Where there are people, there is conflict. It’s in the nature of humankind to have different views, interests, and desires from those around us. While most of the time these differences help us grow and make our lives richer, sometimes they can create gaps and lead to conflicts. Here’s why conflict management matters.
Productivity is a concept used to describe effectiveness given by the results we get from the amount of work we put into something. Maximum productivity is the inversely proportional relationship between the amount of effort and the quality of the results. So, for optimizing work and ultimately maximizing productivity, we need to get the best results out of minimum effort.
Customers are the lifeblood of any business – and keeping them happy ensures they stay loyal to your company. This is why great customer experience is crucial. In fact, an estimated 52 percent of Americans have switched their allegiance from one brand of retailer, cable provider, bank or other establishment because of poor customer services.
High-quality customer experience must be prioritized to thrive in our consumer-driven world. However, the success of your customer service approach is only as effective as the health of your internal communication.
Poor communication in the workplace has the potential to create conflict, negatively impact the morale of your team, and eventually translate in poor performance and loss of productivity. More often than not, work mistakes and failures are caused by miscommunication. Failing to communicate efficiently with your employees can have lots of negative consequences for both your company and your employees.
Prioritizing your work life might not seem very easy, when everything you have to do feels important. Taking things as they come, without having a strategy, usually throws you into chaos, where you running a race against time day after day. Eventually, this continuous fight is likely to lead to burnout and dramatically affect your life.
Here are 7 “safety measures” that will hopefully help you fight the chaos and reclaim your productivity.
1. State your core values
Write down the most important things in your life – those that you wouldn’t give up for anything, no matter what.
A simple way to do that is by designing a chart of the most important areas of your life:
personal time
family time
career
school
Next, you should write down your top three priorities for each area.
Once you do that, make sure to invest 80% of your time and most of your efforts into accomplishing the items on your chart. The rest of the time should be allocated to completing other tasks that need to be done.
2. Organize your schedule to reflect your values
Simple and intuitive, your schedule should be focused around your non-negotiable core values.
The amount of time you assign to each of your tasks reflects your true priorities. Very often people dedicate more time to less important tasks, losing sight of what truly matters. Avoid taking on menial tasks and learn to delegate those assignments that don’t necessarily require your expertise.
3. Schedule each day efficiently
One of the easiest strategies for efficient scheduling is the 1-3-5 method. This means that your daily schedule will feature one very important task; three tasks of medium importance; and five little things.
Filling your calendar chaotically usually leads to unbalanced situations when you have accomplished tens of small things, leaving to the end of the week the most important tasks. That will make you frustrated and unhappy, putting you in situations when you have to give up on some areas of your life for the sake of the others. Usually, you end up sacrificing personal life in favor of your work. Yet, achieving a healthy work-life balance is the only way to live a happy and fulfilled life.
4. Identify urgent tasks
I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent. – Eisenhower
Eisenhower inspired productivity experts to create what is called The Eisenhower Matrix for prioritizing tasks. The matrix uses the urgency and importance values to make your work life easier, as shown below.
Both at work and in everyday y life, each generation has something unique to offer. However, the culture gap between generations can make things uncomfortable at times, leaving people feeling less welcome. So how do we create a work culture that brings people together instead of tearing them apart? This is the core of my article, so I encourage you to read forward and find out.
Everybody knows that motivation is key to doing good work. Company culture has become a popular term among corporate leaders; more and more companies are focusing on creating a culture that fosters motivation in their workforce and you know the saying: happy workers are effective workers. Thanks to an increasing body of research, we’re learning a lot about what it takes to build and maintain a high-performance culture within an organization.
New York Times Bestselling author Sheryl Sandberg defines leadership in the most creative and truthful way. “Leadership”, says Sandberg, “is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”
According to Sandberg, a great leader becomes such an inspiration for others that the teachings they spread will continue to have a lasting impact, even after they’re gone. Guiding employees in a way that transcends job duties and rigid responsibilities stands at the core of great leadership.
One of the most basic necessities of any workplace is proper communication. In today’s world that runs on a hectic schedule, where every productive minute counts, the ability to instantly communicate has been a boon for the global work scenario. However, even in our fast-paced lives, writing etiquette can sometimes make all the difference between successful and unsuccessful communication. Let’s find out how chat and email etiquette can enhance our written communication and get us where we want.
Innovation and communication are two intertwined concepts. Innovation cannot happen without communication. Communication without innovation would be severely impaired. Just think of all the technological innovations that led to the communication means we use today. From letters and the telegraph to mobile phones and the internet.