Productivity —21 Boosters

Start with just one or two you that you could commit to most easily. Add action steps and deadlines that won’t conflict with your normal workload. Then make them a part of your everyday planning.

Don’t add any more productivity-builders until the first one or two become so natural to do that you’re not really aware they’ve become an unconscious daily habit. Only then should you pick one or two more and treat them the same way. And don’t be surprised—or discouraged—if it takes the entire year for only two or three to become unconsciously natural behaviors. Real change takes that long. Good luck!

Imitate effective people. Identify people at work who already have the qualities you’d like to have to be productive and successful. Get to know them better, over lunch or coffee. Spend quality time with them if you can—maybe even tell them why you’re interested in getting to know them better, and offer to help on some of their projects. Then, do what they do.

Manage pressures — both job and personal. Find a release, reinforce weak points, or re-channel the pressures. Some pressure helps people be productive; too much and it can wear people down kill incentive.

Manage your stress. Build, cherish your serenity. Identify/eliminate stress and exercise hard for 20 minutes, three times a week. List your stressors and take steps to eliminate them—or at least manage them better.

Manage your time. Take 15 minutes each day to plan your day, week, month, year. Set A-B-C priorities daily. (A=Must do today. B=Do your best to do it. C=Do it only when the A’s and B’s are done.

Say “No” to lower-priority tasks and requests. Focus on tasks that produce 80% of your results. This puts you on track to do your A’s.

Set productive (S-M-A-R-T) goals: Make goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

Do it NOW! Don’t procrastinate. Don’t promise yourself you’ll do it later.

Lead people gently. Don’t push them. Pull them along with you—through example, motivation, praise and encouragement. They’ll respond with better commitment.

Listen actively, one-to-one, openly and honestly. Remember that you have two ears but only one mouth: listen twice as much as you speak. You’ll learn a lot more

Communicate directly, one-to-one, openly and honestly. Be consistent in the way you treat other people. Let people know you tell it respectfully, but you tell it straight. Don’t manipulate—just talk openly. It builds trust.

Manage your disagreements. Resolve each conflict in a style that fits the situation: Win/Lose; Accommodation; Compromise; Avoidance; Collaboration Analyze the situation. Try to get successful win/wins for both parties. Treat the other person as your partner, not the enemy.

Encourage participation in decisions. People will be more involved in carrying them out, and they’ll do a better job.

Motivate & empower people. Use praise and recognition in a 4:1 ratio to criticism to “power-up” people. Use the 4:1 ratio both on and off the job. Sounds easy, but it isn’t. Try it for just one day and you’ll see why we tend to criticize more than praise.

Count the cost before you make waves. Ask, “Is it worth it?” If it isn’t, drop the effort and move on to something else.

Manage long-term projects. Plan ahead. Anticipate problems; build back-up plans, and don’t manage by crisis. Plan your work and work your plan.

Make meetings productive. Publish and follow an agenda. Let a team of three lead the meeting: facilitator, scribe and timekeeper. And start meetings on time.

Manage by facts. Use charts, graphs and the quality tools to define problems, analyze causes, identify solutions, and measure progress.

Delegate tasks. Use a process and plan for opportunities to delegate tasks to others. Sometimes, you can delegate upwards (to your boss) and laterally (to co-workers)—not just downwards to direct reports. Keep a delegation log to remember who’s doing what.

Encourage innovation. Look for new ideas and new ways to do everyday things with a fresh approach.

Establish teams to help you get more done better, faster, with better results —and with peak commitment. Get people who already show leadership to head up the teams.

Delight your customers, and work hard to build great relationships with them. Handle complaints. Turn each complainer into a supporter for your company, department, and you.