Productivity Summit 2010 – Get Out of the Weeds!

Focus, Behaviour, Organization, Planning and Motivation along with the 5 Time Management Personalities. Ann pointed out how each of us can draw analogies from the varied definition of weeds to the obstacles that we meet in our own work environment and personal life that require us to embark on a clearing out , careful assessment, and organizational process before productivity can be achieved.

Marion led the group through a self-assessment exercise to determine which of the two communications personalities you were, i.e. Outspoken or Thought-Provoker. She then provided the group with tips for communicating with others if you are an ‘outspoken’ or a ‘though-provoker’ as well as tips or ‘rules of engagement’ when communicating with each type. In terms of Action, she noted that one needs to aim for excellence, not perfection and be prepared to take some risk. When dealing with Concerns (complaints) in the workplace or home-life, she recommended that you ensure you address your concern to the person who can action it, and that the problem be presented only when you can also present a potential solution to the issue. And finally be prepared to Take responsibility for your words and actions.

10 Steps to Organizing your Space and the question, “What’s holding you back?” did elicit a variety of comments from the group ranging from “I’d rather be outdoors working than indoors cleaning up this space” to “It’s an overwhelming ‘black hole”. Procrastination and the inability to actually break the task down into smaller chunks seemed to be key stopping blocks for many.

Organizing your Information covered all types of information including email, journals, reports, miscellaneous papers, etc. For most participants, email seemed to be the point of absolute overload. Ann gave us a number of easy tips to follow even if we have a totally overwhelming number of emails in our Inboxes. Best tip of all perhaps, start to use the Rules in Outlook to automatically sort some of those incoming email messages.

Organizing your Work included discussion of prioritization, and breaking the job into manageable bits and probably allowing more time than you originally thought for completion of the whole project. And, don’t forget to reward yourself when you have accomplished your goal!

Each panellist had completed the self-assessment and shared with the group their challenges and methods for dealing with projects in the most productive way given their personality type(s). Panellists were indeed frank about their Time Management Personality styles. Each found themselves in more than one personality ‘camp’ although usually the weighting of scores showed one personality type to be dominant.

Some key points:
Margaret said she really found the Time Log practice worked for her. She said she sometimes was given to procrastination and had difficulty prioritizing. However she had learned that the key was breaking the tasks down into smaller chunks and tackling each in turn, plus, always allow a bit of extra time for completion because each project always takes longer than you expect. She noted that small rewards are in order for a job well done – just a special coffee or tea break will do – it adds a little extra motivation to the task at hand! She has been working with Ann Max for some time and was happy to note that she has improved her self-organization abilities dramatically but, as with many of us, she considered herself a work in progress.

Jeff noted that his Time Log results encouraged him to plan to delegate more tasks to others on staff that were well-equipped to handle them. Working in a multi-national company, he is involved in daily staff meetings with an international team providing updates on activities in real time. One of the tips he shared was that when you have created an A Team in your organization, you need to trust them to carry on with delegated tasks. He encourages self-identification of ‘strengths’ amongst the team members and encourages each of them to apply those strengths to the assignment of tasks making up any project. He also noted the importance of building wellness into the corporate culture and/or into your own schedule.

Suzanne felt she was an amalgam of at least three of the Time Management Personalities. She suggested that the keeping of a Time Log was a perfect opportunity to prioritize the roles and activities that you perform. She noted that in terms of her own personality(s), on the Perfect Pat side, she had learned that one needs to strive for excellence versus perfection and to remember that details are the servant not the master! Learning to Say No to new demands is an important skill. She said her Jumper Joe tendencies encouraged her to learn to avoid procrastination and not to jump to another task too quickly. Take a break! Suzanne also suggested that we all need to give ourselves a dollar-value in terms of the roles/activities we perform – an enlightening process! And remember that relationships are the key to success!

The groups were tasked with applying the Priority Matrix as they interpreted the tasks of the day as Urgent, Important, Not Urgent, Not Important as well as the Pareto Principle: Concentrate on the 20% of your efforts that will bring you the greatest return.

Results: Each group arrived at a slightly different final Calendar, depending on the priorities assigned within each group. However, common to all were the delegation of additional certain tasks to the Executive Assistant, realistic time allotments for appointments that included travel times as well, substitution of conference calls for face-to-face meetings where possible, and Pat did manage to get out of the office that day on time!

Suzanne also demonstrated tea-related accoutrements and how to hold the tea cup (not with the little finger extended!!). Tea shops first opened in London, England in 1884 and today we are seeing resurgence in their popularity with more tea shops opening. Even the business world is discovering that inviting clients to afternoon tea is both cost and time effective.