In terms of being productive, in order to continue to evolve you have to have a mindset of continuous learning. However conventional wisdom tells us that learning a new skill is hard, and difficult to schedule. Niv and I take a crack at this exciting topic. The articles that we have reviewed in this episode.
lhttps://hbr.org/2012/11/how-to-master-a-new-skilll
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/30/1049098913/learning-new-skills-tips
This is a mini podcast, if you would like to read the article instead follow the link.
https://myproductivity.guru/management-the-right-way/: Management The Right Way- Audio
Leadership
In many office environments and sometimes in movies “management” is usually looked down upon. Credit never goes to the people that create the strategy and guide the teams, unless you are the actual founder or the creator. This lack of understanding is what makes a lot of people wonder. What is the actual value of management anyway?
Well it depends – I just read a wonderful book “ High Output Management” by Andy Grove and he answers the very essence of this question. Not only is leadership required even at a small breakfast place but essential to the success of any organization or business. A lot of the concepts I use in this article are borrowed from the book. If you want to learn in detail from this legendary CEO, I would highly recommend its purchase.
Let us break that down, shall we?
Thinking in terms of sports
Even with the best players on a team, we know that without proper coaching, teams will not be able to succeed. Take the US all star hockey team of the 1980’s they lost to the Russian national team, however a group of amateur college players beat them at the final of the olympics to grab the gold medal. Yes, it is true that sometimes the players are beyond capable where coaching may not make a difference but, in real life most teams do not have amazing talent laying around, and need to make a difference even with the most mediocre players. Business follows the same ideology.
Motivation
For anything in life we need to have a direction, a goal, a destination. Once we know where we are going, there are a few things we need to take into account:
Given what we know we have to also make a few assumptions: In order for people to perform at their peak, do they have the skills necessary to do the job? It is critical to understand this, since you will not be able to gain the output necessary if people do not have the skills to perform. OK so for simplicity sake, everyone knows what they are doing. Back to the question: how do you motivate them to do more, and increase their productivity?
People motivate themselves by needs, the need to have a house, food, and security, social needs, this was first introduced by Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The thing is once a need is satisfied, it is no longer a source of motivation. OK again back to the question, say my team has met all of their basic needs, how do I motivate them? Well simple by creating needs that are unsatisfied at all times.
How can leaders accomplish this? They need to first create an environment that meets all of the basic needs- meaning if we look at Maslow’s pyramid, the needs are met up until self-actualization. Once at this stage we need to create intrinsic needs: (from within)
These needs have been proven to outpaced the majority of external motivation, such as pay or fear. Thinking in terms of sustainability, you can motivate a team to do something fast, with external factors such as money or other rewards, but if you want productivity that is sustained and steady then you need to move to motivation 3.0 ( introduced in the book Drive by Daniel H Pink)
For you team,
The purpose is the mission you set out for your application to have, the value it will bring and the impact it will have.
For mastery will be how the individual will gain expertise in the technology and become better over time.
Lastly, for autonomy you are not controlling how the work is being done, as long as it is, you are allowing the employee the freedom to perform in the best environment they please.
Niv and I have discussed many ways to be productive, we haven’t touch on an specific topic or area to be productive at. While the advise and discussion we have done can be applied to any field, we wanted to take look at how can we study effectively. So much of our life is spent in this area, whether we are in college studying for a career, or we have decided to pivot and learn a new technique. Before we become expert or practice a profession a lot of studying has to occur. In today’s episode Niv and I review some of the best practice on how to study effectively. Take a listen and let us know what you think.
OKrs is a framework that was first spear headed by Andy Grove from Intel in the early 1970’s. It is a simple yet effective at making organizations not only meet their goals but go beyond what we think was possible. It is what many successful companies like Google, My Fitness Pal, Remind and many others have used to take their teams to the next level. In this conversation Niv and I take OKRs and make them personal. How can individuals take advantage of this powerful framework and makes themselves productive with their goal setting. Let us know what you think.
Resilient is an essential ingredient of successful productive people. From time to time, we don’t worship people that perform well when things are good, but those who perform when things are tough. If we think of baseball we idolize the cludge hitters, the people that can deliver when it matters most, the team that is losing and the hit that turns the game around. For this topic Niv and I discuss two interesting articles from HBR and NY Times, please take a listen and let us know what you think.
We have officially kicked off Season 3 with interviews with productivity masters, our podcast has really taken the next step. Today we get the chance to Interview David Campana- a Banking Executive with over 25 years of experience. I hope you guys are able to enjoy listening to this conversation as much as we did.
We can make a list of all the things we want to do, the reality is if you do not schedule those TODOs it will be difficult for them to get done. In this podcast Niv and I explain how essential is to use a calendar to plan your task and schedule your day. take a listen and let us know what you think? Of course don’t forget to like and subscribe to our podcast in the apple store.
We are all busy, and sometimes it feels very difficult to find time to be productive, at home or in the office. Niv and I took the time to read a few articles on time management and how you can make the best of your time. Whether you are a busy parent juggling multiple kids and work, or you are a busy professional trying to climb the corporate ladder. Take a listen and let us know.
When we think of productivity we forget that how important the setup is. Whether you are a creative professional or a knowledge worker the way your workstation is setup can make you 20% + Productive. Niv and I researched the internet for articles about this topic. Take a listen and let us know what you think! don’t forget to subscribe! Please leave your comments below and let us know what you think!
