Now this is weird – and it has happened half a dozen time in the past 15 minutes, so there is something going on here. And I think it proves an important productivity point. Kill productivity pirates that destroy your focus
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I was triaging my Learning inbox subfolder just now. I go to it when I’m in a ‘learning mood’. In there I found a mail from Wow Accountants which got me thinking.
So I’ m sharing this with you right now
When managing conflicting priorities I have found over time that the quality of the question determines the quality of the outcome - always.
So I responded to their 5 Questions for success and thought I would ask you what question helps you make better decisions.
Here’s what I wrote on their blog. What question works for you?……. critical questions to manage competing priorities
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I had the privilege of chairing another great IoD People Forum today. We had 11 Leaders around the table with a depth and breadth of experience in managing people – from headhunting them into and exiting them from businesses.
As always, the conversation was wide ranging and always focused on the practical aspects of people management that we can – and need to – get a grip on within the present and near term future. These musings are, obviously, not exhaustive and you really needed to be there to get the full flavour!
Given that navel-gazing is not an option, it was ironic that we briefly looked at the case of the Exotic Dancer and Peter Stringfellow’s [click to continue…]
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Readers who have heard me deliver a keynote or teamtalk presentation or perhaps attended one of my productivity and performance training programmes will have heard me say that ‘All we can truly manage in a demanding day is where we choose to put our focus and energy moment to moment’. In fact it has become, what my clients call, a ‘Mayburyism’.
Energy management seems to be a hot topic with people at the moment and in the past month many people in 4 different countries for different clients have asked me for specific support in this area within my training programmes.
Something is sapping our collective energy right now it seems. What is sapping your energy and what can you do to manage it
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You can DELEGATE the creation of standard, often used text within emails to Outlook itself by using the Auto-correct functionality. I use the following method for short, often used email texts in my business. There is no limit to how many you can create – except, of course, the 80/20 rule is ruthless and a handfull of carefully selected autotexts will probably do more for you than a full library. If you are still using Outlook 2003 click here for the process [click to continue…]
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It was at the top-right-corner of the Brit Club bar in Bahrain shortly after the end of Gulf War 1. Our usual crew of British Advisors to Bahrain Government ministries and senior Banking and Insurance market people was well installed in ‘our’ corner.
The conversation migrated to the best sound in the world. The scream of Italian exotica was pitched against the low rumble of Yank V8 muscle. Fighter aircraft like F16 pitched against Concord. All very macho, it was an all-male group, and the game got quite competitive. [click to continue…]
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OK we are in to mid March. How are we doing against what we decided was important for the year?
Whether we strategise solo, or insularly within our own team / business or expansively with outside support, the strategic thinking that we commit to a document is simply a story.
It can be an engaging Ripping Yarn or a thriller or a gritty tale of triumph over adversity. On the page, in the Board Papers, or in the minutes of the Management Meetings, no matter how well written and communicated it is simply a story.
Until…… turning strategic intent into strategic results
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I had a great experience with UPS last week. It highlights practical business truths and is worth retelling here.
We had to get a high priority shipment of training manuals to an international office of one of our clients. We booked the shipment, created the waybills and booked the collection online through our UPS account.
Job done – or so we thought. We were wrong. the 5 feedback lessons from my UPS experience
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Anyone listening to some ‘Expert’ speakers or to a work colleague injecting a little motivation-juice into a Team Meeting would be forgiven for thinking that Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb.
He didn’t of course.
The carbon filament incandescent electric lamp was invented by the Englishman Sir Joseph Wilson Swan in 1860. He demonstrated his Proof of Concept in a lecture for the Newcastle upon Tyne Chemical Society held on December 18, 1878
Edison innovated. He made improvements to the idea of incandescent light, and, in doing so he is thought to be the ‘Inventor’ of the light bulb.
His Proof of Concept, by the way, was to stand in the Wall Street offices of J.P. Morgan and switch on his Edison incandescent light bulb on 4th September 1882 at 3 in the afternoon. Edison lit up Wall Street.
Why this is important for you and me? ideas and innovation are very different!
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It’s all true. It’s not about you.
I was reminded about this again today. You see, last night I created a ‘How-To’ driven, short guide on ‘How to make your Linkedin Profile shine online’.
And I have given it away free to all my business friends who subscribe to my Productivity Pointers email.
A wave of email love has been hitting my inbox last night and this morning and responding to that response has been a priority in my task management for today. [click to continue…]
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