Productivity Training Course - 1 Day

Productivity training is about making more progress, in less time.
To achieve your goals, you need to be at your most productive.
Your “productivity” is, in effect, a measure of your efficiency.

“What is the most productive use of your time, money and effort?”

• “Productivity” is a measure of your achievement: a measure of the value of your work
• “Busyness” is a measure of your activity: a measure of the amount of your work

Many people have busy, but non-productive days, where they are working hard, but they are not making much progress.

The purpose of this course is to present key ideas that will allow you to improve your productivity. To get more done, whilst simultaneously saving time, money and resources.

The primary principles of productivity are “value added” and “deadline pressure”, as shown in the diagram below.

There are four types of activity:

• Q1 Crisis zone = High value, deadline driven
• Q2 Productive zone = High value not yet deadline driven
• Q3 Busy zone = Lower value, deadline driven
• Q4 Fruitless zone = Lower value, not deadline driven

Busy is a measure of your activity and is a cost.
Productive is a measure of your achievement and is a benefit.

It is important that you do not fall into the trap of being “busy, but non-productive”, as many people do!

Productivity relies on understanding and working according to the P-list. All the key concepts relating to productivity begin with the letter P:

• Purposefulness: The main reason for your organisation’s existence
• Planning: How you intend to achieve your purpose
• Productive effort: The energy you put into the implementation of your plan
• Persistence: The act of coming back stronger, with a better plan, again and again
• Prioritisation: The act of organising things into the optimum order
• Protocols: The documents that standardise responses
• Preparation: The act of making ready, before the implementation of the plan
• Progressive thinking: The act of always looking towards a better future
• Prevention of avoidable error: The elimination of self-sabotage
• Proper decision making methods: The act of picking the best option from many
• Problem cause solution analysis: The act of tracing causes and coming up with practical solutions
• Problem implication countermeasure analysis: The act of predicting and stopping painful consequences
• Personal initiative: The art of taking action before anyone forces you. Action on your own volition
• Positive mental attitude: The act of taking charge of your own mind and conversation
• Political awareness: The art of gaining the willing cooperation of others
• Philosophy of continuous improvement: The act of never being completely satisfied with your current position. It presupposes a desire for more. You are happy, but never satisfied

The three causes of busy but non-productive days are:

1. S = Self. Your own bad habits, errors and omissions
2. O = Others. The bad habits, errors and omissions of other people
3. S = Systems. Inefficient systems that are operating inside and outside your organisation

1. How do you make yourself less productive? What can you do about it?
2. How do other people make you less productive? What can you do about it?
3. Which two systems are slowing your productivity? What can you do about it?

Productivity means making progress towards your Major Definite Purpose (MDR). Relentlessly focusing on your MDR will improve your productivity. It is vital that everyone in the organisation is aware of the exact nature of the MDR, by clearly communicating it to everyone who needs to know.

Purposefulness
Clarity of purpose and smart target analysis
How to set and communicate the exact target.

Prioritisation is the act of putting things in the right order.

The right order is defined by two things:

• The value of the task and
• The best logical sequence.

Exercises in prioritisation, putting tasks into the most productive order.

Many people are continually distracted and are bounced around by chance circumstances.
More productive people operate according to their plan, and can skilfully handle disruptions.

We will analyse how you can improve your productivity, by prioritising and organising your emails.

Delegate non-essential tasks to others, allowing you to focus more time onto more productive matters.

Laws of proper delegation: We will look at how to properly delegate the right tasks, to the right people.

To be more productive, it is important to solve problems quickly.
Problem cause solution mind mapping.

Your life depends upon your ability to make the right decisions in every situation. Therefore, decision-making is one of the most important skills to develop.

1. Yes, no? decisions
2. Right or wrong? decisions
3. Which one, what kind?
4. Priority order decisions
5. Problem cause solution, decisions

We will show you how to make quick, accurate decisions.

Productivity is the product of the inventive mind.

If your mindset is productive, then your corresponding actions will be productive.

We will analyse and explain how your mindset affects your productivity.

Maintaining a positive mental attitude.
Conversation control: Keeping office conversations only on productive topics.
There are five types of conversational categories:

1. Future will be good: These are goal-orientated, optimistic conversations. Usually productive.
2. Future will be bad: These are fear-inducing conversations. Not very productive.
3. Past was bad: These are anger conversations. Not very productive.
4. The past was good: These can be nostalgic conversations. Non-productive.
5. The present moment: These are usually productive conversations.

Continuous improvement is based on five major concepts:

• Purpose: State your Major Definite Purpose
• Plan: Formulate your best plan
• Action: Take consistent action
• Feedback: Gather and evaluate the feedback, both positive and negative
• Change: Make progress by continually adapting and evolving

Recognise that the continuous improvement formula is a continuous process

The continuous improvement cycle suggests six questions:

1. What is our Major Definite Purpose or goal?
2. What is our detailed plan?
3. What are our priority actions?
4. What are the positive feedback results from our most recent actions
5. What are the negative feedback results from our most recent actions
6. Based on the recent feedback results, what progressive changes do we need to make to our current plan of action?

These six questions should be running as a continuous cycle and will almost guarantee you improved productivity.

Negative feedback is a signal to change, improve your plan of action.

The continuous improvement cycle is continuous and never-ending and requires the willingness to make changes.

This course is packed with new information and methods which will improve your productivity, but only if you put them into practice!

We will discuss how you will implement the great ideas you have learned on this course.

You will be asked to choose the four most important points you have learned on this course, and commit to a definite plan to improve your personal productivity.