Productivity – Achieving more through less….

Whatever our position within a business, we are all counted upon to contribute towards organisational success. While some employees clearly have greater influence and impact than others, we can all work towards greater productivity within the sphere of influence we do have. Although activity is important, too many of us seem to place it above effectiveness… completed to-do lists, responses to emails, long hours, and packed diaries aren’t necessarily hallmarks of highly productive people.

Increase your productivity by focusing on the following:

Start each day in your direction. Beginning your morning by checking your email is the easiest way to lose control of your direction, and be led by someone else’s. Starting with emails ensures others dictate what you accomplish. Start each day in the direction you want to go by ignoring your emails and taking those morning moments to focus on yourself. Eat a good breakfast, reflect, or read the news.

Follow the 80/20 rule. It is the few things in each day done well that account for the vast majority of our results. 20% of your overall activities will produce 80% of your results. That suggests there is a lot of ‘filler’ in each day that needs to be delegated or deferred. To have the greatest effect, concentrate on the few key activities that will produce the highest overall productivity.

Harder activities earlier. Tackle the most challenging work in the morning, when your brain is clear and refreshed. Save your busy, less complex work for later in the day. Brian Tracey wrote a great book ‘Eat that frog’ in which he shares great ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time. Let’s not forget, procrastination, by doing lots of meaningless things, is the greatest killer of real productivity.

Isolate distractions. If there are certain things that pepper your daily productivity with distractions, endeavour to isolate them to better manage them. For example, if you are pulled into too many meetings, or find yourself checking emails throughout the day, take action to isolate activities. Plan to use morning, afternoon, and evening time slots for managing such activities. Even consider closing your email until those timeslots. Minimising your distractions in this way will allow you to accomplish more important goals throughout the day.

Take breaks. Ultradian rhythms refer to 1.5 – 2 hour cycles during which our bodies slowly move from a high–energy state into a physiological trough. Towards the end of each cycle, the body begins to crave a period of recovery. The signs can include restlessness, yawning, hunger and difficult in concentrating – but how often do you ignore them, and in the name of ‘productivity’? Take a walk, eat something, exercise, or meditate – give your brain some resting time. You’ll come back recharged and ready to achieve greater productivity.

Enjoy the satisfaction of achieving more through less and developing greater levels of productivity.

Ready, Fire, Aim!

Too often amongst the clutter of activity to get things done, effectiveness suffers in the pursuit of efficiency. How often do you see lots of doing and too little thinking? Managers who would much rather reaction than a moment of reflection?

In such cases where leaders lack clarity and the ability to create focus, teams are left aimless and disunified. In these environments teams can only resort to ‘getting things done’ rather than ‘getting things right’. All because of too much doing and not enough thinking.

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest path to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat” – Sun Tzu

How long has it been since you or your team dedicated time to think about how and why you’re doing what you’re doing? Taking the time to stop and reflect is a critical leadership practice.

• Unless we pause and think, we can forget why we’re here and what we stand for;
• Unless we pause and think, we can lose perspective of life and work;
• Unless we pause and think, we can overlook what matters;
• Unless we pause and think, we can fail to learn from our mistakes;
• Unless we pause and think, we remain reactive, and unable to overcome the unexpected.

Leadership requires deep thinking. Our behaviour, action and results are the products of our thinking. If we are not happy with the results we are getting we need to stop and think about what needs to change.

As we take time to pause and think about what is important, we develop clarity. When we have clarity about where we need to go, and can pause to adjust our decisions and actions accordingly, we create effectiveness. To ask “What needs to be done right now? This week? This month? This year?” can bring focus back to our work. It can help free us from our need for ‘action’.

The reality is that we cannot be successful unless our actions are focused on that which matters most.

Are you clear as to what’s the most important thing right now?