blog.
Efficiency: There is Only One Best Way
It occurs to me that many people are bound by habit to repeat inefficient behaviours. Inefficient behaviours are those that require us to use more time and more steps to accomplish tasks. Sometimes we don’t even realize how inefficient we are until a faster way is demonstrated to us.
How Can “Bottleneck” Executives Improve Their Personal Workflow?
Have you ever worked for a boss that seemed to be the ‘black hole’ of the organization? You know the one I’m talking about: documents that went into that office, but never came out, preventing you from doing your job. If you’re that boss, listen up. There is a way to improve your personal workflow.
Traveling Executives can be Productive
If you’re a busy executive that travels frequently, listen up. Your productivity doesn’t need to suffer just because you’re on the road. And, in fact, travel time is the perfect opportunity for catching up on work. This is the time when you are free of telephone and office interruptions, so there’s really no better time to focus on some of your priorities and increase your productivity. Here are five steps to staying on top of your productivity when you’re traveling.
Project Charter - Why do we need one, anyway?
I’m often asked why one needs a project charter. After all, if we're working on the project (or if the project was our idea), we certainly know what needs to be done, don't we?
While organizations, individuals and project managers may very well know what needs to be done, the project charter is an essential tool that provides purpose and motivation for a team to do its work.
Overworked? Really?
I have worked with many clients over the past few decades and one of the common complaints that I hear repeatedly is that they are “overworked.” While this doesn’t typically surprise me when I hear it from staff, it continues to surprise me when I hear it from executives.
The OHIO Method
The “OHIO” method is an easy way to be more efficient and productive in the way one handles records and information resources. In fact, it can help anyone to achieve more efficient workflow.
OHIO stands for: Only Handle It Once. The premise of this method is that when paperwork lands on your desk, you only handle it once by immediately assigning it to its correct place instead of re-shuffling the paper back to your inbox. Here’s how to do this.
What Productivity Improvements Make The Most Positive Impact In An Organization?
I am often asked: In what areas of an organization can productivity improvements make the most positive impact? There is no one correct answer to this question, but here are some things to consider.
How I Help Clients Operate More Efficiently
I am often asked how I can help clients operate more efficiently. My response to this is that it’s quite easy to become efficient. The secret is in eliminating as much wasted time and effort as possible from the tasks that are being performed. Here are my top four areas where I tell my clients to focus in order to operate more efficiently…
Remove Complexity to be Productive
There are many roads to productivity, but the best way I know how to become more productive is by eliminating complexity from personal and business processes. And the way to eliminate complexity is to identify areas in your personal and/or business processes that are costing the most and/or are creating the most customer dissatisfaction in the shortest period of time. Let me give you an example relating to a business process that is also impacting personal process.
Kill the Waste Quadrant to Improve Efficiency
The time management matrix isn't new. Stephen Covey introduced it in the 1980s. And I bet that you understand time management skills. So why then is it so difficult to implement these skills? I believe it is because people become overwhelmed by their important and urgent tasks, so they resort to tasks of least resistance - those taks that are not important and not urgent - the "waste" tasks. Let's have a look at the time management matrix to better understand the "waste" quadrant…
Communicating for Results
Here’s a true story. It happened via e-mail (e-mail contents modified to protect the innocent).