Become More Productive and Successful by Rough Guider (ebook reader computer .txt) 📖

a fair proportion of your time, then think about automation.

Examples of automation are clearly visible within manufacturing companies.  Many service companies have also automated many of their routines, eliminating mundane activities.  However, my challenge to you is to review the tasks and procedures that you undertake day in day out and produce a short-list of those that potentially can be automated.  You may need to seek assistance from your team members and staff with the IT department.  If the cost of automation is less than the savings made through automation you may be on to a winner.

 

 

Identify road-blocks

Productivity can be hampered by road-blocks.  There may be people you rely on who are not fulfilling their part of the bargain or inputs you require that are not available or forthcoming.  There may also be people that you rely on to distribute your output to the relevant stakeholders that are not performing to the required standard.

If you come across a person or group of people that are creating a road-block (this can often be unintentional so please tread carefully), you should discuss this with your boss in order to resolve.  Alternatively you may want to discuss the issue in a diplomatic fashion with those that are causing the blockage.  Be careful not to damage any relationships but do pursue as it is your productivity at stake.

 

Challenge the status quo

Do not immediately accept things as they are as there may be a better, more effective way of completing a task or procedure.  When you inherit the role of your boss or peer, if you assume that there are a number of inefficiencies and ineffective aspects to the role, your mind will be open to making the job more productive.  Too often we assume that the predecessor knew exactly what they were doing and had ironed out unnecessary tasks and procedures, stream-lining work to ensure productivity was maximized. 

When we move on to new pastures, we should endeavor to check that workflow has been left in the best possible order, with the most effective set up.

 

Let things hit your desk once only

Perhaps it would be great if tasks came across your desk one by one with you having sufficient time to complete each before the next arrives.  However, that is not realistic.  However, it is realistic to deal with very small but essential tasks in the moment.  If the job to be done is very small, and it would take twice as long to ‘drop it’ and ‘pick it up’ later, then my advice is to proceed with it immediately.  This also prevents paperwork building up on your desk, documents being mislaid and confusion arising.

 

Do things right the first time

If you do something wrong, the chances are that you will have to do it again.  So my recommendation is to think carefully about what you are doing before you take action.  We are not talking about efficiency or effectiveness per se but rather doing the right thing the first time.  More speed and less haste.

 

Seek the paperless office

In my book, as a general rule, less paper means greater efficiency.  You cannot avoid retaining documents for legal and compliance purposes, but, beyond that, there are not that many good reasons for storing and filing hard copy paperwork.

I recommend that you eliminate paperwork and store information electronically where possible.  By making sure that your electronic records are stored in a logical and methodical fashion you can have ready and speedy access as the need arises.

If you are in doubt about the requirement to retain hard-copy documents, contact the relevant expert within your company who should have the answer.

 

Think laterally

Before you undertake a task, it is worthwhile spending some time working out how it can be completed in the most productive fashion.  The most obvious route for resolving an issue or completing a task may not be the most effective or efficient.

Therefore, I recommend that you take time to think laterally in order to establish whether there is a much better way of achieving your objective.  Perhaps you can re-purpose a document you had put together previously, one that was constructed for a similar purpose.  Perhaps there is an easier and more efficient way of pulling the data you require from the data warehouse, or perhaps there is a smarter and more effective way to put the presentation together.

One thing is for sure.  If you have completed the same tasks year in year out, there is probably a better way to re-engineer the workflow to make productivity improvements.  That has been my experience!

           

Take breaks

Simply put, when you are tired you are less productive.  For that reason, you should make sure that you build appropriate breaks into your daily working life.  A break may be defined as taking the time to grab a coffee from the kitchen, or it may be you leaving the office for a few minutes to breathe in some fresh air.  Intuitively we all know that when we are tired we perform at a sub-standard level.  We do not always have the opportunity to take breaks as and when we feel that they are necessary.   However, for most people there is normally scope to ensure that you have sufficient down-time during the day, so that productivity is maximized during up-time.

 

Use a second pair of eyes

Why not ask a team member or peer to review the work you have done to establish whether there is any scope for you to act more effectively or efficiently.  A second pair of eyes cast upon the procedures and tasks you carry out every day can be a great investment of time.  No-one is perfect, so it is fair to say that a fresh look at your area of work could be to your advantage.  If the reviewer is able to stream-line or re-engineer one or more of your daily tasks, productivity will increase.   If that person has some special skills (for instance spreadsheet skills) they may be able to make significant enhancements to your speed of work.

 

Liaise with the experts

There are often people in the business that have specialized skills to help you be efficient and effective.  For instance, if your computer breaks down then you should probably contact IT rather than resolve yourself.  This may sound obvious, but there are also less clear examples of where experts can help.  For instance, if you have a human resources issue you should probably seek guidance from the HR/Talent department before taking action yourself to ensure that you do not take inappropriate action.  The wrong action may be disruptive, eating into your time schedule, that of your boss and that of HR, reducing the level of productivity all round.  When you do not have the expertise, find someone who does and let them guide or resolve for you, so that you can spend more time on the ‘day job’.

 

Avoid time stealers

‘Time stealers’ is a well known phrase.  It refers to an uninvited person coming over to talk to you about non-business matters when you are trying to get on with your work and remain productive.

Be firm (not rude) with time stealers and develop some techniques for closing the conversation down so that you can continue with the job at hand.

 

Identify ‘incrementalists’

As you embark upon your career, you will no doubt come across those that are less organized and productive than yourself.  On occasion, you may be asked to complete a task (say you are producing a sales report about sales persons in the US) only to be asked to run through the same exercise again (you are now running the same report for the UK).  You may then be asked to run the report again for another country.  By the end of the day, you have run (perhaps) 5 or so reports which could have been generated at the same time had you in fact known the full scope of the request at the outset.

The key is to identify ‘incrementalists’, those that come back to you time and time again placing similar requests in a drip feed fashion, and make sure that you fully thrash out their requirements from the start.  Confirm with them the nature and scope of their request before undertaking it to ensure that you have teased out exactly what they require.  This can be a great time saver.

 

Be content with short meetings

How often is it that you have set up a meeting for (say) and hour and you realize part way through that you do not need all the time set aside to discuss the issues at hand?  This can happen more frequently with regular catch-ups or check-ins where the agenda may be a little looser and time in the diary fixed weeks or months in advance.

My advice to you is to be ruthless with your time management, and if the meeting looks like finishing early be confident about returning the remaining time back to the meeting participants.  They will probably thank you for it.

 

 

Streamline

Streamlining is about cutting unnecessary steps out of a process.  If you can get from ‘A’ to ‘C’ without having to pass through ‘B’ then you have saved yourself some time.  Take a look at your tasks and processes and establish whether they are in fact as efficient and effective as possible.  If you find that you are spending significant amounts of time on parts of the process that add little or no value, then you have probably identified a prime candidate for streamlining.

 

Check that you’re on track

One way to maintain high productivity levels is to track your progress on a regular basis.  If you are falling behind in a task, procedure or project you should find ways to speed things up or, if necessary, speak to your boss or the project sponsor about the potential push back of the target date.  Regular checking allows you to have ongoing, clear and precise conversations about your ability to meet the various objectives that have been set for you.  If you do not have a feel for how you are progressing, then you won’t be able to raise issues and discuss them in a timely manner.

 

Be healthy

By eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly you can certainly impact your cognitive powers of awareness and ensure that you remain more alert in the workplace.  Indeed, having sufficient uninterrupted sleep is without doubt very important too.  Where you can control these factors you should work hard to ensure that they benefit your performance when at work.  If you feel that these factors are out of your control, step back and see what you can do about it.  Often you have more power than you realize to alter your daily routines in order to benefit from a healthier and fitter existence.

 

Learn to say “no”

If you earn a reputation of being the point person for each and every new task, you may sink very quickly in your role.  Clearly you wish to add value, undertake exciting tasks and demonstrate to your boss (and beyond) that you’re a key player within the team.  However, make sure that you manage your workload effectively and where appropriate make it clear that by taking on additional tasks other work may be delayed.  Saying “no” sounds very abrupt.  I recommend that you prioritize your tasks and demonstrate that you either have time for the additional work or that it will impact on other important tasks that you are undertaking for your boss.  Transparency, honesty and openness are normally the best way forward.

The danger of course of never saying no is that you become overloaded with work.  Your boss may not even be aware of the issue and hence may not be able to empathize or work with you to resolve the issue.

 

Make use of a mentor

As well as learning from your boss, peers and team members you may be able to gain valuable knowledge and experience from other senior staff throughout the organization.  These senior players have often ‘been through it’ before and have learnt the skills of the trade to succeed in business.