As a business leader you already know that productivity is one of the key issues faced by leadership and teams across most industries. Time-wasting is a by-product of lack of purpose and accountability. When left to our own devices, humans have a tendency to go with the path of least resistance, doing simple but often menial tasks that do little to contribute to key success outcomes.
In short – wasting time is easier than applying ourselves to work that matters most.
Existing Roadblocks
There are a number of areas where productivity may be lacking which in turn may be affecting
the growth and profits or your company. These include:
- Priorities – you don’t find the time, you make the time, and that comes from knowing and
executing on the tasks that have the highest priority. Have a think about the tasks you do
on a regular basis that really do nothing to contribute to the success of your business. - Busy rather than productive – it is easy to be busy. In fact we often wear this as a badge
of honour. ‘Busy’ rarely equals ‘productive’. It often just wears you out. Again – assess
your actions and cut anything that is non-essential. - You think you need to do it all – delegation is one of the big challenges of leaders,
especially if you have grown the business yourself. Handing over the reigns of
responsible tasks and trusting others to do what needs to be done can be difficult in the
beginning. Hire to your weaknesses, clearly define roles and responsibilities and check
in regularly with your teams. This will free you up to focus on more important aspects of
growing your business.
Thinking Smarter
Working harder is rarely the answer to low productivity levels. Thinking smarter is. To become a
high-level thinker you need to carve out time (make time) in your weekly schedule to work on
your business. If you haven’t got the time, then your business needs this more than ever.
Chances are you are currently in a reactive loop where you are just putting out fires on a daily
basis and not steering the ship in the right direction.
Get up early. Make sure you include physical activity in your day and eat well. Switch off your
phone during times of focused work so that you are not distracted. Check your emails at set
times everyday (rather than every moment of the day). Understand how to know the difference
between an emergency that needs immediate attention and everything else.
Hold monthly accountability meetings with your leadership team, an advisory board or a
business coach to ensure you stay on track. Lastly, understand where your time is best spent
based on your skills and the needs of the organization.
One last thing you can try – I use this with a lot of my coaching clients and they have seen great
success in this area of productivity… Every night before you go to bed, list at least 10 things you
need to do to move your company and yourself as a leader forward that will bring actual results.
Planning and prioritizing the night before makes you maximally productive and focussed.
Need help tackling the harder tasks? Ask me about how to ‘eat the frog’. It’s a fantastic
technique I’ll gladly share with you. Send me a message and I’ll jump on a quick call with you.
