Author: fwadmin_chron

In today’s world, as an ambitious hard-working person, you are cursed. With the help of mobile, internet and cloud technology, you give yourself more to do than professionals in prior generations ever imagined. One of the problems you face is how to interrupt yourself when you get lost in a critical task.

If you have ever watched the TV show The West Wing, you may have noticed that the President employed the perfect administrative assistant. She never forgot anything, possessing a skillful way of interrupting her boss: the most powerful person in the world. Her message was simple: “Stop doing this, start doing that.”

These interventions kept the President on track with his plans for the day. Without them, he’d be operating blind. Eventually he would fall into chaos, a fact backed up by recent McKinsey research showing that admins make a measurable difference to an executive’s performance.

Unfortunately, most professionals, including those in Jamaica, no longer have administrative help. Even some that do, complain that their admin can’t be trusted to act like the character from the West Wing because his/her time management skills are not up to par. The fact is, administrative support is increasingly seen as a nice-to-have perk that can be cut, rather than a requirement to achieve high productivity.

In today’s world, you must be prepared to go it alone.

On the flip side, books like Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Deep Work by Cal Newport show that your best work takes place when you are able to devote total attention to a challenging task in a single sitting. In the cases where you are able to tackle the problem without being overwhelmed, you are pushed to use your best skills.

Unfortunately, these moments are becoming increasingly rare.

In today’s workplace interruptions are not only tolerated, they are encouraged: in some companies, it’s seen as rude to try to isolate yourself from others, no matter how critical the task. In others, answering every bleep, vibration and pop-up from your mobile device or laptop is seen as being “attentive”. The absolute worst corporate cultures actually reward employees who answer their email the quickest.

The problem is that once you enter the states of “Flow” and “Deep Work” you are likely to lose track of time. Furthermore, research shows that it’s futile to try to watch the clock while you’re being this productive. You end up multi-tasking by executing the task and watching the

clock at the same time. A better solution is to automate your interruptions.

This is the point where your device can actually be helpful. Like most people, you probably have an ad-hoc set of notifications set up on your smartphone, tablet and laptop. They sound off at random times, responding to a number of apps and system settings. You don’t understand how, or don’t have the bandwidth to fix them all. To survive, you adopt one of two extremes.

Perhaps you respond to every single signal your smartphone makes. According to researchers, this tactic is a fine way to simulate the symptoms of ADHD, ruining your productivity.

Most of us just ignore them all, hoping we don’t miss something important. Here’s a better alternative.

Step 1 – Turn Off All Notifications
Begin by leaving on the ringing of your phone and turning off everything else. Take a few days to re-accustom yourself to the relative silence. You are re-training your nervous system to tune back into your smartphone.

Step 2 – Make a List of Necessary Notifications
As your week progresses, notice which notifications you cannot do without. Separate permanent needs from one-time accidents. For example, just because you picked up an urgent email in 2014 based on a ping from your phone, doesn’t mean that you should keep this notification turned on. You may be making an error psychologists call a “Hasty Generalisation.” Set aside this list.

Step 3 – Catalog Situations Where Interruptions Are Necessary
Make a table of different locations and the actions you frequently take. Here is an example:

Step 4 – Turn On Notifications You Absolutely Need, One at a Time
Today, most devices offer ways to customize notifications so they only appear at certain times with a distinctive blend of sounds, vibrations and pop-ups. Wait a few days between turning each one on so that you can get accustomed to this new way of paying attention.

The end result will be one you may appreciate. For the first in a long time, you will have a device whose notifications are tuned to your needs. You won’t have an actual administrative assistant, but your smartphone will now be playing an essential role that helps you to be your most productive.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To receive a complimentary document with links to his articles from 2010-2015, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20160703/francis-wade-how-use-notifications-high-productivity

In my last column two weeks ago, I argued that customer-facing employees in the Caribbean habitually place their personal feelings ahead of professional service. The result is a wide and disturbing variation in customer experience that confounds executives, who end up fighting perpetual fires. How can a company create an ethos that overcomes the fearful vulnerability felt by frontline workers?

In the article I asserted that the prevailing, local service experience is driven by a dark, persistent pessimism. Frontline employees develop an advanced, defensive mindset against possible feelings of abuse, victimization, and disrespect. The culprit? The unaware,incoming customer who is fully expected to look down on them. The end result is a collection of four experiences: “VIP”, “Tourist” and “Friend” Service for the favoured few, and “Res A’ Dem Service” for the majority.

What can a company do to reverse this situation? Here are three solutions.

1. Hire for Resilience
Disney, SouthWest, and other companies have shown that the best attribute to seek when hiring unskilled workers is their attitude. The best ways to uncover this trait is to do psychometric testing, and to submit an applicant to realistic but challenging scenarios. It gives prospects a chance to demonstrate emotional resilience under pressure. If they can remain mission-driven in a test situation, even when their ego is being threatened, they may have what it takes to stick to a new service ethic if they get the job. (In HR circles, the approach is part of what is called an Assessment Centre.)

2. Make a Strong “Identity Appeal”
Psychologists have defined an “identity appeal” as a way of convincing someone to act in accordance with a group to which they belong. For example, we might say to a KC Old Boy: “I thought you guys never missed a single Champs?” It might entice him to buy a ticket.

On the other side of Heroes’ Circle I remember when, as an 11-year old First Former on the first day of school, my Wolmers Headmaster referred to us as “Gentlemen”, not “boys”. He explained that “We now expect you to behave as such” indicating that our days of wearing short pants and playing marbles were over.

This is not just related to high schools. There’s a reason we discover our nationalism when we visit or live in foreign countries. Case in point: The Penn Relays were a boring track meet before Jamaicans turned it into an international faceoff.

Companies can tap into this cultural tendency. One was forced to change its uniforms when employees, after a while, refused to wear them in public: “People dem out a road sey we favya helper!” This is what happens when companies ignore the fact that employees want to feel pride in their group of choice. When managers use this power wisely, they surround employees with elements like uniforms to send a powerful signal: you are a member of an elite group and are therefore expected to act accordingly.

When employees are encouraged to affiliate, they willingly step into a new identity. Cloaked with a new persona upon orientation, they are able to deliver consistent customer service that hits high standards. It becomes the only option available.

Unfortunately, many companies fritter away this connection, wasting social capital. Powerful symbols fall into disrepair, earning the frustration of employees who become disillusioned. At that point, only a personal transformation can help.

3. Transformation as a Choice
Just as powerful as an affiliation, but harder to bring about, is a transformation of the individual. For example, when an employee is made aware of the four default service experiences mentioned before it can be a revelation. A few respond immediately by changing their attitude, trying to avoid the worst case.

Most, however, need more than a simple explanation.

In corporate transformation exercises, I have seen employees distinguish the root causes of poor service delivery and defensive attitudes. Using the tools of inquiry, self-reflection, and open sharing, they are able to discover their unique, personal weaknesses. Once they see where they falter they have a choice to act differently when they learn the habits of mind that lead them to deliver “Res A’ Dem Service.”

However, it takes a great deal of courage to take this path.

Personal transformations on a corporate scale are expensive to procure and take a long time, but they are sometimes the only choice for a company with a frontline embedded in a defensive culture.

The truth is that none of these three steps are short or easy to take. But they are well worth the effort even though they may not resemble traditional customer service training imported from overseas. Only interventions that account for deeply held defensive feelings can help employees deliver professional service that produces a consistent experience.

The original Gleaner article appeared here – http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20160619/francis-wade-customer-service-must-be-more-personal-service-part-two

Why Customer Service Must Become More Than Personal Service – Part One

Jamaicans experience a daily struggle to receive a consistent, high level of customer service. This happens, in part, because quality service is allowed to devolve into a personal matter between an individual provider and his/her customer. Instead, it should be about a business relationship.

In a Gleaner column a few years ago I shared that there are three kinds of service experienced in Jamaica. Now, there is a fourth; here is a summary of each one.

1. VIP Service (the latest addition) is extended to the powerful few, whether Government Minister, big CEO or well-known pastor. The individual service provider lives in fear of making a mistake but quietly hopes to please the VIP in order to gain a future benefit.

2. Tourist Service is received only by foreigners. It’s the extra effort we make to give outsiders a special experience that makes them want to return with their friends. Delivered routinely in North Coast tourist enclaves, it has led to improved service across the island. (Incidentally, in Trinidad and Tobago I see this kind of service being actively suppressed; the late Dr. Eric Williams once stated that “Tourism is whore-ism.”)

3. Friend service is the extra courtesy we extend to people we know. Even the worst service worker with the nastiest attitude knows how to turn on the charm when the recipient turns out to be related in some way. As a result, Caribbean people know that long before they enter an establishment, they need to scope out “someone who knows someone.” It’s the only way to bypass a long line or a rude demeanour.

4. Res’ a Dem Service is doled out to those unfortunates unable to secure VIP, Tourist or Friend service. Its prevalence explains why no company that serves local customers has developed a strong reputation for good service. From insurance companies, government agencies, banks and schools… everyone has horror stories to tell. The tough question is, in a country that provides great service at the other levels, why does Res’ a Dem service persist?

While we often blame a lack of motivation or training, my work across the region points to a different cause: what philosophers call “a thrown way of being.” It’s a simple idea. We all wake up into the same fixed attitude and mindset each day without realizing it, much in the way that a fish lives in water without knowing any other medium.

The Jamaican service provider wakes up into a worldview shaped by our historical legacy of slavery. To keep the institution alive over the centuries, its creators infused it with themes of superiority and inferiority which reverberate. Today, we continue to seek opportunities to look down on each other – a “thrown way of being.”

This propensity has an obvious flip-side: we despise the feeling of being scorned. Customer-facing employees are especially vulnerable because they are instructed to extend a warm, kind, helpful hand. A customer is therefore in a position to reject this overture, leaving the provider feeling victimized, abused and disrespected.

To prevent this from happening, workers toughen up, effecting an unfriendly, sullen demeanor. It informs their facial expression, tone of voice and body language in ways that most of us would recognize in an instant. Unfortunately, it contrasts badly with the confident, smiley, “How Can I Help You?” perfected by their counterparts in North America.

For local business owners, this aspect is bad for the bottom-line. Customers who receive Res’ a Dem Service feel little loyalty, especially when they see other people receiving VIP, Tourist or Friend Service. Perhaps we have all noticed the provider who instantly transforms once the “right” customer shows up. It’s led me to ask myself: “Who am I…?” because in that moment, it hits like a personal insult.

This body blow is one that many top executives are immune from. Having long-ago outsourced these daily transactions to others, only extreme measures such as those portrayed on TV’s “Undercover Boss” come close to giving them a real experience.

It’s a pity because service workers who become lifeless and resentful aren’t being ignorant… they are caught in a dynamic that’s invisible, but powerful. It’s one that their external environment supports, but their internal state also keeps it in place. The end result is a slip into a personal world far removed from corporate objectives.

In my next column (Part Two) I will look at some solutions to help individual service providers disrupt this “thrown way of being.” Needless to say, this isn’t an easy topic but it’s a must: good service shouldn’t be a personal affair that defaults to “Res’ A Dem Service.” We all lose out when this is allowed to happen.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To receive a free document with links to his articles from 2010-2015, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com

For more information on the topic of customer service, sign up here.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20160605/francis-wade-customer-service-must-become-more-personal-service

Here’s an old joke: “Ask a consultant what time it is and he’ll ask to see your watch.” This canard contains more than a grain of truth which can be converted into something useful – a way for executives to avoid the need for outsider-led interventions.

The executive suite is unlike any other team in a company. Newcomers who believe it’s just a slightly different version of other teams experience a rude awakening. New CEO’s, for example, discover that team members treat them differently in spite of their efforts to remain “one of the guys.”

This relationship change has the following two effects.

The first is that people who work for top executives withhold bad news, for fear of provoking an unwanted reaction. The second is that leaders who enjoy solving problems on their own learn that habitually doing so leaves others in the dark, unable to understand how or why key decisions are made.

These effects lead to a shared ignorance, which only becomes obvious when a poor decision is made or a company experiences gridlock. That’s when a consultant like me gets called in.

What my clients usually don’t know is that there is a key, infallible principle I arrive with and use on every engagement: Someone in the organization already has determined most (if not all) of the right answers. After all, employees have been exposed to the problem for much longer than I have and if they are reasonably committed and intelligent, they will have already cracked it.

This may sound insultingly simple – a version of “using the client’s watch to tell the time”. But clients often don’t see the factors which prevent the right answer from reaching the attention of those who need it. In Jamaican firms (and especially the ones which harbour authoritarian tendencies) the problem shows up in the following predictable ways.

1. Someone is out of favour
Chief executives often don’t have the time management skills to listen to everyone who says they have a solution to a problem. Therefore, they are forced to choose to ignore some, which means that the person with the right answer is sometimes not on the short list of favored insiders. The truths they have to share get lost.

In other instances, the person is out of favor because their credibility is in question, instantly discrediting their solution. The fact is, contrarians make people uncomfortable, especially when they refuse to parrot the CEO’s point of view in order to curry favor.

Often, my job consists of restoring someone’s professional reputation so that their message can be heard in the right way.

2. A communication gap
“Executese” – the specific language used by a leadership team – varies from one company to another. One of my tasks early in an engagement is to figure out the specific language being used. This is important because the person who has the right answer is often not on the aforementioned short list, therefore using a language that isn’t appreciated.

Case in point: A human resource manager who hasn’t learned the financial language used by the CEO/CFO/Board. Concerns couched in terms such as “employee morale” don’t get attention, compared to a loaded phrase such as “financial risk of poor employee performance.”

Often, I need to work with both sides so that the right message can be understood, and used.

3. Multiple sub-solutions
In most cases, the issue at hand doesn’t lend itself to simplistic solutions that can be popped out of the pages of an MBA textbook. Instead, there are multiple causes, each of which needs its own line of attack.

Unfortunately, this means that different people have partial answers that must be assembled, like a puzzle, into a coherent whole. This takes time, patience and bandwidth which executive teams don’t have, or don’t know they need to set aside. Putting the pieces together is a task I often have to do. I may help establish urgencies and priorities, but the initial assembly is much harder to complete.

My overall goal is one that my clients sometimes don’t realize at all: I aim to create an environment in which the kind of problem I am brought in to solve doesn’t recur. This may require any of following on their part:
– Better listening skills
– Improved time management skills
– An ability to engage employees on a consistent, deep basis

These issues even persist in executive teams which are actively working on their skills in these areas. They are tough to solve because they are an essential part of working in human organizations staffed with imperfect people. They will never go away completely. Instead, they must be mastered if executives hope to solve their own problems, without the need of outside help.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To receive a free document with links to articles from 2010-2015, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com

 

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20160522/francis-wade-why-consultants-need-see-your-watch-tell-time

Why “Nap Time” Is Part of Adult Productivity

It runs counter to commonsense thinking. Taking a sleep break in the middle of the workday turns out to be a smart practice, even though it runs foul of tradition.

For the most part, we don’t question our old assumptions. Everyone knows that Jamaica’s workers are inherently lazy. This deeply ingrained corner of our psyche hasn’t been questioned since work was organized in the first West Indian workplace – the slave plantation. Avoiding work, we accept, was a matter of principle in those days. Doing so without being detected by Backra became an art-form.

Maybe his absence explains why I feel guilty whenever I take a mid-day nap.

I have learned that my best work occurs in spurts, where I focus exclusively on a single task while actively avoiding distractions. This approach is endorsed by the authors of books like Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Deep Work by Cal Newport.

The downside is that it’s depleting. Once a focused task is completed I experience a hard drop in mental and physical energy. The only way to restore it is to take a complete break, sometimes by changing my physical location. Most of the time, however, I just take a nap.

That’s when the guilty feelings start.

After all, everyone knows that a diligent person doesn’t doze off during working hours, right? Not so, according to the latest research. Scientists state that sleep is an invaluable tool for high performers and it’s not just meant for the end of the day.

McKinsey’s Nick van Dam and Els van der Helm recently published an article on the Harvard Business Review website. Their interview of 180 business leaders found that 43% admitted to not getting enough sleep in the last four nights. It’s indicative of how poorly this tool for rejuvenation is being used. Naturally, if you’re not getting enough sleep at night, the way to compensate is with a short nap. But are there reasons to take a nap even if you do get enough sleep?

There are, according to Jim Horne, director of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University in England. “Tiny naps are far more refreshing than people tend to realize” he intones. That may be because there is a biological clock located in the hypothalamus that’s programmed to induce a “hump” of mid-afternoon sleepiness. Compared to getting more night-time sleep or using caffeine, taking a power nap was found to be the most effective remedy to this daily productivity dip.

Also, NASA research of its pilots has shown that a 26-minute nap (while accompanied by a co-pilot) enhanced performance by 34% and alertness by 54%. Separate studies have shown that naps also have physical benefits: reduced stress and a lower risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes and weight gain. Even learning and recall are improved. A number of studies indicate that someone is more likely to remember details after taking a nap.

Dr. Sara Mednick, professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Diego, wrote a book called “Take a nap! Change Your Life.” As noted in a Bloomberg article, she recommends that individuals follow these steps.

1. Make time and space. Most sleep researchers recommend a short nap lasting from 5-25 minutes. It’s best done right after lunch and if your company doesn’t provide sleep-pods like Google, find a quiet spot such as the inside of a parked vehicle.

2. Set the right conditions by turning off the light and covering your eyes. Mute your smartphone and other devices.

3. Avoid caffeine in pre-nap hours, as well as nicotine, diet pills, and antidepressants. Sugary snacks can also keep you buzzing.

While writing my books, I returned to a habit learned while training for an ironman distance triathlon: Early to Bed, Early to Rise. Getting up at 3:30 AM gave me several hours to think and write without interruptions. The only way this tactic could work was to implement a regular mid-day nap.

Most Jamaican companies would scoff at this whole idea. Stuck in an old mentality, managers argue that our workers are “special” and would only abuse the “bonus” of taking a nap. If your company harbours such fears here’s one way to get past them. Set up a series of experiments with a small number of employees and objectively test the results. Use their experience to produce findings that can be customized fit your situation.

Just because your company hasn’t encouraged naps in the past doesn’t mean you should avoid this productivity tool. Not too long ago, the Internet, mobility and personal computing were foreign technologies. A nap costs much less money and effort to implement, but your company would have to get out of its own way: past the traditional ridicule, punishment and guilt that Backra would inflict. It’s updated commonsense.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To receive a free summary of links to his past articles, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com

There is a persona haunting the cubicles of corporate Jamaica. Mr. Crack is a presence in all except the smallest of companies, an obscure figure who quietly slips in for an indefinite stay.

He’s earned the name “Mr. Crack” because anything he’s asked to do falls smartly through the cracks, unknown to others. Only the uninitiated rely on him to get anything done. Everyone else who has been burned knows that he’s only as good as their right arm – an appendage that does what it’s told within just a few milliseconds. It has no working memory, and neither does he.

A foreign friend of mine who lives in Jamaica returned to attend a conference in the United States. Upon meeting a conference organizer she needed to work with, she unconsciously began treating him like Mr. Crack. After a few interactions, he caught on, announcing: “No need to follow-up like that, I’m a professional.”

She almost broke into tears. She realized that there was no need to keep up her habit of incessant follow-up. She could relax. Fortunately, he turned out to be reliable, never once dropped a beat during the entire event.

Here in Jamaica, we have no such luxury. Our local companies are populated with Mr. Cracks because we fear the confrontation required to intervene. Instead, like my friend, we accommodate. Afraid of being accused of being the next Bakra Massa, we drop our standards. Sometimes we avoid Mr. Crack altogether. At other times, we act as his personal external hard drive.

But these tactics don’t work. He often thrives because the best Mr. Cracks are great networkers. Like the perfect barnacle, he knows how to stick around a company for years, even decades. A nice fellow with pleasing manners, he is a good listener who knows how to make others feel good. He can share war stories of times spent with executives before they ascended the corporate ladder. These warm relations represent his job security.

However, his good social skills only make it harder to replace him. He gets nothing done, but he does it in such a pleasing way that no-one can imagine letting him go. With that obstacle in place, how then can a manager make a difference?

Tactic 1 – Direct Coaching
In prior columns, I have reiterated the need to practice tough coaching conversations. Most managers occupy one of two extremes: they either overestimate their skills or avoid developing them altogether. I recommend that a manager improves his/her skills in this area every year until retirement. It’s the only way to deal with Mr. Crack who can anticipate and avoid tough feedback conversations like a pro. He knows how to get sick or go on vacation at just the right time, escaping any unpleasantness. Overcoming Crack’s superior skills takes great capability that isn’t developed by accident.

Tactic 2 – Group Interventions
These meetings resemble those showdowns you may have seen on television when a family confronts an alcoholic. It’s a last ditch attempt to help someone whose destruction is assured. An extreme approach, it requires exquisite preparation. However, at the end of the conversation, next steps are quite clear cut and only the slipperiest of Mr. Cracks are able to get past. Such is the power of a group of close colleagues who sincerely care.

Tactic 3 – Termination
Almost every Jamaican company I have worked with has people who should have left some time ago but are not even aware that a gap exists. They labour in the dark because they have never received simple, accurate feedback. It’s no accident: many companies don’t have a robust process for addressing low performance. Managers find it easier to avoid any friction, kicking the can down the lane, hoping that someone else picks it up. The resulting lack of written records turns sub-par employees like Mr. Crack into permanent fixtures, protected by our stringent labour laws which prevent separation without just cause.

The manager’s avoidance is caused by fear and compounded by incompetence. The fact is, there are skillful, caring ways to coach, confront in groups and terminate but companies just don’t spend the time to find them.

It’s a pity. The net effect is that the high performing 20% eventually learn that mediocrity is the norm. Some leave. Most just give up, sliding into the ranks of the below-average 80%. Both outcomes should be unacceptable to leaders who need to get past their tendency to get stuck, seeing the problem as a dilemma between “being nice” or “being wicked.” This old lens, a carryover from slavery, needs to be abandoned because it stymies progress.

Instead, dealing with Mr. Crack should be seen as a matter of developing the right skills. Companies need to invest their time and effort in giving their managers what they need to address this common performance problem.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To receive a free summary of links to his past articles, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com

 

 

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20160424/francis-wade-how-cope-unreliable-mr-crack

Are personal productivity skills learned once and then used forever? While this may have been true in the past, becoming one of the most effective professionals in today’s world requires you to change your tools and techniques on an ongoing basis.

When I completed my book in late 2014 I thought it captured the state-of-the-art in using To-Do Lists and calendars. Based on the research I did, I thought I did a great job.

Then I discovered a programme called SkedPal, introduced to me by a colleague’s post on her website. In the past year, it’s forced me to declare two chapters of my book obsolete. They have to be rewritten to catch up with my new daily habit of using the application. What makes it remarkable?

As I have explained in prior columns, unless you are nearing retirement, it’s important to keep expanding your capacity to manage more tasks. I have also argued that you must migrate from the use of memory, early in your career, to the use of digital To-Do Lists and calendars. In fact, research shows that the most productive people put almost all their tasks in their calendars, even though adopting this technique requires an arduous journey. It means learning some intricate habits, practices, and rituals.

The curve is so steep, I planned to write an addendum to my book on “How to Schedule Every Task Effectively.” I was convinced it would be popular because most people who try to schedule everything usually fail. It’s especially true in those manic moments when they must re-juggle their calendars multiple times.

SkedPal replaces this manual, tedious job that would take up hours of my time each week. Now, several times per day, I’m able to click a button and watch as the programme reaches into my Outlook or Google calendars to optimize the placement of tasks. It’s not as scary as it may sound – SkedPal is designed to leave the user’s fixed appointments in place and only reorder the ones that are flexible.

While the details of its patented Artificial Intelligence is beyond me, it’s easier to see how the programme operates as a super-secretary. Just like the best administrative assistants, it has the ability to interpret my needs and perfect my calendar in a matter of seconds.

To say I am a fan would be an understatement – in fact, after long interactions with the inventors, I joined the company’s Advisory Board.

But the sad truth is that my enthusiasm didn’t start out that way. While I was writing my book I dimly remember visiting the programme’s website. Back then, I just didn’t believe that the software could deliver what it promised and dismissed it. Fortunately, my arrogance didn’t get in the way several months later when my colleague’s post caught my attention. But I came quite close to missing the boat, a mishap I’m not keen to repeat. If you’re also interested in continuously expanding your productivity, here is some advice.

1. Understand the need to seek out regular upgrades
Your self-taught methods might already be better than most people around you, but that’s no guarantee of future success. The only way to deal with an increasingly greater number of tasks is to proactively evolve your methods, picking up new practices and shedding old ones.

Your grandparents had the luxury of a world that changed slowly, but you don’t. Now, you should assume that the tools and techniques you are currently using are already becoming obsolete. Keeping up means becoming a diligent student of your own productive limits.

2. Experiment
As I learned from experience, it’s better to download and test a new app you don’t understand than to dismiss it out of hand, the way I did. Sometimes, the thing that might benefit you the most is one you simply don’t understand well enough. It doesn’t into your world-view. Constant experimentation and a willingness to try new stuff are now critical skills to have.

3. Look for Best-in-Class Behaviors
To discover what these might be, you must tune into world-class practices. I use sites like Lifehack.org, Lifehacker.com, and Quora.com to ferret out leading-edge tips. Also, I seek advice from high-performers to understand what they do and why. Sometimes, it can be translated into what I should be doing.

Arguably, as Jamaicans, the journey to our present-day success on the track started when athletes left our shores to train abroad. There, they learned the best techniques in the world, customized and imported them home. There is no reason you cannot do the same, surpassing the popular excuses we tell each other about lateness, missed deadlines, and low productivity.

SkedPal is available as a free download in its current Beta phase at www.skedpal.net
Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To receive a free summary of links to his past articles, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com

(Click here for the online version. http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20160408/francis-wade-how-keep-your-productivity-amid-change)

What if the key to having a productive day has less to do with how hard you work during the average work hour, but everything to do with a focused activity that takes no more than 30-minutes? In this article I describe the power of a daily technique used by the most productive people.

If you ask these people what they do to be effective, you’d find it’s not the kind of question you can pose directly. I liken it to querying a centurion – “What’s the secret to a long life?” Oftentimes the answers you receive are just as confusing as those given by the most productive. To find the truth behind their anecdotes, you must turn to research involving large numbers of people.

In my book, I share a key finding: a person performs better when they make a detailed, daily plan. In these modern times, what is the nature of this plan and how is it made?

To explain, let’s start with the definition of a “time demand.” It’s something you create each day in your mind – a commitment to complete an action in the future. At some point in your adolescent or teen years, you quietly discovered that reaching your goals meant keeping time demands alive. Seeing one slip through the cracks was awful, especially if it was part of an important plan.

Yet, that is exactly what happens when we enter college. Or get married. Or get a promotion. All of a sudden, the number of time demands increases and we can’t keep up. Some get “forgotten” in the rush and we suffer the consequences.

A small number of people adjust their methods quickly. A few never do. Failed exams, divorces, firings – they happen when we don’t keep up. Even your children’s GSAT performance isn’t immune: wise heads tell us their performance is correlated with quality time spent with them. They don’t pass or fail, you do.

Add to this not-so-subtle pressure is the increased data that flows at you. You see more information in a day than your grandparents saw in a month. Is that a blessing or a curse? It depends on what you do in that 30-minute time-slot I mentioned before.

This time-slot should be used for setting the stage for your day in what I call “Emptying.” It’s the critical opportunity to consider all the inflows of information in which you decide which time demands to execute, and when.

Early in your career, you got by with haphazard Emptying skills. In these modern times, doing your Emptying casually is an impediment. Now, it’s a battleground where you juggle priorities, urgencies, time limits, expectations, personal goals and more. The output should be an optimized schedule that meets your specific needs today and for the future.

Given the importance of this short slice of time, how can we make the most of it?

1. “Emptying” means leaving things empty

The term “Emptying” implies that all decisions regarding incoming information have been made. When you are done, you leave behind completely vacant Inboxes, whether they be digital, voice or paper-based. Their pristine state gives you the peace of mind knowing that you don’t need to return to them until tomorrow to repeat the act.

2. Schedule Emptying for the start of the day

It’s a grand mistake to jump into the first task of the day without conducting your daily session of Emptying. As you do so, check your email Inbox, voicemail, text messages, Instant Messages, notes or any other possible source of triggers for new time demands. Even if the number you currently face is small, prepare yourself now for the inevitable: a potentially crippling, spike in communication.

3. When you Empty, do it at a time when you won’t be interrupted

Employees wonder why the best executives often come in early. Sometimes, it’s to beat traffic, but often it’s because they crave the uninterrupted time it takes to do high-volume, high-stakes Emptying. They realize that their entire day depends on how well they do this intense activity, so closing off their world to interruptions is a requirement. This is far easier to implement at 6:00 AM than at 10:00 AM, long before others have arrived. To enhance the effect, they turn off all devices and notifications on all platforms, the better to focus the activity.

In today’s world in which you must process a lot of inbound information, your skills at Emptying must improve if you are interested in climbing the corporate ladder. There is simply no escape from a job that is yours and yours alone to complete and no excuse if you fail to make the necessary, ongoing improvements.

Blaming your environment, as some do, is not an option. Instead, it’s a sign of incompetence in one area of corporate life where personal mastery is essential to your success.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To receive a free summary of links to his past articles, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20160327/how-protect-your-daily-productivity-peace-mind

It’s a dilemma common to executives. What should they do when they realize their company is staffed with mediocre performers? The immediate instinct is to go out and recruit superstars, but there’s new research indicating that there’s a better approach: remove or transform your toxic employees.

If you recently joined a new company or just received a new promotion you may have discovered that your staff isn’t effective. Whether by grand epiphany or slow discovery, you see the problem clearly and desperately want to solve it. You envy departments filled with high potentials brimming with vibrant energy, wishing you had the kind of people whose work ethic and intelligence you could admire.

Your secret wish is to somehow attract a few good ones, who would, in turn, bring in others, but there is new evidence to show that you should focus your efforts elsewhere.

In a recent working paper from the Harvard Business School, Michael Housman, and Dylan Minor start by sharing the obvious: toxic employees are costly. In addition, their study of over 50,000 employees shows that they also detract from the performance of others. They take a toll on morale, customer service, and turnover. They note that an employee who is surrounded by toxic colleagues is likely to fall into similar behaviors. In other words, toxicity is contagious.

Furthermore, the study also showed that it’s better to replace a toxic employee than hire a great one. Doing so has twice the impact.

But even with these facts in hand, the typical company often can’t take action. If you are an executive, consider the following reasons why your organization is unable to easily remove these employees.

Reason 1 – Toxic workers often appear productive
They know what to do to generate a lot of activity. But in the end, their presence is a negative one. For example, the rogue trader who cost Grace Kennedy some US$20m in profits in 2010 was, from all prior appearances, a high performer. Earlier removal would have made a gigantic difference.

Reason 2 – Toxic workers are confident, plus they follow the rules
Their outward personality makes it difficult to see them as anything other than strong people who never do much wrong, according to written company policy. Furthermore, they are bold in asserting their high productivity, doing a good job of those things that can easily be measured. It’s harder to document the damage they do in other areas.

Reason 3 – Companies keep bad records
Jack Welch is a huge proponent of forced ranking. While its overall benefit is disputed, the system does make it clear where weaknesses lie. Most companies in the Caribbean possess no such clarity. Instead, one manager after another dodges the bullet, giving toxic employees passing grades simply because it’s the path of least resistance. Over time, reality becomes separated from the written record. The executive who finally decides to do the right thing finds that the laws in the Caribbean are quite strict: no employee who has a record of adequate performance can be summarily dismissed.

The researchers didn’t specifically go into the effect toxic employees have on high performers but we can imagine. A high potential who believes she’s being rewarded exactly the same as a toxic colleague is likely to depart for a saner environment. She may say it’s “for more money”, but that’s sometimes a cover-up. The truth is, she’s gotten to the point where the company’s lunacy has become unbearable.

What then should your company do to prevent itself from filling the ranks with toxic employees?

Step 1 – Analyze your human resource records to see whether there is a separation between high and low performers. Compare your company’s performance with the story told by these records.

Step 2 – If there’s a mismatch, move to identify toxic employees. Work to remedy the skills of their managers in giving feedback and hold them to account so that the separation becomes clear.

Step 3 – Monitor the gap between high and low performers over time, using company performance as a guide. It’s better to do this long before there’s a crunch so that the right adjustments can be made.

Think of a top football club. There is universal recognition that players come and go: it’s a requirement of their system which is different from a family with its life-long blood relationships. Instead, a club is actually a temporary coalition of high performers striving towards the same goal. So is your company.

Attracting star performers may be a more sexy solution than dealing with toxic workers, but you have a higher obligation to keep your company healthy. It’s not the easy path to take, but it’s the one that pays off in the long-term.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To receive a free summary of links to his past articles, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com

 

The original article on the Gleaner website can be found here.