leadership
Productivity Coaching, Time Management Consulting and Leadership Coaching for business and nonprofits - get your most important work done. Collaborating with leaders and their teams to become more strategic, focused and productive. Leadership and Board Coaching, Strategic Planning Facilitation, Productivity Coaching and Time Management Consulting, Professional Speaker.
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leadership Tag

05 Nov

Posted at 09:35h in Change, Leadership, Productivity, Stress Management

Let’s flip the script on AI. Instead of using it to cut staff, let’s use it to make work more human — to reduce burnout, lift engagement, and help people do their best work sustainably.

One Person Doing the Work of Many

In the U.S., productivity has skyrocketed – output per hour is up over 60% since 2000, while total hours worked have barely increased. That means today, one person is often expected to do the work of several people from a generation ago. And while technology has helped, it’s also pushed us past the point of human capacity. We’ve normalized 60-hour weeks, overloaded inboxes, and burnout as a badge of honor. It doesn’t have to be that way.

What I Learned Running a Hotel Front Desk

When I was a hotel front office manager, I knew exactly how many people it took to run the front desk well. If I needed ten clerks, I fought for eleven – because someone was always out. But even with that planning, I regularly worked 90+ hour weeks. When a clerk called out, I was the one behind the desk. That meant I wasn’t leading, improving service, or making strategic decisions – I was filling shifts. The company only cared about payroll. They didn’t see the cost of the work not getting done – the missed opportunities, the lack of leadership, the fatigue that spread through the team. That experience shaped how I think about leadership today. Cutting people to save money in the short term often costs far more in the long run.  “When leaders focus only on costs, they lose sight of capability. When they focus on people, both quality and profit improve.”

AI Could Change This — If We Let It

We now have tools that can automate the repetitive work that eats up our days. If we use them thoughtfully, AI can give people time back: time to think, plan, connect, and create. But if we treat AI as just another cost-cutting measure, we’ll repeat the same mistake: expecting one person to do the work of five, only faster this time. Let’s use AI to make work better!

A Challenge to Leaders: Use AI to improve the quality of work, not just the quantity.

  1. Automate the busywork. Let AI handle meeting notes, scheduling, expense reports, and data entry – the tasks that drain energy but don’t require human insight.
  2. Protect the time that’s saved. Don’t fill it with more work. Use it to have better conversations, mentor your team, and think strategically. AI should buy back human connection.
  3. Redefine productivity. If one person can now do the work of two, don’t double their workload. Let them do that work well – thoughtfully, creatively, and sustainably. AND LET’S IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF WHAT WE DELIVER! (I’m so frustrated that mediocre is now the acceptable norm!)
  4. Focus on engagement, not headcount. Retention and burnout are expensive. A burned-out employee isn’t productive – they’re exhausted. A supported employee does better work and stays longer.
  5. Measure leadership by human impact. Track turnover, engagement, feedback, and growth -not just output. Ask: Is my team thriving?  Is my team doing it’s best work?

The Long View

Yes, short-term profits matter. But when the people doing the work are burned out and disengaged, those profits won’t last. Leaders who invest in sustainable workloads and supportive cultures outperform in the long run. The data already shows that engaged employees deliver higher quality, better customer service, and stronger results. AI can make that easier — if we lead with intention.

From “Do More” to “Do Better”

We don’t need to glorify overwork or expect humans to operate like machines. We need to build systems where people can do fewer things better – where the hours we do work are meaningful and manageable.

“If we keep using AI to squeeze every drop of efficiency out of people, we’ll keep getting mediocre results from exhausted humans.” But if we use AI to free people up to think, connect, and create, we’ll get excellence. And that excellence…that’s what leads to success.

Let’s Make Work Human Again

This isn’t anti-AI – it’s pro-human. Leaders have a choice: You can use AI to eliminate people. Or you can use it to elevate them. Let AI take the tasks that drain us. Let people focus on the work that inspires us. Because the goal isn’t to replace humans — It’s to make it possible for humans to do their best work again.

If this idea resonates with you, stay tuned for how leadership and productivity intersect in my (hopefully) upcoming book (working title), Productivity for Leaders. Want to dive deeper into strategies for working smarter, not harder? Check out my book Productivity for How You’re Wired —available on Amazon in print, eBook, and audio.

Or learn more about my one-on-one and group coaching options for leaders who want to build teams that thrive — not just survive. Let’s connect – schedule your discovery call today.

20 Aug

Posted at 09:23h in Envision Success, Leadership, Productivity, Productivity for How You're Wired, Productivity for Leaders

Why Solid Leadership Skills are Critical for Team Productivity

If you lead a team of 1, 10, 100, or 1000 there are skills you need to drive your productivity. These aren’t productivity skills per se’, they are leadership skills. Looking at leadership from a productivity perspective will help you boost your effectiveness and the effectiveness of your team. Where are your opportunities for growth?

Collaboration

Collaboration is the coming together of individuals, with positive intention, to work toward a best solution. These solutions develop from the sharing of knowledge, perspective, and experience in a psychologically safe space.

Communication

Communication is a process in which information is exchanged. It provides a forum for understanding and agreement and it builds connections. Good communication is key to creating productive teams. 

Decision Making

A good decision is one in which the chosen course of action meets the objective with the least amount of risk and the greatest benefits. Leaders are expected to make decisions frequently and, often, quickly. Finding the balance between quickly and too quickly can be a challenge.  

Delegation, Follow Up and Accountability

No matter how well you may do things, there is only one of you. You can accept the limitations of not delegating, or you can learn to delegate. 

Delegation is the assignment of responsibility to another person for the purpose of carrying out a specific action. Delegating involves thought and planning, and, by nature, is proactive. Not delegating is reactive, allowing a situation to dictate actions.  

Effective Meeting Best Practices

People don’t hate meetings; they just hate meetings that waste their time. When meetings are good, they advance all that is good in an operation. When they are bad, they waste resources. 

Yes, meetings take time. They take you away from the work you’ve prioritized. However, when people come together collectively, share information constructively, and stay focused on the task at hand, meetings can result in solid decision-making with the ability to quickly move into action.

Productive meetings take planning before, during, and after. Additionally, having meeting agreements sets the stage for on–going meeting success.

Conflict

Conflict is a natural occurrence. An individual’s past experiences inform thought and result in different people holding different perspectives. When important decisions are on the table and there are differing opinions, conflict can arise. How leaders navigate conflict affects the team’s productivity.

Toxic Personalities

A safe work environment drives productivity. Yet toxic personalities are often revered in the workplace. 

While in the short term this may seem sustainable, perhaps even beneficial, the long-term cost to the team may be irreparable. Not only does tolerating the “bad apple” suggest that accepting mediocrity or rule-bending is acceptable, it can also undermine the productivity of the rest of the team.

All these leadership skills and concepts impact a team’s ability to get into flow, do innovative work and drive success. Without these skills leading a productive and effective team is next to impossible. 

This is the chapter highlights  from Chapter 15 (the last chapter!) of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Many templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

29 Jul

Posted at 09:07h in Envision Success, Leadership, Productivity, Productivity for How You're Wired, Productivity for Leaders

productivity and leadership

In my last blog post I shared with you the concept that team productivity is impacted by the leadership effectiveness of the person leading the team.  Here’s why:

If doing one’s most effective work occurs when a person is in the flow state, then a team’s most effective work occurs when the team is in flow. We call that team flow. 

What does team flow look like? How does it feel? What could be possible?

  • The team has clearly defined priorities resulting in time, money, and energy being spent intentionally and proactively. Team members are not frustrated by constantly fixing problems.
  • Team members are clear about both the team’s goals and their own personal goals. They know what constitutes high-value work and do not waste time on things that don’t support desired outcomes.
  • Healthy relationships are based on open, honest communication. People feel safe to be their most authentic, best selves. Team members do not get sidetracked with drama, ego, and narcissistic behavior.

Productivity–focused leaders understand their role in creating a team that is in flow. 

To create a successful sustainable business, leaders must embrace the humanity of working with people. 

Motivation 

It’s not about the MONEY! Money does not inspire best performance. Money is an extrinsic motivator — an external force — and extrinsic motivators such as fear and reward have very short lifespans. They are quick fixes and easily forgotten once an acute situation passes. 

The motivation that matters, the one that drives productivity and results, is called intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from inside oneself and it is this motivation that has staying power. Intrinsic motivation is what affects a team member’s productivity. It is the driver when someone chooses to go above and beyond in their work.

What the employees identified as the things that motivated them to work harder, go above and beyond, were appreciation and acknowledgement, sense of belonging and problem–solving support.

Successful Teams

How do you create such a culture? What makes a successful team?

Google spent two years delving into just this question. In a study dubbed “Project Aristotle,” Google studied 180 of their teams. Their hope was to find a pattern of team member characteristics that could be plugged into a “dream-team” algorithm. 

However, that didn’t happen. There was no tangible list of demographic consistencies in their most successful teams. “It was only when they began looking at group norms that the researchers found consistencies.”

At Google, successful teams were collaborative and engaged. Google’s Project Aristotle lead researcher Julia Rozovsky identified two characteristics of these teams: 

  1. There was equality in conversation turn-taking; everyone on the team talked roughly the same amount of time. If one person on the team, or even a small group took over, collective intelligence declined. 
  2. Team members exhibited a higher-than-average social sensitivity, intuiting how others felt based on tone of voice, expression, and non-verbal cues. 

Additional key characteristics of successful teams were identified:

  1. Psychological Safety — a work culture that supports risk taking, respect, and openness.
  2. Dependability — the ability to count on colleagues for work to be done on time and to proper standards.
  3. Structure and Clarity — a mutual understanding of goals, expectations, responsibilities, and how work is to be executed.
  4. Meaning — work that is personally significant. 
  5. Impact — work that makes a positive difference.

From a productivity perspective, it’s not surprising that dependability, structure, and clarity would be included. And from an intrinsic motivational perspective, meaning and impact make total sense. However, the concept of psychological safety is the most interesting.  

In her study Rozovsky stated “Psychological safety was far and away the most important of the five dynamics we found – it’s the underpinning of the other four.”  

Many leaders today still think of fear as a great motivator. It makes sense people will work hard to avoid unpleasant consequences; however, this doesn’t encourage intrinsic motivation and it doesn’t result in sustainable productivity. 

Fear diverts resources from the brain. Fear affects working memory, reasoning, processing, and creativity. Psychological safety mitigates fear.

Work life is often fraught with conflict. The effective productive leaders works to create conditions that mitigate conflict and fear and instead support the characteristics that allow for maximum intrinsic motivation. 

This is an excerpt from Chapter 14 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Many templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

08 Jul

Posted at 15:29h in Envision Success, Leadership, Productivity, Productivity for How You're Wired, Productivity for Leaders

empowering leadership drives team productivity

Leadership is a behavior, not a title. 

It doesn’t matter what someone’s title is, how much they are paid, or how much authority they have. If they don’t influence change, drive progress, or inspire others, they are not a true leader. 

A true leader creates an environment in which those they lead are inspired and motivated to give their all towards the achievement of a desired outcome.

  • A leader creates a culture in which their team members are self-motivated to do great work.
  • A leader ensures their followers’ efforts matter and positively influence outcomes.
  • Some of the most effective leaders do not have titles or authority. They achieve success through the actions they inspire. 

Real leaders work for the greater good. Some managers, owners, or figureheads don’t. Just because someone is in charge doesn’t automatically mean they are going to make decisions that best serve the entity they have influence over, nor does it mean they’re a leader.

  • Real leaders continually monitor their behavior. They are aware of how their actions affect their team. 
  • Real leaders lead team members who work hard and are empowered to support the team’s success. 
  • Real leaders deliberately work to create a culture in which individual efforts result in a win for the system as a whole.

Successful productive leaders know the importance of understanding, considering, and integrating all aspects of their operation. It’s not just big picture, it’s whole picture. They consider the effects of their decisions and anticipate how change affects outcomes throughout the entire system.

Being the kind of leader team members are inspired to work hard for produces great long-term results. It is perhaps the most important quality for boosting overall team productivity.

It takes commitment to be a productive leader. 

  • Productive leaders create a culture based in safety, trust, and relationships.
  • Productive leaders have systems in place so people know what is expected and can effectively do the work that matters most. 
  • Productive leaders communicate, share, and are transparent so people feel secure and confident in the normal progression of work.

Focusing on productivity alone isn’t enough. Focusing on culture alone is not enough. Focusing on profits and growth is never enough. Each part, on its own, gets you only so far, like a bike without tires, or tires without a frame. Successful productive leaders ensure all parts support the whole.

It’s time to think about the productivity of your team differently. 

 

This is an excerpt from Chapter 14 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Many templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

09 Oct

Posted at 15:38h in Leadership, Meeting Best Practices, Productivity, Productivity for Leaders, Time Management

 

Managing Over

This week I’m sharing content from an another article I was featured in. Thanks again to Kathyrn Vasel, of CNN Business for the great article on How to shut down an over-talker at your next meeting.

By Kathryn Vasel, CNN Business , Tue October 8, 2019

 

(CNN)Meetings can be a bore, but they can really drag on when someone is talking too much or going off topic.

If one person dominates the conversation, it can deter others from speaking up and mean missing out on new ideas and getting a variety of opinions.
“I’ve never led a team where there isn’t some degree of someone who is an over-talker,” said Ellen Faye, a productivity and leadership coach.
Leaders need to learn how to manage a meeting. They need to take charge when someone goes off the rails, but they also need to tread carefully when it comes to reining the person in.
“You want meetings to be useful, and if you have someone who goes on and on — that meeting has become non-productive,” said Faye.

Set a firm agenda

It’s easier to keep people on track with a comprehensive agenda that includes topics and time frames. It provides a blueprint to what will (and won’t) be discussed, which can help people stay on topic.
Set the tone of the meeting from the start: Telling attendees that you plan to keep things moving and on topic can make people more aware of their speaking time and make it less awkward if you have to step in.

Create time limits

Setting parameters can also help curb over-talkers.
You can request that people keep their comments to around one minute or two, or that they share their top thought and then move on to the next person, Faye recommended.Another option is to outline that you want to hear from each participant at least once, but no more than three times.
“That way, everyone is compelled to speak up and participate, but the over-talkers will be more limited,” said Faye.

Steer them back on track

We can all get into the weeds sometimes and risk getting bogged down with details that aren’t relevant.

If that’s happening, Faye suggested saying something like: Those are great details to work on. Let’s keep a note of that for later.
“It takes a leader with confidence to know when enough is enough,” she said.

Create a ‘parking lot’

Making sure participants feel heard is important, but sometimes their ideas just aren’t relevant to the topic at hand.

Those ideas can be sent to a “parking lot,” which is a list you create, either on paper or for everyone to see.

This validates an idea, but keeps the conversation on topic. Just make sure to circle back to the parking lot at the end of the meeting.

“The actions in the parking lot need to be forwarded in some way,” advised Hallie Crawford, a certified career coach. That could mean moving an ideato the next meeting’s agenda, assigning someone to look into it, or dealing with it via email.

Politely interrupt

If there’s a serial over-talker or someone has been going off on a tangent for several minutes, it could be time to interrupt — just be polite about it.
If someone is being verbose and not getting to their point, Crawford suggested saying something like: “Joe, if I can interrupt, I think that is a great thought. Do you have any recommendations of how we can implement that plan or strategy?”
She also said phrases like: “Sorry to interrupt, but in the interest of time” or “bringing us back to the agenda” can also get people back on track without coming off as harsh.

03 Sep

Posted at 07:51h in Leadership, Productivity, Productivity for Leaders

What is the connection between productivity and leadership?

Perhaps the question is how can these two concepts be pulled apart?

  • A great leader creates the environment for their team to be successful; thus productive.
  • A productive leader gets things done – and that’s not going to happen without strong leadership.

Leaders who produce:

  1. Know what’s important and ensures their team focuses on that work
  2. Have systems in place so team-members know what’s expected
  3. Create space for growth, creativity, and innovation
  4. Develop cultures in which team-member contributions matter
  5. Build connections so that team-members feel they belong

 

Want to learn more? This week I share my appearance on Smead’s Keeping You Organized podcast:

 

The Connection Between Productivity and Leadership