Whenever I raise the issue of leadership and what it means to be an effective leader of a business, with those interested in what it is I do, the conversation always turns to how to get more stuff done in the working day.
Some of the older people I speak with may actually want to continue to do the same amount of work, but do it in less time, which they believe will help restore their work life balance and allow them more time away from their business.
More stuff in the same time or the same stuff in less time – whichever way you cut it, we’re talking personal productivity. It’s a simple word and according to the dictionary it is a noun meaning; the state or quality of being productive.
But to me it is much more than that. It is the very foundation of success. It captures the human desire to become better, by performing better. Happily this applies equally to the commercial world, where we might consider that productivity is doing what it takes to make more profit. And who wouldn’t want more profit?
This potential to deliver more profit, essentially with the same resources is the key to progress and success. To achieve this increased productivity means investing time in tasks, activities or responsibilities that provide a high return to your organisation.
Concentrating your efforts on high pay-off activities means doing the right things, at the right time, for the right amount of time. At its heart, productivity is about working smarter, not harder.
There are many things in life you cannot control as an individual, as an employee or business owner, from bureaucrats moving the goalposts to competitors entering your market, but time is the one resource you can exert personal control over.
Admittedly none of us think we have enough time and typically waste lots of it telling anyone that will listen just how little we have. But no matter how well you organise your day, you will only have the same time as everyone else; you are not special and will get no more, so it’s how wisely you use what time you have that will determine your success or otherwise.
Organizations spend a lot of time thinking about how to streamline their operations. They then spend even longer undertaking activities to reduce the energy they use, the paper they print on, the materials they waste and the inefficiencies in their production methods.
Few recognise the irony of wasting so much of a valuable resource like time, to achieve outcomes worth a fraction of the value of the time expended. I started talking about productivity and more specifically, personal productivity, but now we are at root of productivity, our use of time.
And for those of you that like numbers; if you identify just 30 – 40 minutes you are wasting in your working day and spend that time being productive and getting valuable stuff done, you will add the equivalent of around 22 eight-hour workdays to your time each year. Read that sentence again and let it sink in.
When you are looking for a slight competitive edge for your business, just imagine what you could do with a 13 month year, when your competitors only have 12. Or perhaps your competitors already know this and their slight edge is that they understand personal productivity and they’re getting more stuff done while you’re still wasting time.
Whenever I raise the issue of leadership and what it means to be an effective leader of a business, with those interested in what it is I do, the conversation always turns to how to get more stuff done in the working day.
Some of the older people I speak with may actually want to continue to do the same amount of work, but do it in less time, which they believe will help restore their work life balance and allow them more time away from their business.
More stuff in the same time or the same stuff in less time – whichever way you cut it, we’re talking personal productivity. It’s a simple word and according to the dictionary it is a noun meaning; the state or quality of being productive.
But to me it is much more than that. It is the very foundation of success. It captures the human desire to become better, by performing better. Happily this applies equally to the commercial world, where we might consider that productivity is doing what it takes to make more profit. And who wouldn’t want more profit?
This potential to deliver more profit, essentially with the same resources is the key to progress and success. To achieve this increased productivity means investing time in tasks, activities or responsibilities that provide a high return to your organisation.
Concentrating your efforts on high pay-off activities means doing the right things, at the right time, for the right amount of time. At its heart, productivity is about working smarter, not harder.
There are many things in life you cannot control as an individual, as an employee or business owner, from bureaucrats moving the goalposts to competitors entering your market, but time is the one resource you can exert personal control over.
Admittedly none of us think we have enough time and typically waste lots of it telling anyone that will listen just how little we have. But no matter how well you organise your day, you will only have the same time as everyone else; you are not special and will get no more, so it’s how wisely you use what time you have that will determine your success or otherwise.
Organizations spend a lot of time thinking about how to streamline their operations. They then spend even longer undertaking activities to reduce the energy they use, the paper they print on, the materials they waste and the inefficiencies in their production methods.
Few recognise the irony of wasting so much of a valuable resource like time, to achieve outcomes worth a fraction of the value of the time expended. I started talking about productivity and more specifically, personal productivity, but now we are at root of productivity, our use of time.
And for those of you that like numbers; if you identify just 30 – 40 minutes you are wasting in your working day and spend that time being productive and getting valuable stuff done, you will add the equivalent of around 22 eight-hour workdays to your time each year. Read that sentence again and let it sink in.
When you are looking for a slight competitive edge for your business, just imagine what you could do with a 13 month year, when your competitors only have 12. Or perhaps your competitors already know this and their slight edge is that they understand personal productivity and they’re getting more stuff done while you’re still wasting time.