7 Changes For Higher Productivity

Keeping your focus can be quite the task and as much as you don’t want to admit it, you love distractions. It turns out there really aren’t any secret tricks to staying more focused, but it’s certainly easier said than done.

I spoke with Tony Wong, a project management blackbelt and an expert in keeping people on task, so I thought he would be a good person to ask for some tips on staying productive. 

Here are a few of his tips for staying productive:

1. Work backwards. When you break down work into smaller chunks it makes it easier to designate the specific tasks necessary to complete the overall goal. Simply writing down “launch the company website” on your to-do list isn’t the most effective strategy. 

2. Stop multi-tasking. Switching quickly from task to task does not work. Studies shows that changing tasks quickly makes you dumber than being stoned. This means that your IQ drops by five points. Your IQ while multitasking could even drop 10 points, 15 for men, five for women. This means that men are three times as bad at multi-tasking than women.

3. Eliminate distractions. Make a point to shut out whatever it takes to get you to focus. This means locking your door, shutting off your phone, or even turning off the Internet connection. Go to a quiet area and remain there until your task is complete. 

4. Check your email on a schedule.  Checking your email constantly only lowers productivity. Set two or three times during the day that you plan to check and send emails.

5. Use the phone. Email conversations seem to slowly be eliminating the normality of a phone call. Don’t reply more than twice to an email. Pick up the phone instead. 

6. Create an agenda. Most people dive head-first into their day, which often leads to panicking as they read through their emails. This accomplishes nothing. After you wake up, drink water so you rehydrate, eat a good breakfast, then set prioritized goals for the rest of your day. 

7. Work in intervals. It’s important to recharge throughout the day. Get up, go for a walk, have a snack, do something completely different to recharge. 

10 Ways Intelligent Job Seekers Blow Their Interviews

By Todd Moster, Special to CareerBuilder

The job interview is one of the most crucial components of a job search. In these lean economic times of long-term unemployment and sparse interview opportunities, it can be a make-or-break situation.

With so much at stake, you'd think job seekers would be at their best when they get that rare chance to meet a prospective employer. But many intelligent job seekers don't know, or don't think they need to know, the most basic rules of good interviewing, leading to unnecessary disasters. 

One job applicant's blunder, however, is another's opportunity. Job interviewing may not be easy, but it's also not rocket science. It requires a combination of preparation and common sense. Just knowing the 10 most common ways intelligent job seekers blow their interviews will give you a step up in this ultracompetitive job market:

1. Plan?  What plan? Many job seekers begin a job search without much advance thought, perhaps due to a recent unpleasant workplace event or a desire to make more money. The absence of a clear-cut professional career plan will be apparent to an alert employer, however, who will judge you as lacking commitment or as simply unsuitable. Even worse, a less observant employer may hire you for the position, which may lead to your entering the wrong next chapter of your career. Know yourself and your fundamental goals before even thinking about a job search.

2. Research is for wimps: Not all companies are alike, and even when they are, employers prefer to believe they're different and special. In fact, many will ask you what you know about the company and the position for which you're interviewing. Try to bluff your way through that question and the interview will be over, even if you haven't realized it yet. You can avoid that dilemma by thoroughly researching the company and job responsibilities ahead of time. That will ensure your ability to come up with a unique and convincing answer.

3. Preparation, schmeparation: You're a bright person and fast on your feet, right? And who knows about your experience better than you, right?  So why prepare? Because if you don't, you're going to blow it. There's a difference between knowing something and being able to articulate that information in a concise and engaging manner. Even experienced attorneys who know their cases inside and out will rehearse before they make a final argument to a jury. Smart politicians who know their positions cold will nevertheless prepare for important appearances. Your career -- and your future -- is worth the same amount of effort.

4. Dress for failure: Dress codes in the workplace have taken a dramatic turn toward the informal. That has prompted many a job seeker to assume that "business casual" attire will be just fine for an interview. An employer who pays undue attention to superficial matters such as dress doesn't deserve you anyway, right? Wrong. Dress for an interview as you would for an important meeting, which translates into a suit or jacket and tie for men and the equivalent for women. Even if your interviewer is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and teases you about your attire, he will understand that you suited up as a gesture of respect and are someone who values the opinion of others. In other words, it doesn't hurt to overdress.   

5. Busy people are fashionably late:  Many otherwise smart job candidates make the mistake of viewing an interview as just another appointment. That mindset tempts them to take the last-minute phone call or gamble that the traffic won't be any heavier than usual. And if you're just a few minutes late, what's the big deal, because it shows you're a busy, important person, right? Wrong. Lack of punctuality is almost always fatal to a candidate's prospects, however qualified she may be and however compelling her excuse for being late. If you're more than one minute late to an interview, you will probably not get the job. The lesson: Plan your commute so that you arrive in the reception area seven to 10 minutes before the interview.    

6. Be loud and obnoxious in the reception area: All job interviews start in the reception area. Receptionists serve as the eyes and ears of the employer. In fact, they're often sought out by the interviewers after the candidate has left to learn how he behaved before the meeting. So feel free to be rude to the receptionist. Have that nasty cellphone conversation with the client who isn't paying you. Catch up on your dental flossing while you're waiting. Just don't plan on returning.

7. Find out how much they're willing to pay you: Compensation is almost always one of the key factors an employer or job seeker considers in deciding whether to extend or accept a job offer. So it seems perfectly logical to ask the interviewer how much the position pays. After all, why waste everyone's time if you and the employer are in completely different ballparks? Unfortunately, there are some aspects of job interviews in which social convention trumps common sense, and salary is one of them. A job applicant's question about compensation is one of the reasons most frequently cited by employers for rejecting candidates. So keep your curiosity in check until you get a job offer. 

8. Don't ask questions during the interview: There's one thing worse than asking bad questions during an interview: not asking any questions. Many otherwise intelligent job seekers opt not to ask questions during a job interview, even when invited to do so. Ask them why, and they'll tell you they wanted to make a good impression by showing respect for the interviewer and her time. The result, unfortunately, will be exactly the opposite. Employers view job seekers who fail to ask any or more than a few perfunctory questions as lacking interest, enthusiasm or intellectual curiosity. Do your preparation, and walk into the interview with at least 10 open-ended, substantive questions about the company and position.   

9. Be spontaneous when answering questions: Job interviews can be as unique as the people and opportunities involved. Still, certain difficult questions come up often. They vary from the straightforward, such as why you're seeking to leave your current job and how much money you're seeking, to the annoying, such as what your weaknesses are, to the truly challenging, such as to describe a recent disagreement you had with a supervisor or co-worker and how you resolved it. You may be the glibbest individual to walk the face of the earth, but fail to plan your answers to the most common and challenging interview questions and you will blow your opportunity. Savvy, intelligent job candidates may in fact need less preparation than their competitors but will prepare twice as hard.

10. Tell amusing war stories: In the classic comedy movie "Airplane," the movie's hero, an airplane passenger on a long flight, insists on telling his long and boring life story to his seatmate. When we next see his companion, she is a skeleton. That's a good image to keep in mind when you go on a job interview. One of the key characteristics of successful people in today's busy, short-attention-span world is the ability to communicate in a clear and crisp manner. Insist on telling war stories or giving super-detailed answers to simple questions, and you may find yourself talking to a skeleton. Opt instead to bone up on your communication skills so that you'll be prepared to answer any question, however complex, in 40 to 60 seconds.

What are your thoughts on this MSN-Careerbuilder posting? 

Why Real-Time Technology Matters to Human Capital

The Real-Time Imperative

Posted by Joseph Fung on Mon, Oct 22, 2012

The business environment is no longer a closed, easily controllable ecosystem. For the first time in history, we have four generations in the workplace at the same time. Many of these workers make a habit of publicly sharing personal information in ways that have never previously been possible. And most employees are connected to friends, family, co-workers, and the world, 24 hours a day

Creating a high-performance culture amid such complexity and connectivity requires new tools and new approaches that work in harmony with this new fluid environment. Not only will compliance, control and enforcement fail to produce the exceptional culture you need to remain competitive, they simply don’t work in today’s workplaces.

Don't waste time! The real-time imperative demands that you act on what you learn from feedback as quickly as possible. Photo by Ben Dodson.

This is what we call the Real-Time Imperative.

Competing in Real-Time

Change is happening now, not later: If things are not going well in your organization, your employees are searching for the next opportunity as you read this article; When your company makes a mistake with a customer, she is telling the world about it within seconds; An awesome product you sent back for further review is about to be pre-empted by one that was quicker to market. Building a high-performance culture today means embracing and competing in real-time.

Your competitors can duplicate just about any advantage you have. They can poach your people, reverse engineer your products, dispute your patents in court, and beat your price. The one thing they can never replicate is the high-performance culture that enables your sustained competitive advantage.
At the same time, employees won’t buy into a culture that endorses outmoded methods, superfluous structures, slow response times, lengthy review cycles, and cumbersome procedures. High-performance cultures in today’s organizations are user- friendly, dynamic, agile, and open to feedback.

Real-Time Feedback

One of the most effective changes a company can make to foster a high-performance culture is to open the doors to feedback while shortening the feedback loop. Receiving and giving real-time feedback at all critical junctures is the ultimate goal; it means immediate, relevant feedback is continually offered in response to specific actions and circumstances that directly impact organizational performance.

How you implement real-time feedback will vary depending on your job role, but some tools that are available to you include:

• Comment Boxes
• Surveys
• Focus Groups and Group Discussions
• Interviews and Other Conversations 

Leadership Lost & Found

By Joel Koblentz on October 17, 2012

George Bernard Shaw once said, “"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”

Yet, there is a time for CEOs to recognize that it is time to reflect and recognize their own leadership limitations. Self-reflections are always difficult.

Even so, too often, even before it is evident to his/her stakeholders, leaders fail to admit and conclude it’s time to exit. Many fight it. These CEOs stonewall progress and the best interest of the company that they lead. If a CEO leads a public entity, it places the board in a position of conflict and with it, no winners likely emerge.

The poster child for these observations are public company Founder-CEOs who too often have their ego tied up into the business (it’s my baby) and believe that no one can run the business the way that they can. Certainly, many CEOs whether founders or hired professionals, also are challenged by ego and a will to win.

Clearly, CEOs are not best suited for every leadership challenge. The mélange of gearing, competences, experiences and emotional intelligence are unique to every leader. To effectively lead a company today means that the leader must possess the “right” blend of targeted skills, experience and competences to be applied at the “right” time to address the challenge of creating value at each cyclical inflection point.

Where many leaders fail is in assuming that they are the best to lead under any circumstances and thereby don’t fully recognize their own shortcomings. And, too frequently, their boards, while recognizing the issue, fail to be proactive in addressing the need for change.

We believe the best CEOs are emotionally secure, confident without being ego centered, and understand their role as a liaison to value creation while constructing a solid bridge to the next generation of leadership. They know that among their principal priorities is to create value in the present and prepare the company for success in the future, departing with their company in a better situation then when they arrived.

To be effective, these leaders are keenly aware of their limitations and recognize that their specific strengths are right for a point and period of time, but not for all times. Sometimes, even the best of CEOs get caught between knowing that it’s time to depart and meeting their commitment to finish what they were recruited to do.

In these circumstances, beyond “coaching the CEO,” the board has a responsibility to the shareholders and to the broader community of stakeholders to assess the company’s state and determine whether their CEO is qualified to soldier on. This is tough duty for Directors especially if, as a board, they are not prepared to address succession.

Clearly, we live in a world of decisions at accelerating velocity. Markets are unforgiving.

If you are a CEO, we recommend being honest with yourself.

If you are a director, we suggest that very candid conversations are held regularly with your CEO about the leadership required and the depth and the development of the leadership team necessary to assure continuity to meet challenges going forward.

Clearly, there is “a time” for the CEO to exit. While painful, it is inevitable. None of us are leaders for all seasons. The sooner that a CEO recognizes and addresses that his/her time is running out, the less disruption the company and its board will face.

In our view, the CEO owes an honest assessment of fitness to lead. Those CEOs that are honest with themselves and forthright with their board are, by definition, true and selfless leaders.  

When it is time, depart work with your board to provide an orderly transition. Don't hang on! Let your success be your legacy!

Too Big To Fail?

The phrase "to big to fail" I think is overused today but the underused phrase is " OK to fail". As HR leaders we should be encouraging our employee base to innovate and create. Along the way people may fail at something never achieving their objective and we should say to them, "that's ok". 

So what I am really saying is that we should be creating a culture of innovation and providing leadership and incentives not just to complete an innovative project or task but to conceive one. This is a sea change from the past. As HR leaders we need to get out from under past practices and as I said last week blow our thought process up and start from scratch with today's thinking not adding to yesterdays.  Strip it down from beginning to end on your processes. 

So take a look at your incentive packages and/or talk to your local representative from SuccesFactors or whomever you utilize for incentive rewards. 

Check out the latest issue of Human Resource Executive®

Don't Retool HR, Blow It Up and Rebuild It !!

I was on vacation in Europe for 2 weeks and had a lot of time to think, design, evaluate, and reset my HR thought process. During that time here is what I came up with, and guess what so did the HR Executive.

Hr has been denigrated, criticized, scoffed at, laughed at, bureaucratically maligned organization since the 1950's. My guess is that if the current practitioners do not see the writing on the wall they will at some point be out of a job and scratching their heads asking why. Well, let me tell you now that I have an outside view looking into organizations. The have the following key flaws:

• they take time away from business from line managers and employees
• they still do not understand the business from the inside but try to use business speak as their entry into it
• there is really not a clear mission for the group and how it ties to the business
• expectations are impossible to say the least
• people really do not know what HR people do
• the systems and programs that they establish or use are counter to business  productivity
• people in general do not trust HR people (you know that drill - when they see an Hr person milling around all they can think of is bad news is coming)
• employees do not think HR is objective - only a management speaker
• what managers and supervisors don't want to handle they send to HR - sound familiar?

I can go on and on but those are some of the salient points I wanted to make. So as I was sailing in the Mediterranean this all came into real focus and I had that "a ha moment". Blow it up and start over in 2012 terms not what has been built up over the last 50+ years and multiple retooling that really did not fix the core problem.  

So I will reiterate what Jac Fitz-Enz said in the September issue of HR Executive. Solution, break up HR and restart with four distinct groups: 

1. Governance - this should fall under the CLO
2. Record Keeping ( Administration) - this should fall under the CFO 
3. Employee Relations - this should fall under the COO or Operations 
4. Strategic Development - this should report to the CEO 

From there you that the specialty functions and fit them where they best belong ( comp under the CFO, staffing under the COO etc). In today's real world business environment I feel this is what we should do with HR. I know a lot of you will not agree with this approach since it puts your job in jeopardy but if you really think about it this is a 21st century strategic approach and that is what this blog is all about.