Efficiency in the Workplace

I would like to share some insight and ideas I came across regarding productivity and efficiency in the workplace. Forbes.com has reported on the seasonality of work and the pattern of upward motion after Labor Day. Something about the summer ending gets people in gear. People also begin to think about their personal career goals, which is something all employees should be visiting from time to time. Whether this personal analysis leads to a new career adventure or catapults that employee to a new level success in their current profession, this analysis is needed for growth. So where do we start? Analyzing ourselves may be the hardest task. We seem to analyze everything around us frequently, but when we have to look inward we hit a speed bump. Forbes gave some suggestions for how to get over this hurdle.

The first suggest is to look at your performance review. This seems to be right on since we just went through 360 reviews. The next step suggested is to “Define your own mission”. This is crucial for obtaining the personal satisfaction we all desire and consider important in our careers. After defining this we can look for opportunities for it to align with company goals. Maybe your new personal mission is to be more efficient in your personal life or maybe it’s to gain more in depth social relationship, how can you achieve this in your business community? Make sure your mission creates a challenge for yourself. Making a mission that is easy is just boring, keep pushing the envelop!

This is my favorite suggestion from Forbes. They say to “compile a list of work assignments that you love and those that you avoid because you don’t do them well”. Com’on we all have some tasks we don’t LOVE doing, but that’s okay. A colleague recently suggested that we identify our hours of optimum productivity and this is right on. Find those hours and here’s the catch, do your least favorite tasks. Therefore, you will have a better attitude and more energy to complete these things. What a concept!

The last idea that Forbes recommended is to look to yourself for motivation instead of others. It’s so easy to get sucked into negativity, to whine, and talk negatively. Resist these tendencies and find what that motivate you as a person and you will be naturally motivated at work. Maybe that motivation is as simple as a good lunch break. According to an online news source “almost 70 per cent of workers eat at their desks on a daily basis”. Lunch breaks are going extinct! People seem to think that more working equals more productivity. Even a 20 minute break can jumpstart the employees and lead to great productivity, more energy, and a better attitude at the end of the day. Don’t rob yourself of your personal time. Enjoy 20 minutes of sun and who knows maybe you’ll be amazed at how efficient you are when you return to your desk refreshed.

Let’s dedicate ourselves to finding personal missions, motivating factors, and quality time. Efficiency may be easy to achieve than we think. J

Source: Forbes, News.com