Image from thoughtsonfilms.wordpress.com

As society gets more and more busy, we realize that we are constantly pressured to do more and more in lesser time. Sometimes when we look at the end of each week, we notice that we have put in so much time at work but did not know where it went? Where did it all go and was it worth it?

As a results oriented individual, I’m always experimenting different ways to make myself more productive and efficient. I do not want to just simply put in more hours at work but rather, seek to make better use of the time that I have.

Here are the 54 no frills way of improving your productivity right now!

Habits

1. Hermit Time. You need to allocate a time slot where you will totally be undisturbed and being incommunicable (just like a hermit).

2. Momentum is key! Remember that there is always momentum when you work. It is very important to ensure that the momentum is not disrupted by other things, e.g. phone calls, checking emails, people stopping by to talk to you and etc. Once the momentum is lost, it will take some time to get it back.

3. I-can’t-see-you. Turn off anything that distracts, i.e. Instant messengers, TV, newspapers, facebook, twitter and etc.

4. Stop multi-tasking. There is a white paper that says that it makes you stupid, impatient and reduce your concentration ability. Doing one thing at a time also makes you focused to accomplish a task quickly and to high standards.

5. Stop being a perfectionist. You can take whole day to ensure that small little things are in order, but is that effective?

6. Say “NO”. Taking more things doesn’t make you more focused or effective if you are already struggling with the amount of things to do. There are always more things to do, but it should not be done at the expense of what is the main purpose of your job.

7. Performance Reviews. Conduct self evaluations at the end of each day and ask how you would have done it better.

8. Maximizing “On the go time”. When you are traveling, can you listen to a CD or MP3s to educate yourself?

9. Buzzword is Effectiveness. Remember that activity does not mean accomplishment. You can be doing a lot of things and running around in circles. Strive to be effective first before being efficient.

10. Effectiveness Percentage. Calculate your Efficiency percentage= [ (Time doing Real Work¹) / (Time spent at work²) ] x 100%. Where ¹ is the amount of time you actually spend doing real work, while ² is the office hours you put in. You will be wise to improve efficiency percentage by maximizing your time.

11. Invest in yourself. Read, attend courses or seminars that will make you think faster, make better decisions and improve your gut feel for things.

12. Avoid information overload. Today’s society tends to give us too much information about things that we rarely use. Unsubscribe yourself from websites or reduce reading newspaper content. Read only relevant ones that impact you.

13. Schedule Pit Stops. Even a high performance car in the F1 needs to enter a pit stop to refuel and change tires. They do it so that they will continue running at an optimum speed. You need  your rest so that you can carry on working better.

F1 cars getting a tune up before they race

Daily organization

14. Plan ahead. Create a task list of things to do by the morning. Put check boxes next to them so that it will encourage you to complete them.

15. Finish by 12pm. Do the important tasks as quickly as possible before lunch time.

16. Schedule dailies. If you set aside time on a task or habit, you will tend to finish the long waited book, losing weight or learn an entirely new sport.

17. Spell Deadlines. Give yourself deadlines to everything you do. Remember that deadlines are spelled as deadlines, not datelines. Cross the line and you are dead.

18. Break-up. Break up huge tasks into smaller sizes. This prevents procrastination and getting lost in the immensity of a task. Finishing small bite sizes of work tends to be much easier to manage.

19. Peg time limits to each task. This prevents you from using too much time to finish a task.

20. Keep files for everything. This will prevent you from looking around for lost documents.

21. Prioritize your work. What is urgent may not always be important.

22. Ignore doing, if possible. Before you do anything, ask yourself if you really need to do it? Sometimes the consequences of not doing anything may be acceptable. There are some things that do not even need to be done.

23. P-Cycle. Decide when your most productive time is. There are personal cycles of productivity and you should schedule your most important tasks at that time.

24. Batch your work- If you batch your work into chunks, it might be easier to manage. Think of all the functions of your job scope and complete it a chunk at a time, e.g. make phone calls, run errands or clear administrative work.

25. Be like e good chef. Before a chef cooks, he has all the ingredients laid out before him already. Gather all the resources and tools before you start to work.

26. Cross-pollination. Bring good ideas or best practices from other industries and ask if they can be applied to yours as well.

Emails

27. Stop excessive emailing checking: Check your emails only twice or at maximum three times a day. Excessive checking of emails tends to make you waste time.

28. Act on all emails immediately: Do it by deleting or replying to them. Do not try to read an email first and then decide to reply later. This makes you waste time in re-reading emails.

29. Short and sharp. Reduce the length of emails so that other people do not find it too daunting to read and you will also save time in the process of crafting it as well.

30. Boilerplate. Use them for frequent questions or repetitive proposals. Boilerplates are essentially templates to typical questions or proposals without having to constantly reinventing the wheel.

31. Craft subject lines clearly. Since most people decide to open emails based on subject lines, it is important that you need to write relevant and descriptive subject lines.

32. Number your points. It helps to ease reading and guide others to reply according to your points.

Communication

33. Quick Chat. Strive for the quickest and most effective way of communication. A one minute conversation one-to-one phone call can deliver the better results than you making a lengthy reply through emails or Short Messaging Service (SMS).

34. Clarity of speech. Be clear on your thoughts and purpose for every conversation. Most people don’t communicate well because they do not know what they want to achieve from every conversation. Communication is considered effective only when the recipient receives your intended meaning.

Image from languages-now.com

Meetings

35. Do I need to be there? Always ask if you really need to attend the meeting before hand. Some meetings are just for information and you can just read the minutes after the meeting.

36. Agendarise everything. Ensure there is an agenda in all meetings. This is to make meetings purposeful and clear.

37. Time Limit. Decide that you will end the meeting at an appointed time. This helps reduce unnecessary conversations.

38. Homework. Before you do anything new, consider talking to people first. You can save precious time from avoiding mistakes that other people have committed.

Work Environment

39. Conducive Environment. Maintain a work environment that encourages you to work. Distractions from people or a messy table might affect you. Think through about what items need to be close/far from you to encourage you to work better.

40. Adequate Lighting. Ensure that there is enough lighting to avoid eyestrains.

41. Good ergonomics. Ergonomics is defined as the science of measurement and a person’s relationship to it. You should have good posture in everything you use. This includes desk, height of computer, distance of the computer from your eyes, your feet resting comfortably flat on the floor and etc.

Outsourcing or Delegation

42. Value Generation. Consider out-sourcing or delegating part of your work out if you feel that it does not bring generate the most value for your company. Can part timers or personal assistants help? Anything repetitive can usually be outsourced easily.

43. Need a freelancer? You can outsource your work (almost anything can be done there) to professionals from other countries at a reasonable price. Try elance.com or getafreelancer.com.

44. Hire good people and get out of their way. Be clear on their job descriptions and how they add value to the company. Coach them to succeed and empower them to make decisions so that they can improve your company’s effectiveness.

Personal motivation

45. Hang out. Stick with people who inspire you to take positive action in life. Identify friends or colleagues that inspire you to take massive action to improve your life. I’m sure that if you were to hang around with Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or Steve Jobs, you will want to do something significant with your life!

46. Get pumped up. Staying motivated is extremely important in getting you to complete long duration tasks. Realise what keeps you motivated and constantly remind yourself of it.

47. Mantra Mantra. Recite “Do it now” again and again until you are too tired to hear another time and get it done.

48.Get a personal mentor or coach. They will help you identify your blind spots and coach you to overcome them and focus on what you do best.

49. Reward yourself. Give yourself a reward when you achieve certain milestones in your work. This will give you incentive to work harder the next time.

50. Practice makes permanence. The more time you spend in doing something, the better you become. This reduces the amount of time to do it again. Hey, being good at something also pays well too!

Computer Techniques

51. Better software skills. Consider upgrading your software skills and learn short-cuts and hot keys to finish a task faster.

52. Email consolidation. Programs like Gmail has the ability to consolidate several email addresses into a main account. This means that you can avoid logging into too many email accounts and asking yourself if your email is placed in which account.

53. WPM. Improve your typing speed (measured in Words Per Minute). Secretaries to learn how to touch type (which means typing without looking at keys) and tend to be faster than anyone else. You can type faster by memorising the keyboard and using all your fingers.

54. Use updated tools. Ensure that the software and hardware tools are all updated so that they can function at an optimum speed. A computer with a good processing speed and internet connection speed is essential to ensure that it does not impede your work.

PS: If you have new ideas that you think should be included in this blog post, do leave your comments here. Do share about which one above you feel resonates within your soul.

Popularity: 30% [?]

My son is 15 months old and I asked myself what I would tell him when he is growing up to be a man. It will probably be a letter of hope, encouragement and resilience. I hope that when he grows up, he will keep these words into his heart. I do this to share about the need to influence people towards greatness.

Isaac Trying To Climb Up Daddy's Leg

Do read my personal letter to him:

—

25 Aug 2010

Dear Isaac,

I just want you to know that you are really the apple of my eye. Do you know that every time I look at you, feelings of fondness and love for you will flow out from me? Whenever you lay on your bed and sleep, I will endeavour to steal a glance and watch you slowly drift into sleep. I will walk up next to you, crawl onto the mattress and give a kiss to tell you that you are a beautiful gift that God has blessed mommy and me.

I pray that you will be a man of character, standing strong in a world where values are constantly shifting and eroding. I pray that I too will be such a man that can lead and teach you to do what is right. Sometimes the weaknesses of my soul and flesh will betray me. Even my words may not match up to my actions, but I hope that you will forgive my fallen nature and know that I am a father who is giving his best to teach you life lessons within my capabilities. Focus on building integrity and acting on good intend rather than the outward appearance of looks and impression.

If you handle your inner world in a correct manner, your outer world will be great as well.  Your inner beauty will radiate outwards when you hold fast to the values you are taught. Remember that situations do not make a man, but they merely reveal the size of character in a man.

The world awaits you with much excitement and snares. I am excited for you on how you will handle this journey and yet at the same time concerned for the snares of unpleasantness it can hurl at you.

Whenever life throws you disappointments, failures and heartaches, remember that everything has a season. When you are suffering in coldest winter, remember that spring is coming. When darkness is at its fullness, remember that dawn will break forth soon.

Your perspective and resilience in handling what it can throw at you will set you apart from the rest. Never give up on dark situations, but instead ask how you rise above it. When you keep asking the right questions, I believe that you will find the right answers. Emotional resilience is important in an uncertain world where everything happens so fast. Hold on to God and allow Him to guide you through.

Isaac, I also pray that you will grow in wisdom in handling situations around you. I also know that wisdom comes from making wrong choices. Therefore be courageous in making mistakes because there is always a gem of wisdom that we must learn from every one of them. Mistakes are also a gentle way of reminding us that we are still human and not as invincible as we think we are.

Let love for mankind and God guide your every action. Let it also be the guiding principle of your decision making. People around you may not respond or reciprocate in the same manner, but do it anyway. Love is an intelligent willingness to do what is the best for the other person. It is not a feeling, but an action. Do not let others influence you that love is a feeling and is only there while it lasts. There will be many times you will not feel like loving, especially when you are hurt by others, misunderstood or even hated, but do it anyway. Love need not be done in an extraordinary manner, but just you being faithful in loving people around you, is already extraordinary.

Isaac, remember that your mommy and I will always love you. We want you to know that you are precious and that having a resilient character is important. Be the man you are supposed to be and be a person after God’s heart.

With the sweetest love,

Daddy.

P.S.: I still look forward to watching you fall asleep.

Isaac sleeping on his favourite boaster

Popularity: 27% [?]

Do you give your staff space to have fun and express their creativity at work? Southwest Airlines allow their flight attendants to express themselves and the results are amazingly astonishing.

Watch these videos how they have turned the mundane work of giving a safety briefing into something fun:

So… are you doing anything fun and creative this week?

Popularity: 24% [?]

I will be speaking in SIM to the Marketing Executives Group on 26 Aug 2010, 7.30-9pm.

I will be sharing on how you can build a brand name for yourself and your business with little or no money. If you have more exposure and publicity, more people will purchase from you. This is essential to the growth of your business.

Here’s a write up on the program:

Marketing is critical to the survival of any company. With limited budget and resources, is it possible to achieve public awareness and create a strong following of fans dedicated to your products or services? Gain insights on time-tested techniques that are regularly used to build rapport with your audiences. Learn strong brand positioning techniques and also employ ways to build a strong following of loyal supporters. Learn how to attract clients and on the tested leverages all companies should use before they cease to exist.

Hope to see you that night. If you are interested in growing your business through low cost marketing strategies, you definitely need to be there.

For More Information, click here.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Hawthorne Workers (picture from ansanelli.com)

In 1924-1932, a series of experiments were conducted to examine how fatigue, monotony and supervision on an assembly line affected productivity. However at the end of the experiment, researchers were amazed to find out many other correlations that affected employee productivity and morale. Many of their insights and observations are still used by today’s management. What they have discovered decades ago will be to increase productivity of your team today.

The name of this experiment is called ….

The Hawthorne Experiment

This experiment was carried out at Hawthorne Works, a factory that produced electrical components and equipment. It was one of the state-of-the-art factory of its time where over 40,000 people worked there. Hawthorne Works also pioneered many quality control practices and principles.

In all the experiments, an observer sat and watched a particular control group. In some of the experiments, changes to the illumination of the room were made. In another, conditions of the work environment constantly changed. In fact, it was changed 23 times. Changes included introduction of 2 five minute breaks, more breaks being subsequently added, breaks were lengthened to 10 minutes, food was given during breaks and staff were being dismissed half an hour earlier and then 1 hour earlier. In most cases, output generally increased.

What was interesting was even when conditions were worse off at some time, production generally increased. The amazing thing was that when these privileges were taken away and workers resumed their normal working conditions, output was increased by 25%. What was more interesting was that the team had no supervisor and they assumed personal responsibility for their work and output.

Here are some of the findings of the Hawthorne Experiment:

1.    The simple fact that the participants were asked to be part of an important experiment, created better attitude within them. They considered themselves to be an important group because their views were constantly sought after by the company.

2.    There is an eager desire within each person for cooperative activity…. and can be utilised by intelligent and straight-forward management.

3.    Consultation between management and employees gave a sense of belonging to the company. This helps people to take ownership of what they do.

4.    When employees form a social atmosphere in the work environment (which also included the observer), they tend to be more motivated.

Implications to the work environment and how you can use the Hawthorne effect in your work place:

1.    Giving your staff specialised training or verbal appreciation will help them work harder and increase their motivation.

2.    Getting people to work in small teams helps to improve performance if the team is harmonious and dedicated.

3.    Giving a sense of freedom to staff without a need for micro-management will tend to yield ownership in their work. Frequent interaction between management and staff is also a crucial contributing factor.

4.    Creating an environment where there is a social factor is also important to staff motivation. There is a need to change some management’s thinking that fun or social relationships should not take place in work environments. It does add to your bottom line when you have employees who feel a sense of belonging to the company.

PS: I would love to hear your comments. Do let me know what you think! If you have other reasons, do share them in the comment link above this article.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Impolding Structure from www.washington.edu

You have always suspected that members of your team are not happy and yet when you ask what happened, you don’t get any good answers. You’re sure that there’s something wrong, but you just can’t confirm it. How can you tell if your team is at risk? 

1.    Some members of the group feel frustrated and sometimes avoid bringing out certain issues when it is important. 

2.    There’s unresolved conflict in the group. They might even avoid meetings to keep away from meeting the person they are unhappy with. 

3.    Team members start to complain about each other and say “Just between you and me, I believe that Jack is …..” 

4.    Members start to point fingers and lay blame at each other. 

5.    You start seeing small cliques within the group; each trying to support their friends in discussions. 

6.    Worst of all, anything you say, seems to be the best idea and you are constantly reminded that your ideas will make a huge difference in their lives. 

What can you do? 

1.    Remember that when people come together, conflict is inevitable. Rather than call it conflict, we should call them reasonable engagements. It is reasonable to engage your team members in a conversation. Conflict resolution skills should be developed to handle different opinions, rather than avoiding conflicts. 

2.    People do not need you to necessary agree with them on everything but they need you to hear them out. Once team members have spoken, they tend not to harbor resentment. 

3.    Be sure to remind your team that they are challenging ideas and not each other. 

4.    Check if team members share the same objectives, it is simply impossible to solve issues if they do not have that common ground. 

5.    Help members understand that the group’s interest takes precedence over self interest. 

6.    Educate team members about the different working styles and personalities of each member. Tools such as DISC personality profiling assessments have been used by over 50 million people, many of them in the Fortune 500 companies. 

To prevent a group from disintegrating, a leader must be sharp to detect the symptoms and then apply the necessary ways to address them. I have personally learn from my mistakes that whenever team problems arise, I must address them quickly. Failing so will lead to a lot more problems in the future.

Want to know ways to increase your team work and by helping your managers work on their team management abilities? Contact Kenneth now.

Related Articles: 

Here Are The Limitations Of Most Teambuilding Programs 

How Teamwork Helps You Achieve More With Less 

Getting People to Consistently Trust You In All You have to say 

10 Ways to Inspire Team Members to Consistently Give Their Best

Popularity: 22% [?]

People Resigning from whyatt.com.au

Whenever a person leaves a company, it is estimated to cost their employers about 2 years of that person’s salary. This cost comprises of rehiring, training, loss of contacts that this person might have, employee benefits and etc. During exit interviews, I don’t think you will actually hear the REAL reasons why they leave. After talking to many professionals and including HR practitioners, I have concluded that in most instances, people actually leave their bosses, not their jobs.

I understand that there might be other push/pull factors for a person to leave; however, I will just focus on the reasons to why people leave their bosses (or managers).

1. Poor leadership skills of bosses

One of the main reasons is that their immediate bosses tend to have poor leadership skills. Bosses tend to give them unclear job descriptions, make them work hard without proper recognition/rest, are picky or have poor people skills. Making staff work hard is not the main issue, but not giving them the proper respect and acknowledgment at work is extremely frustrating to their staff. There are some bosses who also tend to be insecure in their role, pushing their staff down, while ensuring that they be acknowledged for every level of success their staff brings.

2. They are micro-managed by their bosses
If a staff is constantly asked by his/her superior on the progress of their work and had them to intervene in the way they do things, they will tend to be frustrated. Bosses intervene mainly because there is a lack of trust in their staff’s quality of work. It is better for bosses to actually manage based on end results rather than day to day monitoring.

3. Bosses with hidden agendas
The lack of trust between staff and boss tend to produce conversations with hidden meanings. When trust is low, people start to guess what their boss actually mean in their conversations. Some bosses speak in meetings to seemingly care for their departments, but often their staff feel that there is a hidden purpose behind every statement. Some people have even commented that their bosses are political and hide behind different meanings in a statement. The way to combat such ill feelings is to be forth-coming, truthful and transparent in the way you relate to staff.

4.    Bosses not delivering promises

Have you heard of the following statements:

“I have plans to promote you in the next few months” or “If you were to achieve these targets, you can expect _____” to only find out that your boss did not fulfill his/her promise?

The thing I am trying to bring across is that sometimes managers don’t deliver on what they say. It only needs to happen only once before people starting doubting everything their boss says. The only way to address this issue is to consistently say what you mean and mean what you say.

Conclusion

Whenever people leave, take a good look at the leaders. In most cases, people leave their bosses, not their jobs. In order to stop great people from leaving, always start with working on the way leaders lead their people.

PS: I would love to hear your comments. Do let me know what you think! If you have other reasons, do share them in the comment link above this article.

Popularity: 44% [?]

I have spoken to many clients about their teambuilding needs and realised that many companies want to have teambuilding programs without very clear objectives. Generic statements like the ones below are often uttered:

“We want them to be more cohesive and have a spirit of camaraderie.”

“Foster closer ties and have teamwork.”

“We have gone to __________ (insert your previous venue) before, can we go somewhere else different this time?”

I know that there are reasons behind those statements but what is it that they are really tackling? Whenever I talk to my clients, I try to help them gain clarity in their purpose to make it a fun and yet meaningful experience for them.

Most teambuilding programs have severe limitations and here are the things that it cannot do:

1.    Solve deep rooted resentment among specific individuals. If certain colleagues are already angry with each other, teambuilding programs might not be the best answer. It is better to trash it out openly between them then send them to a teambuilding program.

2.    Streamline processes in work, thus making things more efficient. You need a process consultant, not a teambuilding expert.

3.    Change corporate culture. Culture is already embedded into the company and it does not change overnight.

So, after knowing what teambuilding cannot do, the question is then “what can it do?”

1.    Inspire change in mindsets. My experience is that we can shift or break certain old patterns of thinking by introducing new ones through activities. Using activities are great because most people have better retention rates if they experience the lessons rather than just hear them through a lecture.

2.    Get people to start opening up and sharing with each other.

3.    Create a sense of belonging to the company. When people play together with each other and not against each other, there is a sense of unity.

4.    Give important principles about team concepts and winning with people. Principles are easily remembered and will not change with time.

5.    Help participants know that the company cares for them. Companies provide what I call “meaningful fun” rather than just play games and not learn anything serious.

So, before you start to choose a company for teambuilding, consider your objectives first and then get a company with a great track record. They must be consistent in providing an experience where your colleagues can feel inspired to make a change in their lives.

Here’s an interesting video on how everything goes wrong in a teambuilding exercise by American Airlines. Enjoy!

Popularity: 24% [?]

Running To The End Point, Image from www.zimbio.com

There is one trait that totally sets successful people apart from the rest of the other people. This one trait made them rise above the rest and is very well respected by many people. What is it?

The trait that I am talking about is Single-mindedness. All successful people know what they want in their hearts, are very purposeful and single minded in reaching their aspirations. Few people actually know what they want, fewer people actually stay true to their purpose. They get caught up with many other things in life that they lose sight of what really matters and give-in to everything that shouts for their attention.

Why be single-minded and focused? Let me share with you reasons why you cannot afford not to do it:

1. It keeps us disciplined.
The ability to say “NO” to the distractions around you and being clear to move forward is extremely important. This helps you to be focused and clear the clutter on what inattention brings. We also become very purposeful in setting aside time to what’s most important and continue to see it through. It is my firm believe is that you can only say NO when you have a clear strategy/purpose.

2. It yields results.
Being single-minded is not being inflexible, but knowing that you have very clear on the end goals. When I first started my business in training, I wanted to do everything. I started training in eight different topics and this got me nowhere. Much later, I understood the importance of concentrating in being the best I could be and I literally struck off many programs to just concentrate in two core areas; motivation and teambuilding. The results were astonishing! I started to be noticed by magazine writers, newspapers and even was had the chance to speak and train in six different countries around Asia. You need to hold on to your firm convictions and not be easily swayed. Keep working on it and find out how to make it work!

3. It pays well.

Jim Collins, in his book, Good to Great, highlights how companies moved to greatness by just perfecting what they are good at. Their generated cumulative stock returns from end 1975 to 2000 outperformed the market by 15 times, beating great companies such as GE, Coca-Cola and Intel. By just concentrating in relocating all their stalls into convenient locations, using clustering methods (sometimes up to nine stores in a mile), drive through pharmacies and even high margin photo processing services, they increased the profit per customer visit. More convenience led to more customer visits and when multiplied with the increased profits per visit, it threw cash into their company.

Conclusion:

I hoped I have given you compelling reasons to start being single-minded. Start small by deciding to keep to the things you have decided and not waiver on them. Then move on to bigger decisions which involve your life, family and career.

PS: Hope to also hear from you on what are the steps you have decided to take after reading this article.

Popularity: 34% [?]

Source: http://www.sesc.k12.in.us/

Last night I was walking pass a shop and I saw the words, “Seize the Day!” or “Carpe Diem” (in Latin). I joked with my wife that many people have heard of this phrase, but most end up saying “I will start tomorrow!”

My question is that if it is really worth doing right now, why wait?

Most people want to succeed.

Most people want to do something they like to do.

But really, a few will actually get to do it. Why? I like to suggest that most of them think of starting tomorrow and that’s where the issue is.

What’s wrong with tomorrow? Before I start, let me first explain that it is perfectly to start the next day, however what I am actually cautioning against is the idea of “I will do it when the time is right”.

Honestly, there are many times I don’t know whether the time is right or not. It just comes with an intense desire to see change and the willpower to see things through. To start seeing results, it starts by making a firm commitment to what you have said and the willpower to see it through. The right time to see change is usually NOW.

I remember fondly telling my audiences in my talks that one good way to achieve your dreams is to first WAKE UP! It is only when we wake up, we can get to take action in what we dream about.

Here are some things you can do to seize the day:

1. Do something that you have always procrastinated.
2. Work on that thing/project that you have always been talking about.
3. Spend time with people that you have always wanted to do.
4. Do something Crazy that you have never done before.

So… remember to Seize The Day and oh, by the way…. start Today!

Kenneth eating a cricket in Cambodia

Popularity: 28% [?]