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Be A Productive Leader In 2015

By Productivity, Self Improvement, Tips

A confident African American businesswoman in her office.Competition in business is ever increasing, and with it comes a demand for the person at the top to deliver. In trying to meet these demands, many supervisors and managers end up under pressure and overworked. Although fully aware of their stressful situation most refrain from implementing measures that could bring about change.  Instead they concede to the idea that certain pressures come with position.  However, reports state that this is the wrong approach to take. Instead, supervisors should turn to positively charged solutions like implementing ‘The Six D’s’.
‘The Six D’s’ is an approach that focuses directly on the everyday actions of the company’s, supervisor. Each ‘D’ is a call to action aimed at reducing the workload of the person in charge, whilst increasing the productivity levels of the unit.

  1. The first D in ‘The Six D’s’ is for delete.  Non- relevant company orientated tasks usually carried out by the supervisor should be deleted from their to-do lists. Many continue to carry out these tasks due to force of habit, however their time could be better utilised elsewhere.
  2. The following D is for decline. Most leaders find it hard to decline invitations to meetings. The problem with this being that meetings have a tendency of taking up valuable amounts of time. If a pending meeting does not seem currently relevant or if the invitation received makes it unclear as to what the meeting might be about, it may be better to politely say ‘No’.
  3. The third D is for delegate. When the options of deleting and declining are not made available it is time to delegate. A successful leader cannot do everything. There are times when a task must be handed over to other staff members.
  4. D is also for decide. It is said that a good leader is a good decision maker. Such supervisors do not procrastinate or over analyse. Instead, they simply make sure that all high priority goals are identified and allotted the necessary time needed for their completion.
  5. The fifth D is for design. The redesigning of a process can also aid in greater productivity. A set way of doing something does not always make for a good outcome. If this is the case, it may be time to redesign the process, thus resulting in a quality end product.
  6. The last D is for destroy. It might sound drastic but in regards to productivity it is sometimes a necessity. Committing to a plan of action that repeatedly brings about a negative result is pointless. A more productive approach would be to destroy the failing plan and start afresh on a clean slate.

Improving the productivity levels of an organisation is one of the most stressful yet significant challenges that leaders face today.  However, it should be recognised by supervisors that after improving on their own productivity levels they are able to lead by example. The end result being the creation of a highly productive team.  The Six D’s framework is one that can aid in bringing about higher levels of productivity to any organisation. Ultimately this can also bring about a less stressed, engaged and energised leader.

February 10, 2015
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Good News for Working Mothers- You Are More Productive Than You Think

By Productivity, Self Improvement, Tips

600-01030005A recent report, published as a working paper by the Research Division at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has stated that parents with two or more children are more productive in the office than those with only one child or no children at all. The study, which was conducted to examine the link between productivity and parenthood amongst a group of academic economists, has been regarded by the Washington post as encouraging news for working moms.
Approximately 10,000 highly skilled economists were assessed and the results of the study revealed that:
“Mothers of at least two children are on average, more productive than mothers of only one child. It was found as well that mothers are generally more productive than childless women,”
The study also went on to add that although the productivity levels of fathers of two or more children also increased, mothers with the same number of children proved to be the most productive of all. It was duly noted however, that when children are young, parents are less productive but as offspring grew older- usually well into their teenage years, the productivity level of parents increased surpassing that of their peers with one or no children.
Christian Zimmermann, one of the authors of the study stated:
“It’s all about timing. It’s really when the children are younger that there is an impact, but if you consider the whole career of the person, then on average, the person [who has two or more children] is doing better.”
He goes on to say:
‘The findings may be more about the personality of these parents than about the effect parenthood has on how well you can work. The 10,000 parents who were studied do not include those moms and dads who fell off the career track after having children, so the subjects were a self-selecting group who likely knew they could handle parenthood before embarking on it. ‘
The study also makes a point of highlighting the exceptions to the rule. It cited that women who became mothers before the age of 30 saw a very negative effect on their professional productivity, as did unmarried mothers who became mothers.
It must also be pointed out that a 2013 report also conducted in St. Louis found that mothers under 18 with young children earned less than their childless counterparts. The same was found to be true with men.  Therefore, it should be remembered that the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis study speaks to its data pool, a narrow group of highly educated, highly skilled  professional women who usually plan parenthood, and thus the authors are adamant to reinforce the fact that their findings may not apply to a wider set of women in different circumstances.
However, the good news  is that given the right conditions professional moms do not have to worry that  becoming parents would jeopardize their careers- this in itself being an idea that could be applied  to other women in similar working situations.

February 10, 2015
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Building Productive Teams through Conflict Resolution

By Productivity, Self Improvement, Tips

Healthy Conflict Resolution Can Lead To Stronger Working TeamsIn the article ‘Building Effective Teams through Conflict Resolution: The Other New Year’s Resolution’, written by Shawn Callender, Senior Training Officer of the Barbados Productivity Council quotes Vince Lombardi. The quote reads, ‘The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.’
In reference to the concept of productivity, this statement holds true. It is indeed a necessity for team members of any given organisation to think and act with a common, unified focus.
As Callender states, ‘The focus of every organization, in this performance-driven, results-oriented business environment, is to create a workplace where the slogan “Together Everyone Achieves More” becomes a reality.’
Productivity Awareness Week in Saint Lucia took place during the period- October 13 to 18, 2014. During the week a range of activities were organised, all of which gained active participation from the private and public sectors, civil society and the youth. Events during the week included forums aimed at various key sectors in the economy.  The sectors included the financial services, wholesale and retail, construction, tourism, agriculture and manufacturing sectors. At each forum, successful business owners delivered presentations on measures undertaken to increase productivity in their respective companies. In doing so, the presenters sited effective team work as a key factor which has led to the success of their companies.
As part of his presentation in the construction forum, Mr. Winston Cyril of RECS General Contractors stated,
‘At RECS we’ve realized that, none of us is as smart as all of us. So, we put our ideas together, so that we are able to make better decisions.  As we continue to build the company as a team and as the company develops; we would like to attract more team members to share like-minded thinking.’
Teams are made up of individuals, with each member having their unique personality and opinion. As a result of this, sometimes conflict will arise. The occurrence of conflict does not have to prove disruptive to an otherwise productive team.  Team members and team leaders simply need to be able to resolve conflict amicably.
There are many reasons why conflict may occur in teams, the four most identifiable reasons being: scarce resources, communication breakdown, personality clashes and goal differences.  However, there are ways to overcome any given conflict within a team.
Kenneth Thomas in his article “Conflict and Conflict Management” highlights five styles of handling conflict. These styles are competing, avoiding, compromising, accommodating and collaborating.
‘Competing Style
This style reflects assertiveness to get one’s own way, and should be used when quick, decisive action is vital on important issues or unpopular actions.
Avoiding Style
This style reflects neither assertiveness nor cooperativeness. This style of handling conflict works best in situations where the issue is trivial, when a delay is needed to gather more information or when the disruption would be costly.
Compromising Style
The compromising style reflects a moderate amount of both assertiveness and cooperativeness. It is appropriate when the goals on both sides are of equal importance, and when people need to arrive at temporary or expedient solutions under time pressure.
Accommodating Style
This requires a high degree of cooperativeness and works best where persons recognize that they were wrong and when maintaining harmony is especially important.
Collaborating Style
This requires a high level of assertiveness and cooperativeness. This style produces a win-win situation for all the parties concerned. It requires at times significant bargaining and negotiating by all the parties concerned. This style is useful when the issues at hand are too important to be compromised and the commitment of the dissenting parties is needed for a consensus.’
Although conflict is inevitable, effective resolution can have tremendous benefits for all involved. Some of these benefits are increased motivation, productivity and creativity, as well as greater participation by employees and improved communication and interpersonal skills.
Conflict can be constructive as long as it is managed effectively and dealt with directly and quickly. When team members learn to see issues from the other side, it opens up new ways of thinking, which can lead to new and innovative solutions, and healthy team performance. Effective conflict resolution can help create a healthy and creative team atmosphere where persons can work collectively towards the common good of the company.

February 10, 2015
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Do Mobile ‘Apps’ Hinder your Productivity?

By Competitiveness, Productivity, Tips

Are you an app junkie? Does your tablet or smartphone harbour an endless stream of apps that you hardly use? Or do you use them so often that you hardly have time for anything else? In recent times, many individuals have been using apps to help in the completion of tasks and activities on their mobile phones.
Question: Are those apps that you have placed on your mobile slowing you down or improving your productivity? 
In this fast pace and evolving business environment people are striving to be more productive. As a result, many tech developers have designed an abundance of apps to aid users in getting more tasks done on their mobile devices.  However, many of these applications are not self-sufficient. In other words, the user may only get a task completed when one app is used in unison with one or many others.
Did Productivity Apps Aid in Raising Your Productivity Levels In 2014
In his article, ‘The biggest productivity killer is that there’s an app for that … and that … and that, too’ on Quartz.com, Ryan Kalember, an enterprise mobility expert states,
‘There are thousands of solutions on the market today, but a glance at the “productivity” category of your favourite app store reveals a sea of options with limited functionality, requiring users to cobble together various apps to get the simplest things accomplished.’
He goes on, ‘Think about a task as simple as marking up a spreadsheet with your feedback on your iPad. You first need to get the file onto your device, either via a file sync and share app or by emailing it to yourself. Then you need to find an app with annotation capability in the app store and buy or download it. From there, you need to open the file in your new app, which may provide an unpleasant surprise: most apps will not allow you to annotate a spreadsheet, unless you convert it to a PDF file, which of course, you can only do on your PC or Mac. Once you sort that part out, you create a new, annotated version of that file and finally figure out how to get it back into your file sync and share app (since your device’s email client doesn’t support attaching a file) in order to share your notes with your colleagues. That seemingly simple task required three different apps, created three versions of the file and involved an eight-step process. While they may work for some people, these machinations can kill the productivity benefits of mobile devices, and the new mobile workforce will need to avoid this type of app overkill in order to thrive.’
Unlike apps, applications on the other hand come with a wide range of features that help workers do their job as accurately and efficiently as they would on a normal PC.  Kalember suggests that it is time for the mobile workforce to demand from software designers, fully functioning applications for their devices.
‘When an employee creates, calculates and writes an earnings report, for example, she uses a suite of applications. That suite generally includes text, spreadsheet, and graphics functionality, as well as the capability to render, annotate and edit different document types. Until recently, all of these actions more or less had to take place at the desktop; mobile devices could only mimic this functionality by combining scores of apps to handle each individual task—one to create, one to annotate and so on. Savvy mobile workers see this as a productivity killer, and they’re right.”
He recommends that the mobile enterprise should demand comprehensive applications that can focus workflows in more consolidated streams.
There is evidence that some vendors are demanding similar integrations and services to be available on one common platform. An example of this being Skype’s recent integration with Outlook. However, today’s device driven workforce wants and needs more. The number of tools needed to complete a task on a device can hamper productivity. Therefore, improvement is needed if smartphones and tablets are to be as productive to the average office worker as a personal computer.

February 10, 2015
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Performance Based Incentive Plans- A Means of Boosting Productivity within Your Organisation

By Competitiveness, Productivity, Self Improvement, Tips, Trade

Could Incentive Plans Be The Way Forward For A More Productive St. LuciaToday’s competitive business environment has led to a greater emphasis on organisation and worker productivity. Attaining a higher level of productivity is considered to be key in achieving a thriving business, as resources are used more efficiently in the business work process to create more value for the firm. It is commonly viewed that organisational productivity is fairly low due to the ‘production process’ but it is also important to note the role of employees in boosting productivity. Organisations are increasingly investing in the development and implementation of performance based actions which contribute to the achievement of organisational goals.
Performance based incentives link individual and corporate achievement of predetermined outcomes with remuneration. In other words, pay is allocated on the basis of the individual performance and business results rather than paying for the job or length of service.
Many businesses which have implemented performance-based incentive programmes have realised the benefits. They have found that an incentive program that rewards improved business results translates into increased productivity, higher profitability and a more motivated staff or employees.
An article in the Harvard Business Review of March-April 2000, called ‘Leadership That Gets Results,’ reports that ‘of six leadership styles studied, the use of rewards was the single highest predictor of ‘organizational climate’ and in turn had a direct correlation with financial results’.
In his article, ‘The Reward That Makes Employees Work Harder’ on The Business News Daily website, Chad Brooks adds, ‘A study by workforce solutions firm Kelly Services found that 40 percent of employees feel they would be more productive if they had their earnings linked to certain performance or productivity goal. Currently, nearly a third of the companies surveyed use a performance-based pay system with their employees. Performance-based pay involves any arrangement where an element of the total salary is tied to meeting performance targets, including profit-sharing, performance bonuses and sales commissions’.
However, before an organisation can develop a successful performance-based incentive program, there must be a clear vision. Without such direction, it is difficult to identify the types of performance that should be rewarded. Therefore, organisations must create a clear vision and identify the steps required to achieve it. This is important as, a clear corporate vision is the foundation on which all effective performance based incentive systems are based.
The corporate vision has to represent a high-level understanding within the organisation of where it would like to be in the short, medium and long term. After defining the vision, subsequently the elements of an effective performance-based plan can be identified. Without a clearly stated vision, even the best designed programme will drift aimlessly. It is also important to bear in mind that although incentive programs can encourage employees to perform at high levels of productivity, employers should always analyze the merits of the program prior to implementation. They must determine the optimal incentive plan that is in the best interest of the business and that will help improve performance and promote ethical behaviour.

February 10, 2015
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Productivity and Patriotism

By Productivity, Self Improvement, Tips, Youth

St. Lucian FlagThe Oxford dictionary defines patriotism as ‘The vigorous support of one’s country’. The word is also defined as ‘A devotion or cultural attachment to one’s homeland’. Patriotism simply put, signifies ‘a love for country’. It is a desire to see one’s country grow and develop whereby citizens can enjoy a higher standard of living. Therefore, patriotism demands good citizenship. It requires that individuals contribute to the well-being of their community and country as a whole. When citizens care about the good of society, they are encouraged to perform at their best thereby contributing to the welfare of their organisation, community and country at large. Thus, being a patriotic individual calls for greater commitment and dedication which can have a positive impact on the productivity of the organisation that one is employed with.
Each person within a society has the ability and potential to contribute to the process of building  a productive nation. Likewise, every employee in an organisation (public or private sector) can contribute to the success and thus the increased productivity of that organisation. A lack of acknowledgement for the well-being of the wider society or having no reverence to one’s country can negatively impact society both directly and indirectly. For example, persons who collectively litter contribute to the pollution of the natural environment. This in turn can cause an infestation of rodents which can lead to an outbreak of diseases in the community.  The spread of diseases can result in a high rate of absenteeism in the workplace. This can result in unfinished tasks, lost business, unsatisfied customers and delays in workflow processes because of the time spent out of work due to illnesses. On the other hand, a patriotic citizen who cares about the country’s wellbeing, understands the repercussions of his actions and how it affects the nation’s productivity and prosperity. Thus a true Saint Lucian patriot is one who is productive. Patriotic citizens do not see work as just another job but understand that performing their duties to their best capabilities can positively impact the wider society.
Persons should be encouraged to contribute to society and be a productive citizen. This can be done by helping to improve the community as well as the wider country. A simple way to do this is by being a committed worker. Regardless of vocation, working hard is an important part of being a productive citizen. When employees work hard, they provide important services to the public whilst earning a living. Additionally, a hardworking and dedicated staff highly contributes to the increased productivity and thus success of the organisation. A country of successful organisations will add to the greater development of the economy which in the long run will contribute to increased economic growth. Hence a collective impact is made towards the prosperity of the country.
A good citizen remains up to date on current news events. It is important to be aware of the news and stay fully informed of the issues that affect the country. Also, sharing good fortune is another positive step to being a productive citizen. The contribution need not be in monetary terms. Sharing knowledge and the giving of time for example, are just as important. There are many associations and community groups in operation throughout the country who are in need of volunteers.  Additionally, persons can make a positive influence on the lives of others through mentoring.  For instance, adults can give up of their time to mentor the youth and pass on important experiences that could contribute to the development and further empowerment of young persons.
There are several other ways that individuals can be both patriotic and productive. They include promoting the growth of our local businesses by buying local, conserving water and energy, supporting and working with our fellow Saint Lucians, promoting our country as a tourist destination when we travel etc. Patriotism is truly an integral part of being a productive citizen.  It involves having love and displaying loyalty to the country, respecting and obeying the nation’s laws and honouring the country’s national symbols.
Responsibilities of being a good citizen have to be accepted, like staying informed of national issues, volunteering, voting and serving the country to the best of one’s abilities. The outcome of which would be the growth of a productively active nation. A true patriot would not want anything less.  Are you patriotic and do you contribute to national development through your actions?

February 10, 2015
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