Having read an ‘Office of National Statistics’ article that stated that in 2006, only 57% of homes in the UK were connected to the internet. This increased to 89% 10 years later and will be getting much closer to the 100% by the time you read this.
Internet access plays such an important part in all our lives both for social and business needs but how many of our businesses are still working with 2016 equipment, or worse still, 2006! Nowadays, a lot of legal firms now use electronic signing so can do away with reams of paper having to be securely sent from one place to another just for a signature.
So all of this got us thinking. How many businesses out there are still using old fashioned accounting systems, the equivalent of using the abacus when calculators became the latest gadget. Do people still use facsimiles to send documents? Are we locked to the desk with stand-alone PCs rather than laptops or tablets?
Times have and are constantly rapidly moving on and maybe now is the time to look at how your organisation works. If you’re stuck doing the same thing in the same way you have for years but don’t like where it’s taking you, you can be assured, unless you change, your final destination remains set.
Much as technology continues to rapidly move on, so must you engage new ideas (and the hardware if you still use the abacus!) or call them habits, or even Leadership. Here’s some food for thought to boost that workplace productivity level and change your destiny!
- Focus on the ‘Team’ – We once worked with a distribution firm who wanted the sales force to work together to win contracts only then to promote that the highest ‘individual’ achiever of the year would win a family break in Euro Disney!! How contradictive is that? Getting your team to work ‘together’ toward a common goal certainly boosts productivity as well as relationships thus removing the chance of conflict.
- Avoid Micromanaging – Yes, you could do it better! (think of it as differently!) but micromanagement leads to stress, despondency, lack of trust, contempt or even fear. Management adds the structure, good leadership lets people thrive. Learn to let go and treat people like adults. Accuracy and retention of good workers will then be gained.
- Scramble Monotonous Tasks – make sure you don’t allow those tasks to continually land on the same people’s desks. Share tasks around. This aids communication, keeping fresh ways of achieving them flowing and the tasks, as they’re not always done day in, day out in become less tedious!
- Laughter – One of the biggest forms of learning and high productivity is gained from simply having a laugh. If not adopted already, loosen the “it’s not the way we do things around here” attitude as when people enjoy what they do, knowing that they can laugh without reprimand, productivity soars.
Still unsure? Well if you are still on that same road, what have you to lose? Be brave, step away from your comfort zone and see what difference will be had from making a difference and believe in what you’re doing.
Should you be looking to change the way you currently do things, Coaching to Success specialise in change management, creating new habits, promoting leadership qualities and the affects it has on people, call Neil on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk to arrange a free, no obligation consultation.
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