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How to be a Productive Communicator

By Royale on April 21, 2010 in Uncategorized

Communication is an integral part of any work or life situation. Learning to be an effective communicator is a valuable productivity tool. It is one that is unfortunately commonly overlooked. The consequences of poor communication can be disastrous; wasted time, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, unproductive meetings, ineffective teamwork and lack of progress towards goals. In order to be successful communicators we need to keep in mind some basic guidelines that are applicable in most instances of work, social or home environments.

Thank you up front:

Express appreciation for the persons time
Offer thanks for the work or contribution the person is making

Engage the other person

Find some common ground – weather, sports, news or whatever is appropriate(avoid controversial topics)
Inquire about children or projects the person is involved in

Stay positive:

Find something positive to praise
Only offer constructive criticism or ideas

Monitor your tone:

Be assertive, not aggressive
Stay calm and cooperative

Be clear about your objectives:

What is your desired outcome?
Look for win-win solution

Be an active listener:

Seek to understand the other person’s perspective
Make eye contact
Don’t interrupt
Keep an open mind

Watch non-verbal cues:

Pay attention to body language
Notice yawns or sighs

Request feedback:

Make sure the other person understands what you are saying
Ask for the other person’s input or thoughts

Determine follow-up:

Summarize the agreements in oral or written form
Clarify any actions that will be taken
Confirm commitments and time-frame if any

Perhaps most importantly, always end with another thank you and a positive note!

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Windows of Creativity Can Boost Productivity

By Royale on April 15, 2010 in Creativity, Energy, Time

If you are like most people, you hit the ground running. You dive right into email and returning voicemails and then your day seems to be overtaken by information overload. You spend all day in reactionary mode – responding to what’s thrown at you. That does not leave time for inspiration, planning, goal setting or creativity. The most prolific creators and productive influencers have a practice of blocking out time each day for “thinking.” Such a simple idea, but so often overlooked. We need to allow time to; envision goals, create new ideas, do research, digest trends, news and information and other types of free flowing contemplation.

Although this is geared towards professionals, it can apply to anyone. Even if you are a SAHM – do you take time to think about what you want, your dreams and what happens “after?” Proactively blocking out time for creating and absorbing – rather than just responding – is a key tactic of productive professionals.

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Are Your Goals SMART?

By Royale on April 14, 2010 in Goals

Specific: Goals must be very clear, not sort of vague ideas. We often set goals that are so generic, it’s nearly impossible to measure progress or successful achievement. You need to know what has to be done or what specifically the desired end result will be.

BAD EXAMPLE:

I want to lose weight – Well who doesn’t? What does that mean?

GOOD EXAMPLE:

I want to lose 20 pounds by September 1^st. I will perform a half hour of cardio and half hour of strength training per day, 5 times a week.

Measurable: Goals need to be measurable. They should be well-defined, concrete goals and must be in qualitative or quantitative terms. If your goals are not measurable, you will never know whether you are making progress toward their successful completion. Choose some unit of measurement that will allow you to see exactly how far you have come and how far away from the completion of the goal you are.

BAD EXAMPLE:

I want to be rich.
I want to be successful.

GOOD EXAMPLE:

I want to gross 1 million dollars and have a team of 5 within 3 years.

Attainable: Goals need to be realistic and achievable. Time and again, success or failure depends on setting practical goals. The best goals require you to stretch a bit to achieve, but they aren’t out of reach. Don’t set yourself up for failure by setting goals that are too high. You should consider your skills and resources available to help you achieve your goal. Creating goals that are not attainable is very disheartening and will only serve to discourage you in life.

BAD EXAMPLE:

I want to become a millionaire in 3 months (don’t we all!)

GOOD EXAMPLE:

I want to make an extra $500 per month.
I want to increase my savings account by $10,000 in 3 years.

Relevant: Goals must be relevant to your purpose (or your company’s.) Relevant goals ensure that you are directing your effort towards goals that are focused on your mission statement, business objective or overall strategic long-term plan in life. The goal also has to be relevant or consistent with your responsibilities, knowledge, skill set, and access.

BAD EXAMPLE:

I want to network more – Why? What does that get you? How?

GOOD EXAMPLE:

I want to build a charitable foundation that helps feed the homeless.

Time Sensitive: Goals need to have a time frame, milestones and a deadline. Having a set amount of time will give your goals structure. It also helps you monitor your progress. Not having time constraints attached to your goal triggers procrastination. Without an end date there is no sense of urgency, no impetus to take any action today. Without this component we are tempted to put the goal off for a later time and never get around to it; or it simply gets overshadowed by the day to day grind.

BAD EXAMPLE:

I want to write a book.
I want to start my own business.

GOOD EXAMPLE:

I want to write a book on financial planning and submit it to publishers 1 year from today.
I want to have a retirement account with at least $500,000 within 5 years from this date.

By spending some time towards making sure that your goals fit the SMART criteria, you will make your success much more likely.

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Improve Performance by Joining a Group

By Royale on April 8, 2010 in Energy, Life Balance, Work

For the next two days I will be away from my office, first attending the WISE Symposium and then in an all-day team meeting with two groups of very inspiring peers. Though the settings and formats, even some topics are different, the result is the same. Every time I come out of one of these sessions, I am completely energized; overflowing with ideas and information, ready to try out new strategies and different concepts. This started me thinking about the value of learning from and building relationships with other members in your industry, mentors and newbies as well as complementary products and services. Especially if you are a small business owner, an entrepreneur, work at home or even stay at home with children(that’s work too) you may not take advantage of these types of opportunities. You really are cheating yourself out of an entire set of valuable resources!

Research what groups, events or organizations exist that you can network with and gain information and support from. Places to look:

An industry or trade organization(local or national)
A career specific support group(i.e. writer’s forum)
A mentoring group (like SCORE)
Sign up for a class to further or refresh your skills
Find a non-career networking group(book club, play group for SAHMs)

Any forum or setting where you can exchange ideas and get honest feedback is definitely a good investment of your time. I might just come back with some new productivity strategies to share! Stay tuned….

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GTD Practices – Organize

By Royale on March 24, 2010 in Uncategorized

This week we continue the ongoing series on GTD practices with a discussion on organize. If you are not familiar with the GTD concept, read my GTD overview. Also, as a reminder, if you missed part one or two in the series on the process of collecting or capturing and processing, I highly encourage you to start there first.

In plain English, this step of organize really deals with the “nitty gritty” daily practice of how to differentiate your projects and tasks; first by separating them, then determining if there is a next action and if so, what context. If there is no immediate next action, then it is should be “filed” as either reference, waiting for something or someone or a someday/maybe item. A key component to any successful organizational method is an effective filing system that is simple to use.

Note: I use categories to organize my tasks instead of context, such as or by categories such as “work,” “finances,” “calls,” “review,” ”someday,” “WOR,” “household,” etc.

To optimize your GTD routine and clarify the method further I highly recommend listening to the GTD Best Practices of Organize podcast from David Allen the creator of the GTD system. David and some members of his team share tips and strategies for organizing tasks, actions and projects; including details on how they utilize lists and contexts.

Please share any tips or comments you might have on how you are using this system. Stay tuned for next week’s discussion on the process of Review…..and in the meantime check out the related posts on the GTD system.

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It’s About the Experience

By Royale on March 16, 2010 in Relationships, Work

Focus your marketing efforts on creating an experience. This does two things.

First, it creates a buzz around your brand for your customers to share. We all know that word of mouth is the most powerful marketing method available, but how often do you actually give people something to talk about?

Creating an experience or feeling also helps build a sense of relationship with your brand and gives customers a reason to keep coming back. People want to feel a certain way and if you associate your brand with what they’re looking for, they’ll respond to that.

How do you go about creating experiences?

Appeal to a customer’s emotions.
Make interactions as personal as possible.
Cultivate and promote the values that YOU stand for.
Be interesting, thought-provoking or noteworthy in some manner.
Identify what’s important to your customer and find a way to connect that to your brand.
Find techniques to become part of your customer’s daily life.
Give customers a take-away, even if it’s just a smile.

You recognize you want your customers to talk about you, but…what do you want them to say? What steps have you taken to build experience-making into your marketing approach? Is it reflected in the way you conduct business?

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GTD Tools to Increase Your Productivity

By Royale on March 11, 2010 in Uncategorized

*If haven’t read my GTD overview, you might want to start there.*

Have you have been attempting to capture your tasks as part of your GTD – Getting Things Done system – or any other task management system for that matter, but just can’t find the right tool? Or perhaps you are just getting started down the path to ultimate efficiency? The options for collecting information are endless. First it depends on what type of a person you are, how you work and what your lifestyle is like.

Are you a written list person – scribbling everything on a notepad, or heaven helps us – sticky notes? Are you into technology – email, smart-phone, spreadsheets, computerize everything? Or maybe you are a visual person – take pictures and rely on visual clues? Once you have determined which camp you fall into, take a look at the list of tools below and see if something appeals to you.

For the Writer:

To-Do list notepads from Knock Knock

Accomplish notepads from Knock-Knock

Printable To-do list – Word template

A Jr. padfolio – that you can slip in your briefcase or purse

Plain old legal pad and your favorite pen

For the tech-minded (Surprise! This is where I am) :

Create Task list – Microsoft Outlook

To-Do Project List Spreadsheet – Microsoft Excel

Google Docs – Many templates to use

Remember the milk – Never forget the milk or anything else again

For the visual person:

Evernote – Use Evernote to save your ideas, things you see, and things you like. Then find them all on any computer or device you use. Free

Task and project management – Microsoft OneNote

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4 Steps to Get Control of Your Inbox

By Royale on February 24, 2010 in Productivity

Use the rule of the 4 D’s to get control over your inbox. Perhaps the most important rule is to handle each message only once, make a decision and move on. This eliminates the bulging inbox and revisiting messages over and over, which often results in less than stellar efficiency!

DELETE IT – you can generally delete 25% to 50% of your messages. If you suffer from packrat syndrome and are wary about needing the message someday, use the following guidelines:

Does the message relate to a current objective you’re working on? If not, you can probably delete it. Why hold on to information that doesn’t relate to your main goals?
Does the message contain information you can find elsewhere? If so, delete it.
Does the message contain information that you will refer to within the next six months? If not, delete it.
Does the message contain information that you’re required to keep? If not, delete it.

DO IT (in less than two minutes) – Can’t DELETE IT, then decide, “What specific action do I need to take?” and “Can I DO IT in less than two minutes?” If you can, just Do it.

DELEGATE IT – If you can’t DELETE IT or DO IT in two minutes or less, can you Delegate it? You should be able to compose and send the delegating message in about two minutes. Once you delegate the action, delete the original message or move it into your e-mail reference system (or WOR folder).

DEFER IT – If you cannot DELETE IT, DO IT in less than two minutes, or DELEGATE IT, then you need to Defer it and deal with it after you are done processing your e-mail. Depending on which system you use for email, you can flag the message for follow up and file in the corresponding project folder, create a task out of it or create an appt. if that is what is required.

If you are using the 4 D’s model on a daily basis it makes it easier to handle a large volume of e-mail. Generally speaking, of the e-mail you receive:

50 percent can be deleted or filed in a reference folder
30 percent can be delegated or completed in less than 2 minutes
20 percent can be deferred to your Task List or Calendar to complete later

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The Covey Matrix Can Help You Manage Your Time More Effectively

By Royale on February 1, 2010 in Productivity, Time

Welcome to part 2 in my series on Organization Systems. To read part 1, click here.

While I may be a GTD fan at the moment, I have not completely abandoned the teachings of the guru of time management, Steven Covey. 7 Habits of Highly Successful People may be the most influential time management book ever written. so it is defintely a worthy addition to any productivity junkie’s arsenal.

Human nature means that we instinctively act on tasks that are ‘urgent’, whether these tasks are important or not. That’s OK for the tasks that are also important, but the other ones are not necessarily the best use of your time and effort.

The Covey Time Management matrix can also be used to explain why taking action on goals sometimes gets into trouble. Goals are typically derived from dreams and desires, which by their very nature are not ‘urgent’. Goals are however VERY important and their enabling actions need to be elevated in priority over tasks that are not really important.

So as a tool for helping you prioritize your action items, start by identifying which part of the matrix each task belongs in, and then manage them according to the Covey matrix:

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Why You Should Play to Your Strengths

By Royale on January 14, 2010 in Uncategorized

I first learned the concept of working on your strengths from Marcus Buckingham, author of “Go Put Your Strengths To Work.” In a nutshell, he contends that spending our time trying to improve upon our weaknesses is actually, well a waste of time. I am not saying don’t try to better yourself, but instead focus on the things that you do well. That is where you will see the greatest improvement anyway.

That is the beauty of working on a team, or delegating out some of your tasks. If you know that you are very creative, but not very organized, then fine work with that. Don’t keep beating your head against the wall. Hire someone to take care of the details or get you organized so that you can keep developing concepts, innovations or marketing your product. Conversely, if you are a detail, planning and money person, then team up with a creative genius!

This works both at home and at work. For example, I dislike making phone calls and my husband is spelling and grammatically challenged, so we have worked out a system. He makes the phone calls and I write the emails and correspondence. I pay the bills, but he does the painting (I am spatially challenged and cannot color in the lines!)

Think about everything that you do in conjunction with your business (or at home) and see what you can delegate, trade or hire out. You will be so much more productive and much less frustrated.