Inspiration 5: 3 Golden Tips for Excellent Results and Productivity at Work
Does this sound familiar to you?
Your To-do-list is getting longer and longer, and priorities are waiting and waiting …
Too often our work is being interrupted. E-mails, colleagues who are chatting or asking questions, clients and meetings that last way too long. You are not being productive.
After your working day you are then left with two options to choose from:
- Sign up for a night shift
- Postpone your work til the next day
Both alternatives are unsatisfying.
For your consolation you should know however, that you are not alone with this challenge.
“Coretelligence” conducted a study, which results show that 6 out of 10 division managers
and departmental heads have not enough, or not time at all for strategical, conceptional
thinking.
6 out of 10! That is not a good premise for successful leadership work.
We’ve got to ask ourselves:
How can we make it and stick to our priorities?
How can we let go of the daily “garbage” and instead focus on implementation and results?
Well, I happen to have some tips for you …
Excellent results require excellent planning and structure
1 Tip: Public visualizing and goals instead of “to-dos”.
Put a big flipchart sheet on your wall, every day.
No, DIN A3 is too small.
Everyone who enters your office has to be able to read it easily.
State your 3-5 daily goals on it.
Important: Don’t mention what you are working on, but a measurable result, that will be achieved by the end of the day.
E.g.: Phone call with X, sent e-mail with new concept, new finale design determined.
In case you lack self-discipline write the time, by which you will have achieved your task, next to each task.
That will allow you to ignore distractions more successfully.
2 Tip: Eat the frog in the morning
What on your list is the last thing you’d want to do? What makes you procrastinate the most?
Make this your number 1 priority for the next day.
Allow 30, 60 or 90 minutes at the beginning of your working day for this specific task.
In the morning you are alert and focused. This is the best time of the day, to work on an important goal.
So don’t check your e-mails first. Instead, find a room where you can sit quietly or even go to a café and get to work there.
For best results, make this a ritual and repeat it every day!
3 Tip: Speak about daily, weekly or monthly goals with your co-workers.
For example, gather all 5 other members of your team every morning for exactly 6 minutes.
Every associate or director then has 1 minute to present which results – remember it is the results that count, not the assignments – he or she will achieve today.
Then it’s the next persons turn.
If you want to do the same thing in regard to the weekly goals, each person gets 2 minutes. That includes the daily milestones.
As for the monthly projects, allow 3 minutes for everyone in total.
Make sure that everyone writes their desired results on a common, big, public flipchart and checks them off in green at the end of the day, week or month if done and mark the rest with red.
Use this flipchart the next day when you are meeting again, to reflect on yesterdays results shortly.
You’ll see that it will become a lot easier for you and your colleagues, to say “no” to time
robbing, smaller distractions and unproductive disruptions.
Good luck with focusing on the priorities and achieving satisfying results!
Some more tips: http://linkd.in/1LBnJ0f
