New Productivity Rules... Or Are They?

Business consultant, Gihan Perera, has this to say about our productivity:

"The old rules of goal setting, productivity and time management don’t work. Our goals become meaningless when the environment changes, it’s difficult to stay productive when we’re constantly interrupted, globally dispersed teams make in-person meetings impractical, and the 9-to-5 workday just doesn’t make sense anymore. The new principles for high performance and super productivity are direction (rather than goals), signals (rather than interruptions), collaboration (rather than meetings), and flow (rather than time management)."

All the new terminology. Sounds scary, doesn't it? The good news is, it shouldn't. Although the words are different, we at Creative Learning and Prashnig Style Solutions have been advocating them for decades. We agree with Gihan Perera that the golden rules include:

• Working when your energy levels are high (this may mean morning for some of us, evening for others) - check your own Working Style to see how to increase your productivity.
• Process information faster and more effectively - your Working Style will help you do it in an optimal way.
• Collaborate - this will come to you easier if your Working Style has a preference for working in groups.
• Manage your email and mobile phone interruptions - if your Working Style allows global information processing, so much the better.
• Know the direction and the destination.

Work smarter. Work with your Working Style.

Less Stress + Better Environment = Productivity

The sad reality is that in the current economic climate employees are expected to do more per hour with fewer resources. The result?

• Stress
• Burnout
• Skewed life-work balance
• No productivity gains

Research indicates that true productivity gains can only be achieved through better organisation in the workplace and a kinder atmosphere. This includes:

• Flexible work hours - not only for convenience, but also in recognition of the fact that people concentrate best at different times of day;
• Office light (some people need it bright, others dim);
• The chance to work alone or in groups;
• The opportunity to structure your own tasks.

Imagine if you could save two hours a day by working in an environment optimised to your specific needs.

You can. Working Style Analysis will show you and your boss how you can work smarter, faster, better.
How do you work best? Find out.

Speaking Up In A Meeting

"If you are quiet in a group setting, it doesn't necessarily mean you are shy, but it does mean you might be an introvert," says Michael Woodward, an organizational psychologist in New York. To use Working Style terminology, if your style is Reflective rather than Impulsive, and you're asked a question you haven't considered before, you may experience a lot of activity in your amygdala, the part of the brain that registers fear and processes emotion.

To overcome this biological reaction, it helps if you:

1. Prepare as many ideas, angles and scenarios before the meeting.
2. Practice the words you might say in the meeting. Speak them out loud, repeat them several times until they feel familiar in your mouth.
3. Get to the point as succinctly as possible, but don't rush your words.
4. Sit up straight and speak in a confident manner - often people don't notice what you say, but how.
5. Belly-breathe before the meeting. This will calm you and help you find a deeper timbre to your voice.
6. If you want to introduce your idea in a low-key manner, you might like to use words like "Have we thought about...."
7. If you disagree with something but aren't comfortable with confrontation, say, "Just to play devil's advocate..."

P.S. What is your Working Style?

10 Ways To Increase Your Productivity

Did you know?

1. Researchers at Hiroshima University conducted a study, called The Power of Kawaii (Japanese for ''cute''), which found that the positive emotions produced by looking at baby animals seems to trigger not only happiness but a ''narrowed attentional focus'', which in turn improves our ability to concentrate. They suggested workers be subjected to cute images to induce careful behaviour.
2. Everybody has the best time of day in which they are at their most productive. When is yours?
3. Our lives and brains are cluttered with too much information. Go on an Information Diet to eliminate unproductive Internet surfing.
4. Take a short break - it'll boost your output.
5. Do you work at your best when the room's silent or filled with soothing background buzz? Find out.
6. Reward yourself for finishing a task.
7. Use caller ID and voice mail to make sure the phone doesn't interrupt you unnecessarily.
8. Some people concentrate better when they nibble a healthy snack or sip water. Do you?
9. Prioritise your tasks in terms of urgency as well as importance. Remember, if you only ever do the urgent stuff, you may never get to the less urgent but more important things in life.
10. The light in the office may make you unproductive. Discover how.

The Ultimate Productivity Booster

The single most efficient way to increase your productivity is to be happy at work. No system, tool or methodology in the world can beat the productivity boost you get from really, really enjoying your work. (Alexander Kjerulf)

So how do you achieve that? How do you start liking your workplace so much, it actually makes you happy to go to work every day?

A lot has to do with the work conditions and the environment at the office. Yes, a good boss and friendly colleagues go a long way to achieve that. But there is also something more basic, more elemental at play: the preferences of your own working style.

Even something as innocuous as the office lights may contribute to your levels of happiness. If you need a darker room in order to concentrate, a brightly lit office (especially one fitted with fluorescent lights) is going to contribute directly to your feeling tense. If, on the other hand, you need bright light and sunshine, a dark office or artificial lights will depress you or slow you down do that your productivity is affected.

Another element that can contribute to the amount of stress you feel when trying to work is the time of day. If you’re an evening person, for example, it’s physically stressful on your body and brain to function early in the morning. If you’re not a night owl, it will be stressful and exhausting for you to try and catch up on work when everyone else is asleep. Determine when your best “working time” is (early morning, late morning, after lunch, after supper) and try to do the bulk of your work then, particularly the complex and difficult bits. You'll emerge a lot happier and more productive.

What's your working style?