03/11/2020

Daily Buzz: Don’t Get in the Way of Employee Productivity

Business leaders can disrupt productivity and need to stop

Not sure why you can’t take your organization to the next level? As a leader, you might be doing things that are holding you and your coworkers back.

“For some business owners, they still struggle with getting all the things on their to-do list accomplished,” says author and CEO David Finkel in Inc. “In the majority of cases, it all boils down to a few key factors.”

If productivity is stalling, you might be holding unnecessary meetings, Finkel says. Consider what you’re meeting for before pulling coworkers away from their responsibilities.

“Meetings are for creating value, not playing politics, covering your backside, or simply because ‘that’s how we’ve always done things,’” Finkel says. Worthwhile meetings focus on brainstorming ideas, making key decisions, gaining buy-in from staff, or coordinating plans.

Distractions might also be getting in the way. To remove them, Finkel suggests scheduling a weekly appointment for a three- to four-hour block of “Focus Time.” During this time, turn your phone off, mute email notifications, and focus in on one or two high-value activities that will make a difference.

In addition, unclear deadlines and deliverables could hurt productivity. It’s not enough to say, “We’d like to have the new process developed by the end of the quarter,” Finkel says. Your team should start each quarter with a clear idea of what they need to accomplish and when. Otherwise, confusion sets in.

“Your team members will either end up not meeting your expectations or will end up scrambling to finish phantom deliverables at the last minute because they weren’t prepared,” Finkel says.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.