This is Part 4 of the Workplace Productivity Tips.
16. Get people to use your inbox
Instead of being interrupted with questions while you are in the zone, create an inbox where people can just submit their questions or suggestions to you. You can opt to just have them email you but this will depend on how much email you actually get. If most of your email are from clients, then it's probably best to have them put their suggestions or questions in your box. Once you have time, you can go through them and answer them with more care. These questions should only be ones that they couldn't find out by asking others by the way. Create a environment of openness almost like a helpful forum.
17. Eliminate useless meetings
If the point of having a meeting is because it's something you do every week or month, elminate it. Meetings need to have a strong enough purpose to be pulling people away from their work. Many meetings conducted around world are seen as a waste of time. Some employees actually like these meetings since to them, it's a time to kick back and relax and not have to work.
In order to have effective meetings, everyone involves needs to know the objective and the agenda before hand. If you are the one running the meeting, be prepared. It's a waste of time to spend the first 5-10 minutes of the meeting preparing for the meeting. If the purpose of the meeting is just to announce something news, unless if it's really important, just email it to everyone. If the meeting is to solve a problem, everyone coming into the meeting should know what the issue is and be prepared to give any solutions they may have. If you find that your meetings not very productive, eliminate them or at least lessen the frequency.
18. Praise immediate, specifically, and publicly
One great way to increase employee productivity is by praising an employee of a job well done. Most supervisors know this but to do it effectively, you must also do it specifically. Instead of merely saying, "You did a good job", you want to tell them exactly what they did that you think was good. When you praise an employee for doing a good job, they are more likely to keep up the good work or even do a better job. Now if the compliment is vague, they won't know what to continue doing. Give them the specifics.
Another thing you want to do is my your praises public. This will depend on the level of work of course. If it was just something really minor then it may not be necessary. One of the things that almost all employees want is to know that what they do matters and is being appreciated by the company. By giving them praise publicly, this will boost their confidence and esteem and will help them perform even better. Always remember to be sincere with your praises. Don't compliment just to get people to do a better job. It's just wrong.
19. Create a fun environment
People work more efficiently when they enjoy their work. When people hate or are bored with their work, they won't put much into it. Some employers think that creating a fun environment will slow efficiency and this may be true. It really depends on what type of employees you have. If you have a bunch of low paid workers who could care less about their job, then this may not be the best idea. However, if you have a lot of highly skilled professionals, it may be just what they need. Take Google for example. They are known for creating a fun work environment as well as being one of the leading companies in the world. Yes, work can be fun and productive at the same time.
20. Hire the right people
Take time to examine your potential employees. Learn how to pick and choose the best ones for the job. Remember that just because someone has a college degree it doesn't mean that they are better suited than someone who doesn't. It will come down to experience and level of passion for the job. There are many resources out there that can help you improve your employee hiring skills.
Showing posts with label workplace productivity tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workplace productivity tips. Show all posts
Increasing Workplace Productivity Tips 3
by Tom B.
This is Part 3 of the Workplace Productivity Tips.
11. Chunk similar tasks together.
Doing tasks that are similar together can save you time from having to switch mental modes and will also cut down preparation time. Let's face it. A lot of what we call "work" is really just preparing to work. Things like organizing papers, adjusting your seat, refilling your cup of coffee or water, checking your email for the 20th time, etc. By putting similar tasks together, you can jump from one task to the next with little down time in between. This can save you hours a week.
Another way you can use this is when you are out running errands. If you have different places to stop at during the week that are in the same general area, do it all on one trip if possible. This will not only save you time, but it'll save you gas as well. It's also good if you know the shortest routes around your city. That way, you can get to different places that you need to be in the shortest amount of time possible saving you more valuable time.
12. Speedy emailing.
When you are communicating through email, if it's not necessary to be detailed, don't be. If you can answer an email in a sentence, do so. You want to be clear to avoid having to have clarification emails but you also want to be succinct. Of course, this will sometimes depend on who you are emailing as well. There are lots of people who talk about email etiquette and how every email should have an appropriate format to it. Well, if you're just emailing someone you know, why bother? If you can answer the email by typing the word, "Yes", then do it. Think of it as online chatting, but not as instant.
When it comes to more formal replies, then yes, you want to start by addressing the person, summarizing the previous conversation and so on. Now if the person you are doing business with replies in a clear succinct fashion, you want to do the same. People with high productivity normally don't like to be bothered with long emails that could've been summarized in a sentence or two. If you can, avoid wasting their time and yours by just getting to the point.
13. Organize your workspace.
When you have a cluttered desk where you find it hard to locate certain things you need, your productivity will suffer. By keeping a well maintained, organized desk, you can continue with your work flow without being interrupted just to look for your stapler. Generally, you want to do the organization of your desk when you aren't in the middle of working or getting ready to get to work. Many people will tend to do this and call it part of work but what they are really doing is just procrastinating.
This is something that should be done every few days or so depending on how much stuff you normally have lying on your work desk. If you put this off for too long, you'll have to spend more time getting things organized. It's a lot easier to put a few out of place documents back to where it's suppose to be than to reorganize the entire desk. If your desk is currently so messy that you can't even see its surface and you really don't have the motivation to organize everything, what you can do is just focus on a small section of the desk really quick before you leave for the day. Over several days, assuming that you don't mess everything up again during your workday, everything should be in place.
14. Use voicemail.
When you are about to go into the zone, meaning you're in the state of deep focus, don't let interruptions like phone calls ruin your flow. During these times, you will get a lot more done then any other times in the day. So when it happens, take advantage of it and get the most out of it. We generally have a certain time of the day when this happens. If you already know which part of the day you are normally most productive and it doesn't involve using the phone, set it to silent or turn off the ringer and let it go straight to voicemail.
As you know, a simple phone call can end up being a long conversation that can completely destroy you flow and of course decrease your productivity. If you have the luxury of having a secretary, then you can have them prevent any calls from getting through to you during that time. If you don't, then just use voicemail.
15. Get workplace productivity ideas from workers.
For every company, there will be dozens of processes and procedures that your employees will go through on a daily basis. Since they are the ones working on the projects all day long, they are normally the best to ask for productivity ideas. Depending on the environment you have created, increased efficiency should be something that your employees want to shoot for. Of course, there will be people who just want to do enough work to keep their jobs so they are probably not right people to ask, but they are the ones who you want approval from if you implement any new procedures. If you can get them to support it, they are more likely to actually do it. Have a suggestion box available so people can be anonymous if they choose to.
11. Chunk similar tasks together.
Doing tasks that are similar together can save you time from having to switch mental modes and will also cut down preparation time. Let's face it. A lot of what we call "work" is really just preparing to work. Things like organizing papers, adjusting your seat, refilling your cup of coffee or water, checking your email for the 20th time, etc. By putting similar tasks together, you can jump from one task to the next with little down time in between. This can save you hours a week.
Another way you can use this is when you are out running errands. If you have different places to stop at during the week that are in the same general area, do it all on one trip if possible. This will not only save you time, but it'll save you gas as well. It's also good if you know the shortest routes around your city. That way, you can get to different places that you need to be in the shortest amount of time possible saving you more valuable time.
12. Speedy emailing.
When you are communicating through email, if it's not necessary to be detailed, don't be. If you can answer an email in a sentence, do so. You want to be clear to avoid having to have clarification emails but you also want to be succinct. Of course, this will sometimes depend on who you are emailing as well. There are lots of people who talk about email etiquette and how every email should have an appropriate format to it. Well, if you're just emailing someone you know, why bother? If you can answer the email by typing the word, "Yes", then do it. Think of it as online chatting, but not as instant.
When it comes to more formal replies, then yes, you want to start by addressing the person, summarizing the previous conversation and so on. Now if the person you are doing business with replies in a clear succinct fashion, you want to do the same. People with high productivity normally don't like to be bothered with long emails that could've been summarized in a sentence or two. If you can, avoid wasting their time and yours by just getting to the point.
13. Organize your workspace.
When you have a cluttered desk where you find it hard to locate certain things you need, your productivity will suffer. By keeping a well maintained, organized desk, you can continue with your work flow without being interrupted just to look for your stapler. Generally, you want to do the organization of your desk when you aren't in the middle of working or getting ready to get to work. Many people will tend to do this and call it part of work but what they are really doing is just procrastinating.
This is something that should be done every few days or so depending on how much stuff you normally have lying on your work desk. If you put this off for too long, you'll have to spend more time getting things organized. It's a lot easier to put a few out of place documents back to where it's suppose to be than to reorganize the entire desk. If your desk is currently so messy that you can't even see its surface and you really don't have the motivation to organize everything, what you can do is just focus on a small section of the desk really quick before you leave for the day. Over several days, assuming that you don't mess everything up again during your workday, everything should be in place.
14. Use voicemail.
When you are about to go into the zone, meaning you're in the state of deep focus, don't let interruptions like phone calls ruin your flow. During these times, you will get a lot more done then any other times in the day. So when it happens, take advantage of it and get the most out of it. We generally have a certain time of the day when this happens. If you already know which part of the day you are normally most productive and it doesn't involve using the phone, set it to silent or turn off the ringer and let it go straight to voicemail.
As you know, a simple phone call can end up being a long conversation that can completely destroy you flow and of course decrease your productivity. If you have the luxury of having a secretary, then you can have them prevent any calls from getting through to you during that time. If you don't, then just use voicemail.
15. Get workplace productivity ideas from workers.
For every company, there will be dozens of processes and procedures that your employees will go through on a daily basis. Since they are the ones working on the projects all day long, they are normally the best to ask for productivity ideas. Depending on the environment you have created, increased efficiency should be something that your employees want to shoot for. Of course, there will be people who just want to do enough work to keep their jobs so they are probably not right people to ask, but they are the ones who you want approval from if you implement any new procedures. If you can get them to support it, they are more likely to actually do it. Have a suggestion box available so people can be anonymous if they choose to.
Increase Workplace Productivity Tips
by Tom B.Here are some tips to increase workplace productivity. They are not in order of importance.
(Volume 1)
1. Set clear agendas for meetings in advance.
We all know that millions of meetings being conducted around the world right now are, for the most part, pointless. How many times have you gone into a meeting and wondered, "Wait, why am I here?"
So many meetings are unorganized and waste so much valuable time. Of course, employees sometimes don't mind because they don't have to work, but in order to be productive, you must know exactly what the meeting will be about as well as let your team members know as well.
Bottom line: If the meetings don't bring a lot of value, don't have meetings just to have meetings.
2. Show up on time
In terms of workplace productivity as an employee, this should be a standard. Now, showing up on time doesn't mean not being late. It really means, showing up earlier than your scheduled start time in order to get ready so when the time comes, you're ready to go right away.
3. Reward for a job well done
Whether you supervise others or you supervise yourself, realize that people like rewards. People like feeling appreciated for what they do. When you see someone do a good job, tell them. On a personal note, if you wrote down a plan, and stuck with it until it was completed, congratulate yourself by doing something you find rewarding. By feeling good, you will work faster and increase productivity.
4. Stay away from the water cooler
If you want to increase workplace productivity, this is a big one. Too many people hang around the water cooler talking about pointless things. When you are on break, this is fine, but we all know how these conversations can tend to drag on.
You can limit your time here and still be sociable by simply holding a folder of paper or anything that you can use to politely end the conversation by pointing out the folder and saying, "Sorry, I gotta handle this." Of course, if you are the type that can walk away in a middle of a conversation without a sweat, then this isn't needed. You can also look at your watch.
5. Stay away from complainers
At every workplace, there will be complainers. These are the people who will complain about everything from their work to their personal life. Although it's sometimes fun to play the whole "who has it worse" game with them, you're really wasting time that you can use to be more productive.
On top of that, these people tend to bring your energy down. If you want to increase your productivity, you need to avoid these people like the plague. If you are a manager, sometimes these things are unavoidable. What you can do is have a comment box that people can put their concerns in. That way, you can avoid having your work interrupted.
More tips on increasing workplace productivity in the next volume.
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