5 Things You Need To Know to Increase Productivity 

      KEY POINTS

• Don't Let Employees Multitask. Let them Focus. 

• Create Meetings Attendance Policy. 

• Develop rules for Email and Instant Message use.  

Working as a corporate executive and a business owner, I know productivity is crucial to my success. When something is not going well, I study it, ask myself and my team members questions, and develop improvements. More importantly, when I realize something is going well, I want to understand why and use the same tool or process that got me there to improve the other business areas. Now I take that knowledge and experience to help other leaders.

Since my early 30ths, I've worked from home in different capacities. From owning my business, doing work as Management Consultant, working as a Program Manager or a Leader and an Executive. I worked one day a week from home until COVID started, and many companies were forced to let employees stay home. But some folks were not ready to perform at the same level from home as they did from the office. 

Technology has to be in place to work from home successfully. But with technology comes responsibility. Some leaders do everything they can to stay on top of technology trends without first understanding the impact on their employees, work quality, and productivity. And although we may all use the best technology, it is not the technology that makes companies successful. It is people using and running it. Leaders must understand their people and realize how and when they produce the most.

Lately, I've been more productive than probably any time in the past few years, and I kept asking myself, why? Finally, I have the answer. So I used the solution and implemented the same process to increase productivity in other business areas. And now is the time to share my experience and give my humble suggestions.

    1. Don't Let Employees Multitask

Let me share the story. It was February 11, 1995, the first time I've heard a radio commercial going something like this (not exactly). If you do not brush your teeth, watch tv, play with your kids, and read the newspaper simultaneously, you are not a New Yorker. I lived in New York, and boy was I a New Yorker. Multitasking was my life.  

And I don't think I was the only one.   We were taught, even to this day, we have to multitask. We have to do many things at the same time to be successful. And yet, there is a body of research from neuroscience to psychology that shows our brain simply can not switch from task to task that quickly and produce the same result as if we give it a chance to complete one task and then and only then start another one.  

Since many leaders are still multitaskers, they push this philosophy onto their employees. If you are one of them, changing your mindset and trying at least one of these three tools I suggest, you can make your business even more successful.  

   2. Do you want Your Employees to be Successful? Teach them how to Focus. 

Focus is the key to success. That idea is not new. But we have to think about what to do (or not to do) to be focused and help our employees focus on their work and deliverables.

There are different ways to get ourselves and our employees to focus on the business results. And there are general things that you as a leader can do as long as you consider that each team member is different. They have different needs. They work and produce in different ways. Some employees are more independent than others. Some need a hand, and some need to be left alone to perform at their best. Some employees you trust 100%. Unfortunately, some you don't. Although you have to have one policy (like everything else), slight adjustments may be necessary.

   3. Don't Let Your Team Members Overuse Email System 

Email is absolutely a fantastic way to communicate, and we simply can not imagine our life these days without it. But most employers now expect employees to answer every email immediately. And as good citizens, most employees do that - regardless of whether they are in the middle of the critical meeting, creating an important presentation, establishing a company budget, doing product deployment, or other important business-related tasks. 

We are forcing employees to break the "flow" during which they are most productive and answer an email that does not require immediate attention. And if they do not do that, primarily if they work from home, we as leaders may believe they are not working. And frankly, maybe they are not. But you need to know your employees and either trusts them or not. You can decide how to handle each team member based on your confidence level. And of course, if you have thousands of employees on your team, like any other task, this task will be delegated to your Managers.  

Action for Leaders: Allow employees to be in the flow and focus on one task at a time. Outline the times of the day when they do emails vs. when they focus on the deliverables. And, of course, follow up and check on their productivity and make adjustments if necessary.  

   4. Establish Meetings Attendance Policy to Help with Productivity

How often did you attend a meeting that you have nothing to contribute and nothing to gain from? And yet, you are expected to be there. Many employees say, "I am wasting my team." You are not. You are getting paid for that time. But you are wasting company time and money. And it is not leadership's fault.    

Action for Leaders: Adjust/create policies to clarify mandatory vs. optional meetings. All deliverables, tasks, projects, etc., have a higher priority than optional meetings. Meeting requestors and attendees must follow a new policy-make it mandatory for contributors and optional for listeners.  

   5. Develop Simple Rules for Instant Messages  

There is a time and place when team members need to communicate in real-time. Instant messaging is a great way to accomplish this when used correctly. At the same time, it can be the most significant reason employees are not productive.  

Acton for Leaders: Create a policy around Instant Messaging and clarify required vs. optional. Allow employees to turn IMs off and focus on the task at hand. 

Here are three reasons I am more productive than in the past few years:

1. I don't respond to emails immediately-only during my scheduled timeframe. 
2. I don't attend meetings where I have nothing to contribute or learn.
3. I don't respond immediately to Instant Messages unless it is a part of scheduled activity or process.

In addition, to push it even further, because I am a morning person, I start working around 6 AM (after my exercise and meditation), usually take a 30 minutes nap at 11 AM, take a lunch break at 1 PM, and continue working till 6 PM. Because of the focus, my productivity skyrocketed! 

Bonus action for Leaders: In addition to the three pieces of advice above, what if you can allow your employees to adjust working hours depending on their preference and team needs. Your team and the company's productivity would skyrocket as well. Good luck! 

Braco Pobric is an Internationally Recognized Positive Psychology Expert, Executive Coach, and Corporate Trainer. He is the bestselling author of Habits and Happiness: How to Become Happier and Improve Your Wellbeing by Changing Your Habits. Braco is a founding member and Chief Happiness Officer of the Life Success Academy, Certified Positive Psychology Master Coach and Trainer, and former globally Certified Trainer and Business Coach for Dale Carnegie Training. He trained over 60,000 Students in 172 countries.