Experts tell us that the average worker would have to work a mere 10 hours a week to meet the productivity of their 1950’s counterpart.  The bad news is that the economy has calibrated itself for that productivity.  We expect things done faster than we used to.  Receiving a package in 3 days used to be fast.  Then overnight.  Now if we can’t download this instant we’re not interested.

A good example of this comes from a CNN blogger who tried to fit a shorter workweek in with the 24/7 new cycle business:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/08/14/cnn.workweek/index.html

The second big problem with shorter work weeks is the slow economy.  Many people view flex time as a major liability to their career assuming bosses have an “out of sight / out of mind” view of their performance.  Need to make cuts?  Who’s that guy I never see?  http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/worklife/03/29/flex.time/index.html?iref=allsearch

But a shorter work week can have some major benefits.  First, it can save on energy cost in terms of running office amenities as well as in commuting costs for employees.  There’s also a case to be made for frankly acknowledging the waste that often takes place in juggling work and life. A doctor’s visit, for example, may only take an hour but can easily eat up an entire afternoon of an employee’s time.  If these sort of activities were concentrated in extra time off, actual word days would become less diluted.

So from a management perspective, how do you implement a shorter work week to ensure these  efficiencies are working for you?  How do you turn a nice perk into a way to reduce overhead and improve effectiveness.  Here are 5 ways to start:

1.)  Make it Mandatory

Efficiency means that employees can’t be in the office.  Keeping strict working hours ensures that employees genuinely approach work more efficiently, but also means that no one will feel threatened by missing something important.  Any kind of flex time needs to be more or less mandatory.  If it’s not, natural competition will kick in resulting in greater inefficiency.

2.)  Manage by Task

Task oriented management means looking at what and employee delivers and when they deliver it instead of whether they’re simply available to work. Shorter hours mean less time to get something done, but also means you are judged on production instead of time.

3.)  Keep Meetings Short and to the Point

Less time in the office means less time for meetings.  It’s still important to touch base with people, but keep meetings short.

4.)  Beware of Too Much Email

An office that isn’t frequently together tends to email often.  The problem is the vast number of emails that crowd computers every day.   Keeping people in the loop doesn’t always mean hitting cc, however.  Encourage that problems and questions be addressed in meetings, phone calls, or in one to one exchanges.

5.)  Use Technology

There are terrific tools like Skype and an array of chatting programs that are great ways to stay in touch outside the office.  Also, document sharing has become easier with services like Google docs.  You may need to push along these relationships slightly with training or hardware, but they are fairly maintenance free after that.

Flexible working schedules and shorter hours simply means worker smart and not harder.  Managing this process also means rewarding smart work and enabling it.  The results could be higher productivity and a lower bottom line.

Email has the potential to dominate our time and attention if managed improperly, so here are a few email rules to live by that will help make all our digital lives a little easier to handle:

1. Summarize the reason for your email in the subject line.
   Yesterday I received a message whose subject consisted of a single word: cards. I had no idea what the sender was referring to. Was I supposed to buy cards? Play cards? Design cards? What type of cards? The possibilities were endless. Turns out the sender wanted me to print a document of theirs on my color laser printer. Rather than making me open the mail to discern its purpose and importance, the sender should have written in their subject line something like: need the attached printed in color by Tuesday. In an instant I would have known their intent and been able to prioritize their request, but instead I was compelled to open their message, read it, process it and then move on. Don’t waste your reader’s time. Do the courteous thing and summarize your message in your subject.
2. Make sure your complete name appears in the From: line
   Steve sent me a message yesterday. Steve who, you ask? I have no idea, since Steve didn’t include his last name in his email identifier. Like many of you, I know a lot of Steves. There are 15 Steves in my contact database. So, which Steve was this message from? I had to open the message to read his signature which included his last name. As important as you are, if your name isn’t Cher or Bono, be considerate and make sure that when you set up your email preferences that you include your entire name as your identifier so that your email recipients will know it’s you.
3. Create a Signature that appears automatically in every message.
   OK, even if I know it’s you and I know exactly how to get in touch with you, what do you think happens if I forward your message to someone else? Without your name, email address and phone number printed within your message, they have absolutely no way to contact you. Every email program provides the ability to create an automatic signature. You can even customize the signatures for multiple email accounts. It’s easy. Learn how.
4. Keep emails short.
   We’re all overwhelmed with email messages. There are days when I receive over 400 emails and dread the process of sifting through them all. Although most are junk mail, I still have to peruse dozens of messages to determine how to process them. Make it easy for your recipient and keep your email messages short and to the point. The best messages can be read in their entirety in the preview pane. Edit ruthlessly to keep your messages on point, conveying your purpose and the recipient’s obligations quickly.
5. One subject per email, only
   If you’re working with someone on more than one project and need to know the status of specific tasks, it’s preferable to send the requests in separate emails rather than pile them all into a single message. By sending separate messages, the recipient can reply to each message with a brief response that encapsulates entirely the status of that project and your emails can generate a thread of conversation dealing solely with one topic. Mixing multiple messages leads to confusion and inevitable oversights. Make it easier on both of you and deal with just one thing per message.
6. Reply immediately
   Get in the habit of replying to your messages as soon as you read them. Even if it’s simply to acknowledge that you received their message and will be getting back to them when you have more detail or have had a chance to think about the content of their message. They’ll rest easier knowing you received the message and you’ll have their message in your to-do queue.
7. Don’t hit Reply All unless it’s really, really necessary
   We have enough messages in our Inbox without adding unnecessary responses from 42 people invited to next week’s webinar or the 12 people playing softball after work on Thursday. Reply to the Sender only unless it’s absolutely necessary for every participant to know your plans. And really, how often is that?
8. Keep mobile in mind
   More than 70% of email messages are picked up on our handheld devices, not on our desktop computers. How should this shift in behavior affect your messaging? It makes it more important to keep messages brief, both in the length of your message and the size of any attachments that you include. Although you may not think twice about attaching your 5MB Powerpoint presentation to your email, your recipient will be cursing you as they wait for your entire message, complete with attachment,  to download on their Blackberry or iPhone. Send attachments only when absolutely necessary.

The bottom line: be thoughtful and courteous in your messaging to save everyone time, aggravation and energy.

“PowerPoint makes us stupid,” Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, the Joint Forces commander, said this month at a military conference in North Carolina. (He spoke without PowerPoint.) Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who banned PowerPoint presentations when he led the successful effort to secure the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005, followed up at the same conference by likening PowerPoint to an internal threat.

“It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control,” General McMaster said in a telephone interview afterward. “Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.”

(Actually, the comments section is really interesting.  There are over 700 comments on the topic and they’re pretty fierce and informative about PPT and its use in business and military circles.)

We’ve talked before about how deadly PPT can be to a presentation and about paring down slides to their essence, but this is a whole new angle.  The US military, according to the article, is using PPT to actually communicate complex ideas internally.  In other words, they aren’t just giving an engaging concept of what the plans are, they are delivering plans in this manner.  So it’s not just a summary — it’s the plan itself.

Many officers defend the practice, saying that it’s easier to create slides than to write a brief to communicate strategy.  Many companies take the same view.  It’s the old “no one reads anything any more”.  That’s true.  However, it can be difficult to actually communicate a complex strategy in a few bullet points.  You wouldn’t want your house built with a PowerPoint and not a blueprint, right?  Don’t let PPT replace a written document or strategy.

So what replaces it?

Personal communication is still a great way to gather ideas.  Whether it’s a brainstorming session or a more formal presentation, taking away PowerPoint can actually get you information more quickly and concisely.  Written reports are also not a bad way of communicating.  And asking for more details is probably not a bad idea.  Again, that can be done personally:  ”You say on page 7 that we’re going to grow these three markets, but how?”

The New York Time piece also points out something that many companies don’t consider:  the amount of time it takes to produce all of these presentations.  PowerPoint turns us all into graphic designers and gives the illusion of productivity when little may be there.

It’s true, the program does have its place.  If you need to give a presentation, and you must convey information visually, it can supplement a great oral presentation.  But to coin another military phrase, it does have the potential for mission creep.

1.)  Just Do It

For the reasons I mentioned above, you should have conference calls rather than putting off an important meeting before everyone is in the office.  Even in a small office, getting everyone together may be impossible.  A conference call can take care of business quickly and efficiently…if you do it right.

2.) Keep Them Short and  Stay Organized

You could figure that one out on your own.  That goes for any meetings.  Get to the point quickly, let people know why they’re there and set and stick to an agenda.  But you knew that already, right?

3.)  No seriously, keep it under 60 minutes

Two hours on the phone just isn’t productive.  An hour is even pushing it.  Try for something shorter.  Sometimes it can be easy for a small group of people to dominate a discussion without realizing that they’re carrying the conversation over the set time limit and beyond topics that most people on the conference care about.  Without body language as a clue, this is a particular problem.  This is why an agenda with time limits is important.

4.)  Involve Other People

Try to not to have any one voice go on for more that 6 or 7 minutes.  Delegating voices will keep participants involved and will make your phone conference more interesting.

5.) Record Yourself

Record yourself on a phone conference sometime and then take a listen.  You’ll be horrified.  But then you’ll get better.  I promise.  Listening to yourself helps to modify your voice without even trying.  You’ll annunciate more clearly, eliminate vocal  ’crutches’ you use (uh, you-know, ummmm, heavy breathing) and trail off or mumble less often.  The more you hear your voice, the better you’ll sound.

6.) Ask People for their Full Attention

It’s easy to switch off during a phone conference.  Don’t let that happen.  Strike a deal that you’ll only take up 25 mintues of their time, if they give their complete attention.  No computers.  No phone calls. Just ask and you’ll be surprised at how accommodating people are.

7.)  Create a Seating Chart

It’s easy to loose track of who’s where — if you create a chart, you can easily note who said what and when.  You can also check in with people who are silent and prompt them with questions:  ”Chloe, we haven’t heard from you yet, do you have any input?”

8.) Avoid Speaker

Three people sitting around a speaker phone talking to eight people on headsets is just annoying.  The technology exists to get everyone on a separate line — just use it.

9.)  Sometimes Mobile is Too Mobile

Ever have someone put their phone through security while they’re on a call.  Seriously?  Schedules are tight, but really?  If that happens, someone, somewhere hasn’t really planned correctly.  If you need someone’s attention for 25 minutes, get their attention.  Real sit-down-in-a-room-and-listen attention.

An orchestra conductor faces the ultimate leadership challenge: creating perfect harmony without saying a word. In this charming talk, former conductor Itay Talgam demonstrates the unique styles of six great 20th-century conductors, illustrating crucial lessons for all leaders.

After a decade-long conducting career in his native Israel, Itay Talgam has reinvented himself as a conductor of people in business and shares his humorous yet insightful leadership lessons with corporate executives worldwide.

As work has become more collaborative and consensus more  valued , there is a frustrating trend developing around the idea that ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ should be determined by a group.  But groups don’t do that very well.  Groups are great for gathering viewpoints, perspectives, histories, different cultural mindsets, and opinions, but, in the end, someone should make a firm, lasting decision.   It’s important to tell your staff that you’re gathering information, you want opinions, but you’ll be making the final decision.  You’ll be saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

You will displease someone when you do say ‘No’ or ‘Yes’, but you’ll have a clearer decisions that people can abide by.  Even a wrong decision is better, in the long run, than no decision at all.

Here’s a peak at the article:

No one likes hearing “No,” and few can resist pushing back — sometimes quite persistently. Roger Fisher, negotiation expert and coauthor of the widely influential book Getting to Yes, used to tell his law students that sometimes he wished he had written a book about getting to no and staying there. When disappointed family members or colleagues pushed back at his no, he would sometimes give up and give in.

Like Fisher, most of us find ourselves torn between our wish to stay with no and our desire to accommodate the person asking us for something. This tension is particularly acute when that person is a valued client or a senior colleague.

When we say no and find ourselves pressured to unsay it, we can of course just give in. But giving in, especially when it becomes a habit, can seriously damage our credibility and effectiveness as professionals. Here is how to say no in a way that both conveys your resolve and preserves your relationships.

Read the full article here: Staying with No

How do executive know when new staffers are qualified for the job?

Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great, explains on bigthink that the key is to instill your company’s core values in your new employees so your company culture is continually extended and reinforced.

Baldoni is a leadership consultant, coach, and speaker. His work centers on how leaders can use their authority, communications and presence to build trust and drive results. He is the author of six books on leadership, including Lead By Example, 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results. In 2007 John was named one of the world’s top 30 leadership gurus by Leadership Gurus International.

1. Do people know what is expected of them? Too often we assume people know their jobs. People may know the specifics, but often lack knowledge about how what they do helps the entire organization. For example, if an employee works in accounting, she needs to know how vital her job is to the efficacy of the company. Her attentiveness, as well as that of her colleagues, is essential to the company’s ability to profit. People need to be told, and reminded, of the importance of their work.

2. Do employees know what they can expect from you? It is important to let employees know that you as their manager are available to them. How you define “available” may vary from employee to employee. For new hires, you might be more teacher than boss. For veterans, you will play the coaching role. For the team, you will be the supplier of resources as well as their champion.

3. Do employees know what is expected of each other? While managers need to make certain employees are doing what is asked of them, employees must also do their part to coordinate with each other. Whether a self-managed team makes its own assignments or a manager makes the assignments, what matters most is that employees know who does what so work can be completed in a timely and responsible fashion.

Read the full article at his blog here: Link