Improve your productivity at work with a few simple changes

For most of us, improving our productivity at work seems like an eternal work in progress. We sign up for seminars, attend workshops and read thousands of articles on productivity in hopes to create some extra time in our busy, busy days.

Everyone’s process will be different, but there always seems to be a better way, a more efficient way to get things done. Implement a few of these simple changes and you may be surprised with the extra time you find in your workday.

• Write everything down. Don’t keep your to-do list bottled up in your mind, write it down and post it in a highly visible place on your desk. Writing everything down will help free your mind, allowing more creativity to flow.


• Prioritize. Put your to-do list in order, with the most important tasks at the top of the list. Knowing your priorities will help you focus more on what matters and less on what could wait until later.


• Be aware. Do your best to focus on one task at a time and be fully conscious in whatever you’re working on. The less distracted you are, the more you will be able to accomplish.


• Find your best time to work. Everyone has a part of the day where they get the most done in the least amount of time. Work on the most important tasks during the time of the day when you are most productive. You’ll produce better work, faster.


• Take a break. Give yourself a break from time to time. When you start feeling stressed or tired, get up and take a walk. Whether it’s to the break room or around the building, a quick walk will help clear your mind and improve your personal productivity back at your desk.


• Quality not quantity. It may be possible to speed through your to-do list and check off every task by the end of the day, but will you come out of it with quality work? Focus on each task as it comes and congratulate yourself for completing each one.

Workplace flexibility muscles through recession

Despite the recession, a majority of employers have maintained or increased their workforce flexibility programs. Recent research shows that more than a quarter of employers (26%) are used workplace flexibility programs in attempts to avoid layoffs in the last year.

The Impact of the Recession on Employers (.pdf) by the Families and Work Institute measured a variety of trends including how employers are reducing labor and operational costs, and how employers are helping workers deal with the recession.

"It is hardly surprising that our survey finds that 77% of employers are cutting and controlling labor and operational costs during the recession," said Ellen Galinsky, co-founder and president of FWI.

"What is surprising is that that between 34% to 43% of employers are actively helping employees weather the recession, that employers are largely retaining or increasing workplace flexibility as way to manage through a difficult economic environment, and that 57% of employers are giving employees some or a lot of input about the flexibility they use."

Other notable survey findings include:

• Two-thirds of employers (66%) report a decline in revenues in the past 12 months. More than a quarter (28%) said revenues held steady and 6% saw increases in revenue.
• Employers’ two most common cost-cutting strategies were decreasing/eliminating bonuses or salary increases (69%) and lay-offs (64%).
• Most employers have maintained existing workplace flexibility options (81%) or increased them (13%). Another 6% had to reduce flexibility options.

The report also revealed how some employers have turned to their employees for ways to improve the business and cut costs. The most popular methods included a cost-savings program where employees submit cost-savings ideas and organizing active cost committees to make recommendations.

“Employers are increasingly recognizing the value of work-life balance policies to their bottom lines - now we see it's true in good times and in tough times," said Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Chair of the Joint Economic Committee.

"Offering flexibility to workers is a low-cost way to boost morale, loyalty, and productivity. This new report by the Families and Work Institute, confirms that smart employers are working with their employees to avoid layoffs. More employers should see these policies as an essential element of the 21st century workplace.”

How has your company helped employees get through the recession? Did they use workplace flexibility programs and/or other employee benefit programs?

Please leave a comment and let us know.

Employee engagement at Campbell’s: It's mm, mm good

Turning poor engagement around is a challenge for any organization, large or small. Finding a recipe for success came with its own set of challenges for one of the most recognized brands in the U.S., but the company now stands at the head of the employee engagement table.

In an interview with Forbes, Douglas Conant, CEO of Campbell Soup, shared how he took a “bad” company to a high-performing “extraordinary” company. We’ve put together some of the highlights in this post, you can read the full article here.

How did he do it? With a mix of “cost-cutting, smart innovations, increased marketing and, especially, a concerted effort to reinvigorate the workforce.”

"To win in the marketplace," he has said, "we believe you must first win in the workplace. I'm obsessed with keeping employee engagement front and center and keeping up energy around it." (Forbes)

The year after Conant became a part of Campbell’s he hired the help of Gallup, polling and research firm, to better understand his company’s engagement levels. Gallup found that 62% of Campbell’s managers were not actively engaged in their jobs and 12% were actively disengaged.

Today the engagement numbers look much different. According to the most recent poll, 68% of all Campbell employees say they are actively engaged, and only 3% say they are actively disengaged. The company’s engagement levels are “world-class” in Gallup’s eyes.

After Conant realized how it tied directly into shareholder returns, he used employee engagement as a tool to measure progress, build a high-performance company culture, and set high standards for Campbell’s leaders.

The company now surveys all 580 work groups at the same time once a year. Managers review the results with their direct reports and everyone is updated on their progress related to specific goals. The top quality leaders are measured on is their ability to inspire trust in those around them.

“The other thing we do is celebrate at a high level when people do things well. Learning to celebrate success is a key component of learning how to win in the market. On a personal level, I send out about 20 thank-you notes a day to staffers, on all levels. And every six weeks I have lunch with a group of a dozen or so employees, to get their perspective on the business, to address problems and to get feedback.”

How do you inspire trust in your teams? What is the most important factor any company can focus on to turn employee engagement around?

Are “lunch and learns” bad for business?

“Lunch and learn” programs are used by countless businesses to fit training and development into everyone’s busy day by turning employees’ lunchtime into informal training sessions.

While some feel that squeezing more learning into our jam-packed days with “lunch and learns” is a boon for business, others strongly believe that they can be quite a bother.

Nick Milton of Bath, UK, recently explained why he thinks “lunch and learns” are a bad idea in a post last week. While learning during lunchtime makes sense at first glance, it may be sending employees the wrong message. He writes:

But what message are you giving? You are giving the message that learning and knowledge sharing is not something that should be a priority during working hours, and should be fitted into spare lunchtimes. You are giving the message that learning is not real work, to be done during work time. You are giving the message that learning is something you can do while eating, and that you don't need to give it full attention. You are making the tacit assumption that people will not turn up to learn something unless you bribe them with cookies.

If learning is important, don’t relegate it to lunchtime. How many other business activities would you hold at lunchtime, so people could eat as they participated? Would you have "lunch and budgeting?" "lunch and project planning?" lunch and personal appraisal?" "lunch and recruitment interviewing?" No you wouldn't, so why relegate learning to lunchtime? (read the full post)

We’ve written before on the benefits of “lunch and learn” training, and how it can help businesses save money and improve employee productivity. But what works for one person or company may fail with another and it’s our job to learn from both sides of the equation.

So, we want to know what side you’re on. Have you tried “lunch and learn” seminars? Are you a fan? Why or why not?


Please leave a comment and tell us about it.

Do not disturb: Daydreamers hard at work

The next time you walk by Bob’s desk and see him staring into space, daydreaming about his summer plans, you may want to think twice about telling him to snap out of it and get back to work.

What looks like lazy daydreaming on the outside may actually be a sign that Bob’s brain is busy finding the solution to a difficult problem.

New research out of the University of British Columbia suggests that our brains are still hard at work while we daydream. The study found that activity in numerous areas of the brain increases when our minds wander. Researchers also discovered that the problem-solving areas of our brains, once thought to stay dormant while daydreaming, are actually highly active during such episodes.

"Mind wandering is typically associated with negative things like laziness or inattentiveness," says lead author, Prof. Kalina Christoff, UBC Dept. of Psychology. "But this study shows our brains are very active when we daydream – much more active than when we focus on routine tasks." (Science Daily)

“One of the things that I hope might come out of our study is that people realize that their brains are definitely not getting shut down when they mind-wander,” she said. “They’re very active….You have this unique brain state where instead of having one or the other shut down, both networks are available to be used. It’s a mental state that’s really not lazy, from the point of view of the brain.”

That may be why it seems as if many people’s best ideas come from inadvertent straying of the mind.” (Ubyssey Online)

So, the next time you have to solve a difficult problem or come up with a creative idea, sitting down and aggressively thinking about it could be the least effective way to find a solution.

As the research suggests, it might be best to let yourself work on a simple task that gives your mind room to wander. You may be surprised with the creative ideas your mind comes up with while you were daydreaming.

We’ll leave you with a quick clip from a commercial you’ve probably seen before. But this time, the practice of “ideating” may not look like such a bad idea. Take a look:

Harnessing the power of group productivity

Does the number of people in a group improve the group’s productivity or does it just enable more in the group to slack off?

The authors at PsyBlog explained the answer in a post about the psychological effects group dynamics can have on productivity. It turns out that many workers will use the cover of group work to slack off.

Psychologists call the workplace phenomenon social loafing. And it’s the reason why you may want to think twice the next time you start adding more employees to a group when you want them to complete more work.

Since the idea was introduced in the 1890s, researchers have fount that social loafing can affect people in a wide range of group settings. From pulling ropes to yelling and even clapping, when people were in groups of six or larger their output was only one-third of what it was on their own.

The author does note that the findings don’t necessarily translate to groups focused on knowledge-based production:

For example a group problem-solving session relies on the brains of the best people in the group - social loafing wouldn't necessarily reduce productivity in this group as markedly.

However, it may be easy to find examples of social loafing in our own group work or in the actions of a former group member.


Why do people slack off in groups?

Standard explanations for the social loafing effect involve three main factors:

• Expectations - That person is probably slacking off, so I can slack off too.
• Anonymity - When the work is spread out, so is the blame.
• Standards - Most groups fail to establish clear standards, so some will be confused about how much they need to do.

Understanding the reasons behind social loafing can help us reduce it. Here’s how the author suggests deterring it:

• Task importance. If workers think the task is important enough, they’ll work harder and slack off less.
• Group importance. When workers can identify with the group or feel a better sense of belonging, they’re less likely to partake in social loafing.
• Understanding workloads. Or as the author explains it, the “sucker effect” is when you feel misled when you think others in the group are slacking off. Understanding that everyone has a responsibility can eliminate such feelings.

Unfortunately, most of us have either been guilty of slacking off in a group setting or have had to deal with a social loafer at one time or another. Knowing how to deal with those slackers can make a big difference in the group’s productivity.

How do you deter employees from “social loafing” in group work settings? What have you found that worked or failed to keep employees contributing equally?

Just when you think you've got it bad...

If you ever start thinking you've got it bad, just remember there's always someone who's got it worse.

Take the employees at Canon Electronics, for example, who can't sit down while working and set off security alarms if they're walking too slowly around the office.

From Gizmodo:

The president of Canon Electronics, Hisashi Sakamaki, is also the author of a book proposing some of the same measures he takes with his own company. His theory is that forcing employees to stand not only saves money but increases productivity and enhances employee relationships.

In the hallway, if an employee walks slower than 5 meters every 3.6 seconds, an alarm and flashing lights are set off, reminding the poor startled worker that he's an inefficient waste of air. Even better (or worse), there's a sign on the floor in said hallways that reads, "Let's rush: If we don't, the company and world will perish." The big boss, as a reward for thinking up all this stuff, gets to lounge in a nice, relaxing chair.

(Image via Danny Choo, sign reads "Lets rush - if we don't then the company and world will perish.")

Like I said, just when you think you've got it bad...

Need a productivity boost? Take a table nap

We all know we're not getting enough sleep, but catching up with a "table nap" at work probably isn't the best idea.

Happy Friday!

Top 10 learning tools for training pros

For the past few years, Jane Hart of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies has been asking learning professionals, from education and training, to chime in on what productivity tools would make their personal top 10 list.

Right now, Jane is in the process of compiling the Top 100 Tools for Learning in 2009 and it’s looking like a tough race. As the rankings stand today, here are the Top 10 Tools for Learning:

1. Twitter - Microblogging tool
2. Delicious - Social bookmarking tool
3. Google Reader - RSS/Feed reader
4. Wordpress - Blogging tool
5. Google Docs - Web-based documents
6. Skype - Instant messaging/VoIP
   
7. Slideshare - Hosting presentations
8. Google Search - Web search tool
9. PowerPoint - Presentation software
10. Firefox - Web browser and extensions

It’s interesting to see what other professionals out there are using, but even more interesting to see how the trends have changed over the past few years. Last year it was Delicious, Firefox and Google Reader at the top and Twitter ranked down at number 11.

Almost 100 learning professionals have shared their top 10 learning tools so far this year. Visit Jane's site and suggest what tools you think should be at the top.

How to feel happier at work ... instantly

What’s one way to start feeling happier at work almost instantly?

Play an online game. But, not just any game.

The Matrix brainteaser at MindHabits.com is an award-winning program developed by a McGill University psychology researcher that has been proven to improve your mood.

The game, which asks you to find smiling faces in a sea of frowning ones, has been shown to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, making you feel happier. It’s free to play for an hour, but after that you’ll have to pay a one-time $20 fee for unlimited games.

Research suggests that playing video games at work may help employees reduce stress and increase productivity.

“More than 80 percent of online gamers who play on and off throughout the workday said they are able to better focus on work after playing. A reported 72 percent actually rely on game breaks to help them deal with job-related stress,” according to a WorldWinner survey released last year.

MindHabits offers three other games on their site, all aimed at reducing stress and improving self-confidence. Take a break and improve your mood by testing your gaming skills on the Matrix.

Poor ‘team spirit’ at work is depressing

Do your employees seem depressed? Are they mopey, dragging their feet and stuck in a general state of grouchiness?

On first guess, you may assume that it’s the economy to blame, but a new study is showing that may not be the case.

A lack of team spirit in the office and poor work climates could be causing employees to feel depressed, according to a new study published in the journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

"As depressive disorders are a major cause of work disability and account for a considerable proportion of the disease burden, more attention should be paid to psychosocial factors at work," lead author Dr. Marjo Sinokki of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Turku told Reuters Health via e-mail.

Through a series of tests, Sinokki was able to determine that people who work in a “poor work climate” characterized by feelings that their workplace was highly prejudiced and quarrelsome, were 61% more likely to be depressed. The same group of workers were also more susceptible to feelings of anxiety.

While there’s still more research to be done in this area, Sinokki notes that his findings provide evidence that a disagreeable work environment can cause depression.

"The U.S. work environment right now is far more tenuous and toxic than in recent history," said Josh Klapow, an associate professor of health-care organization and policy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who had no role in the study. "With layoffs and downsizing, the opportunities for increased stress, negativity and pressure have all greatly increased."

Because we spend most of the day at work, our work environments have a substantial effect on our overall psychological well-being, said Klapow in a recent BusinessWeek article.

With the effects our economy is having on our households and workplaces, it’s getting harder than ever for many people to cope with stress. A certain level of stress is a normal part of life, but when it starts to interfere with productivity and emotional and physical health, it’s time to find better ways to keep that stress under control

Earlier this month, TrainingTime.com published an article, titled “I’m Not Stressed – That Pencil Had It Coming!!!” that outlines a new training exercise to practice with yourself and your team to help reduce work stress. Feeling happier and less stressed at work all starts with a simple lesson in reading and writing.

1. First you must identify the source of your stress. Without knowing where the stress is stemming from, it will be next to impossible to treat it. Write down a list of specific things that make your job stressful.
2. Then review your list of stressors and determine at least one thing you can do do reduce or relieve each source of work stress. Identify specific, concrete and definable actions that would help alleviate each problem.
3. Systematically start going through your list to determine what you can do to change each stressor. If it’s within your power to change it, find a way to check it off your list and get at least one stressor off your back each week.

Write, read and review your list regularly to make a positive impact on your work stress levels. Read the Training Time Library article for detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to hold your own stress-reducing training exercise.


How do you manage work stress? As a manager, how do you help your employees reduce their stress levels at work? Leave a comment and let us know.

Does updating your Facebook status make you a better employee?

Surfing the Internet may no longer be seen as a warning sign that an employee is a lazy slacker, but actually a sign that you have a top performer on your hands, according to the latest research out of Australia.

Earlier this month, the University of Melbourne released a study showing how employees who use the Internet for personal reasons at work are about 9% more productive than those who don’t.

The practice of “workplace Internet leisure browsing” or WILB, helped to sharpen workers’ concentration and improve productivity after taking a leisure break.

From the Reuters story:

"People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration," [said study author Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing] on the university's website (www.unimelb.edu.au/).

"Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days' work, and as a result, increased productivity," he said.

According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB.

Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites, playing online games and watching videos on YouTube.

"Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity," said Coker. "That's not always the case."

The study focused on workers who used the Internet in moderation (less than 20% of their workday). The authors also note that people “who behave with Internet addiction tendencies” will be less productive than those without a problem.

Surfing the Internet as a new idea to improve employee productivity ... Could this be a manager’s worst nightmare come true?

What do you think about the research? Do short “leisure browsing” breaks make for better, more productive employees?

Improving employee engagement? Ask 3 questions

Over the weekend, Tammy Erickson shared an insightful story at Harvard Business about how any business can find low cost ways to improve engagement. She believes it all starts with creating goose-bump moments for employees.

She explained how years ago AARP asked her to audit their employment policies. AARP, an association dedicated to serving retirees and older Americans, also touts its commitment to being an employer of choice and strives to follow only the best human resource practices.

So, when company representatives began their presentation for Erickson and she became extremely bored, she interrupted and asked the presenters a few questions, including these three:

1. Why do you work here?
2. How often do you feel passionate about your work?
3. How often do you get to have experiences that make you feel passionate about your work?

One of the presenters explained how passionate she was for improving the lives of older Americans. She described a goose-bump moment she had with the company on Capitol Hill when a piece of legislation AARP worked to support became law.

“I strongly believe that the essence of a great employee experience — one that deepens our commitment and heightens our engagement — are those moments that give us goose bumps — the moments that remind us why we chose to work for this particular organization in the first place.”

With the recession taking a serious toll on morale, improving employee engagement is a top goal for many organizations. As Erickson explained in her article, sometimes all it takes is reminding people of the reasons why they wanted to work for the company in the first place.

Though the reasons for wanting to work for a company will vary from employee to employee, the desire to be happy and feel passionate about what they do is a shared feeling among many. Creating opportunities for employees to have goose-bump moments will remind employees of that passion and encourage them to go above and beyond in their work.

“In this difficult year, it's important to understand why people joined your organization and reinforce those values. In most cases, these steps don't cost a lot of money, but they can have a huge impact on employee engagement and commitment.”

Reminding employees of the reasons why they chose to work at an organization can be as simple as talking to customers or as involved as a trip to Capitol Hill. It’s all about creating experiences for employees that bolster the passion they have for the work they do.

“Find the authentic core of work at your organization and create ways to amplify and extend the experience to all employees. Give 'em goose bumps.”

How do you remind employees about what it means to be a part of your organization? How do you “give ‘em goose bumps”?

Change puts engagement and productivity at risk

More than one-third of employees are unable to adapt to workplace changes, decreasing their effectiveness on the job and suggesting that employee engagement and productivity are at high risk, according to a recent survey by Right Management.

Right Management asked more than 100 senior human resource professionals across North America: Is your workforce able to adapt to change and increase their effectiveness on the job?

• 31% answered, “No, employee engagement and productivity are a major risk”
• 43% answered, “Somewhat, our workforce gets the job done, but morale suffers”
• 26% answered, “Yes, our workforce is very agile and responds to new challenges”

Among other changes, layoffs and organizational restructuring require leaders to make difficult decisions that many employees have trouble dealing with.

"As our poll results demonstrate—with only one in four employees having the agility to adapt to change—most organizations don’t prepare their employees to handle changes at work. As a result, change management strategies tend to fail, undermining the organization's ability to achieve the goals the change initiative was designed to produce," notes Right Management President and COO Douglas J. Matthews.

Matthews also commented that most hardships originate from a lack of planning, preparedness and skill in managing the change process. It is only through careful planning and with support at every level of an organization that employees will be able to manage change effectively.

Though the causes of workplace change can vary, there are a few basic concepts that every manager should review to help reduce its impact on engagement and productivity:

• Communication. Keep communication lines open and inform your staff of upcoming changes as soon as possible. Having clear expectations is one of the most powerful ways to reduce workplace stress.


• Participation. Involve employees in the decision-making process whenever you can. Involve your staff in managing the change and ask for their input when implementing new procedures or training programs.


• Provide positive options. If a negative change, like a layoff, is unavoidable, offer employees something positive to balance out the situation. For example, implementing an employee development program for the remaining staff after a layoff can help improve productivity and relieve stress.


• Monitor progress. Monitor the progress of your staff throughout the change. Keep an eye on productivity, attendance records, turnover rates, the use of sick leave - anything that may suggest your team is not adapting well.

Whether your organization is moving offices or has gone through a series of layoffs, communication is the key to making sure employees are managing stress effectively. Managers must listen, learn and take action to replace negative situations with positive experiences.

Boost employee productivity by keeping score?

In the search for ideas on how to improve employee productivity, earlier today I ran across an article from Colorado’s Steamboat Pilot & Today about a local business owner’s creative approach to improving his teams’ productivity.

Steamboat Motors manager Jeff Steinke has improved his bottom line and is helping other small business owners boost their own by putting his motto, “If you measure it, you improve it,” into practice.

“Make sure your employees know how they are judged. Establishing criteria in the short term is important. Employees need to know what they need to accomplish that day,” Steinke recently told a group of business owners at a seminar.

His approach to employee productivity at his dealership is based on his assumption that everyone is competitive by nature. In his dealership’s service department, where diagnostic and repair tasks can be standardized, he’s turned work into a productivity competition.

Here’s a clip from the article:

“In our service department, we sell time,” Steinke said. He observed that if a service technician can accomplish a repair usually allotted one hour in eight-tenths of an hour, that technician has achieved 120 percent productivity.

Steinke makes certain everyone in the service department knows who is achieving by posting a productivity scorecard on a door for all to see.

Business owners who adopt a similar technique can be prepared for the veteran employees initially to rebel but gradually come around to the new regime, he said.

“They’ll go out there and tear (the scorecards) down,” Steinke said. “It takes about two weeks to purge.”

He backs up his productivity charts with three-ringed binders stuffed with detailed job descriptions and pay scales tied to productivity levels.

In addition to posting employee productivity scores, Steinke works to improve productivity by giving employees a voice in how their departments run. Following recognition, being involved in their department is most important to employees and is “one of the biggest things we can overlook,” according to Steinke.

After reading the article, I still have some questions:

Productivity may improve when employees finish job in “eight-tenths of an hour” that were originally allotted an hour to complete, but was the quality of their work affected? Is the owner more focused on productivity than in producing a quality service?

According to the article, businesses should “be prepared for the veteran employees initially to rebel” when putting Steinke’s system into practice. Could turning work into competition hurt morale and cause resentment among employees?


What do you think about this approach to employee productivity? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Goal setting: 100 is the magic number

Goal setting is an important part of our personal lives and careers. Setting goals in the workplace helps motivate and engage employees in their work. Creating a list of small, whisker goals can also provide an energetic kick start to move a team of workers out of a motivational rut.

Sometimes you just have to write it all down in order to get a clear picture of what you want to achieve, according to Caroline Adams Miller, author of Creating Your Best Life and founder of Your100Things.com.

"One of the best ways to achieve your own goals is to create public accountability and support by sharing them with a wide audience," says Miller.

Your100Things.com is free tool to help anyone get started on their personal or workplace “bucket list” of goals. Creating a long list of personal and workplace goals can help employees find direction in their work and can also put work/life balance issues into perspective.

It's free to register and the community forums can help you to keep working toward your goals. If you're having trouble with a certain goal, you can reach out to others on the forums for help on how to get through it or read how other users accomplished their own goals in the “I Got It Done” section.

The site stemmed from Miller's personal "100 Things To Do Before I Die" list. To serve as a role model to her readers, she keeps her list public and sets out to achieve a few goals each year. You can check out everything she hopes to achieve here.

Improve a process, boost productivity and morale

If you’ve been traveling recently, you’ve probably taken notice of an interesting change in the way airlines do business - cashless flights. Many major airlines are no longer accepting cash for in-flight services and only taking credit.

On the outside it may seem like a simple business decision that modernized a dated process, but for those on the inside it has made a considerable impact on the way they work.

Mark Mader at the Smartsheet blog told a story last week about how Alaska Airlines improved a process that was working “just fine” and found that the change impacted more than just the cost of doing business.

“As I saw the flight attendant slowly make her way to row 26, I thought, "why would Alaska give up the 2-4% margin to the credit card companies?". Following the first beverage service, I headed back to the galley to ask Cindy, the lead flight attendant, what she thought of moving away from the simple cash transaction.”

He asked the flight attendant how the new process has impacted the way she does her job. She answered, "I LOVE it!"

Switching to the cashless process made her job significantly better by eliminating the chance that she’ll forget to give someone their change, having to remember who rented digital movie players and putting an end to the tedious and stressful process of managing cash throughout the flight.

Though most processes are a necessary part of business, some may be more of a burden than a blessing when it comes to helping employees get their jobs done.

If we can find ways to simplify people’s jobs and reduce their stress, whether it’s through streamlining a work process or through employee training, they’ll appreciate it and be happier at work because of it.

Fixing that one tiresome process can snowball from happier employees to an overall improvement in productivity and morale across the company. Find ways to help employees get their jobs done more efficiently and they’ll be saying ‘thank you’ in the quality of their work.

Twitter tips to help you stay productive at work

New online tools emerge everyday with the promise that they will improve our workdays, keeping us more productive than we’ve ever been before. While some of these tools do improve personal productivity, others can be a complete waste of time.

Twitter is one of those tools that has proponents on both sides of the productivity argument. One little bird with one simple question has taken the social media world by storm, presenting limitless possibilities both in the workplace and in our personal lives.

If you’ve started using Twitter at work, you may have found that all of the connections you make and information you find can be beneficial during the workday. However, you can easily get lost in the overload of information and find yourself wasting time.

Stop wasting your time and follow a few of these tips for using Twitter to improve your productivity:

• Disconnect. Not all the time, but turn Twitter off from time to time and completely focus on the task in front of you.


• Connect with coworkers. Instead of sending an email, or calling someone in the office to ask a simple question, ask them on Twitter. Sending a direct message on Twitter to a coworker can help you get the information you need in a non-distracting way.


• Use Twitter search tools. You can use the Twitter Search site or search directly from whatever Twitter platform you're using, to find out what people are saying about anything you're interested in.


• Remind yourself. Simple Twitter applications like Timer can help you manage daily tasks. Simply send a direct message to @timer and the program will tweet you back with a reminder at the time you set.


• Follow people who share valuable information. If you try to only follow people who share valuable information, there will be less nonsense to sort through.


• Subsribe to TwiTip. TwiTip is a blog dedicated to everything Twitter related. Darren Rowse delivers great information daily on the latest must have Twitter tools to help you get the most out of your tweeting experience.

Have you tried to use Twitter at work, does it help you to be more productive or is it a complete distraction?


Here are a few more posts on productivity and Twitter you should check out:

Productivity tips: How to become a ‘task ninja’

Top 8 ways trainers can use Twitter

How to use Twitter for training

Personal productivity training, six simple tips

First step to improving motivation: Communication

Right now it’s almost impossible to get through the day without hearing another depressing story on the economy and its affect on business. Instead of telling you more bad news about how the economy is taking our 401(k)s and morale down the drain with it, we’re going to share some good news on how to improve motivation in your company and you don’t have to spend a single dime.

The simplest and cheapest way to improve motivation in your organization is to improve your internal communication. Especially when management is making necessary, but tough changes including layoffs and budget cuts, it is always in your best interest to clearly communicate those changes to everyone involved.

A new study indicates that workers are twice as likely to put in extra effort for their employer and nearly four times as likely to recommend their company to a friend if they are satisfied with the ways in which their company communicates difficult decisions.

The results of the OuchPoint survey from Opinion Research Corporation suggest that effective communication has a powerful impact on employee motivation and morale.

“Positive perceptions around company communications serve to both boost motivation levels among current employees as well as foster employee advocacy, ultimately resulting in a strengthened employee brand,” said Lisa Wojtkowiak of Opinion Research Corporation’s Employee Engagement Practice. “When the economic situation improves, this strong employee advocacy will be critical to attracting and retaining top talent.”

Of those surveyed, 44% said their company has taken action in response to the recession over the last six months. Nearly half of respondents (49%) gave their employer top marks regarding their effective communication of the organizational actions taken.

The type of communication employees value the most included:

• Thorough explanations of the actions taken and the reasons behind the action (28%)
• Being kept informed of ongoing decisions and reasons for those decisions as the economy continues to toss and turn (13%)
• Providing early indications of impending difficult decisions so employees are not caught off-guard (11%)
• Open and honest communication (9%)
• Providing regular updates through frequent communication (8%)

As the economy continues to create more uncertainty, employees are finding solace in the simple ways their employers show appreciation. From effective communication to giving employees the respect they deserve, organizations can effectively improve employee morale in some of the most simple and affordable ways.

For more ideas on how to improve communication and motivation in your organization, read a few of these related posts:

Taking steps to improve employee morale

The one thing employees want at work

10 low-cost employee incentive ideas

5 tips to build employee morale in a down economy

Ideas for everyday training on a budget

Productivity tips: How to become a ‘task ninja’

Throughout the day many of us get stuck in periods of inaction. Whether you’re procrastinating, completing small tasks to avoid the important ones or too distracted to get started on anything, the fact is, we’ve all been there.

So, what's the best way to get yourself out of a state of inaction?

Well, you can start by training yourself to become a “task ninja.”

I recently came across the idea in a post by Leo Babauta at his blog, Zen Habits. He’s also the author of The Power of Less, an insightful new book on personal productivity.

Instead of focusing on our inaction, Leo suggests that you “get all Ninja on your actions” and start forming an “Action Habit” instead.

Here are Leo's five quick steps to help you get started:

1. Figure out your key actions. Focusing on the right actions is just as important as the doing. Don’t spend a lot of time in this step — just quickly decide your Top 3 actions for today.

2. Pick one key action, and visualize the outcome. How will it look when you’re done? Again, don’t spend a lot of time here — just form a quick picture in your mind.

3. Just start. Tell yourself, “Do it now!” Make it a mantra. Don’t mess around with tools, with distractions, with anything that will get in the way of doing this task. Strip away everything but the task, and get going!

4. Focus on the moment. Just be in this task, don’t worry about the future or what mistakes you might make or might have made before. Just focus on doing this task, as best you can. Immerse yourself in it.

5. Get to done. Complete the task. Feel good about it! Pat yourself on the back!

After you’ve gone through all of the steps, repeat the process with your next habit. Like any habit, it will get easier with practice.

Improve your success rate by eliminating some common barriers to the Action Habit:

• Perfection isn’t necessary. Just focus on completing the task now. You can go back and improve it later.
• Don’t worry about the unnecessary. If you’re writing for example, don’t worry about the font or format of your document, just write.
• Eliminate distractions. Turn off instant messaging, Twitter, and let your phone calls go to voice mail. If you can’t concentrate in the office, get up and move to another location such as a quite conference room or cafe down the street.
• Break it up. If you’re intimidated by the size of the task, break it up into manageable pieces.

Training yourself to get more done is possible, but only if you know where to start. Zen Habits is a great blog to read if you’re looking for ways to new ways to improve your personal productivity on a daily basis.

You can also check out a few of our past posts on training yourself to be more productive:

How to be productive when business is slow

Productivity: Rules for effective meetings

Productivity: How to get started and avoid pitfalls

Personal productivity training, six simple tips

How to deliver employee training like a ninja