Increasing productivity: What I learnt from my managers

It is correctly said that people do not leave their jobs, they leave their bosses. A good manager has the ability to silently dictate how those working under them will perform throughout their respective careers. This holds true especially for those who have just begun their careers.

In my career till date I have had the opportunity to work with quite a few good managers. The definition of ‘good’ is both relative and subjective but there are a few traits common to all of them. However, let’s not talk about what we already know.

There are a few lessons which I have learn from my managers at different points of time. As an employee I try to imbibe them in my day-to-day activities because of the sole reason that doing so has improved my productivity at work. While these sutras may not be applicable to everyone, they do hold a certain level of truth in them.

Here, I share a few of the many lessons learnt.

Lunch hour is holy

“Well fed people work well.”

The relationship between hunger and productivity need not be explained to anyone. Unfortunately, people seem to take pride in corporate cultures that emphasize on keeping lunch time to a minimum. I recollect an interview sometime before the pandemic where the recruiter beamed when he informed that their team finishes their lunch in less than 10 minutes. That statement was a deal breaker for me in an otherwise reputed firm offering good compensation. It is the contentment arising out of satiation that complements optimal productivity.

To-do lists are a lifeline

“Consider to-do lists as the ticket to the destination that highlights important stops along the way. Not having one is like holding a blank ticket. You will reach somewhere but you won’t know how and where.”

Almost all of us have faced situations where work got piled on simply because we did not prioritize our tasks. As a result, we did begin several tasks but not all of them reached their fruition. Such a situation also results in a cascading effect where more work gets piled on, we get confused in our deliverables and avoidable mistakes occur. The end result is the complaint that “there’s too much work and not enough time to do”. It is indeed true that work never ends. However, we can still be productive and ease the burden on our shoulders by prioritizing and sorting with a tool as simple as a “to-do” list.

Do no more than 5 tasks per day

“I need to collect my car from the service center on my way back, pick up groceries and be home in time for dinner because after that I need to help my daughter with her homework and under no circumstance can I miss that. I will miss it if I give my attention to more than five tasks today. You tell me what those five are and I promise you my undivided attention. Anything beyond that can wait till tomorrow”

We need to complete several tasks every day in only so much time. Therefore, it is important for us to focus on a few important/ urgent tasks while giving everything else secondary prioritization. Deciding what is important and limiting this number is the key to maintaining work-life balance. A healthy balance between family, self and work helps in reducing professional stress and gives a boost to productivity.

Writing good emails is a very important skill

“When the client is reading your mails, he is actually picturing you and hearing your voice via the words in front of him. However, the tone of your voice is determined by his mood at that point of time. For all you know, he may consider your mail to be rude even if you have written it in a simple language, simply because he might be having a bad day. Therefore, choose your words well and make every word count.”

We are working in an era where we may not have seen or met our clients/ co-workers in person. In such a situation our written word becomes our first introduction to them. We send and receive several emails every day and not every email begets a response. This holds true more so in the field of business development. Therefore, it is important to develop the skill of writing good, read-worthy emails which would make the target audience give it a glance.

Delegate only that which you can do yourself

“I didn’t want to leave the task pending simply because you were away for a week. It would have ruined our peace of mind upon your return”

Work delegation is an art. Some managers delegate work simply because they are too big to do it or don’t like doing it while others use delegation as a means to save time and focus on more important work at hand. It is anybody’s guess which manager would one like to work with. A good manager knows that total reliance on any one team member for any task can be dangerous. Hence, one should delegate the task only if they trust themselves to be the backup in case the required resource is not available.

Dressing well is crucial

“We are in the services industry. Anyone can walk in through our doors at any point of time. Therefore, it is important that we are presentable and smartly dressed at all times.”

Presentation matters. We start communicating right from the moment we walk into a room. Making good impressions from the very beginning can result in a long and fruitful relationship. Hence, a good set of formal wear should be treated as an investment. Besides, dressing well is also known to be a mood enhancer that can push us during those mid-week blues.

I am grateful to have worked with (and to work with) such women and men whose insights make me want to be a better and reliable co-worker. If you have had any productivity enhancing insights from your respective managers then please do share.