Become More Productive in Your Work: A New Mindset

It's probably not news to you that you can become more productive in your work. I mean, much more. For your benefit, as well as your employers. There are loads of simple tweaks you can make to your approach to get more done in less time. People, I think are inherently ineffective. They take the long way round, because they don't think enough prior to acting. They just do things in the first way that comes to mind. And then they often stick with it, because at least it eventually got a result. "It works" isn't enough these days. "It works better or faster" is what's in demand.

But it's not their fault! It's the system they're within that removes the need for them to work more productively. That's what I think. So too, apparently, do more than half of Australians surveyed here.

You Don't Become More Productive When You Don't Have to

Do you feel 'protected' or secure in your work? Are you getting paid anyway doing things the way you do them? Probably. So your input:output 'engine' is ticking over fine? And you're comfortable with the way you work? Why would you bother then optimising your approach? Organisations waste a fortune trying to make employees more productive, and then they reward them with their salary regardless of whether they become more productive or not. A course on productivity will do nothing for a bunch of people who don't feel they NEED to become more productive. You might want to pass that on to your HR.

You Become More Productive When You Know Your Living Depends on it

I attended a Learning and Development conference once where they debated how to create a learning culture in their organisation. They threw around a lot of talk and flimsy ideas designed to encourage a learning culture. "Put posters up to encourage it!" people said. None of the ideas had the potency they required. So I stood up and said, "take away everyone's salary, and just pay them on performance when they deliver. If they don't deliver on time, they go hungry. That'll have everyone booking themselves onto learning and productivity courses, and paying full attention too, and discussing what they learn and sharing tips…an instant learning culture!"

I think the employees in the room wanted me thrown out for suggesting I removed their salary. Guess they thought I was being unfair. But the business owners in the room seemed to 'get it'. I remember them nodding in unison.

I didn't mean it literally – I was just making a point to give them something to think about. The thing is, you're probably in a situation now where you practically are paid on your performance. But in employment, there's a lag on your pay. What you do this month affects your pay in a few months time. And you may go hungry if you don't deliver on time (and deliver better results too!) The low performers who aren't obviously adding value are usually the first to go when a company cuts back.

Even if you feel 'safe' with your salary, it's been said for years now that 'no one is safe anymore in their work'. It's now necessary, if you want to increase your job security, to improve your own learning and productivity. The thing about improving productivity is that you don't have to put in more time or effort. Quite the opposite. You stop and think instead, give your mind a work out and then end up putting in less time and effort to get a better result. There are tools to guide your thinking which make the challenge easier. But as I say, people don't do this because they feel they don't have to.

My advice is to update your mindset. Now, you have to. When you're more productive, you increase your chances of being on the ball, being flexible, being higher value and keeping yourself on track when you most need to. You also leave yourself energy and space to learn and do other things that contribute to your value. You've heard the phrases "needs must" and "necessity is the mother of invention". It's necessary that you do this, so find a way that works for you.

You might like this productivity tip of mine here.

Posted via email from Get Sorted Now