Productivity

Zoom or Teams fatigue. Are you feeling it? Despair no more, as this month I’ve pulled together my top 5 “meetings check-ins” for you.Over the last year I’ve been collecting check-in or icebreaker games and meeting energizers. These games not only help energize or quieten our brains, but also help us connect with each other, awaken

Takeaway: If you’re feeling burnt out or worried you’re heading in that direction, check on the six areas of your job that are most likely to contribute to that state: your workload, level of control, how rewarding your job is, how much community you have, how fair things are, and whether your work aligns with

On this episode, we count down our all-time favorite productivity habits—this week we cover numbers 10-6! Topics covered include: The point of becoming more productive How productivity can make us more human Earning back time, enjoying the journey, carving out time for what’s meaningful Keeping an accomplishments list The “Zeigarnik Effect” How often to review

Takeaway: Your ideas are worth less than you think—it’s all about how you execute upon them. Take the example of the S-logo, below. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 9s. A decade or so ago, as I was getting a haircut, and my barber told me that she had a brilliant, billion-dollar idea. The idea was

The trouble with the return-to-work conversation is that many of us aren’t “returning to work.” We never left. Work never stopped. Bringing work home with us took on new meaning in 2020, as work lives blended (or collided) with the lives of our families. The lines between work and home blurred, faded, and required refocusing—sometimes

On this episode, we chat about how to organize all of the projects you’re in the middle of, to feel more in control and less overwhelmed by them all. Topics covered include: What a “project” even is The importance of seeing all of what you have going on in one place How to feel in

What’s the number-one reason employers will likely lose talent in the post-pandemic era? In a word: Burnout. The latest data from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) shows that burnout is the primary driver pushing workers to look for relief in the forms of a new job, opportunities for advancement, more pay, and above all else,

Takeaway: Divide your project list (if you keep one) by which of those projects require focus, space, or a combination of the two. This is a great way to briefly see what you’re working on and what you should be both thinking about and focusing on. Estimated Reading Time: 1 minutes, 30s. There are plenty

In every organization there are go-to people who make everything work. They are the subject matter experts, the influencers, the energizers—the people the company can least afford to lose. Yet, ask senior leaders who those people are, and research shows they can’t identify the majority of them. That’s because they are often buried in the

In January 2021 COVID-19 vaccines—still new at the time—began to gain traction, and business leaders turned their attention to what the growing availability might mean for their organizations and workforces.  At the same time, the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) began its series of monthly surveys to track the evolution of leaders’ thinking and actions

On this episode of the podcast, we chat about how to crowd out bad food habits—as well as how food habits of abundance are far more helpful than habits of deprivation. Topics covered include: Which food habits to eliminate and double down on How to approach deciding what to eat with an attitude of abundance—not

The Institute for Corporate Productivity’s (i4cp) study of how nearly 70 different leadership behaviors changed (or haven’t) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic found that a single one clearly stood out as a next practice—defined as a practice, process, or behavior that analysis shows has high positive correlation with market performance, but that few

Reports of overtime at the UK’s leading authority on productivity and wellbeing transformation, have been confirmed by Head of Brand, Jessica Scott. She told the Inside Track*, “Yes, it’s true. Over the weekend I actually worked into the night to get our new website launched.” Surprising rumours have been circulating that the productivity experts had

When the COVID-19 pandemic drove masses of employees from corporate offices to work from home, it also prompted unprecedented numbers of relocations—temporary and permanent moves by employees across states and regions. For total rewards leaders and others responsible for setting compensation policies in the U.S., those worker migrations present complex and ongoing challenges when it

Takeaway: Try replacing online news with a subscription to the local paper. This is a way of buying back your time, attention, energy, and mental health—you stay informed while also calming your mind. Physical newspapers “refresh” once a day (versus every few minutes). They also offer perspective, let you connect with what’s happening in your

According to newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau, between March and April of 2020, “3.5 million mothers with school-age children left active work—either shifting into paid or unpaid leave, losing their jobs, or exiting the labor market all together.” As of February 2021, nearly 1.5 million fewer moms of school-aged children were actively working

Commutes may be a little longer during the summer and into fall of 2021, according to new data from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), a human capital research firm. With over half of adults in the U.S. having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and the numbers rising steadily, businesses are

Takeaway:The processed food industry has become incredibly sophisticated in the way it gets us to eat more of what it makes. Estimated Reading Time: 1 minute, 37s. For this week’s podcast episode I sat down with Michael Moss, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Salt Sugar Fat and now, Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions. Hooked is an incredible book: a deep dive into

So how do organizations employ a listening strategy and send the right messages? Further, how do they ensure that employees across all levels trust that they can provide honest feedback, that their feedback will be addressed and at the same time not impart fear into those who the feedback is about? How can these unintended

Takeaway: Information competes for our conscious attention: the web of thoughts with the greatest activation is usually the one where we direct our attention. The calmer our mind, the fewer thoughts we generate in response to what happens in the world—and the greater the odds that intuition will speak to us. Estimated Reading Time: 4