this book,
you'll also receive some fantastic thank you gifts.
Click here for details.
To be featured in this section of our newsletter
and get a free eBook with our thanks, send your productivity tip or trick to
Becca@TheProductivityPro.com with "Tips and Tricks contribution" in the
subject line.
PUBLIC SEMINAR. If you live in Colorado, attend our ADVANCED Microsoft Outlook
public seminar and discover tips and tricks for managing your workflow never
before taught by Laura. If you're buried hundreds (or thousands!) of email
messages, spend hours every day in your inbox, and have a hard time keeping up,
attend this critical half day of training with Laura Stack, The Productivity
Pro®, a Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS) in Outlook. She will
demonstrate advanced Outlook methods with her actual Outlook software and an LCD
projector. This is not simple computer training--it is workflow management--where
you'll learn to use Outlook to get more work done and increase your performance.
Even Outlook "power users" will be amazed by how much they learn.
Click here to
register or for more information.
MONTHLY WEBINAR. Or if you don't live in Denver, you can attend Laura's one-hour
virtual webinar with on October 26, 2009 on Making Teams Work: How to be a
Productive and Effective Team. It takes a lot of work and discussion to get
a team to function productively and effectively. Tapping a team's creative power
can only happen when team members recognize and value each other's contributions
and strengths. This course helps you realize the impact of your time management
style and personality on others and relate positively as a team. Get your entire
team together and watch in your conference room! During the program, the team
will generate its own code of conduct to guide future relationships and
behavior. Through fun team-building activities, they will leave with increased
cohesiveness, cooperation, and trust. Only $29 per person! (You can still buy
the discounted package of all ten: you'll get a link to the recording of those
that have past. For more information and to register,
click here.
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Laura Stack. All rights reserved. This information may not be distributed, sold,
publicly presented, or used in any other manner, except as described below.
Permission to reprint all or part of this article in your magazine, e-zine,
website, blog, or organization newsletter is hereby GRANTED, provided:
1. The ENTIRE credit line below is present,
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3. You send a copy, PDF, link, tearsheet, etc. of the work in which the article
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