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Search results for: “productivity”

  • Summer is Here – Do You Need a Vacation or a Rhythm?

    Summer is Here – Do You Need a Vacation or a Rhythm?

    Summer is in full swing. The days are long, the kids are out of school, and the office may not be quite as bustling as it usually is whether it’s the physical office space or your email inbox because people are taking vacation. Have you heard of slow productivity?

    I myself just took a long vacation, kicking off the summer for two weeks at the beach, but working intermittently while there. It was a long spring, and for the first time our family was able to check out for more than the standard one week, once a year vacation and get away. 

    While there, I dove deeper into some of Cal Newport’s work around slow productivity. He postulates in his book Deep Work that there are four philosophies for deep work. The type of work you do, your natural disposition, and the season of life you are in all play into which one is best for you. 

    They are: 

    • The Monastic Approach- Eliminate all the shallow work you can to focus deeply on one thing
    • The Bimodal Approach- Create clearly defined stretches for deep work and then back to regular routine for stretches of time
    • The Rhythmic Approach- Daily deep work sessions that occur at consistent times each day
    • The Journalist Approach- Fit in deep work when and where you can. To note, this approach is not for the novice of deep work!

    Watch this cool video to get a good overview of these. 

    While I find something that is appealing in each one of these approaches, you, like me, may not be at a stage in life or working at a place or in a field where one or some of these are realistic. 

    Even though only one approach is called “rhythmic” all of them have some thought of a rhythm tied to them, and it takes some reflection on what rhythms work for you. And these may change overtime.  

    In looking at some of the research as well as my own experience, some thoughts on rhythms emerge to order to do deep work and do it well and consistently: 

    Daily Rhythms- To do your best work: 

    • Break every 50 min to an hour, get up and move around if you work with your mind, sit down and rest if you work with your hands
    • Utilize time blocking techniques to complete tasks that take deep thought; batch work shallow work into a time block to get it done efficiently
    • Honor the “trough” period of the day when your energy is lacking (most people’s is in the early afternoon) by scheduling shallow work or a break during this time
    • For more great thoughts on daily rhythms and the research behind it, read When. 

    Weekly Rhythms– To do your best work: 

    • Take one hour to plan at the beginning of each week (or at the end of the previous week) to map out your “big rocks” for the week and schedule time to get deep work done
    • I like to have one day a week that does not have any meetings or appointments scheduled to focus on deep work and catching up
    • Get a Full Focus Planner to help you with the weekly rhythm and big rock setting

    Monthly to Quarterly Rhythms- To do your best work: 

    • Reflect- What worked and what didn’t in the previous period? Celebrate what did. 
    • Refocus- Chart out goals for the upcoming period and block time for those that may require or need the bimodal approach for deep work if you are lucky enough to have the autonomy to deploy this approach.
    • Again, use the Full Focus Planner to help with this. It operates on a quarterly model so it naturally helps you structure your thinking around reflecting and focusing.

    Yearly Rhythms- To do your best work: 

    • Honor the seasons if your work has periods of intensity and down time and schedule accordingly; deploy the bimodal approach if you can.
    • Our approach at HPC is every three years a sabbatical occurs for deep rest and deep reflection.  This is a period of six to eight weeks of complete time off from work. 

    Overall, rhythms and slow productivity create the opportunity for reflection that helps foster deep and creative work. As the CEO of Airbnb Brian Chesky stated on Adam Grant’s podcast, if you don’t create rhythms, “you’re just on the treadmill and that gets boring and anxiety ridden fairly quickly.” 

    How do you create rhythms in your life to do work and do it well? 

  • SPECIAL FEATURE: June Leadership Development Carnival

    SPECIAL FEATURE: June Leadership Development Carnival

    We are honored to host this month’s Leadership Development Carnival. At Horizon Point, we find that each month the carnival is filled with rich content to enhance your knowledge of Leadership. We hope that you enjoy it as much as we do!

    Communication

    Is Empathy Dying?
    Sadly empathy seems to be dying. It can be devastating to relationships… both personal and professional. Learn why this is important and how you can reclaim it. — Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE (@macdarling)

    Divided we fail, in dialogue we create the future
    In this time of challenges we need dialogue and solutions but we see polarization. Also at work, you must take a stand. Are you pro or contra? Divided we fail, but through dialogue, we can solve our challenges and create the future. — Marcella Bremer (@MarcellaBremer)

    The Power of Neutral Language: Time to Think First and Communicate Second
    How do we minimize the number of regretful remarks we will make in the future– be they verbally, in writing, or through social media? How do we avoid saying something we might come to bemoan? My prescription? Think first, communicate second, and by doing so, change the language to something neutral. And, when we fail to do this – after all, we’re all human – and instead blurt out something unkind, unproductive or unprofessional, apologize. — DIANA PETERSON-MORE (linkedin.com/in/leadership-consultant-usa)

    Creativity/Inspiration

    June Tune Up! Add a Little Oil!
    Mother Teresa once said, “To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.” Leadership is about helping others discover who they are and how they impact the lives of others. We aim to have a positive impact on those around us and be the support system they need to continue growing. — Brenda Yoho (@BrendaYoho or https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendayoho/)

    Development

    Invisible Costs Can Cost You a Lot
    When making decisions, most people view cost as an important consideration. While price is undoubtedly crucial, what about invisible costs that also come into play? — Frank Sonnenberg (@FSonnenberg)

    Which Double Standard for Women Applies To You? All of Them?
    Double standards for women in leadership is an age-old problem, but it turns out that it’s not just a problem for leaders; it’s a problem for all women in the workplace. It’s important to see the double standards women face in their broader context as a result of implicit and unconscious biases we all hold. — Dana Theus (@DanaTheus)

    Opportunity Focused Leadership
    Do you aim to be a problem-focused leader or an opportunity focused leader?

    Many work environments place a premium on leaders with critical thinking and problem-solving skills. However, that premium often places too much emphasis on being critical and dealing with problems. I suggest a different way. — Bill Treasurer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/courage)

    How to keep your best leaders: 4 keys to build a flourishing leadership pipeline
    A recent Gallup study highlights significant concerns among those serving in managerial roles. Their research found managers more likely than non-managers to be disengaged at work, burned out, looking for a new job and feeling like their organization doesn’t care about their wellbeing. Amid these intense challenges, what can you do to keep your best leaders? Here are four keys to build a flourishing leadership pipeline. — Jon Lokhorst (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlokhorst/)

    Where Does Your Work Culture Fall in the 5 Levels of Workplace Inspiration?
    A work culture that validates teams members for their efforts and sense of responsibility will create an engaged workforce. — S. Chris Edmonds (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisedmonds)

    Keep Your Business Healthy: The Four Pillars of Sound Financial Practices
    Operational savvy doesn’t always come easy, and a business owner sometimes, out of necessity, has to put on hats they aren’t equipped. I often hear “But I’m not an accountant!” and I understand. Still, if you are going to own a business, you have to take responsibility for the financial aspects of your business as well as other operations and product/service development and sales. — Jon Verbeck (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonverbeck)

    Engagement

    Declining Employee Engagement Signals an Opportunity
    Gallup Research recently issued a red flag about employee engagement. Michael Stallard and Katharine Stallard explain why it actually represents an opportunity for leaders. — Michael Lee Stallard (https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstallard)

    Leadership Development

    Leading Through Change in the Workplace: Key Strategies to Use Today
    The complexities of the business environment mean change is one thing most employees can expect, whether they like it or not. Changes in strategy, restructuring, layoffs, the prevalence of mergers and acquisitions, people, and workplace culture issues – the list goes on and on. Read on to see how leaders can help minimize disruption and keep employees engaged. — David Grossman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrossmanaprabc)

    Productivity

    How Documenting Effective Systems Improves Team Culture and Performance
    Clearly communicated systems aren’t rigid shackles – but rather the essential musical score that ensures everyone plays in perfect harmony, unlocking exceptional team culture and performance. — Sean Glaze (@leadyourteam)

    It’s About Time! 10 Ways to Offer the Time Autonomy Employees Crave
    The clock is ticking towards a more autonomous future. This article offers concrete tools and strategies within any leader’s control to offer the time flexibility people crave – and in the process, build a magnetic and unbeatable culture where talent thrives. — Julie Winkle Giulioni (https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliewinklegiulioni)

    Quality is a Journey to Excellence
    Quality means not only the quality of the product, but also the quality of the processes producing the product, the quality of the designs that go into processes and the product, quality people, quality systems, quality service, quality everything… just quality through and through everywhere. We need to adopt a new way to manage and run organizations. – John Hunter (@aJohnHunter)

    \Swinging for the Fence to Slow Productivity
    Following my sabbatical almost three years ago where I said no to everything for almost eight weeks, I came out refreshed and ready to swing for the fence again. I slowly but surely started picking up balls. One at a time, we added client after client, one of which is sucking the ever living life out of me right now. — Mary Ila Ward (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-ila-ward)

    Team Building

    Hiring the Right Players
    Every organization needs leaders who can come in and quickly understand the organization’s past, learn the present environment, and develop an effective plan. The challenge is exercising patience and diligence in the selection process to hire the right players; being clear about what and who you need. — Priscilla Archangel (@prisarchangel)

    Is a pro basketball player’s story the key to fighting mediocrity?
    Robyn McLeod of Thoughtful Leaders Blog presents Is a pro basketball player’s story the key to fighting mediocrity? where she shares that while mediocrity can be contagious, the antidote is a focus on winning and innovation – and the encouragement of the Charles Barkleys in your organization who can rally their teams to success. — Robyn McLeod (@ThoughtfulLdrs)


  • Open the Door and Expose Toxic Workplace Cultures

    Open the Door and Expose Toxic Workplace Cultures

    Last week I had the absolute pleasure of attending NASHRM’S 2024 Spring Workshop supporting my team member Lorrie Coffey. She gave an energizing presentation on Handling Toxicity in the Workplace, complete with getting knocked upside the head with a Horizon Point lightbulb stress ball. So, what does a toxic workplace look like? Let’s open the door and expose toxic workplace cultures.

    Lorrie started off by giving the definition of toxic and said that it’s an extremely harsh, malicious or harmful quality. She went on to give examples from social media of people talking about their current workplaces. One employee said, “I’ve literally been berated and to a point, what I could consider verbal abuse” another described their situation by saying that their anxiety was through the roof. So, what creates a toxic environment and causes people to leave?

    According to Career Plug, the percentage of employees in 2022 that have experienced a toxic workplace by age group are: 88% (18-34 year olds), 90% (35-44 year olds), and 79% (45 + years old). Notice the fact that 45 and up didn’t have as much experience with a toxic culture or did they? Lorrie pointed out that it could be that most CEO’s are in that age range, and who wants to report that they are experiencing a toxic environment when they are the one in charge?

    There are tell-tale signs of a toxic culture including increased negativity, turnover, dysfunction, stress, gossip, and competitiveness. On the other hand, there is a decrease in morale, productivity, attendance, trust, health, and feedback. Who then creates this toxicity?

    Why should leadership care? Big picture, it impacts the bottom line. During the middle of the presentation one of the participants asked, but what if the toxic person is a leader? If it the toxic person in question is a leader, you have tools to use:

    • Set boundaries
    • Constructively confront them
    • Keep emotions in check
    • Document, document, document
    • Recommend external leadership training/executive coaching 
    • Terminate (them or you)

    How do you improve a toxic culture? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is what Lorrie recommends.

    • Work-life balance
    • Teamwork & Communication
    • Work on psychological safety
    • Feedback & recognition
    • Respect
    • Fairness & consistency
    • Growth opportunities
    • Leadership & staff training

    Check out Lorrie’s presentation in full on our What’s Up page.

  • Why Appreciation in the Workplace Matters

    Why Appreciation in the Workplace Matters

    Remember Mary Ila’s take on “How to Be Authentic with Your Appreciation at Work”? We reference Chapman & White all the time in training and coaching with our clients. To celebrate Valentine’s Day with full hearts in the workplace, we’re bringing you an early look at the new updated version of The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace. 

    We subscribe to the newsletter from Appreciation at WorkTM and got one of the first announcements of the new, post-COVID research on professional appreciation. Right away, I asked the team if we could do a blog about it. New research!? Yes! Here’s the blurb we got: 

    Appreciation at Work has done peer-reviewed research and polling through and post-COVID. The result of this research is a completely new chapter on how to effectively show appreciation to remote and hybrid employees including topics such as: 

    • the variety of remote work relationships 
    • trust in remote work relationships 
    • creating and maintaining a workplace culture 
    • the employer/supervisor perspective 
    • the employee perspective 
    • the key to keeping remote employees 
    • what neuroscience is showing 

    This edition also includes updated research (50+ citations) of data shared about the importance of appreciation and its positive impact on the functioning of businesses & organizations (including increased productivity and higher profitability when your employees feel appreciated.

    Source: Appreciation at Work

    I read it, loved it, laughed, cringed, and mostly just appreciated for the millionth time that Gary Chapman & Paul White adapted the Love Languages for professional relationships. They present their research on appreciation at work in a relatable, real life way. Here are some of my favorite quotes, classic and new:

    • “During the Great Resignation of 2022, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that employees were three times more likely to resign due to a lack of appreciation in comparison to financial compensation issues.”
    • “When leaders actively pursue teaching their team members how to communicate authentic appreciation in the ways desired by the recipients, the whole work culture improves. Interestingly, even managers and supervisors report they enjoy their work more. All of us thrive in an atmosphere of appreciation.”
    • “74% of employees never or rarely express gratitude to their boss.” (Reminder that appreciation is important up, down, and sideways!)
    • “There is a distinct difference between the Quality Time employees desire from their supervisor and what they value from co-workers. In response to this issue, we expanded the Motivating by Appreciation Inventory to allow individuals to indicate what actions they desire and from whom they want them.”
    • Acts of Service are about the other person, not about you. “Ask before you help. Don’t assume you know what help they want or need. If you are going to help, do it their way.”
    • “Our research with over 375,000 employees found that Tangible Gifts is the least chosen language of appreciation.” So if you’re going to do it, it’s important to give gifts “primarily to those individuals who appreciate them” and “give a gift the person values”. (Lorrie wrote about HPC’s take on gifts in “A Few of Our Favorite Things”.)
    • “The surest way to find out the appropriateness of Physical Touch is simply to inquire.” Many people appreciate a good high five, fist bump, or handshake to celebrate a job well done. Just check with them first, and don’t hold it against them if they prefer not to touch.

    Chapman & White also devote an entire chapter to the ROI of genuine appreciation. Take a look at these charts from the book: 

    Flow chart indicating that personally relevant authentic appreciation leads to employee engagement; which leads to reduced turnover, reduced absenteeism, and improved productivity; which leads to a better bottom line. 
    Table chart indicating the overall impact of employee engagement in organizations. One column lists results of employee engagement, and one column describes the associated research findings.

    Regarding remote and hybrid teams, Chapman & White basically say the needs are the same as fully in-person teams, but the intensity of certain needs are different. Here’s a snippet from the chapter on remote teams: 

    “In one study, prior to COVID-19, with almost 90,000 individuals who had taken our online assessment…we found that Words of Affirmation was the most desired appreciation language, followed by Quality Time and Acts of Service. But remote employees chose Quality Time as their primary language of appreciation more frequently (35% of employees) than workers on site (25%). The same pattern was found with employees both during the pandemic and afterwards.” 

    They go on to say, “…the single most important lesson we learned for effectively communicating appreciation to remote colleagues is that one must be more proactive than in face-to-face relationships. The most important factor is to understand, affirm, and relate to your colleagues as people.”

    If you saw our new team video highlighting our operating values, or if you’re a longtime HPC friend, you know that People First is our number one value. We are all just people, with the same ups and downs, and the same desire to be loved, appreciated, and valued. If we were to sum up the 5 languages book(s) in the simplest terms, we’d say Be People First. Be people first toward yourselves, and be people first towards others. 

    If we remember to be People First, we just might get better at genuine appreciation all on our own. 

    For individuals or teams interested in learning more about The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, we highly suggest starting with the MBA InventoryTM, then reading the book (or listening to the audiobook). If you purchase the book, it comes with an access code to take the inventory. If you’d like to jump straight to the inventory, you can buy a single access code or codes for your entire team here. (I feel like it’s important for me to say that we’re not being paid to promote any of this, we just really like it.)

  • Creating a Work Space that Brings People Together

    Creating a Work Space that Brings People Together

    Her name was Ima, Ima Fish. She was a Betta that I got when my son was four months old and I decided being a stay-at-home mom wasn’t for me. So, when my old boss called me and asked me if I wanted to come back part-time, I jumped at the chance. I bought Ima to put on my desk at the office. I had that little fish on that desk for five years! And everyone in the office knew Ima. If I was out of the office, I knew someone else was taking care of it, I didn’t even have to ask. Coworkers would stop by my desk daily to see how Ima was, even before they’d check to see how I was. Ima became the office fish. 

    Employees spend a large portion of their time at work, away from their families. Coworkers often become a second family. So how can employers create a work space that helps to bring people together? 

    1. It starts at the top. Leadership can help create an environment that brings people together by making connections with those who work for them. Get to know your employees, what makes them tick outside of work. Do they have families? What are their hobbies? Where do they see themselves in the future? When you check in with employees, don’t jump straight into work, ask them how their weekend was, if they have plans for the holidays, just take a few minutes to chat and get to know more about them. By doing this, you not only build a better connection with your team members but you are encouraging them to do the same with each other. 
    1. A lot of work and a little play. Allow for some down time at work. You’d be surprised at how that may actually improve productivity and it will definitely boost morale. Early in my career I worked for a company that had an office breakfast EVERY Friday. And it was employee provided. There was a sign-up sheet each quarter for those who wanted to participate and a schedule was made of what Friday you had to provide breakfast. It was great, people loved to participate and every Friday the entire office of about 50 employees came through the breakroom to grab breakfast. You could bring whatever you wanted and there was always an abundance of food. Good food! We even had one employee who when it was his turn, would bring his griddle from home and make made-to-order breakfast sandwiches. And while you were waiting on your sandwich, you’d get to have the best conversations with him. 
    1. Create welcoming spaces for connection and collaboration. One of the worst feelings for me is walking into a sterile work space, devoid of color, personalization, and warmth. It’s not inviting. Create spaces where employees want to be, that inspires them. A little décor can go a long way. And it doesn’t have to be expensive. Add a few pictures, some fake or real plants, some color. Take that bright white break room and turn it into a space employees want to sit and enjoy lunch or a quick break. A little paint can go a long way to making a space more welcoming, so get rid of that bright white! And while you’re at it, take away the clutter too. It creates stress and don’t we all have enough of that these days? 

    What can you do to make your work space bring people together? 

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