Driving Towards Results In Your Company

This evening I read "The Case for the 6-Hour Workday" by?Steve Glaveski. It's a Harvard Business Review article and if you're not already reading them, I highly suggest putting them on your radar. There is tons of valuable, actionable information in them.

While the focus of this article centered around how the 8 hour work week isn't conducive to results, I'd rather not focus on the time factor. Instead I've pulled the recommended productivity techniques and added my thoughts.

"Prioritize: Channel Pareto (80/20 rule) and focus on high-value tasks, aligned with both employee strengths and the team’s goals." Steve Glaveski

(Yes. Recognize as a leader the strengths and weaknesses of your people. If one is struggling in a certain areas and it’s an area another is strong, adjust task assignment.)

"Cut: Reduce or eliminate tasks that don’t add value. Cutting your default meeting time from 60 minutes to 30 minutes, turning off notifications, and batch checking your email are all incredibly effective places to start." Steve Glaveski

(Sometimes it is necessary to have a longer more in-depth meeting, but if you notice you’ve met multiple times and the conversation is on a Ferris wheel with nobody getting off to move forward…make the executive decision to decrease the allotted time to meet and be comfortable with being more direct in moving to the intended goal. I would also add in this category of "cut" to do your best as a leader and organization as a whole to minimize workplace gossiping. While it is important to establish relationships and agree that incorporating a personal aspect leads to tighter relationships, I also know this is a danger zone if communication begins to center too much around workplace gossiping thus taking focus away from tasks at hand that are necessary to move towards the company goals. There are strategies as an owner/leader in your organization that can be implemented to minimize the potential of this, but that's an article for another day)

"Automate: If it’s a step-by-step process-oriented task, it can probably be automated, saving you from doing it yourself." Steve Glaveski

(Absolutely! There are a multitude of platforms that can automate the tasks that are not high level conversations. It’s been created. Use it and if you don’t know how, seek out the guidance.)

"Outsource: If it can’t be automated, it can probably be delegated or outsourced. You’re probably not being paid to work on $10-an-hour tasks." Steve Glaveski

(Truth! If you struggle with being bogged down in tasks that you feel are not quickly enough accelerating you to your targets/goals, I highly encourage exploring hiring a virtual assistant.)

"Test: A lot of time is wasted in paralysis analysis and on over-investing in the wrong things. Managers can avoid both through effective experimentation, measurement, and adapting accordingly." Steve Glaveski

(There’s nothing wrong with going down a path so long as it’s an informed path meaning you’ve put some due diligence in considering the pros and cons. Kudos to taking a step! However, make a concerted effort to gauge according to KPIs if the path is creating the intended result. If it is not, do not stay the course in a wishful thinking mindset rather stop “over-investing” and have the courage to accept the initial path didn’t go according to plan and it’s now time to adjust course. The key is to constantly be collecting data, measuring, and actually paying attention to what it is telling you. Remove the ego.)

"Start: Do whatever it takes to start your engine. Block out time in your calendar, work on one thing at a time, do the hardest thing first, try listening to binaural beats or use the Pomodoro technique, a time management method that uses a timer to break work down into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks." Steve Glaveski

(Yes! Get started!!! Pick a direction and go understanding that the direction does not need be permanent. Again, based on your KPIs and measuring your data you see you’re not reaching the objective, adjust course. If you don’t ever start your engine, you’re not going to go anywhere and you’ll have no data to collect to even know whether you’re moving in the right direction or not. Inaction is dangerous. Calculated actions are powerful and until you take the first action you have no way to know.)

To read the HBR article in it's entirety click here: https://hbr.org/2018/12/the-case-for-the-6-hourworkdayutm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=facebook&tpcc=orgsocial_edit&fbclid=IwAR0sX28e0hJ3ZsXjB3qUfe1IOs4uh1cadB2Hvc23ch5upL6MDGTbopran5A