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How to be More Productive at Work

Most businesses would like to be able to do more with less, to achieve more with the time they have, and many tell us that they are struggling to avoid all the extra distractions that our "always on" world provides.

As a trained economist, I see productivity as being an economic measure of output per unit of input. So for me, the issue of productivity is about greater mechanisation and/or greater individual efficiency so that each person can produce more output in a given time. 

So what does it take for each of us to be more productive?

3 Top Tips to Achieve Greater Productivity

1.  Know where you’re going

If you’ve ever had something to do that felt like wading through treacle, you may remember the associated feeling of overwhelm that often comes with it. And perhaps you’ve had that small voice in the back of your head which relentlessly challenges what you’re doing?  That voice is worth listening to - perhaps you’re not going in the right direction after all. Review the tasks and you may well find that those prioritised become achievable more quickly.

And quite probably you will also have experienced the nirvana when everything feels easy, you’re in the ‘zone’ and you fly through tasks with ease. In my experience, these wonderful moments arise when you have a clear vision that drives your actions, and ensures that you keep going in the right direction.

So if you have an underperforming team try facilitating a team chat to explore what’s stopping them. Listen to their concerns and their feedback to help you determine whether it is just a really difficult task that they need to approach differently or to identify the root cause which can then be resolved. 

2.     Stay focused

Virtually every time management course I’ve ever attended has reminded me about the number of hours we each have to work with, and then talked about staying on task. If you have clear line of sight for the outcome you need, and most importantly, you know why you are doing it, then it becomes very much easier to stay focused on the task in hand. There is a discipline in avoiding distractions, but that often comes back to the question I often ask myself – “will it make this boat go faster?” Thank you to Ben Hunt-Davis for the great book of a very similar title which helped me to realise how important that focus is.

And the flipside is that if the focus is really hard to achieve, perhaps the focus you have isn’t the right one. So revisit knowing where you’re going and realign your why if needs be.

3.     Use the right tools

In this "always on" world, I’ve found it is important to use the right tools. By which I mean knowing when to switch off my phone, stop checking emails and I choose to use a timer tool like the Tomato Timer (https://tomato-timer.com/) which helps me to stay on task when I have a ‘Pomodoro’ day. For more about the Pomodoro Technique have a look at this website: http://pomodorotechnique.com/. 

There is a growing number of apps that can help with productivity, task management and team coordination, which help to align your actions with the overall goals you’ve set. A simple spreadsheet will also do that for you or even just writing a list, with the ‘who’, the ‘what’ and most importantly a ‘by when’.

Much of the work we do here at South West Growth Service is about ensuring the clients we work with have a clear vision and an action plan to keep them on course. And we also provide practical sessions to support change through accountability.

For more information have a look at www.southwestgrowthservice.co.uk or contact [email protected]