Please sign up for the
newsletter to be
delivered to your inbox
“A rigid, one-size-fits-all approach usually ends up fitting no one” – Patrick Lencioni
Every time management course I ever attended expounded the virtues of an empty inbox. I must admit that’s how I operate my work email account. However, just because I manage my email that way doesn’t mean everyone who I consult to should do the same. In fact, maintaining an empty inbox should not be aspirational for everyone.
“Information overload is a symptom of our desire to not focus on what's important. It is a choice.” - Brian Solis
Ray Tomlinson originally invented email way back in 1971. While email didn’t become a standard until many years later, it’s ludicrous how email is such an issue for too many workers in 2018. Have you solved the email conundrum?
“Time is money” – Benjamin Franklin
Unfortunately, becoming more productive is easier said than done. There are no magic tricks to success - it’s a matter of combining knowledge with action each day to form habits. It can be easy to get bogged down at work due to the constant stream of deadlines, challenging targets and urgent demands for our attention. However, many workers unknowingly impede their own progress.
“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort” - Paul J. Meyer
What happens when capable staff aren’t as effective as they need to be? When they become somewhat stuck, when they stop progressing and seem to be just treading water. Layer in not reaching goals or targets and the result is the disillusioned employee. Companies who ignore employees in these situations do so at their own peril because there’s untapped potential with an opportunity to increase profit for those who can unlock it. Productivity is the key to unleashing this potential.
I don’t like the idea of 1 size fits all. I can understand how 1 size could apply to many but we’re too unique as individuals for it to be applied to everyone. For instance, I doubt a 1 size fits all baseball cap is the right size an entire family. It will fit some members of the family, but it’s probably too small for someone’s head (ok that’s me!!!), while being too big for someone else.
Whether it be a family member, friend, workplace colleague or boss etc., we’ve all encountered someone who is disorganised in our life at some stage. If their level of disorganisation doesn’t affect us then we might go as far as having an opinion on how they could be better off by being organised, but for the most part we really don’t care and just let it pass. However, if their disorganisation slows us down or causes us to wait then the typical feeling is one of frustration.
A customer once said to me receiving email in business is like death and taxes – it’s coming your way no matter what you do.
While most jobs are measured on output, we process emails for greater than 25% of our working week (McKinsey study 2012) when it’s just a tool to do our job rather than actually being our job.
