Category: Disruption

#TEAMS365 #1850 – Productivity Tips #13 – Get the Important Stuff Out of the Way

1/23/2019

Tip #13 – Get the important stuff out of the way

“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.”
— Jim Watkins

It is likely that even with the best planning, finding time to execute and get things done can be a challenge. Today’s business context of ongoing change and disruption, means that things can change on a regular basis, requiring ongoing learning and iteration.

Against this backdrop, it can also be important to focus in on items that are moving you, and the business, forward.

With this in mind, what are the windows you have available (or can create) to get the important things out of the way? This might mean starting your day early, or working late into the night, to focus on projects that require quiet work spaces.

Activity

Review your monthly or quarterly goals.
Review your Top 3 or 5 Goals.
What activities are not getting completed in a regular way?
What needs to be focused on more?
When will you schedule this in? For example, is this the first thing you want to do every day? Is it worth arriving at work 30 minutes earlier to make sure it gets completed? Could certain activities be delegated to someone else?
Break larger tasks down to smaller chunks if you have not done so already. Consider what smaller milestones exist and put these in your schedule.
What are the regular action steps you will undertake to make it happen? Work backwards noting additional mini-milestones.

Conversation Sparkers

What are the most important tasks that are going to move your work or business forward?
When are you scheduling in these?
What habits are going to help you get the most important things done?

Best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Now available – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner - Order a copy today on Amazon

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#TEAMS365 #1835 – Productivity Tips #8 – Tame the Inbox

1/8/2019

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We are moving onto productivity tips #8.

“One look at an email can rob you of 15 minutes of focus. One call on your cell phone, one tweet, one instant message can destroy your schedule, forcing you to move meetings, or blow off really important things, like love, and friendship.” - Jacqueline Leo

The Front Blog has some provocative figures about 2018 email - They write that in the amount of time we spend checking email in a year, someone could climb Everest twice! Check out these statistics here!
Taming the inbox is an important part of efficiency in today’s work environment. Email is an essential communication vehicle, but it can disrupt our attention. Becoming more selective and more disciplined with email can go a long way in business success, especially in terms of getting more significant work completed (i.e. projects, new initiatives).
Consider these questions:

How many emails do you get a day?
How efficient are you at replying (i.e. how much time does it take to reply)?
How does email disrupt your focus?

Several pointers around email management include:

Notice where your email comes from. What emails do you receive? Are there any you want to unsubscribe from?
Dedicate time to cull your email OR simply archive older ones.
Consider what filters could support your focus and less time spent on email.
Streamline. Can any things be batched (i.e. daily summary instead of regular alerts)?
Turn it off for periods of the day. The disruption an email ping can make could significantly dilute your focus. Would it be useful to establish “check points” during the day?

Activity:

Review the emails that you have received over the last two weeks.
What do you notice?
How many of them are still outstanding?
How many are no longer applicable and could be culled by unsubscribing?
How many could be funneled to their own form?

Conversation Sparkers:

What’s one tweak you could make to your inbox?
When are you going to dedicate time for email review?

Enjoy!
Jennifer

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#TEAMS365 #1786 Year End Productivity Reminders – 4 Areas to Keep in Mind

11/20/2018

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As we start creeping to the close of the year, pressure ramps up to “Get it done!”. There may not seem to be enough hours in the day, or even the rest of the year, to get EVERY. THING. DONE!

Today’s post gets you thinking about a number of “year-end productivity hacks” which bring us back to some of the tried and true prioritization tools:

#1 – Understanding your Pareto Ratio – The 80/20 rule asserts that we get 80% of our results from 20% of our efforts. While it may not be truly 80% it can be very useful to think about the areas that provide the most impact in your work, and the results you are aiming towards.
It can be very useful to understand where we get our impact, particularly at crunch time, so that we know what to say yes to, and what we want to say no to.

#2 – Going back to Covey’s Urgent/Important Framework – I have written about how a five day training around Steven Covey’s work as a younger manager more than 15 years ago, still influences my thinking about time management. If you haven’t read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, do it now! With the volume of distractions at a peak (from social media, to tech, to diffuse focus):

What’s really important to be focusing on now?
What’s important in the mid-term so that you are setting yourself up for success in the new year?
What are distractions and time wasters?

#3 – What can you delegate and defer?
Delegation continues to be a stretch area for most professionals today. Many times we feel we can’t delegate or we have no one to delegate to? What are the tasks that only you can do? What are the tasks that could be chunked down/broken down, so others might be able to complete?
For more on delegation – check out this LinkedIn article “Your Key To Success: Effective Delegation” I wrote on delegation.

#4 – What is absolutely essential?
Sometimes we really need to get ruthless with our time, asking “what’s absolutely essential?”. As we get into crunch time, what are the things we need to move to the finish line this year, no matter what? What are the elements that can carry over? What elements need to be put on hold?

For more on these prioritization tools, take a look at what I wrote in Teams365 #951 on prioritization.

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations | Coaching Team Leaders
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017)
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

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#TEAMS365 #1769 – Weekly Journaling Prompt 22

11/3/2018

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This week our journaling prompt focuses on the question “The fear that’s holding me back….”
Think about this year. What’s one thing you have not done this year. Why? Why not? What’s held you back from doing this. Make a list of the things that got in the way of doing that one item. Was it fear or some other emotion?
Today’s context and ongoing change leads to a lot of different emotions for our team member. For some it may be fear, for others, it may be feelings of overwhelm, incompetence, or lack of control.
As you journal this week, notice what emotions get activated for you….

Enjoy your reflections!
Jennifer

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#Teams365 #1416: Team Building Tip #161: Disruption

11/16/2017

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Today's Team Building Tip #161 gets you to consider the question "What does disruption mean for the team". In today's business context disruption is everywhere - from digital disruption, to disruption due to changes in industries, to global disruption due to natural disasters.

How is disruption impacting the team?
What strategies has the team been successful with using to navigate the disruption?
What are the changes to working, and results, disruption has had?
What's important for the team to focus on as a result?

Have a great Thursday,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats.
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations - Conference calls? Webinars? Virtual coaching work? Pick up a copy of my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations, at Amazon.

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Teams365 Blog

#TEAMS365 #1850 – Productivity Tips #13 – Get the Important Stuff Out of the Way

#TEAMS365 #1835 – Productivity Tips #8 – Tame the Inbox

#TEAMS365 #1786 Year End Productivity Reminders – 4 Areas to Keep in Mind

#TEAMS365 #1769 – Weekly Journaling Prompt 22

#Teams365 #1416: Team Building Tip #161: Disruption

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