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6 Principles of Time Management To Help You Get More Done

Principles of time management

Understanding the key principles of time management can help us be more productive throughout the day. We all aim to be more efficient with our time, get more done, and steadily check off everything on our ever-growing to-do list…but it’s easy to feel completely overwhelmed.

Nowadays, the demand on our time is constant. We’re pulled in various directions that consistently fill up our schedules, leaving no room for things like a personal break to help us recharge and continue being productive.

Time management principles can support and elevate our efficiency and establish stability in most areas of our lives. It can help us to achieve our goals, create a work-life balance, and feel more personal satisfaction—even when we feel like our time is limited. With effective time management techniques, we can begin to implement these into our daily routines that improve our focus, block out distractions, and take back control of our time.

Plan Ahead

Principle of Time Management #1: Plan Ahead

Preparing for the busy week ahead can help you prioritize your tasks and develop a meaningful schedule that keeps you on track. But it’s so much more than listing out all the things you need to get done. There’s a way to do this effectively that supports your productivity…

It’s called the Ivy Lee Method.

In 1918, one of the richest men in the world, Charles Schwab, hired a consultant by the name of Ivy Lee to help his team reach their maximum potential in terms of efficiency. Lee spent approximately 15 minutes with each executive of Schwab’s team and outlined a simple routine for each to try. They were given this strategy:

  • At the end of the workday, they were to come up with 6 tasks (and no more than these 6) that they would like to see accomplished the following day.
  • After identifying the 6 tasks, they were asked to prioritize them in order of importance.
  • The next day, they were instructed to focus on completing the most important task on their list.
  • When the first task was completed, they would repeat the same procedure for the second task.
  • They would repeat this for the entire list.
  • Lee instructed that any tasks not completed for the day be moved to a new list they would create that evening and repeat the steps in the process.

This process worked so well with Schwab’s team that Lee received an equivalent of $400,000 for this one-time consultation.

James Clear, the author of “Atomic Habits”, explains that the genius behind this strategy lies in its simplicity. It’s easy enough to follow with very little complexity. While Clear acknowledges that its straightforward nature is often subject to criticism as it doesn’t take into account events such as emergencies, the Ivy Lee Method is a reliable, structured system that even if distractions were to happen, we can return to this method and continue with our priority list and rearrange as necessary.

Another reason why this method is successful is that it forces you to break the habit of multitasking and only allows you to focus on one task at a time. To be able to complete a task efficiently, we need to devote our full attention to it, lessen the stress that is a result of too many outside factors stealing our focus, and work towards achieving a single, specific goal.

Planning ahead can keep us highly focused on the most essential tasks and limits our distractions.

The Pareto Principle

Principle of Time Management #2: The Pareto Principle

“80% of results will come from 20% of the action.”

This was a generalization first introduced by economist and philosopher, Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto and was later defined as the 80/20 rule. After initially observing how only 20% of his pea plants generated about 80% of the healthy pea pods in his garden, he began to look at other areas of seemingly uneven allocation. He went on to notice that approximately 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. To support his observation, he carried out surveys to different countries and discovered a similar pattern.

So, how can we apply the Pareto Principle to our own everyday lives? If you take a look at the apps on your phone, out of the 80% you have downloaded, you likely only use about 20%. Or, if we apply this concept to athletes, 80% of their results are produced from 20% of their hard work. In this example, it only makes sense that these athletes put their full focus on that 20% to make the most use of their time.

Now, let’s use this in the context of our productivity. According to the 80/20 rule, approximately 80% of our work results are due to 20% of our efforts. So, just as with the example using athletes, we should devote time to refine our processes and focus on this 20%.

We can do this in a few easy steps:

  • Identify your most important goals. Depending on what you would like to accomplish, this may mean examining your current status, what will need to happen in order to achieve these goals, and what you need to take off your plate so that you have the capacity to meet your objectives.
  • Prioritize your goals. Allocate your efforts to the goals that need the most attention so that you can get the highest output.
  • Focus on these goals only. For example, if you’re a team lead that would like to see a particular project accomplished at the end of the quarter, you’ll want to identify the tasks that will help you get to this goal. Any other unrelated tasks can either wait until the next quarter or be eliminated entirely based on necessity.

Avoid distractions

Principle of Time Management #3: Avoid distractions

We live in a world full of distractions, especially as more and more employees value flexibility in their schedules, which includes spending less time in an office setting and more time working from home. From messages on our phones to notifications that pop up on our computers, our attention is constantly pulled in a variety of directions, interrupting our focus.

There are simple ways we can build boundaries that enable us to get more done and tune out the noise.

  • Avoid social media. For some of us, this is a tough one. Social media has become a way to escape our stress. However, if social media is interfering with your productivity and setting your phone aside or minimizing your browsers isn’t making much of a difference, it may be time to download an app that blocks social media from your screens for a period of time. Here are a few that you can download right now:
    • Freedom app – free to use for the first seven sessions
    • RescueTime – free for the first 14 days of use
    • Sarene – free limited trial
    • SelfControl – free to use
  • Put away the phone. Another hard habit to break, but once you get into the routine of turning off your phone, setting it to airplane mode, or just setting it out of reach for a defined period of time, this will help you decrease the number of distractions that can interfere with your productivity.
  • Let people know you’re unavailable. If you have certain people that you speak with regularly, it’s a good idea to let them know when you will be unavailable. This way, you can set some boundaries during the times that you’ve set aside to truly focus. This will also limit some of the notifications that may pop up on your screens while you’re working.
  • Dress for the occasion. Although you might be tempted to stay in your comfiest outfit while working from home, it helps to get out of your PJs and get dressed for the occasion when you want to boost your productivity. Making this an essential part of your routine can help send signals to your brain that it’s time to focus rather than relax. According to The Cut, dressing for work can help sharpen focus and improve confidence. Staying in your comfy clothes might actually increase the temptations to be less productive.

This approach isn’t limited to our clothing either. Creating a workspace that is conducive to productive work can also help prevent the number of potential distractions.

Break big tasks into smaller pieces

Principle of Time Management #4: Break big tasks into smaller pieces

Desmond Tutu, a South African Anglican cleric and theologian, once said, “there is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.”

If we examine this through the lens of our productivity, it means that we might find a task overwhelming and hard to do because of how daunting the project may seem at first, but it’s completely possible to get it done if we break it up into smaller, more manageable chunks. This lessens our feelings of overwhelm towards complex projects.

Breaking up bigger tasks into smaller ones can also help overcome another hurdle: getting started. Sometimes, the issue with managing our time starts at the beginning. Because we’re likely in a state of stress, it halts our productivity, and we’re more likely to avoid the task we need to complete.

Alternatively, we can have so many ideas that we easily spend a ton of time debating what we should even do. But if we’ve taken the time to trim, prioritize, and divide the project into feasible parts, we’ll have an easier time committing to the smaller task and actually completing it.

Create margin for unexpected tasks

Principle of Time Management #5: Create margin for unexpected tasks

As important as it is to manage our time in a strategic and organized manner, it’s just as vital to ensure you’re making space for unexpected tasks. We can plan as best we can to avoid having surprise projects or last-minute requests, but at times, it can be inevitable.

The best way to protect our time is to create windows in our schedule dedicated specifically for “catch-up” time. The best way to accomplish this is to review your calendar for the day, or week, and carve out these particular blocks. This achieves a couple of things for you:

  • You continue to think proactively.
  • You avoid some added stress when unexpected requests come your way.
  • If you don’t end up using the time to catch up or work on projects, you’ve reserved some free time for you to enjoy!

Saving room for your unexpected tasks can help create flexibility in your schedule so that you’re still able to get your tasks done and provides an opportunity to incorporate some time to get ahead and stay productive.

Make time for self-care

Principle of Time Management # 6: Make time for self-care

When we feel that time is working against us and there’s just too little of it to get anything done throughout the day, we’re often stressed and mentally and physically exhausted. For many of us, it’s not a priority in our hectic schedules. However, in the end, our health is a huge factor in our overall productivity. It’s essential that we take care of ourselves in order to have a clear mind when managing our time.

According to Forbes, self-care is actually good for your cognitive functions. Russel Thackery, a licensed clinical psychologist, provided Trello with insights into how this works in relation to productivity. Thackery stated that people who make self-care a priority often have an easier time concentrating and end up producing more.

Those who learn to take care of their mental and physical well-being often exercise regularly and practice meditation or other mindfulness practices. They make room in their schedule to have this safe space to recharge and lessen their stress and anxiety.

One of the most important aspects of self-care is understanding that it looks different for everyone. It doesn’t necessarily mean a weekly trip to the spa or getting a regular massage. It can be as simple as reading a book that brings you joy or enjoying your morning coffee in peace.

When you’re working, self-care can manifest in the form of frequent breaks. It’s important to step away consistently to prevent feeling burnt out by long stretches of extreme focus. Taking breaks can help maintain performance throughout the day and decrease overall mental and physical exhaustion. Think about it this way: Taking frequent breaks helps you recover so that you can think creatively and get your work done faster. During these breaks, you can do anything that relaxes you. It’s your chance to step away from work altogether and return refreshed.

These Important Time Management Principles Will Help You Be More Productive

Whether you’re looking for ways to increase your overall productivity or are truly struggling to manage your time, these important time management principles will help you build an effective routine so you can get more done.

It all starts with taking a few moments to plan ahead and prioritize your tasks according to necessity. Anything extraneous should be trimmed from your schedule to allow you to have more flexibility with your time. Lessen your distractions by being conscious of what is diverting your attention and take actionable steps to eliminate them during your dedicated windows of productivity.

Be aware of longer, more complex tasks that require more of your effort and break them into smaller assignments so that you lessen your feelings of overwhelm. Stay proactive and make space for unexpected tasks that are an inevitable part of our workflow. And finally, prioritize your health and wellbeing so that you can feel restored and energized when you return to the task at hand so that you can complete it as efficiently as possible.

Use your time wisely (and save your sanity) by implementing these useful methods into your daily routines!

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12 Powerful Time Management Tips & Tricks for Every Style

Time management styles

Did you ever see the bumper sticker that read, “Warning: Dates in calendar are closer than they appear?”

Time has a way of whirring past us. And unless we find a way to maneuver through the days and weeks, deadlines creep up out of our blind spot, and we’re completely unaware.

Effectively managing time has a lot to do with understanding our personality. Some have a tendency to take on too much, while others may focus on the wrong things.

With the right techniques and tricks, it’s possible for every style, the procrastinator included, to get it all done with time to spare.

Personality and Time Management

Internal wiring plays a large part in how we approach daily activities. Optimists, as it turns out, tend to show up late. Over-committers can hardly sleep at night thinking about everything they’ve taken on. Others dabble in one project after another, oblivious to the clock and looming deadlines.

When you’re looking to understand how to better manage your time, it’s helpful, as the Delphic Maxim says, to “know thyself.”

1. The Learning Styles

Your learning style–visual, auditory or kinesthetic—can help shape a time management method that works for you.

Visual

A visual learner needs to see information. They learn best from things like graphs, charts, pictures and videos.

A system of writing everything out helps a visual learner manage time. To-do lists, a good visual calendar app, or a wall calendar are all great tools for this personality. Color-coding projects and urgent to-dos helps as well.

Auditory

Lectures, podcasts and audiobooks are the realm of the auditory learner. They learn best from listening to the spoken word.

After a meeting, auditory learners may find their heads full of everything they’ve just heard.

Creating voice memos is a way to release all the thoughts and to-dos. By turning the memos into text, everything can be organized and prioritized into to-do lists.

Kinesthetic

Kinesthetic learners want to touch, feel and do. They love being on their feet and working in groups. They need to swing the racket and pick up the ball, and are the first in line for new product releases.

A tactile method of time management works well for kinesthetic learners, such as a large calendar white board, with colored sticky notes that can be moved and arranged, depending on the project and date.

The Dilly-Dallier

2. The Dilly-Dallier

Some people don’t think at all in terms of how many minutes are passing on the clock.

A study found that Type B people, when asked to measure the length of a minute, thought it lasted 77 seconds—17 second longer than the actual time. Extrapolated over two hours, 17 seconds is 34 minutes!

Regardless of our relationship to time, however, we’re all living within the constraints of it. It just doesn’t work if we’re chronically 34 minutes late to dropping our kids off at school, or showing up at work.

If you have Type B tendencies, then timers are your friend. When you’re completely immersed in a project and thinking of nothing else, the timer will jog you back into the time-space realm, and remind you to attend to the other commitments in your day.

3. The Procrastinator

“If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.”

If you have this quote pinned to your bulletin board, then you just might be a procrastinator.

Life is certainly no cake walk. Every day entails doing so many things that feel like a chore, and many of us would just as soon eat the icing first. The problem is, we can’t go for too long without mowing the lawn, paying bills, and calling the air-conditioner repair service. The cake must eventually get eaten, too!

One cure for procrastination is called “eating the frog.” This means finding the hairiest, wartiest, most repulsive item on our to-do list, and getting it over with, first thing in the morning.

Oftentimes, we put something off until the last minute because it feels too overwhelming and complicated. One way to tackle this problem is to break the project into bite-size chunks.

Take a newsletter, for example. Say you want to send out one a month. Rather than starting it 8 hours before pressing “send,” plan four weeks in advance: pick the topic in week 1, research and write the first draft in week 2, write the final draft in week 3, and save editing, formatting and photos for week 4.

It’s easy to look over the fence at someone else and marvel at all they’re able to get done. But it’s important to remember that our tendencies, styles and inclinations really make a difference in how we approach time. Your personality is the central clue as to what system works for you.

Exercises to Diagnose Time Management Traps

Exercises to Diagnose Time Management Traps

In the same way that money doesn’t magically appear in our bank account, we can’t conjure up an extra day each week. One can only wish.

Time is a finite resource. And in order to wrangle it around our to-dos and commitments, we must approach it as such.

These next three exercises help identify ways we might be over-committing, wasting our time, or just doing the wrong things.

4. The Over-Committer

It’s not at all uncommon to feel bogged down with endless things to do. Sometimes, even when everyone on the team diligently pulls their own weight, things just don’t seem to get done.

Working harder, smarter and faster isn’t always the solution. Sometimes, it’s a case of taking on too much.

Here is a method for identifying over-commitments.

List every single thing you do in your job, with an accurate estimate of how long each takes (some things take way longer than we realize). Next, add up the time to see how much work you’ve taken on.

If the tasks take 47.5 hours to complete each week, and you only have 40 hours in your schedule, then it’s no wonder you’re feeling snowed under.

One way to solve this problem is to off load. Maybe you can drop a project that you’re not interested in. Or scratch off things that aren’t totally necessary.

Another solution is delegation. Virtual assistants are ready-at-hand to take administrative tasks off of your plate, and allow you the brain space for innovative and creative thinking.

5. The Time Waster

Maybe we want to take on a new project, enroll in a course, or spend time with friends…but just don’t see how we can swing it with our schedule.

Every week has 168 hours, and it’s up to us how we use them.

This exercise entails looking at how we’re really spending our time—not how we think or wish we were.

For one week, record everything you do and how much time you spend at it. This includes meals and meal preparation, sleep, leisure, exercise, time with kids, work….everything. At the end of the week, look closely at the time spent in each category.

The results may unearth some surprises. Maybe you’re spending 8 or so hours watching a series on Netflix, and 3 or 4 surfing the web (shopping, reading blogs, articles). That’s quite a chunk of time!

Simply cutting this internet time in half frees up plenty of time for another commitment.

Similarly, maybe you find that you’re going to the grocery store 3 or 4 times a week. This really adds up, too. Developing a habit of grocery shopping once on the weekends creates a more efficient schedule.

6. The Wheel Spinner

Sometimes, we’re doing, doing, doing all day long, yet never seem to accomplish what we set out to do.

This exercise helps to to align our daily activities with our goals.
Write down everything you do at work for one week, and how long you spend on each task.

On a separate sheet, write down your top three goals for the quarter, or the topics you’ll discuss at your next performance review.

Look at these two lists alongside each other. Do any alarm bells go off?
It’s easy to spend hours on things that have little or nothing to do with our goals. Tasks like responding to emails and messages can take the entire day, if we let it.

As a final step, once we’ve identified any disconnect between goals and the actual workday, it’s time to put systems in place that align work habits to goals.

When we take a step back and look at the bigger picture, it’s much easier to diagnose any issues with how we’re spending our time.

Time Management Methods

Time Management Methods and Hacks

No doubt about it, life continually presents us with a steady stream of things to do. And if we put them off, they only accrue.

Fortunately, there are techniques for every temperament and personality to help keep us on track and stay productive.

7. Reverse Engineer Time

Do you find that every morning is a scramble to get out the door, and that you’re pretty much always at least ten minutes late for work?

Or that, try as you might, you’re always wrapping up a project two days after the deadline?

Reverse engineering helps Type B personalities, procrastinators, or anyone who has a hard time meeting deadlines.

The first step in reverse engineering is to identify the end objective. Maybe it’s to arrive at work by 8 am, or complete a project by Friday. Then, list every task that precedes this finish line.

If your plan is to arrive to work on time, then things on your list might include: get dressed, make breakfast, get kids dressed, walk the dog, drop kids off at school, drive to work.

Next, gauge how long each item on the list takes, and add them up. If everything takes 2.5 hours, then guess what? The alarm is going off at 5:30 (ouch!).

8. Time Block

Some of us have a visceral response to a long to-do list. They make us feel swamped, right out of the gate.

Or maybe we’re precluded from staying on task by a constant deluge of messages and notifications on our phone.

Time blocking helps with these problems. It works just like it sounds: identify the various things you do during the week, then assign blocks of time in which to do them.

Dixie Willard uses this method in her business, Designing Dixie:

“I know that Mondays are my marketing and money days, so that’s the day I’m going to do my bookkeeping, schedule social media posts. I write my blog posts. Marketing-oriented things. Tuesday mornings are small group, then I record my podcast, then client work. Wednesdays and Thursdays are out-and-about days with clients. Then Friday I am back in the office…and then Sundays are fun. I know I have time set aside to take care of things.”

With time blocking, you won’t need a lot of lists, as you’ll already know when you’re doing what.

It’s important to turn off notifications when working on a task, in order to maintain productivity and focus during that block of time.

If responding to dozens of messages is part and parcel to doing your job, then blocking time to do this—say for 30 minutes every 2 hours—allows you to maintain focus on all the other tasks in your day as well.

Plan Tomorrow Tonight

9. Plan Tomorrow Tonight

In the first hours of the morning, most of us are still shaking off the morning fog. And even after several cups of coffee, we’d much prefer to delegate anything that requires thinking too hard.

Creating a daily agenda from this frame of mind is a lot to ask of ourselves.
When you’ve planned your day the night before, rather, all you have to think about in the morning is drinking coffee and getting yourself to work.

Brian Tracy, author of Eat that Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, says it also increases productivity:

“When you make your list the night before, your subconscious mind will work on your list all night long while you sleep. Often you will wake up with great ideas and insights that you can use to get your job done faster and better than you had initially thought.”

When your day is already planned, you don’t have to give yourself a pep talk over the morning latte, or think through the daily minutia, with your head full of fuzzies. Right from when you step out of bed, you have focus and momentum.

Pomodoro Method

10. Use Pomodoro Method

Oftentimes, we have great focus first thing in the morning, but after two hours, we’re distracted and dawdling. Other times, it’s hard to even get started on a project that’s complicated or overwhelming.

The Pomodoro method involves working in small time increments to keep focus sharp. It was developed by Francesco Cirillo, a business consultant, in the late 1980s.

With this method, you set a timer and work on a specific task for 25 minutes. Then, take a short break and work again for 25 minutes. After four sessions, take a fifteen or thirty minute break.

It’s helpful at the beginning of the 25 minutes to set a goal for what you hope to achieve by the end of it. For example, “complete three invoices” or “write two Instagram captions.”

The small breaks let our mind rest and rejuvenate, so we’re ready to focus again in the next spurt.

This method is useful for tasks you want to put off–you can do anything for 25 minutes, right?

11. Try Batching

You know how when you’ve done something a few times, it becomes really fluid and takes less time?

Batching is a time management method of doing many of the same tasks all at once, and getting it out of the way.

For example, rather than cooking dinner every night, you can batch meals on the weekends, or one Saturday a month, and freeze them all. It saves so much time during the week when dinner preparation simply entails pulling lasagna out of the freezer and heating it up.

Monthly social media and blog posts also work well for batching. You can write everything on a single day, and then schedule content throughout the month.

Set up Systems and Routines

12. Set up Systems and Routines

Did you remember brushing your teeth this morning? Some parts of our lives are so routine we do them without even thinking about it.

A system is not unlike a daily habit. When we set up a system around a task, it takes less effort to complete. After a while, we’re so used to the process that we complete tasks without having to think too much about them.

For example, when we open our inbox to dozens of unread emails, business coach Lydia Kaplygin recommends the “4 D” system for going through them:

  • Do: An email that needs to be responded to right away.
  • Delete: Junk mail that goes away forever.
  • Delegate: Messages we forward to another person.
  • Defer: Something we need to do, but not immediately.

When we create systems like this around everything we do, it saves time and decreases burnout and overwhelm.

Other areas where we can create systems include: a morning routine, blog posts, paying bills, creating invoices and payroll.

A Steady Trait

The hare, as we all know, was fast, but he wasted his time.

Time management isn’t about being the most skilled or the fastest. It’s about being strategic. And consistent.

Slow and steady is one characteristic we all could stand to take on. With methodical habits, we meet deadlines and achieve goals.

What time management trick has helped you cross finish lines?

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When You Know Something’s Off: How to Spot and Fix a Toxic Work Culture

How to improve toxic work culture

Remember that green face your mom would stick onto all her cleaning bottles when you were a kid? The guy had his eyebrows furrowed and tongue sticking out, like maybe he’d just swallowed a bottle of turpentine.

Working in a toxic culture begets a similar sort of nausea. A community that thrives on drama, infighting, and bullying leaves employees abused and psychologically traumatized. And the company’s bottom line suffers as well.

But toxic businesses don’t come with a warning label.

It takes a sound appreciation of what a healthy culture looks like to recognize dysfunction in the workplace. And a bit of experience as well.

Let’s go over the basics of company culture and how to recognize when something is off. Then, we’ll discuss strategies for dealing with a toxic climate, and ways to fix it.

Work Culture: the Gold Standard

In his book Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance, Louis Gerstner, former CEO of IBM, wrote: “Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game. It is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.”

Even more than the combined skill set of a group of people, the culture in which they work determines the success of a company.

What is work culture, exactly? Elliot Jaques, in his book The Changing Culture of a Factory, defined factory culture as:

“Its customary and traditional way of thinking and doing things. Culture, in this sense, covers a wide range of behavior: the methods of production, job skills and technical knowledge, attitudes toward discipline and punishment, and the customs and habits of managerial leaders.”

Company culture, then, refers to many facets of a company, collectively: its systems, processes, employees, leaders, and an ethos that connects them all.

O.C. Tanner, an employee recognition company in Utah, has studied company culture and broken it down into six parts:

Work Culture

  • Purpose: This is the “why” of the company, its core values.
  • Opportunity: What does the company offer its employees? This includes skill development, education, and a broader opportunity to be a part of a mission or movement.
  • Appreciation: How does a company value the dedication, time and effort of its employees?
  • Success: What are the company’s bragging rights? For what reason would employees hold their heads high when telling others, “This is where I work.”
  • Well-being: How does the company value and look out for the physical and psychological health of its employees? What is the work environment like, and how do they foster work-life balance?
  • Leadership: Company culture is trickle-down, for sure. Both in developing policy and modeling it, those at the top play the central role in defining each of the aforementioned areas.

These six gears, working in concert, create the framework for employee motivation and interaction, which in turn drive a company.

When properly oiled and tuned, a company runs smoothly. However, if any of these parts is abandoned, soiled, or neglected, things quickly fall into disarray.

Signs of a Toxic Work Environment

Signs of a Toxic Work Environment

Like a proud homeowner, companies like to flash their shiniest toys to prospective employees.

They’re eager to show off the ping pong table, the espresso machine, and talk about the taco truck that stops by each Friday. –And boast of their epic Christmas parties as well.

It’s easy to be dazzled by the glam, and not notice cracks in the wall, sloped floors, or the stench of rot.

It can take some time to appreciate the toxicity of a work environment. But like a stream of red ants crawling from beneath the floorboards, little things inevitably will start to bite.

Here are some telltale signs of a dilapidated company whose culture is in decay.

OG Cred After Three Months

If employees cycle in and out faster than the phases of the moon, and newbies function as the in-house experts, the company has major turnover issues.

People may leave with a friendly smile and a wave, but take it with a grain of salt. This may be indicative of another red flag—an inability to freely express legitimate concerns around the office.

Lunch Feels like a Doctor’s Waiting Room

A healthy office space has some lightheartedness, and a tone of care and concern around the place. People find time to laugh and banter with each other.

If communal areas feel sterile and impersonal, and employees largely keep to themselves, something in the culture may well have gone awry.

No Work-Life Balance

Every company has busy periods.

However, if the expectation is that employees work ten to twelve hours every day, and breaks or vacation are frowned upon, it’s clear leadership doesn’t factor employee well-being into its policies.

No Path for Growth

In a healthy culture, it’s expected that employees will develop skills and grow.
A boss whole doles out raises like they’re an undeserved reward, and treats employees like they’re lucky to be there is just no good.

Rumors Abound

Rumors Abound

Every workplace has its fair share of gossip.

However, if you’re resorting to games of telephone to learn really basic information about the workplace, such as new hires, departures, upcoming goals and projects, then the company has fundamental communication problems.

In a transparent company, critical information is shared freely through appropriate channels, such as meetings and emails.

Management Models Aggressive Behavior

“At Uber, every meeting had been a short painful skirmish, where managers and employees fought like starving dogs over a scrap of meat,” relates Susan Fowler in her book Whistleblower, where she recounts her disastrous time working at Uber.

Culture starts from the top. When managers habitually berate employees in front of others, or “solve” disagreements with ad hominem attacks, they demonstrate that aggression is acceptable.

Work is an Obsession

If the only thing you ever want to talk about with friends and family is yet another crazy episode in the series “My Life in the Office”, then something is really wrong with your workplace, and you’re spending all your energy working through it.

Personality Morphs

During her time working under abusive managers at Uber, Fowler found herself easily triggered and hostile with family and friends. Eventually, she realized she had acclimated her personality to a work environment where verbal abuse was the norm.

If you find your demeanor and personality changing, it may mean you’re affected by an unhealthy climate at work.

A Hard Pill to Swallow

Arguments, pettiness and gossip are a part of any work environment.
A toxic culture, however, is like living in a house where people yell and argue all the time.

It takes some discernment to measure the barometer of a particular work environment. After that, it’s about navigating a path forward: either seeking a way out, or developing strategies to work and improve it.

Strategies to Deal With Workplace Dysfunction

Strategies to Deal With Workplace Dysfunction

If you’re in a toxic work environment, it probably feels like your boss is an evil queen, and every day you’re taking a bite from a poison apple.

The hard fact of the matter, though, is that most people find it’s something they need to live with, at least for a time.

It’s important to realize that even in an environment where abuse is commonplace, you’re still in the driver’s seat of your career.

With the right attitude, it’s possible to make the most of the situation. To that end, here are strategies for dealing with a toxic environment.

Build a Shelter

In a toxic culture, things are flipped upside down. Dysfunction is acceptable, perhaps even the status quo.

In order to see the situation for what is, build a sphere of normalcy. Find a few people who support you and recognize its absurdity.

Fowler writes that she and other employees would vent in empty conference rooms at Uber.

An outlet where you’re safe to express yourself honestly and receive support without any fear of repercussion is key.

Keep a Clear Head

Fowler recounts that managers would regularly tell her things like “How did you get hired here?” or “I know there’s an engineer in there somewhere.”

The abuse in a toxic environment easily leads a person to question her skills and capabilities.

In order not to be gaslit, it’s important to put up metaphysical walls. Tell yourself a different story: it’s not me, it’s them.

A good self-image, of course, is an end in itself. Additionally, it enables you to make a strong pitch to a prospective employer.

Focus on the Job

Focus on the Job

Even in a toxic environment, you’re still developing a career, so of course performance matters.

Prospective employers want someone 100% engaged in their job. They’re likely to ask specific questions about projects and job performance.

As much as it is possible, glide above the dysfunction, and stay focused on the “what” of the job.

It’s quite possible, too, that by consistently giving it your all, you’ll gain a reference or two from your current position. And that’s no small thing in building a career!

Write to Human Resources

If you experience abuse at work, or flagrant disregard for company policy, it’s important to report these things to Human Resources.

It’s sometimes the case that Human Resources is part of the rot, and won’t do anything about it.

However, workplace squirmishes easily escalate into legal situations. When you have clear documentation of everything that has transpired, it’s much easier to make your case.

Keep all of your exchanges with human resources in writing, and make sure they respond to you in writing as well.

Document Everything

In a similar vein, document everything you do in your job: tasks, projects, hours worked, etc. This puts you in a position to demonstrate your proficiency, in the event it’s called into question.

Similarly, document any exchanges with abusive people, by keeping a file of emails they send, and what-not.

Make a Get-Out Plan

Make a Get-Out Plan

If the situation is beyond repair, start making an escape plan. Pro tip: don’t print off any job applications on the company printer! Some of us have learned this lesson the hard way.

Talk to contacts, update your resume, and look out for prospects on job sites.
This might be just the push you need to level up your career!

Find a Diversion

It’s always healthy to have work-life balance. But when working in a toxic culture, it’s even more necessary to establish a clear demarcation between work and the rest of your life.

Finding a diverting hobby, joining a running group, or taking a course provides some psychological stability. It makes it easier to have a healthy perspective on the abusive situation.

This Too Will Pass

Although it’s painful to work in an abusive environment, it’s good to have the experience under your belt.

You’ll encounter different versions of the same story everywhere you go. And the next time around, you won’t be so green.

Ways to Improve a Toxic Work Culture

5 Ways to Improve a Toxic Work Culture

Every employee plays a part in shaping company culture. A toxic person can come from anywhere and destroy a culture very quickly.

Conversely, one employee can transform a toxic culture in a healthy, wholesome place to work.

Here are some ways to fix company culture and steer it back on course.

1. Lead Transparently

More often than not, the mess in a toxic workplace stems from the top.

Fowler cites an anecdote where Uber was strewn with copies of Ariana Huffington’s book The Sleep Revolution, that celebrated the value of sleep, yet everyone was expected to grind away into the late hours of the night.

Transparent leadership is about making core values clear, and consistently modeling them: both in behavior and in policies.

2. Purge the Bad Apple

As discussed, company culture determines the success of a company more than the skill set of the employees.

If an employee consistently abuses company policy and disregards its core values, it’s best for the bottom line and everyone’s well-being to show them the door. This includes very talented and skilled workers!

3. Create Psychological Safety

Burnout happens when employees have no place to safely vent legitimate concerns.

A healthy company has open meetings, where no topic is taboo, and employees can air gripes without fear of repercussion–even when they know the managers disagree.

When managers acknowledge their own flaws and leaders encourage open discussion, it helps pave the way to creating a workplace where employees feel free to ideate and emote.

4. Build Rapport

Cultivating community and connection is part and parcel to any healthy work culture. Camaraderie develops when people care about each other, including their lives outside of work.

Rapport in large part had to do with listening and being empathetic. Developing practices such as gathering feedback after projects and actively listening at meetings, creates space for people to talk and be heard.

5. Sow What You Reap

No one simply witnesses company culture. Everyone plays a part in shaping it. In any role, employees have the opportunity to fix a work environment.

Fowler writes how she consistently escalated incidents of abuse and discrimination to human resources and upper management. We all know how her tenacity ultimately led to the resignation of Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick.

Accountability is an integral part to building a company culture. It entails everyone seizing opportunities to build community, and calling out dysfunction.

Sometimes this means making an effort to connect with a colleague at lunch time. At other times, it means sitting down with a boss or manager and having an honest conversation about the direction of the company.

A Culture Barometer

A Culture Barometer

After a few difficult jobs, it becomes much easier to recognize a culture gone awry. Just like our mom, we’ll have our own sheet of green toxic stickers to quickly label poisonous situations and environments.

And our hard-won savviness will make us more agile in dealing with them.

With a strong understanding of what makes a healthy company tick, it also becomes clear how to spot desirable work situations.

By researching and asking the right questions at interviews, it’s possible to chart a path to a career in a positive, thriving culture.
What’s your priority when evaluating company culture?

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The Essential Guide On How To Measure Culture In A Company Successfully

Measuring company culture

Company culture is a determining factor for employee satisfaction, retention, and productiving. And since “what gets measured gets improved,” learning how to measure culture in a company is an important task.

Measuring culture in a company can be a difficult task. Companies have become increasingly more complex, with so many different workplace environments coming forward and the generational changes of the workforce. The workplace is changing at higher rates than we’ve seen in a long time, especially following the wild flexibility that was prompted by COVID lockdowns. This has left companies with one BIG question to answer…How do you measure company culture? And even more, how do you adjust the workplace to support your employees and raise satisfaction? Read on.

What Is Company Culture (And Why Is It Important?)

The culture of a company is one of the most important aspects to be aware of. In its most basic form, company culture is the set of values that make up a company and are widely shared throughout the workplace. It’s the determining factor for employee satisfaction, retention rates, productivity, and ultimately, company success. Learning how to measure workplace culture is essential, but it can be difficult to navigate, especially as a company grows.

Why Is Company Culture Difficult To Measure

Many companies rely on yearly surveys and questionnaires to assess how their employees are feeling about the workplace. The insight the company can receive from these heavily depends on how accurately their employees review the company…and self-reporting doesn’t have a great history of being overly accurate.

Many people won’t truthfully report their experience with the company this way, whether it’s due to their desire to be well-liked by their colleagues and bosses, a fear of being ‘found out’ if they report unfavorable results, or simply because they don’t think what they say will even matter. This leaves the results being skewed in a way that makes it difficult for the company to get an accurate representation of their workplace culture, therefore, making improving it nearly impossible.

So…Where do you start?

Factors For Measuring Company Culture

Important Factors For Measuring Company Culture

Consider these five components when measuring your company culture—they are great places to begin gathering your information.

Communication

How individuals communicate with each other is paramount to company culture, as it shapes the way they understand the information they are sharing with each other, and it also influences how they share that information. What may be even more telling about the company culture is how the different departments communicate with one another. All communication has a starting point, and if the individual departments of the company converse poorly with each other, the employees of each will follow suit, ultimately leading to a deterioration of communication altogether.

Diversity

How people see themselves in a company has a great effect on the culture within. By hiring diversely, and assigning roles within the company in the same manner, you are ensuring you’re an equal opportunity employer, while also providing people the opportunity to see themselves as part of the company. This is a great way to show people how they would fit within the workplace, and display how high they can go with the company as well.

Consistency

If your company culture greatly varies with each new assessment, then it’s essential that you reevaluate how you’re supporting the determining factors of your workplace culture. Every area of your company should be consistent in how they are encouraging their employees and the environments they’ve created for them, as well as how they maintain the changes they’ve implemented. View each sector of your business as a whole and not as separate areas of the company, so that they all run cohesively with one another.

Employee Behavior

Employee Behavior

A telling factor when measuring the culture is how your employees treat the company and respond to its values and demands. Often, when there is a lack of alignment with the values of the company, the employee fails to be a productive member and can often bring harm to the culture of the company as a whole. Evaluating how employees manage themselves at work, and the standards they hold for themselves can be an important factor when developing your strategies to shape the culture of your workplace.

Leadership

Your management is the driving force for your employees, and ultimately they help determine how your employees view the workplace environment and the company itself. They are a direct reflection of what your company values, so it’s imperative that they have a great amount of respect for their role as a leader in the workplace, and understand the responsibility of upholding the company values.

How To Measure Company Culture Successfully

1. Define Your Company’s Ideal Culture

Know what you’re working towards. Decide what your company values are and publish them so they are easily accessible to anyone in your company, or anyone considering your company as a future employer. Consider asking questions like:

“What impact do we want this company to have on our employees and the people we serve?”

Or,

“What is our company mission, and how can we uphold that?”

2. Share Publicly Available Company Reviews

Think of sites like Indeed or Glassdoor. These sites not only allow for employees, both past and present, to rate and review the company anonymously, but it also allows people to rate how helpful the review was. Sites like these also list the ratings by category such as work-life balance and pay & benefits, among others. This can quickly tell you how people are experiencing your company.

Sites like these provide you with a greater possibility of honest feedback about their experience with the company, and often, people will include what they’d like to have seen from the company to rectify the situation. Not only are they telling you what’s lacking, but they’re even doing some of the legwork by directly sharing how it could be changed from an employee’s point of view.

Welcome, Encourage, And Utilize Employee Suggestions

3. Welcome, Encourage, And Utilize Employee Suggestions

Implement a way for employees to provide anonymous feedback, preferably through a third party with strict confidentiality rules to protect your employees while also encouraging more open, honest viewpoints. Consider offering them a way to regularly submit suggestions to upper management for consideration. Take this one step further, and regularly send out the top few options from those that you’d be able to implement, and allow your employees to vote on them. This gives everyone in the workplace a chance to be involved and help influence decisions. When people feel like they are genuinely a part of something, and get to be directly involved in the decisions being made, they are much more likely to have higher satisfaction rates and stay with the company for longer periods of time, boosting retention rates (and becoming even more desirable to newcomers!)

4. Review Financial Records

This may seem like an odd place to look for hints about the culture of a company, however, it can be quite revealing. These records will show you the rawest form of what a company values because a company will put money into its highest priorities first, and cut funding short for areas that hold less value.

Consider this: think about the last time you heard about a company giving big bonuses or salaries to CEOs that were wildly disproportionate to the rest of the company (or even went against their mission as a whole). When you learned about the rates these individuals made, how did you feel? Did it change how you viewed the company? Did it change how you interacted with that company? This is why financial records can be so telling. Where the money is going greatly impacts the culture of a company.

Annual Reports

5. Review Annual Reports

By reviewing the annual reports of your company, you can gain some deep insight into your company culture almost immediately. These annual reports will show you the levels of productivity throughout the workplace, which are often a direct reflection of the culture within. Higher productivity rates, as well as the level of quality of work, will reinforce the positive culture you’ve created. However, if productivity is not where you would have expected or hoped it to be, then the culture of your company may need some improvement.

6. Measure The Culture Of The Workplace Regularly

This isn’t a one-time occurrence where you measure the satisfaction rates of your employees once and assume it’ll never change. There are a variety of things that will shift the culture of your company over time. Things like promotions, department shifts, new hires, and new procedures all have a vital role in influencing the company culture.

Make a schedule for measuring the culture of the company regularly, so you can adjust to any changes quickly and easily. Not only will this make the measuring process easier by having smaller amounts of data to go through each time, but it will also increase your company culture on its own because it shows your employees that you genuinely care about their experience in the workplace.

Conclusion

Measuring and maintaining a workplace culture that is individual to your company, and aligns with the values within, is essential for the successful growth of your company and the people that make it exceptional. Measuring the culture you’ve developed within your company can be a difficult task, but with the right resources and a genuine desire to provide a workplace that stands above the rest, you can most certainly elevate your company culture and maintain it for years to come.

Remember that this is an ongoing process and creating a workplace culture that people are thrilled to be a part of will skyrocket your company’s performance, increase retention, and cultivate success.

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How To Successfully Implement Indirect Conflict Management Strategies That Effectively Resolve Disruptions In The Workplace

Indirect conflict management

When you work with a team from different backgrounds and experiences, interpersonal issues are unavoidable and may require an indirect conflict management strategy to find a resolution before the issue completely disrupts the group’s morale and efficiency.

Whether the employees try to take a more direct approach and resolve their communication problems on their own or escalate to a manager or even Human Resources, there are times when the relationship can never truly recover.

In these cases, a more subtle, strategic approach is required to ensure that productivity remains high and morale is unaffected. An indirect approach to conflict management can help mitigate some of these issues and prevent feelings of resentment when upfront and straightforward approaches to conflict resolution appear to no longer be working.

What Is The Difference Between Conflict And Disagreement?

Before we dive deep and define indirect conflict management, we first need to understand the distinction between a disagreement and a conflict in the workplace. A disagreement is by definition a difference in opinion and can be quite common in the workplace. Disagreements can even be the basis for new ideas, allowing the team to think creatively while coming to a solution. Having a disagreement doesn’t necessarily mean negative outcomes. Depending on how the individuals handle the opposing viewpoints and conduct themselves during the conversation, disagreements can lead to productive discussions.

Conversely, a conflict is defined as an “antagonistic state or opposing action of incompatibles.” (Source: Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary). Conflicts almost always end negatively. When the conflict is allowed to fester, deep feelings of hostility, resentment, and distrust are the end results. The affected employees become suspicious of one another, creating a tense working environment as they compete to see who is “right” in the situation. If an intervention doesn’t occur quickly and is managed inappropriately, the situation is guaranteed to be irreparable and destructive for the team.

What is indirect conflict

What Is Indirect Conflict?

Indirect conflict is when the situation has gotten to the point where the employees no longer interact directly with each other. Instead, they resort to avoidance and withdrawal. Even if the other party is a significant factor in their own workflow, the employees will go out of their way to avoid interaction of any kind and will only engage if absolutely necessary.

Another example of how indirect conflict manifests in the workplace is through nonverbal acts of microaggression. This shows up in their body language and their general attitude towards the other person. The tone of voice, stiff pauses or silences, sighs, and eye-rolling are a few common examples. Indirect conflict can also result in more gossiping within the team, eroding any positive work environment efforts. This type of conflict typically evolves into a major source of distraction the longer the issue lasts and causes discomfort for everyone else on the team.

On the other hand, direct conflicts are often more explosive and confrontational in nature. Examples of direct conflict would be an outward challenge of authority or throwing around accusations of others, which must result in HR intervention as the situation escalates. According to the Lee Group, a study done by CCP Inc. (creators of the Myers Briggs Assessment test), 85% of employees experience conflict at some level in the workplace!

Now that we know what indirect conflict looks like in the workplace, how can we best manage these scenarios and help resolve the problem in a meaningful way?

Using An Indirect Approach To Conflict

Using An Indirect Approach To Conflict

Indirect conflict management often requires a finer hand. Ignoring or avoiding the situation entirely, hoping that it will resolve on its own, will only exacerbate the current issues. While the goal is to help repair the relationship, this isn’t always feasible in every case. In these particular instances, we must think strategically about how the employees compromise and collaborate in the future. It’s important to use a forward-thinking approach when considering possible solutions.

Here are some techniques that you can implement to manage indirect conflict:

  • Identify a liaison – This is frequently used between employees during the early stages of conflict. Your liaison needs to be a neutral third party who can clearly and effectively facilitate productive conversations, clarify any immediate misunderstandings, and create traction to get to the desired goal. An HR representative can be an example of this in action. For example, if the conflict on your team is between a manager and their direct report, an HR rep can manage the meeting between the two. They can first give a high-level overview of the goals for the meeting, give each person an opportunity to have their say, reiterate and clarify the message from each employee to eliminate any potential misunderstandings, and ultimately close the meeting with defined next steps, answer any lingering questions, and set expectations. In the absence of HR, a team lead or a mutual colleague can act in this capacity. The objective of this approach is to keep the discussions productive while giving the situation a chance to de-escalate so that this doesn’t need to be conducted in the long term.
  • Decouple – When discussions continue to remain unproductive and the situation increases in intensity, it may be best to reduce communication and contact between the two conflicting parties. There are a few immediate solutions that can be done.
    • Reassess reporting structure – When you need to “decouple” the employees who are having conflict, one of the areas you’ll need to assess is the reporting structure. For example, if the employees in question report to one manager, thus creating a scenario where interaction is unavoidable, you can look at your current managers and see who has the bandwidth to take on a new direct report. Another aspect of this method would also be to understand which manager has the capabilities and experience to deal with a potentially difficult employee. Moving them to a different supervisor will likely result in new job functions, so it’s essential to keep that in mind when evaluating a prospective change in structure.
    • Evaluate workload and job descriptions – Another approach would be to look at their job descriptions, identify areas where they intersect, and adjust or remove accordingly.
    • Transfer – In more extreme cases, a transfer or reassignment could also be an option. However, depending on the severity of the situation, this would involve a nuanced conversation with your employee to discuss the details of the potential transfer and what this would mean for them. Usually, a reassignment will likely result in a positive outcome, but it’s best to practice understanding and compassion during the transition.

Create a buffer

  • Create a buffer – If the conflict isn’t isolated to individuals, but rather whole teams, it would be best to create a buffer in the event that one team cannot produce results as a direct result of the conflict. Building a buffer releases some of the dependency on another and helps ensure that if there’s ever a breakdown in communication that impacts the outcome, there is extra inventory to bridge the gap. Buffers are not normally favored as they can drive up the cost of labor to construct this extra resource.
  • Emphasize the goals – It’s vital to consistently remind your employees about the vision for your company and the goals the team needs to accomplish in order to meet or exceed the mission you’re working towards. This is especially important during the interpersonal conflict. Against the larger picture, the problem seems trivial and counterproductive to achieving the collective goals. For example, if the objective for a scientific group specializing in biology research is to finalize a paper on their findings by the end of the year, they must be reminded that their contributions are in pursuit of a higher cause: understanding and curing diseases. In the midst of indirect conflict, the purpose of the team’s research can easily get lost. Putting their mission in this light can motivate individuals to remain professional and enable them to put their differences aside.
  • Escalate to a higher power – There will be instances where a manager is uncomfortable handling an employee relations issue or is unsure of how to properly solve the situation. This is not uncommon, especially for new managers or team leads. (For the manager’s growth as a leader, it would be beneficial for them to participate in conflict resolution at some point to gain relevant experience.) In these instances, the conflict can escalate to a higher power such as the director or upper-level management. Using the same example of the scientific research group, if there was a conflict between two of the scientists in which their manager is unable to effectively resolve, the manager could escalate directly to the lead scientist who oversees their laboratory who would then take over from that point. However, if the conflict continues to get worse even under the guidance of the lead scientist, this can then be escalated up again to the next senior supervisor. Individuals involved in the conflict may feel passed around using this method without any real results, so it’s important to have managers continually up-to-date on leadership training to avoid repeated escalation.

Conflict resolution meeting

  • Purposeful conflict resolution meetings using effective dialogue – When a conflict comes up in the workplace, a meeting is set by the manager for the employees to establish common ground. As a manager prepares for a conflict resolution meeting, they either have HR draft some recommended talking points or gather guidance from their supervisor on what to say and do. It’s no secret that these can be uncomfortable conversations, in which people usually arrive defensive and unwilling to budge in their position on the matter. Following too closely to a script can make the meeting feel artificial. The end result may feel meaningless, which isn’t true conflict resolution. The talking points from HR and the instructions from your superiors are meant to act as guides, and not to be followed verbatim. It’s helpful to acknowledge both sides of the story, remain neutral, and let the conversation move naturally with your intervention if needed. The employees need to feel like they’ve had the opportunity to be heard in order for the meeting to be truly effective.

Using an indirect approach to conflict is a practice in communication and collaboration. Addressing conflict in this way can help you make effective and positive changes within your team and avoid disruption.

Using an Indirect Approach To Conflict In The Workplace

Conflict in the workplace can be uncomfortable. While inevitable, there are ways to manage these issues in a productive and more subtle way that ensure you can keep production high.

It’s important for leaders to recognize the signs of indirect conflict and address them in quick and powerful ways to get the employees back on track. Using an indirect approach to conflict can help you manage these obstacles as a strong leader with skill and adeptness.

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10 Tips To Achieve Inbox Zero

Getting to inbox zero

On any given day, there are over 300 BILLION emails sent.

Some days, you feel like half of them are sitting (unopened) in your inbox…

Emails became a popular method of professional communication in 1996 and, within a year, about 10 million people had email accounts. By 2001, just about every business was making use of email as a means of communication. It has only been about 20 years since email became an office place staple but it’s become so ingrained in our everyday life that an overflowing inbox is a reality for the vast majority of us.

Most people will openly confess that their email inbox is a source of stress. This realization isn’t surprising considering what those emails really represent – demands for your time and attention. When you wake up to 100 new and unopened emails, your mind races to all of the possible asks of you. Some emails may simply request your approval on a project, some will be proposals for new and time intensive projects, some will serve to remind you that you once subscribed to product updates to save 10% on an item that is now collecting dust in the back of a closet somewhere.

Did you really save 10% or did you lose 10% of your available headspace with the frequency of newsletters and promotions that show up in your inbox every week?

The Washington Post has an interesting calculator that will show you roughly how many hours you spend checking your email in your lifetime and the results may be surprising… and slightly distressing. In this calculator, they factor in the fact that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back on task for each time you pull yourself away from work to check your email. Those 23 minutes are even more significant when you realize that you only need to check your email 3 times to waste more than an hour of potentially productive time (Fast Company)! Harvard Business Review concluded that professionals spend more than a quarter of their day just checking emails.

No wonder you can’t seem to get any real work done!

Finding an inbox management system that works for you will ensure that your valuable hours go to valuable activities. There’s a way that you can spend less time in your inbox and get more done and that is through a concept called inbox zero.

Though the name would imply an empty inbox, the philosophy is more about time management than the emails themselves. Merlin Mann, the founder and writer of 43 Folders, developed the concept and explains that “zero” actually refers to someone’s ability to detach from the inbox and take your brain out of it. When you are able to detach from your inbox, you are free to focus on your actual to do list.

Combining Mann’s philosophy with modern day practices of a number of time management and email gurus, here are 10 tips that will help you clear your email and free your mind.

Unsubscribe

Unsubscribe

One of the best ways to declutter is to ensure that the items showing up in your inbox are actually things that you would like to or need to see. Many companies are really good at convincing you to exchange your email address for a free resource in order to enter you into their sales funnel. This isn’t inherently bad, many companies are considerate of your inbox and offer great value. It’s up to you to decide if you actually need these regular updates or you can simply visit their website or socials when you feel so inclined. Most countries have strict anti-spam laws meaning that you have to agree to receive correspondence from organizations and be added to their mailing lists. At some point, you gave permission so you can’t fault them for sending you emails but you can decide at any time that their content isn’t offering you value anymore.

If you have made the decision to unsubscribe, do it right away. Click that email and go to the very bottom, all emails are required to have an option to unsubscribe to comply with anti-spam regulations and laws. There are even programs like UnRoll.Me that can help you mass unsubscribe from the undoubtedly long list of useless emails you never bother to read anyway.

Set Specific Times to Check Your Email

Set Specific Times to Check Your Email

Remember the statistic that it takes just over 23 minutes to get back into your productive zone after each email checking interruption? By setting strict times to check emails, you can mitigate the cost of switching between tasks and keep focused on important work.

If you are one of the people who checks their inbox 15 times a day, it would be very difficult and not exactly feasible to go down to only once a day. Instead, try blocking out 30 minutes each in the morning, afternoon, and end of day. That is still designating an hour and thirty minutes to email but it will start to create a more consistent email checking habit. When you know that you have set aside 12:30pm to check emails, it is easy to give yourself permission to keep working because you know that you will get to your inbox shortly. Try using the Pomodoro technique as a way to keep you focused during this time.

Once you are comfortable with regular checking, step back and reflect on a time that you feel works best for emails. Maybe you like starting your day with emails because it helps to give you direction and set priorities, or maybe mornings are better for creative work so an afternoon check is better. Some people like to leave emails at the end of day when they feel less inclined to do productive work and they add email tasks to their to-do list for the next morning. There is no right or wrong answer, the key is simply consistency.

When you find a magic time or two for visiting your inbox, be sure to communicate this with co-workers or staff. It’s helpful to add a note in your email signature as to the time you will be reviewing your inbox and the turnaround time that people may expect a response. This is an exercise in boundary setting and it may be uncomfortable at first but the results will speak for themselves in no time when you are able to complete more important tasks. The bonus? It gives the people around you permission to set their own boundaries… and keep them!

Close Your Email Program When Not in Use

There is a certain temptation that comes with seeing that tab on your screen, especially when that tab has a little red dot alerting you that there is a new email just waiting for your attention. With one click, your inbox is front and center and the distraction timer has started. By closing the program when not in use, it becomes out of sight and out of mind to give you the time that you need to focus on the task at hand.

Some people are visual and like to keep multiple tabs open. While this isn’t ideal, setting up multiple browser screens with like work tabs and minimizing them to be opened at your set time is also a way to reduce distraction and keep yourself organized without closing things that may be hard for you to find later. For example, say you have three separate email inboxes for different clients. Open up your browser, set up a tab for each email, and then minimize that browser until it’s time to review your inbox. You can also make use of bookmark functions to easily open anything you may need.

Turn Off Notifications

Turn Off Notifications

Using the same logic as closing email programs when not in use, disabling notifications can help you avoid the twitch that comes when your device dings. The fear of missing out (FOMO) is strong and it is hard to resist the urge to check things as they come in.

But what if it is important?!

While it’s certainly possible that an email will contain information about something extremely important, it is not as likely as you may think. If we look back at the email signature recommendation, you can mitigate FOMO by offering some kind of emergency contact. This contact could be another staff member or, if you feel comfortable, instructions to pick up a phone and call you if something simply cannot wait until the time that you would normally check your email.

The threat of having to make an actual phone call if they feel the need to disrupt you may just be enough to encourage someone to wait.

A simple message saying that your email is checked daily from 1:00pm – 2:00pm and responses are given within one or two business days not only helps you but may actually be welcomed by the sender. This tells them that they can focus on something else and not wait around for an answer.

There are also programs like Inbox Pause that help you control when emails show up in your inbox. This is a great way to allow yourself to deal with what is in front of you and then open the flood gates when you are prepared to receive more.

Take the App Off Your Phone

Our phones are pocket computers, a fantastic and useful tool but also a great source of distraction. It’s easy to unlock our phones with the intention of checking our emails but instead end up sucked into cute cat videos or the latest TikTok dance trend. By reserving your desktop or laptop as the place to check your emails, it’s much easier to wait until your set time to check your email.

An important part of breaking a bad habit is to remove the temptation to engage in the activity you wish to change. There may be situations that require you to check your email on the phone, like maybe you are on a business trip and have a long train ride. No worries! You can download an app in less than a minute, do what you need to do, and delete it when you’re done.

Befriend the Archive Button

Given the effectiveness of the search function available on all email platforms, creating folders to organize your emails is an unnecessary and time consuming venture. Archiving emails is a great way to remove a processed or completed email from your inbox but not delete it. Even if an email is opened, its presence in your inbox suggests that there is still an action associated with it.

By removing emails that have no additional tasks associated with them, you are quite literally removing distractions and are better able to focus on more pressing tasks.

The 2 Minute Rule

The 2 Minute Rule

Productivity guru David Allen has given us a number of ways to get things done, one of which is the 2 minute rule. The concept is simple, if something will take you 2 minutes or less to complete, just do it! In the time it would take you to add this item to your to do list, pass over it 20 times in favour of more pressing or interesting tasks, you could have it done already.

Of course, this rule does require you to have a realistic idea of how long it actually takes you to complete a certain task. It is a slippery slope from this will only take a minute to 2 hours and a completed powerpoint presentation later. These types of tasks usually include those that simply require your approval, forwarding an email to a more appropriate person, or responding to a relevant satisfaction survey.

Only Handle It Once (OHIO)

Alongside the 2 minute rule is the OHIO principle. This principle applies to a number of places in your life but is especially relevant to email processing. The concept is exactly as it sounds, when you open an email, you only touch it once. Following the click, you’re left with several possible actions:

  • Delete – self explanatory. You can also archive if you want to keep emails but there is no action needed.
  • Delegate – pass it off to a more appropriate person or a staff member to deal with.
  • Do – respond if you’re the appropriate person and complete the action.
  • Defer – add this to your to do list as a specific task. Using your email as a to-do list is a slippery slope to a full and chaotic inbox.

Once an email is handled (or processed), you can go ahead and archive or delete.

Don’t Be Part of the Problem

Do you really need to send that email? Do you have to be that person? As much as you stress about an overflowing inbox, be conscious of how you are showing up in the inbox of others. One way that you can be more considerate of someone else’s virtual space is to resist the urge to send multiple emails and instead send one well crafted one.

Lead by example and be clear on the intention of the email. Using bold, italic or colour in your email for action items is a great way to draw attention to the most important parts of your email. Setting expectations for a response is another way to be considerate of someone’s time, resist the urge to use “ASAP” and instead set a reasonable time and date.

Not every bit of correspondence needs to happen through email, make use of chat programs like Slack or Hangouts for quick notes so that you aren’t part of the overflowing inbox problem.

Automatic Mail Filters

Set Up Automatic Mail Filters

This will vary depending on your business email provider but most of them offer some kind of automatic filtering system that will help keep your inbox nice and tidy. You can more efficiently process your emails when you batch them by topic or even client, keeping your brain and focus in a certain zone.

Email providers like Gmail allow you to dictate rules that will automatically filter your emails. You can specify what kind of emails should show up at the top of your lists or even set priority contacts whose emails you will see first. Making use of labels, tags, and other filtering options will keep your inbox tidy and help you focus on what’s important.

Your inbox can be a chaotic and overwhelming place, but it doesn’t have to be! Start by implementing even one of these tips and it will slowly get more manageable until you find a system that works for you.

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Had Enough at Work? 13 Reliable Ways to Tackle Overwhelm on the Job

How to stop being overwhelmed at work

Mercedes never mentally left her job. The hamster wheel in her head spun around comments from coworkers, things she’d done wrong, and interactions with difficult clients. Her life away from work had devolved into social media deep dives, video games and sleeping.

By 4 pm on an average day in the office, Lucas had been to five meetings, taught three one-hour lessons, and oriented new staff. In the afternoon hour reserved for checking emails, he’d simply stare at the computer. His body was so spent he was unable to open anything, let alone compose a message and press send.

Do you relate to either of these two?

Or, maybe you feel like a Cinderella. Colleagues are always approaching and asking for favors, for your time, and your pile of to-dos grows and grows and grows.

It’s so easy to get caught up in unhealthy cycles at work, which can quickly increase in speed and overwhelm us.

In order keep from spinning into burnout, it’s critical to bring a calm presence to the workplace, to regularly restock and refresh, and to have real work-life balance.

Including managing daily workflow, transitioning between work and home, and recovering from burnout, here are thirteen helpful methods to stop being overwhelmed at work.

Rejuvenating Workflow

A Rejuvenating Workflow

When we bring our best to an activity at work, it’s not unusual to feel a little drained afterwards.

A workday that consists of a series of demanding meetings, courses, and activities, with no windows for respite, starts to feel like a blur, and we aren’t present to anything at all.

In order to bring your A-game to each moment, here are three strategies for successfully transitioning between tasks at work.

1. Let It Go

After leading a meeting, or teaching a course, it’s perfectly natural to feel exhausted, even if everything went smoothly. That’s just the nature of working well and working hard.

Before packing our briefcase and moving onto the next thing, however, it’s important to pause, and deliberately release any energy or tension we carry from the activity.

This can be as simple as taking a few moments to calm our minds, and consciously release any tension in the neck, jaw, and shoulders.

Taking this moment restores our energy, and allows us to be present for the next task at hand.

2. Set Intentions

The focus we bring to each activity at work dramatically impacts its outcome.

For example, consider a team-building activity led by someone who’s distracted by emails. It won’t generate nearly the pep and enthusiasm of an activity led by someone who is present and engaged.

Before starting on a task, be it a meeting, a coaching session, or simply responding to messages, take a moment to set the intention.

Is your objective to bring joy? Build rapport? Or to educate? Finding this clarity keeps our energy aligned with the desired outcome.

3. Take Mindful Breaks

With a workload that’s tight and demanding, it’s critical to squeeze in windows of time to give your mind and psyche a chance to breathe. Taking a five or ten minute break every hour lets your system slow down, savor the moment, and relax.

It’s important to spend this time mindfully. Some activities, such as reading email, social media, or scanning headlines, may well trigger more angst and stress.

Things like walking around the block, a quick cup of coffee, or browsing through a recipe book are more likely to be calming diversions.

Or, if you’re at home, just a walk out onto the balcony or a snuggle with your cat should do the trick.

Tracking

Tackling the Treadmill

Fluster and overwhelm often go hand in hand. Certain points in the business cycle generate increased frenzy, and at these times our brains fill to the brim with urgent to-dos.

Our agenda spills over with a myriad of tasks, yet we’re flummoxed. It’s too hard to tell what to take on first.

These three exercises have to do with strategies for handling periods that are jam packed with work.

4. List it Out

A mind full of clutter cannot focus on any one thing.

Taking a few minutes to empty your mind frees up space to think. This can be as simple as scribbling all your thoughts onto a blank sheet of paper.

With everything right in front of you, it’s much easier to sort through it all.

At this point, it’s simply a process of turning the scribbles into lists, sorted by topic and urgency. This allows priorities to surface.

With a mind that is spacious and calm, it’s possible to tackle a busy workload.

Do One Thing at a Time

5. Do One Thing at a Time

When your day is chock-full of work, at first blush it seems right to do everything all at once. Why not pound out an email, write a meeting agenda and do payroll taxes at the same time?

However, multitasking, as it turns out, is actually less efficient than doing one thing at a time. A diverted attention span makes our brains frazzled, which increases stress and leads to overwhelm!

Focusing on one task at a time creates focus and calm.

During the busiest parts of the day, when everyone is working hard and collaboratively, it’s easy to fall into a habit of multi-tasking. In order to prevent this tendency, it’s helpful to close additional browsers, turn off notifications, and even put on a pair of headphones.

6. Set a Timer

Some projects feel so enormous it’s overwhelming just getting started. While other activities, such as interviews or pitches to a new client, easily trigger stress.

In these instances, it’s helpful to set a timer.

For example, tell yourself “I’ll work on this for two hours,” and then move onto the next thing when the window closes.

Giving yourself a precise endpoint makes it easier to take a bite out of a daunting or dreaded task.

The Pomodoro Method is another way to use timers to get through a workload. It entails working on an activity for 25 minutes, then taking a five minute break, before resuming for another 25 minutes. After four sessions, take a longer break.

Establishing Work and Home Boundaries

Establishing Work and Home Boundaries

For most of us, the work environment is completely separate from the rest of our lives. We’re different, some might say better, versions of ourselves when we hang out with friends, spend time with family, and pursue hobbies.

However, it’s easy to get sucked into the cyclone of tension and drama in the workplace. And gnashing around in that whirlwind makes it impossible to bring an unstirred presence to these other parts of our lives.

After a day in a work setting that feels like a zoo, the monkey mind jumps around all evening long.

In order to create a healthy work-life balance, it’s necessary to establish a clear demarcation between these home and work environments. This entails deliberately preparing yourself for work, and consciously taking off the role at the end of the day.

7. Fill the Cup

The nourishment and TLC our body receives in the first hours of the day sets the tone and momentum for everything that comes later.

Having a method for centering ourselves makes us prepared for whatever the day brings.

A good morning routine can consist of so many things. Meditating, reading, exercising, drinking coffee, spending time in nature, and cuddling with pets all serve to bring the right energy to our day. The key is finding something that physically and psychologically prepares you.

Additionally, before starting work, either in your car, or simply at your desk if you work from home, take a moment to be present and set your intention for the work day.

8. Shower It Away

Taking a shower right when you get home from work is one method for transitioning from work to home.

Not only is a shower relaxing and luxuriating, but it also stimulates the senses. When you visualize the workday running off of you and into the drain, it allows your mind to leave the workday behind, and step into your role at home.

For a real sensory escape experience, consider infusing your shower with aromatherapy.

9. Have a Homecoming Ritual

Taking the time to do something you really love is a healthy practice for shaking away all the residual work-stresses.

As soon as you come home, spend twenty minutes doing something that really relaxes you. This could be having a cup of tea and reading fiction, doing yoga stretches, sitting by the fire and listening to music, or having a foot soak.

The point is to make it luxuriating, stimulating, and something you look forward to. It’s also important to make this time compulsory.

If you have kids at home, it might work better to do this ritual before entering the household. Stopping off at a coffee shop on the way home from work, and listening to relaxing music is a healthy way to transition.

Visualizing the Overwhelm

Visualizing the Overwhelm

If your cat climbs across the table in the morning and tips over a box of cereal, it’s very clear where the problem is and how to fix it. All you need is a broom and dustpan.

So many of our issues at work, however, are abstract problems. Things like a dissatisfied client or an acerbic comment from a colleague are hard to quantify or define. And when we ruminate on them, their scope easily increases inside our heads.

Having many abstract problems like this creates a cloud of overwhelm.
In order to release this angst and worry, it’s necessary to clearly define the issue by turning it into something visual. Here are two methods for doing this.

10. Scribe it Out

When our head feels like alphabet soup, writing out the issues and concerns makes it possible to see the problem for what it is. It becomes just like the cereal split across the kitchen floor.

A problem that’s clearly defined is easy to diagnose. Many problems are best solved by “deleting” them, or just letting them go. Some need action right away, while others can be deferred until later.

Taking the time to create this clarity is a practical way to stop feeling overwhelmed by problems at work. Untreated worry has a tendency to grow and grow.

11. Loosening Workplace Unease

This visualization exercise is about envisioning a problem, then letting it go.
The first step is to think of something that reminds you of your problem. This could be a heavy, black raincloud, or possibly a tangle of knots.

Next, visualize this image dissipating–the cloud raining down water onto you, or the knots coming untangled.

Although this may sound hokey, this exercise is actually a powerful tool for releasing tension at the end of the day, or dealing with a recurring problem at work.

The key is to bring your whole mental energy into the exercise. It’s also helpful to repeat it periodically.

Recovering From Burnout

Recovering From Burnout

“Why am I burned out? Because I’ve internalized the idea that I should be working all the time,” writes Anne Helen Peterson in her article, “How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation.”

Burnout is the natural result of untreated overwhelm. A work pattern of driving and accelerating, without any pit stops, ultimately leads to crash and burn.

Recovering from burnout, or preventing it from happening in the first place, is about changing our attitude toward productivity. It’s necessary to incorporate practices that remind us that life is not just about churning and doing.

Here are two ways to do this.

12. Celebrate Your Wins

“Exhaustion means going to the point where you can’t go any further; burnout means reaching that point and pushing yourself to keep going, whether for days or weeks or years. What’s worse, the feeling of accomplishment that follows an exhausting task — passing the final! Finishing the massive work project! — never comes,” writes Peterson.

Approaching work like it’s a never-ending litany of to-dos, with no milestones or finish lines, certainly is a recipe for exhaustion.

Making a practice of celebrating your wins gives you the acknowledgement and respite you deserve for a job well done.

Many of our significant accomplishments go unnoticed by others—but that doesn’t mean we can’t recognize them ourselves!

Sometimes, simply making it to Friday is a real achievement. Deliberately patting ourselves on the back, with a dinner out or a weekend splurge, gives us pride in a job well done.

When we remind ourselves of the reward during the week, it’s easier to bring our best to whatever the day brings.

13. Practice Niksen

Niksen is a Dutch concept that means doing nothing (staring out the window, hanging out) with intention.

Spending thirty minutes gazing at the fire, watching the sun set, taking a walk or listening to music are all ways to engage in the practice of niksen.

Burnout and overwhelm oftentimes are caused from a sensation that we have more work than we can handle. From this state, we value and measure time solely in terms of productivity.

Niksen reverses this attitude toward time. It’s about deliberately creating a space where there are no to-dos. It allows the mind to step out of the hamster wheel and approach life and activity from a place of being rather than doing.

Blocking out times for niksen, say for thirty minutes each weekday, and for a longer period on the weekend, really helps to cure unhealthy attitudes toward time and productivity.

What's Your Glass Slipper

What’s Your Glass Slipper?

Successfully navigating work overwhelm allows us to maintain engagement and enthusiasm through a steady stream of demanding meetings, projects, and challenging work relationships. We approach our careers with joy and intention.

And the only thing we’re thinking about on the drive home, while listening to a favorite album, is eating a scrumptious meal paired with our favorite glass of wine.

Developing right relationships toward work is no small feat. Cinderella struggled with hers. Thanks to her stepsisters, she had her work-load piled high. But she navigated her way through it.

Using the right methods, we can as well. What is your go-to for handling work overwhelm?

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10 Steps on How to Avoid Miscommunication at Work

Avoid miscommunication at work

Miscommunication.

According to The Oxford English Dictionary, miscommunication is:

“A failure to make information or your ideas and feelings clear to somebody, or to understand what somebody says to you.”

And it’s everywhere. It’s in the “he said, she said” of relationships. In consumer relations. In work teams. We don’t even need dialogue to miscommunicate.

How scary is that?

Since we’re not relationship counselors, today’s topic is on how to avoid miscommunication at work. Because while the “he said, she said” can be damaging, organizational miscommunication can be catastrophic.

To put it plainly, effective communication at work is critical to your organizational success. The cost of miscommunication at work is high, from both financial and human standpoints.

From the financial perspective, costs could include:

  • Lost sales
  • Missed performance goals—which has a human impact as well
  • Delayed or incomplete projects

On the human side of things, the cost of miscommunication could include:

  • Missed goals, which could mean a loss of income
  • Low morale
  • High stress
  • Bad attitudes

At the end of the day, communication breakdowns can impact everyone on the team—from senior management to front-of-the-line staff.

We use communication to collaborate–to share information and ideas. To build people up by inspiring or persuading them. That’s on the positive side.

But what about the negative?

Here are some examples of miscommunication at work.

Miscommunication at Work

Examples of Miscommunication at Work

Here’s the thing. For the most part, it’s doubtful that anyone sets out to be a bad communicator–and it’s a likely bet that even the worst communicator assumes they’re quite effective.

The problem is that what they say and what the listener actually hears are often two very different things. Then before you know it, there’s conflict and a breakdown in morale and productivity.

So let’s take a look at some examples of miscommunication at work. And from there, we’ll discuss which steps you can take to avoid it.

Communication Styles

Communication Styles

Depending on who you ask, there are 4, 5, or maybe even 7 communication styles. For those who follow the rule of 5, they are:

  • Assertive
  • Aggressive
  • Manipulative
  • Passive
  • Passive-Aggressive

Each of these addresses how a speaker communicates whatever information they are sharing.

Remember, it’s already been established that effective communication at work is critical to organizational success. Yet if different communication styles aren’t handled properly, communication begins to break down.

How?

Before you know it, people with clashing communication styles are confused, stressed, and often completely misunderstanding what the speaker thinks they are conveying.

Incidentally, clashing communication styles don’t necessarily mean opposite styles. For example, a conversation between two aggressive communicators will often deteriorate. They’re both vying for domination, with neither willing to listen to the other’s point of view–because their point of view is always right.

In a situation like this, miscommunication is bound to happen.

So what’s the solution? Both—or all—parties must strive to hear what the speaker is saying. Listen to what they’re saying instead of how they’re saying it. For the listener, that may mean filtering out their own emotional responses. Without emotion, the listener is better able to be objective.

Think back to the definition of miscommunication above. The failure can be on the part of the speaker when trying to convey their ideas or feelings, or on the listeners’ inability to understand the message.

Instructions

There’s a good chance you’ve heard, “That’s not what you told me to do,” a time or ten. Maybe in an employer/employee setting. Maybe in a parent/child setting.

Someone gave instructions but they miscommunicated them. The listener misunderstood, and a task was carried out wrong.

Frankly, part of the reason for this is wrapped up in the communication styles mentioned above. Because just as each speaker has their own style, so does each listener. And they will filter everything they hear through their own style—often different from the style the message was delivered in.

At this point, you’re dealing with more than communication styles. Personality styles need to be factored into the equation as well.

Do you see the recipe for disaster here?

The above mentioned are broad examples but I’ll provide some specifics as well.

All of us at times say one thing when we really mean something else. Don’t believe me? Google “when she says she’s fine” or “when he says I’ll call you.”

Sexist? Sure. But a great example of people saying one thing when they mean the exact opposite. Now let’s take this to an organizational setting. Here are a few classic lines you might hear—or have said yourself—during the workday. And what they really mean.

What they say and what they mean

1. They said: They’re not paying me enough for this.

They meant: I’m working myself to death to please them, but they neither value nor appreciate my efforts.

2. They said: I’m finding my job too boring and too easy to accomplish.

They meant: Please, I’m begging you. Give me more responsibility.

From all the above examples, it’s easy to see why there’s so much miscommunication at work. But what can be done about it? Since a lot of the problems with miscommunication can be traced back to communication styles—which all of us naturally have—should everyone assume they’re doomed to endless communications potholes?

Nope. Fortunately, there are a number of ways you can avoid miscommunication at work.

How to Avoid Miscommunication at Work

Let’s start with the most obvious.

1. Communicate Clearly

In the most simplistic of terms, communication consists of 3 components: the speaker, the message, and the recipient. However, the route between the speaker and the listener can be impacted by a range of things. Emotions, culture, the medium in which the message was passed on, even the location where it happens.

If you’re the speaker, keep all that in mind. If part of your job is to explain tasks to team members, be as clear and concise as possible. If necessary—and without being condescending—use small words. That may sound like you’re being encouraged to explain things to your team members as if they were five, but no. Remember the without being condescending bit of advice.

Part of the above is understanding your audience. If they’re a group of peers who are industry professionals that have a business language all of their own, you can feel safe in using terminology you know they would understand.

Document Instructions

2. Document Instructions

Not everyone is an auditory learner.

An auditory learner is someone whose primary learning method is through speaking and listening. They’re the people who can listen to a presentation and understand the message. Their employer can walk up to them and say, “I want you to do this, this, and this,” and that’s enough.

But not everyone learns this way. Some learn visually. Some need to read instructions.

And no, your company doesn’t need to produce a video every time you want to explain something, just so the visual learners aren’t left out. But at the very least, important instructions should be documented, not just verbalized.

This serves a dual purpose. When someone comes back and says, “That’s not what you said to do,” you can pull out your documentation and confirm that yes, you did say that.

This could be particularly important when it comes to sharing things like timelines, targets, and other specifics.

3. Listen

There is a significant difference between simply hearing something and actively listening to it.

How many times have you only heard the droning voice of a parent, teacher, or partner? The blah, blah, blah, and not the words at all?

If your boss or team leader is talking and that’s all you hear, there’s going to be a problem at some point. So stop simply hearing the noise of their voice and pay attention to the words they are saying. This means you’re not checking your phone or allowing interruptions.

And if necessary, take notes.

Finally, feedback is another key component of active listening. Offering specific feedback can help the speaker understand that it may be necessary to alter a message so it can be properly understood by the listener.

4. Clarify Expectations

Are team members clear on what you expect of them when it comes to a project or task? Don’t just assume they understand. Instead, take the time to discuss with each teammate—individually, if necessary—what their responsibilities are.

Do you have short- and long-term goals? And if so, does everyone understand their part in getting there?

Follow up

5. Follow Up

It can be hard to keep everyone’s attention during a team meeting.

If you’re a project lead, try to spend some time with individual team members after a meeting. Make sure they understand their role. Catching miscommunication at work while it’s still in the early stages can save an organization a lot of time and money.

6. Stay on Point with Emails

Raise your hand if you’ve ever received a rambling, confusing email from someone on your team.

You all have your hands up, don’t you?

If verbal communication is full of miscommunication at work, emails are often 100 times worse. So keep your emails simple. Stay on topic and format with headings and bullet points if necessary. You want your emails to be easy to read and easy to understand.

7. Watch for Body Language

There was a study done a long time ago that states body language—non-verbal communication—is typically more truthful than verbal communication. In other words, the mouth can lie but the body can’t. This is why law enforcement receives training on how to read body language.

Signing up for some law enforcement classes would be a bit extreme, but we’re talking about how to avoid miscommunication at work, and one of the best ways would be to be on the watch for non-verbal cues. Whatever your position in a team, make sure your body isn’t saying one thing while your mouth is saying another.

Experts say our brains will interpret and read the unspoken language of the body before it pays attention to the verbal message. And if the two messages contradict, humans tend to believe the message the body is giving, not the message the mouth is giving.

Watch Your Tone

8. Watch Your Tone

Did you ever have anyone–maybe a parent or a teacher–tell you to watch your tone? What did they mean?

The way you speak, your tone, can convey emotions. This isn’t a bad thing, but you need to watch your tone if it’s not appropriate for the time. If you’re leading a meeting about the launch of a new product that could make or break the company and you’re super casual, or laughing and cracking jokes, people might naturally find it hard to think you’re taking it seriously.

When the subject of a meeting is something that could mean the loss of jobs, it’s definitely time to avoid miscommunication at work.

9. Go to the Source

Sometimes information is handed down via a third party. You’ve probably heard of the game where someone tells the person beside them something, who passes it to the next person, who repeats it to the next.

The last person to get the message receives something different than the original message. This might be a fun game, but it has no place in an organizational setting. It’s sure to lead to miscommunication at work.

Any important communication should be directly shared with key parties.
Also, it’s a good idea for managers to have an open-door policy. This encourages staff members to come to them directly when they need clarification on something. Going to other team members with their questions only opens them up to the possibility of getting the wrong info.

Ask Questions

10. Ask Questions

No, not to be annoying.

There are multiple benefits to asking questions, both for the speaker and the listener.

Sensible questions show a speaker that you’ve been paying attention to them. It also gives you the chance to ask for clarification if necessary.

And questions don’t need to be limited to verbal conversations. You can reply to an email with follow-up questions as well. Either way, questions are just one more way to avoid miscommunication at work.

Conclusion

That covered an extensive amount of information about how to avoid miscommunication at work. Let’s remember why it’s important

The cost is high. A team that’s stressed and conflicted will have low morale and likely poor performance and productivity. There’s a long list of negative consequences for companies and employees where communication is lacking.

Understanding the reasons for miscommunication at work and knowing what to look for can help you build strong, cohesive teams. Teams that can get the job done and meet their goals.

Good communication is the foundation of all aspects of your company culture. It’s about positive team environments, client relationships, and so much more.

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Top 11 Ways to Encourage Remote Team Productivity

Remote team productivity

Prior to a global pandemic, there was a lot of skepticism around the ability to be productive in a remote work environment. The studies are in and they are numerous: not only are remote workers productive, but they are often more productive than in person office workers.

It is important to recognize that hours worked and productivity aren’t positively correlated. A Stanford study showed that, contrary to popular belief, working longer days actually has the opposite effect on productivity. The study found that productivity declined steeply after 50 hours of work a week and that someone working 70 hours might as well only work 55, they would get the same amount done.

Though some people admit to working more hours while at home, even those that are working less are still getting work done and completed on time. The bonus? People are overall happier when they can work remotely at least part of the time.

One study in particular by Great Place to Work had a massive sample size of more than 800,000 employees! This is a significant number that showed some pretty impressive results. Remote workers didn’t need a study to show that they could be just as productive at home and that it boosts their overall happiness which has a direct effect on the quality of work, but it certainly helps make the case!

When you consider that the average American commutes 27 minutes each way and spends upwards of $5000 a year on expenses related to that commute, it is easy to see the benefits of cutting it out even some of the time. Not only can you save money, but there is some significant time recovered. If you work 5 days a week, that works out to over 14,000 minutes, 234 hours, or nearly 10 days in your car!

What would you do with an extra 10 days a year?

Productivity doesn’t just happen by handing over a laptop and telling people to do whatever they want, so how can you ensure that your remote team is actually working? Here are 11 ways to encourage your remote team to be more productive:

Stop Micromanaging

1. Stop Micromanaging and Build Trust Instead

If you want to boost remote team productivity, the first thing that has to go is the idea that someone will only work if they are on location with a manager hovering over them. When you micromanage someone, it sends the message that you don’t trust them to get the work done on their own.

Trust is absolutely foundational if you’re going to have a productive and healthy remote team. There are a number of ways to promote trust and accountability in the workplace (virtual or physical) and micromanaging isn’t one of them. If you are looking for some specific ideas on how to build trust and encourage accountability, check out this Teamly blog.

2. Use Technology

Insert shameless plug for our own project and team management tool.

In all seriousness, having a one stop shop for all the tools your team will need serves to streamline the process, creates consistency, and virtually (see what I did there?) eliminates confusion. Functions such as team chat, task management, hour tracking, expense management and even screen recording for tutorials use to require multiple programs and logins. Now, with a couple of clicks, your team can be exactly where they need to be and with the tools they need to get the job done.

3. Keep It Simple, Stupid

The good old K.I.S.S. principle.

Engineer Kelly Johnson is often credited for coining the phrase and it speaks for itself: keep your processes and design as simple as possible to increase the chances that it will be embraced and utilized.

Following up the technology recommendation, it is important that you keep your remote engagement systems simple. Using just one platform for all your purposes means that there will be no question on what technology will be used for virtual meetings, where you can find documents, or where to find important team notices and updates.

Regular Check In’s and Progress Updates

4. Regular Check In’s and Progress Updates

Let’s say that you have 10 people on your team and once a week you have a 2 hour long meeting to get everyone on the same page and provide project updates.

It is just a 2 hour meeting, right? Wrong.

That meeting cost 2 hours from each of those 10 people. Using some very basic math skills, we can conclude that the 2 hour meeting actually cost 20 hours of potentially productive work time. This is not to say that weekly meetings are a waste of time, it could be the best way for your team or project to connect, but the point is to be conscious of the true time cost when you must gather everyone in one place at the same time.

Perhaps your weekly meeting could be cut in half and, instead, your team utilizes the automatic check in functions of your project management program (like Teamly). In doing this, a person could simply jot down a couple notes about the progression of their project, post it in a common place, and those with an interest or who are part of this project can check in and respond if necessary.

The bonus of this system is that it is more considerate of everyone’s time. If you decide that check-ins are to be done by 12:00pm on Friday, they can be submitted at any point before that time that works best for the individual. This may also stagger responses to allow them to be better digested by the team. A mid day deadline gives the afternoon for responses or inquiries.

5. Less Meetings for Better Meetings

We know that meetings can be a time suck but they can also be absolutely necessary to your team so how can we make meetings better and more productive? First off, you need to ensure that you are prepared. Virtual meetings are full of distractions, most of them involving minor but common tech issues.

You are on mute.

Host a tutorial or a dry run to ensure that everyone is comfortable on your platform. Set the standards for how you expect people to interact. Do they…

  • Raise their hand?
  • Type in the chat?
  • Save questions in a shared document?
  • Take notes or is there a designated note taker?

This may seem basic but remember the K.I.S.S. principle? By setting the standard early and being clear, people will feel more confident when they participate. Check out The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Meetings as well as 15 Tips to Skyrocket Meeting Participation for some more great tips to design virtual meetings that your team will want to participate in.

Focus on Well-being

6. Focus on Well-being

Well-being, which includes physical and mental health, were once seen as the sole responsibility of individuals. Thankfully, workplaces are starting to recognize that they also play a part in fostering a healthy environment for the people they employ. Not only is taking care of people the right thing to do, the kickback is mutually beneficial! Studies show that organizations that prioritize team well-being have:

  • Reduced costs associated with sick days
  • Increased revenue due to increase quality and pride in work
  • Higher public opinions of the organization, teams share positive reputation
  • Increased morale which directly correlated with motivation

Wellbeing is now on the radar of 68% of HR leaders according to The Future Workplace 2021 HR Sentiment survey. Though many businesses were late to the game and needed a global pandemic to initiate action, better late than never right?

7. Set Expectations

Some things go without saying… other things just need to be said.

The key to effectively leading a remote team is to be clear about your expectations, even if they may seem obvious to you. Setting expectations can be as simple as having regular office hours, a list of acceptable formats and fonts for documents, a shared calendar system, a standard response time for emails, or a list of processes and procedures for common workplace activities.

The last (almost) two years have been filled with uncertainty, fostering an environment where people feel they fully understand what is expected of them will offer a sense of security and comfort which will also help performance.

It is important that leadership demonstrate these expectations, “do as I say, not as I do” may work for toddlers, but not fully capable adults. Set your expectations and then be the active example of them in action. If you expect people to check in on a message board at the end of the day, you can start the thread.

8. Create a Culture of Accountability and Responsibility

Aside from ditching micromanaging habits, there are a number of ways to encourage accountability… though it may take some patience and practice.

We know from studies that people are more than capable of working independently but we often fail to recognize that working independently is a skill and some people have never had the chance to practise, let alone master it.

Start with leading by example. If you say you are going to do something, then do it! It is also helpful to announce via internal message board your intentions and to go back and update later with the results.

Mondays mark the beginning of the week for most workplaces and are a great time for a check in. Encourage people to use your project management platform (Teamly) to write down what they plan on accomplishing for the week.

This does not need to be an exhaustive list, it can be as simple as:

  • tying up loose ends of a project
  • completing and submitting a report
  • clearing out your inbox
  • finish the first draft of a proposal

Priorities

Encourage your team to start small with 3 priorities, max. There will be more but start by writing down 3 things you wish to have done by the end of the week, chances are that these 3 things will be the items that people are looking for accountability on. When Friday rolls around, set a notification to draw attention back to the board. Life happens, not everything will get done all the time but offer encouragement when someone sets out to finish a task and it is actually completed. Take time to reflect on the ones that were not completed and why – was the deadline unreasonable? Did something else come up? Whatever the reason, learn from it and try again next week.

Try encouraging your team to include a personal item on this list like:

  • Finish reading a book
  • Check out the new trail
  • Take the kids for a bike ride
  • Walk the dog 4 out of 7 days this week

Not only will this help you get to know your team better, but it shows that you actually care about their personal goal and not just what they can invest in the organization.

9. Embrace an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Traditional employment often sets up an organizational hierarchy that can act as a barrier for good ideas. While there is certainly a place for management and upper management, fostering an environment where your team feels comfortable contributing no matter what their seniority is will work out for everyone.

Enter the entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs are known for their work ethic, motivation, and innovation. They tend to be creative people that see problems as a challenge worth tackling. While not every person is cut out to go it on their own, if you allow your team to embrace an entrepreneurial mindset within the security of a team, everyone wins.

Leave space for and encourage people to bring forward ideas for project improvements, everything from how we send emails, deal with clients, or solve a particular problem. People will be even more encouraged to speak up when they recognize that you truly value their thoughts and ideas and put them in action. They won’t all work out but there is value in experimentation.

Time Tracking

10. Time Tracking for Outcomes

How you track time will greatly depend on your organization, the type of projects you take on, and your priorities. Let’s start by looking at time differently, focusing instead on outcomes as opposed to tracking every minute just for the sake of it.

Remember the harm of micromanagement? Tracking time just for the sake of it can be harmful for team morale and erode trust. Instead, tracking time as it relates to specific projects and tasks for billing clients or better understanding time commitments of specific projects to better account for them in future should be your goal.

11. Promote Community

When many people went online (willingly or not) at the start of the pandemic, perks such as at home food delivery or movie subscriptions were much appreciated and helped with productivity. Once the novelty of those types of perks wore off, people were left yearning for what they truly wanted… camaraderie.

We are social beings and we depend on one another, even introverts need community! You can foster a professional environment and recognize that your team is getting more than a paycheck out of you. People need to feel needed and that they are contributing to something bigger than themselves.

Take the time to take an inventory of what your team cares about.

Maybe everyone has pets and you can encourage people to change their avatar picture to their pet once a week and 5$ will be donated to a local shelter, kind of like a virtual casual friday… but with fur. Maybe you have a lot of parents so you create a separate chat channel and offer drop in virtual games or kids movies once a month so that the kids are entertained and the parents can get to know each other.

There are a million ways to promote a sense of community among your team. You may be surprised by the suggestions if you just ask.

We know that people are capable of working productively from just about everywhere. Implementing any of these tips will serve to build trust and offer encouragement so that your remote team will feel supported and inspired to do their best work, wherever they are!

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4 Ways to Reduce Manual Work in Your Business

Reduce Manual Work

Nobody enjoys manual work. Teams would rather be working on high-value tasks instead of busywork. Things like data collection, data entry, and scrolling through emails can take up a lot of time and drain your employee’s motivation.

A good team leader will want to look for ways to reduce time spent on manual work to let their staff focus on bigger challenges. By freeing up your team so they can focus on creative and critical thinking, you can end up saving the business money.

Manual work can chip away at productivity levels so if you want to keep your business growing at a solid pace, eliminating repetitive tasks is a must.

Let’s take a look at how to reduce manual work in your business. Implement these techniques to ensure your employees can focus on the work that’s more rewarding for them.

Optimize Your Business

Take the time to assess your business and identify any areas that could be improved. Futureproof your business with a tech stack that’s cutting edge. Things move quickly in the digital space so you need to choose your technology carefully.

Here are some ways to optimize your business that can help to reduce manual work in your company:

  • Hire people with experience in modern technology. When hiring, look for new employees who have modern skillsets that can be a boon for your company.
  • Invest in new data analytics tools. Your customer’s data is an incredibly powerful resource. Make sure to invest in data analytics tools to understand the sentiments of your customers.
  • Upgrade your systems. If your software and hardware are outdated it could be running slow. Not only is this frustrating for your staff but it’s costing you a lot in man-hours.
  • Invest in cloud-based software. Using cloud solutions you can access your software from anywhere. This is a useful way to keep your business competitive and reduce wait times for people who are out of the office.

Once you’ve taken stock of your business and you’re sure things are fully optimized you can start to look at how automation can save time and money.

Templates

Templates

Templates are going to be your best friend. They are a big-time saver and templates help to keep your processes uniform. You can create templates for almost anything including emails, reports, and approvals. Team members need easy access to templates so consider creating a shared folder that everyone can access.

Start by looking at the documents you create the most frequently. Instead of creating something from scratch each time, make a blank copy you can fill out whenever you need to. If you send a lot of emails, it’s a good idea to try to create templates where possible to save you time with repetitive correspondence.

Automation

Automation can make a big difference to your business and help to reduce manual work. An added benefit of automation is the elimination of human error. Unfortunately, everyone makes a mistake eventually but if you can automate certain processes there won’t be room for errors.

Free your team up so they can work on bigger-picture goals instead of having them do all the manual work. Automation can be implemented for things like data collection, data entry, and emails. It’s been proven to improve team efficiency as busywork can be mentally exhausting. Look for new ways to use your employee’s time, or consider if you can reduce hours and save money.

Some employees might be skeptical about automation as it can be seen as the death of labor. However, most roles cannot be fully automated so your employees won’t have anything to worry about. The benefit of automation is to do the boring, repetitive stuff instead of them so they can focus on more rewarding endeavors.

Chatbots

Chatbots

Customer service is an important part of any business. You need people on hand to answer people’s questions and address any issues people have. In order to keep your team from being overwhelmed a simple Chatbot on your website can save a lot of time and money. A chatbot won’t be able to replace your customer service team but it will help ease their workload.

Chatbots are a great way for customers to find answers to questions they may have. They use artificial intelligence to identify what your customers are saying and they can offer solutions or redirect them to articles with more information. Chatbots are intuitive enough to locate orders and share tracking details.

They’re perfect for reducing repetitive tasks for your customer service team. Simple queries can be handled by the chatbot which frees your team up to focus on more difficult customer issues. You can also expect a reduction in emails and phone calls.

Conclusion

In order to stay competitive, you need to be innovating and making sure your business is fully optimized. You can bet that your competitors are already moving towards automation and looking at ways to reduce repetitive tasks. Highly skilled employees don’t want to be wasting time with things like data entry if this is something that can be automated.

People want to focus on the things that are more rewarding. When someone can focus on creative projects they’re more likely to enjoy their time at work. Any mundane processes you can automate will make things better for your employees. If your people can focus on challenging tasks instead of routine and boring ones, the more efficient they can be.