Get clear for the new year
Happy New Year everyone, and welcome back to work. As soon as I’m back from the summer break, I always like to clear the way for what I hope will be a productive year ahead. In other words, I move from ‘end of holiday confusion’ to ‘start of year clarity’. To achieve this clarity, I […]
Read MoreMake meetings count
One of the most common ways that we cause productivity friction in our team is through unnecessary and unproductive meetings. Not every meeting is unnecessary or unproductive, but many are, and most could be tightened up at least a bit. I hear stories about meetings from clients that would make your blood boil and your […]
Read MoreTry making less noise
My upcoming book, Smart Teams is essentially about how we work together more productively, and how we reduce the friction we cause each other when we interact. One of the main ways we cause productivity friction is when we communicate using tools like email. We may not mean to, but we create way too much […]
Read MoreGoing beyond productive
If you’ve read my first book, Smart Work, I hope you are better for it, working in a way that is personally productive. But even in teams where everyone has had personal productivity training and has committed to working as productively as possible, there can still be a productivity drain. This is because personal productivity […]
Read MoreTrack your project progress
At the start of 2017 I set myself a goal of taking a six-kilometre run every week for the whole year. I have not been 100% successful, but most weeks you’ll see me down by the river with my running gear on. With a few runs under my belt, I started to focus on my […]
Read MoreLack of clarity causes friction
When you are not clear in your communication to me, it causes me friction. I then need to seek clarification from you, in turn causing you friction. Both of us incur wasted time and frustration because not enough care was taken with the initial communication. You may have thought you were being clear, but if […]
Read MoreYour brand is always on show
As a manager or a business leader, your brand is always on show. Every time you interact with others in your organisation, or outside for that matter, you put your brand on show, and are judged by your actions. Every email, meeting, delegation, conversation, interruption, phone message or presentation allows others to form a judgement […]
Read MoreMind the gap
I let the cat out of the bag a few weeks ago about my upcoming book Smart Teams. I am well and truly in the middle of a world of pain, with editorial deadlines, design meetings and writing. Lots and lots of writing. So, to give myself a bit of a break I thought I […]
Read MoreIdentify your stumbling blocks
Have you ever tried to adopt a new system, habit or behaviour, only to revert to old ways after a few weeks? Every now and then, I see this happen for clients who are trying to implement the Smart Work system. In the days after a Smart Work workshop or conference presentation they have great […]
Read MoreCollaboration tools: Useful, Usable and Used
Productive collaboration requires visibility across the team. To work well together, we need to have access to the right information, at the right time. We are sometimes managing complex work across multiple people in different locations. The more visible we can make this work, the easier it is to manage. The good news is that […]
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