Author: PPM Academy

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Creating High-Performing Teams

Creating A High-Performance Team Through A Healthy Workplace Culture

Creating A High-Performance Team
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For companies to create a healthy culture, they must have good leadership. When good leaders are in charge, they hire the right people to form high performing teams. Companies with teams that perform well achieve top results. Here’s how to build a high performance team through a healthy workplace culture. 

1. Establish a Clear Vision 

Teams that perform at a high level know what their goals are and what they want to achieve. They have: 

• Focus 
• A particular set of priorities 
• Purpose 

High performing teams set goals for individual members and the team as a whole. These goals support the company’s mission statement and vision to ensure that their work drives success. As a project manager, you can create a high performing team by making sure that goals are aligned and clearly expressed. 

Developing high performing teams requires project managers to understand how people operate at a biological level. The popular saying “There’s no I in team” is essentially wrong. Every person comes with his or her own thoughts, ideas, perspectives and skills. These attributes impact how a team operates. 

2. Know Your Company’s Core Values 

How to build a high performance team? Know your company’s core values. An organization’s principal values reveal its heart. When you know and honor your company’s core values, you’ll be able to support its mission. Popular core values include: 

• Collaboration 
• Integrity 
• Trust 
• Respect 

A healthy company culture considers and continuously embraces its values during every interaction. On your part, it’s important to demonstrate them during meetings, when holding one-on-one sessions and in written communication. 

These days, technology has made it possible for you to work with your team virtually. While this is convenient, keep in mind that the human brain is meant for in person interactions. The brain reads another person’s meaning and intentions by noticing tiny changes in their body, face and even pheromones. This information is lost when you communicate with them using technology. Even if you’re using a video, you won’t be able to pick up on everything that you would in person. 

If the current state of the world has you and your team still working from home, try to connect with them in person occasionally. Meet up for lunch, dinner or coffee to touch base and support team relationships. 

3. Be a Leader Who Adds Value 

When leaders serve those on their team as well as their company’s customers, they add value. As a leader, be sure to appreciate the talents of those you work with. Encourage your team and make sure that they’re okay. Leaders who genuinely care for their employees support a healthy work culture. 

A leader who pays attention to and knows about the personal lives of others will be able to connect with people on a deeper, more powerful level. Not only will this leadership quality impact how your employees see you and how they work with one another, but it also allows you to connect better with your colleagues. 

Add value to your team by asking members how things are going at home. If you know that they went on vacation recently or that someone in their family has been ill, then ask them about it. When you show an interest in people, you can build a connection with them that often extends to how well they perform their work tasks. 

When you make an employee feel appreciated for completing a work task, it triggers neurotransmitters in the brain and releases dopamine. The release of dopamine floods the body with a feeling of pleasure. Over time, people start to connect the work task with the feeling of pleasure. 

4. Listen to Your Staff and Colleagues 

You’ll do your part to support a healthy work culture by being a leader who listens. Good leaders offer resources to their workers. They also give them a voice. When leaders turn to fear and threats to push their staff to work better or harder, they usually end up increasing employee turnover and causing the company to spend more to hire and train new employees. 

Effective leaders embrace active listening. This means paying attention to what another person is saying to you and responding with phrases that let them know you are hearing them. For instance, you could respond with something like, “I understand what you’re saying. Let’s see what we can do.” 

Be sure to tackle communication with compassion and understanding. Every human has a need for others to hear and understand them. Keep in mind that it’s a privilege to guide others, and as a leader, you are the one who sets the tone for your company’s culture. Value your staff and know that many of the work decisions you make impact their lives. The most important company asset is its people. They are the ones who keep it running well or operating poorly every day. Make sure that your team is helping it run well.  

Creating a high-performance team involves understanding a bit about brain science. There is compelling evidence that trust, inclusion and objectives impact a team. This means that you can facilitate the right conditions to support sincere collaboration within the team and create a group of people who work well together. 

5. Think Empowerment and Engagement 

Companies that have a healthy workforce culture believe in empowering their employees. They make sure that the people who work for them have the proper tools, skills and training to use their own good judgment to make work decisions. Research has found that when employees feel empowered, they experience higher engagement levels. 

A Healthy Workplace Culture Creates High Performing Teams 

Creating a high-performance team requires a healthy workplace culture. Support and develop a healthy workplace culture by adding value as a leader, empowering your employees and establishing a clear vision. For additional direction, contact me at the Productivity Intelligence Institute. I can help.

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Actionable Insights

Turning Customer Feedback into Insight

Customer Feedback
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An important part of management is putting customers first. Doing so improves customer experience and increases profits. To put customers first, you’ll need to make decisions about what to offer and when to offer it. The key to determining this is to find out what they want. Once you know, you can turn customer feedback into actionable insight. 

About Customer Insights 

Customer insights are an analysis of measurable and accumulated data that’s been collected using consumer feedback and other informational sources. Once you have this information, you can use it to make informed business decisions. The goal of using customer insights is to pinpoint behavioral trends to assist your company’s advertising efforts, sales numbers and customer service strategies. 

What are the Best Ways to Obtain Actionable Insights?

The best ways to obtain actionable insights include: 

• Customer surveys 
• Social media interactions 
• Online reviews 
• Third-party data 
• Real-time testing 

Customer Surveys 

Net Promoter Score, or NPS, surveys make it easy to ask your customers about your services or products. You can post surveys on your website or send them to your customers directly via email or text message. You can even create them as an interactive form that you offer during special events. 

Social Media Interactions 

Another good place to go for actionable insights is social media. Keep your company’s social media pages active and current. Be sure to post relevant information and images that will appeal to your customers. If people ask questions using your social media pages, do your best to answer them. Be sure to assess your company’s social media interactions alongside the things that your customers are saying about your products or services on appropriate forums and websites. 

Online Reviews 

A great place to obtain customer feedback is from online reviews. Download analytics solutions software to help you evaluate online reviews and transform them into actionable insights. You can even check the online reviews that your competitors are receiving for a different angle. After collecting this information, upload the data into your software for an analysis. Compare the results for better product or service development. 

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Third-Party Data 

If you don’t have enough customer feedback for insights, obtain more through market research collected by third-party organizations. This information will give you an understanding of your industry’s current customer trends. Use it to identify the issues that your customers are experiencing. With third-party data, you can create better advertising campaigns, come up with fresh products or services and provide great customer service. 

Real-Time Testing 

With apps, online experiences and websites, you can obtain actionable insights about the needs of your customers using real-time testing on particular areas of their platform experience. Testing lets you see how your consumers are interacting with your platforms. For instance, you’ll be able to see how easily they’re able to navigate your system and find what they need. 

Why Do Companies Need Customer Insights?

Customer insights will help you determine what issues your consumers are having with your services or products. Quantitative numbers obtained from direct data will help you figure out what types of issues are happening while qualitative information from your customers will tell you why. 

Tricia Wang, a renowned global tech ethnographer, which is a specialized area in the anthropology field, gave a memorable TED talk. During it, she pointed out that billion-dollar big data industries are unable to be effective without qualitative human insights. When she held a research position for Nokia, she watched the telephone company fail because it didn’t listen to its customers. You can learn from their mistakes. 

Gathering both quantitative and qualitative information is critical to making the most from your consumer feedback, but make sure that what you’re gathering is something that you can take action on. 

Keep in mind that when companies embrace a strong feedback culture, they accept and act on feedback from their employees, which usually results in a positive work environment. Businesses often see higher profits when they listen to their workers, so employ actionable insights with them too. 

A Different Approach to Actionable Insights 

These days, project managers are searching for different ways to collect actionable insights. They want more than just numbers from traditional surveys. The landscape is complex and so are consumers. Getting to the heart of customer behavior and what motivates them requires a multilayered approach that includes several methods. When you take an actionable insight to this level, you’ll be making it easier for your customers to make decisions using better information. This results in improved customer experiences. It also decreases buyer remorse. 

Neuromarketing is an approach that many companies are using to gain insight into the motivations of their consumers. Neuromarketing is the process of considering physiological and neural signs to obtain insight. Advertising experts can use this information to develop better advertising campaigns, improve products and set up more attractive pricing. 

Brain scanning and physiological tracking are the most popular ways to gather information for neuromarketing. Brain scanning measures neural movements while physiological tracking measures eye movement and other areas. 

Academic studies have found that brain information can forecast the potential of products more accurately than traditional advertising tools like focus groups and surveys.  

After Collecting Data 

To make feedback insights actionable, be sure to categorize the information, assess the data and review the root causes. Categorizing the data will help you convert it into quantitative insights. Assessing the data will help you reveal insights about it while reviewing the root causes will help you determine if your products or services need updates. 

Increase Profits with Actionable Insights 

Actionable insights will help you increase profits by showing you how to improve your products or services. If you need help reading the data, then contact me at the Productivity Intelligence Institute. I would love to work with you.

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Artificial Intelligence

How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming The World?

Mechanized Industry Robot And Human Worker Working Together In F
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Harness the Power of Artificial Intelligence to Boost Your Productivity

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have transformed today’s workplaces. A recent report in the Harvard Business Review found that AI has become “mainstream technology” in over 80% of businesses, and 55% of companies sped up this trend during the COVID-19 pandemic. Artificial intelligence benefits companies by automating routine tasks. Used correctly, it can help your productivity soar.

Beyond Routine Tasks

These advances are not limited to mundane, routine tasks. Artificial intelligence examples now include advanced processors that can automate even high-level customer service, marketing, and healthcare tasks.

Scientists are working on ever more sophisticated ways to combine what we know about AI and neuroscience. They find that advanced AI processors can emulate the way the human brain works. According to one report, “As AI takes enables neuroscientists to obtain further insights into how computation works in the brain, the effort might lead to machines that can take on more human-like intelligence.”

Do You Fear the Future?

The transformation of our workplaces can seem like a terrifying scene from a science fiction movie. Are highly intelligent robots really going to take over our workplaces?

Anxiety about future changes isn’t abnormal. In fact, according to a study of neuroscience by the American Psychological Association, some people’s brains are more wired to view the future with fear than others. These people are more prone to anxiety and more likely to view “uncertainty and ambiguity” as threatening.

Knowledge Is Power

Does that mean you’re doomed? Not at all. The researchers also said this anxiety reflects “a desire for predictability,” which means your fears will be lessened if you know what to expect. In other words, knowledge is power, and power makes you productive.

Knowing how to position yourself for an AI future will help you grow as an employee, business owner or project manager. Here are some steps to success you can start adopting now.

This course is designed for Project and Program Managers, PMO Executives, Decision Makers, Consultants, Executives and project team members who have been tasked with oversight, implementing and the operations of their organization’s Portfolio Management capability

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Artificial Intelligence Benefits: 5 Steps to Success

1. You don’t have to go big

One mistake many people make is thinking a new technology means making a radical transformation to their work processes. In fact, studies of major corporations and small businesses have found that the major benefits of AI come from smaller initiatives.

Some of the best artificial intelligence examples use AI to handle routine tasks. Using an artificial intelligence robot to answer emails, transfer data, and read standard documents is a huge timesaver. It frees executives to concentrate on more creative, “big” ideas. If you can delegate routine tasks to AI technology, do it and watch your creativity reach new heights.

2. Understand the technology

Understanding which types of software perform specific tasks is essential to getting the most from any new technology. There are three types of AI.

Process automation: This is the most common type used in businesses. It uses robotic processing to complete routine tasks like entering data, reconciling billing systems, or reading legal documents and standard contracts.

Cognitive insight: Powered by machine learning, this process uses algorithms to detect behavioral patterns in the way people use data. It can process huge amounts of information to, for instance, predict what a particular customer is likely to buy, direct targeted advertising, or provide accurate actuarial predictions.

Cognitive engagement: This is the least common and most complex way to use AI. One example is an artificial intelligence robot that can solve customer service issues, answer standard employee questions about benefits, and supply product recommendations to retailers in ways that enhance customer engagement.

3. Get expert help

The first step is to identify which processes you want to automate. Robotic processors and deep learning systems each solve different problems. Which are most pressing to you? Understanding what you need is the first step in understanding what kind of technical help you need. Consult your in-house IT team or a software consulting company to get some clear ideas about how to get started.

4. Learn from the best artificial intelligence examples

You don’t have to start from scratch. When you think about ways to enhance your productivity, learn from others who have paved the way. The biggest companies and brightest scientific minds in the world have developed amazing ways to use artificial intelligence benefits. Reading about these will spark ideas you can use.

5. Prepare yourself for change

According to an analysis by the McKinsey Institute, about half of all workers’ tasks could be automated. This affects routine physical work, but it also applies to higher-level, skilled work. The same report found that this will displace more than 400 million workers.

At the same time, artificial intelligence creates new jobs. Millions of new jobs may soon exist in areas like healthcare, infrastructure, and technology. How do you prepare yourself to meet a challenge that could affect your job or business? If you’re prepared to adapt to these changes, you’ll get ahead of the trend and secure your future. Develop your skills now to be in a solid position for the future.

Change Presents Opportunities

The future may be filled with possibilities, but knowing how to make the most of them can be difficult. The more you can predict the challenges you’ll face, the better you can position yourself to meet them.

At the Leonard Productivity Intelligence Institute, we help clients face all their productivity challenges. Contact us if you want expert guidance on any aspect of your work life. Our team can help you prepare to meet the future with strength and a sense of purpose.

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Artificial Intelligence

What is Artificial Intelligence?

What is Artificial Intelligence
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Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a collection of several different technologies that are designed to work together for the purpose of empowering a machine to do things that humans do like sense, understand and take action. There are many different definitions of AI because it is more than one thing.

AI and the Human Brain

Researchers still don’t know everything about the human brain. AI and deep learning are helping them understand it better. It’s common knowledge that the body is a complicated entity, one that features organs, neurons, glands, cells, and tissues. The brain directs the body so that its different parts can work together seamlessly.

The brain is the control center when it comes to the elements that people can command like speaking, making decisions, and moving. It also oversees what people don’t control consciously such as breathing, blood circulation, and digestion.

Artificial intelligence and neuroscience can enrich what researchers know about the human brain. AI may be able to determine how the brain stem, cerebrum, and cerebellum can be elevated using advanced medicines. AI may even be able to help researchers develop healthcare techniques that could cure ailments like Tourette’s syndrome or OCD.

Unlocking the Brain’s Hidden Abilities

Neurological experts are currently researching how the human brain sends sensations to different areas of the body to direct different movements. New studies through AI may allow health professionals to unlock the brain’s hidden abilities. By obtaining a better understanding of the different lobes in the brain, health professionals may be able to tackle conditions like paralysis and other movement-related issues that people experience around the world.

AI can provide medical experts with more information about the structure and function of the human brain. With this information, neuroscientists are working to develop better brain stimulations for training purposes. In addition, AI offers enhanced pattern recognition, which can make it possible for research experts to test new ideas more efficiently. If AI reveals the brain’s hidden abilities, neuroscientists can improve how they treat the brain and the body.

How AI Will Change the Way People Do Business

Many global CEOs believe that AI will change the way that people do business in the next five years. In fact, an estimated 63% of them believe that AI will have a bigger impact than the internet. Right now, technology as well as additional environmental factors are inspiring change. These factors are increasing change to a level where many businesses are struggling to keep up. Businesses cannot continue to function in the same way as they have in the past and expect to stay relevant. Keep in mind that artificial intelligence increases productivity and eases workloads.

For instance, in the financial services sector, AI and automation are starting to perform the mundane tasks that humans were doing. However, some companies appear to be reluctant to turn that work over to AI and automation entirely. This means that leaders must shift their attention toward inspiring their workforce. As a leader, you’ll need to make your staff feel connected to a bigger picture, one with more purpose. This will encourage your people to look forward to a better way of doing things.

Research has shown that employees don’t need every detail about the company’s path forward, but they do need their leaders to be transparent about the problems that they’re facing at work, or you can give them the freedom to identify problems to help develop solutions. One of the main elements of employee experience involves trust. When you involve your workers in making decisions that impact their job or work environment, you establish trust. Employees need the space to understand why decisions are being made.

Use AI to Fight Back Against Employee Burnout

If you notice a decrease in an employee’s performance, then this may be a sign that the worker needs additional mental or emotional support. When you use AI-inspired tools, you can engage with your worker to get to the bottom of the issue and offer him or her some help. This can be a better option than an automatic disciplinary action plan for poor performance.

You know that one bad workday, week, or even a full month doesn’t indicate that you’ve hired a bad worker. Instead, focus on ways to help your employees deal with challenging times. You could also wind up with a worker who is performing at an exceptional level. They might be starting work earlier than before or staying later to put in more hours. If your staff is still operating remotely, then you might have a harder time catching this. If you review the worker on paper, he or she might appear to be performing better than the rest of your staff, but burnout could be close to happening.

When using artificial intelligence in project management, you can create AI models that are capable of mimicking burnout behavior, letting you step in before it happens. AI will draw your attention to the additional hours and advise you to have a discussion with your worker to see how they’re doing. People want to work more when they are trying to avoid something that’s happening in their personal life, or they might have a team member who is assigning them unrealistic workloads.

Use AI Responsibly

As you begin using AI to help your business operate more efficiently, be sure to use it responsibly. Set up AI in ways that protect the privacy of your employees, keeps things fair, and provides transparency. When it’s used wisely, AI will help you manage productivity loss, employee burnout, and turnover. Investing in your people is always a good business practice.

Welcoming AI into Your Everyday Business Processes

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are helping businesses operate more efficiently, but it’s important to help your current staff embrace technological changes. I can help you develop a strategy. Contact me at the Productivity Intelligence Institute today.

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Reduce Stress

7 Foods That Reduce Stress

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Stress is something that affects everyone. Even if you’re typically calm, stress will likely impact you at some point during your life. Along with the mental anguish that comes with stress, it can also cause you to experience physical pain. While it’s common to treat stress with yoga, meditation or bubble baths, there are also foods that reduce stress and anxiety. These seven foods can reduce your stress levels. 

1. Dark Chocolate 

Dark chocolate may be your favorite food option when it comes to battling stress. It is full of flavonoids, which are plant compounds that contain a variety of health benefits like decreasing the body’s cortisol release. To receive the most benefit from dark chocolate, purchase a bar that’s 70% to 80% cacao. A high percentage of cacao provides you with more fiber and essential minerals. 

According to one study, those who ate around 1.5 ounces of dark chocolate each day for a two-week period had fewer stress hormones in their bodies. The great thing about using chocolate for stress management is that it offers you a positive chemical and emotional reaction. Most people enjoy the flavor of chocolate, so eating it is generally enjoyable. Foods for relieving stress are a natural way to handle challenging life moments. 

2. Leafy Greens 

Foods for relieving stress include leafy greens. If you decide to eat leafy greens to reduce stress, be sure to buy swiss chard, spinach or fresh kale. These leafy greens contain folate, which is a vitamin that helps your body generate dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine and serotonin are feel-good chemicals. 

When you’re experiencing a high amount of stress continually, your brain will start to generate more stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. The brain will also produce less neurotransmitters that help with relaxation and create happy emotions. The good news is that eating more leafy greens can help your body reestablish its hormone levels. If you eat a salad with three cups of spinach, you’ll be ingesting almost half of the daily amount of folate that nutritionists recommend.  

3. Seeds 

Foods that reduce stress include seeds. They are high in Omega-3 fatty acids, which is a nutrient that helps support your body’s cells. Omega-3 fatty acids also provide the support that your body needs to produce the type of hormones that manage inflammation. 

There is a connection between your gut and your brain. When your brain is busy planning the agenda for your next meeting, your gut’s brain, which is referred to as the enteric nervous system, or ENS, is managing and monitoring your digestion. To break down food, the ENS releases enzymes that control the blood flow that your body needs to absorb and eliminate nutrients. 

The ENS doesn’t think thoughts like your brain does, but it communicates with your brain. For instance, people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome or other kinds of bowel problems may experience intense emotional shifts that the ENS triggers. In the past, medical professionals thought that depression and anxiety caused gut problems, but it may be gut problems that are causing depression and anxiety. 

4. Black Tea

Drinking a mug of black tea can help people recover from stressful situations faster. One study comparing people who drank tea to those who didn’t found that the tea drinkers were calmer and had lower cortisol levels than those who didn’t. Holding a warm cup of tea can make you feel calm and relaxed. 

For even more stress relief, drink lavender or chamomile herbal tea. These herbs feature relaxing properties. If you need caffeine to remain focused, try drinking green tea. This type of tea supports brain health because it’s filled with flavonoids just like chocolate. 

5. Avocados 

Knowing which foods reduce stress will help you treat high tension situations naturally. Avocados are a great way to get the important vitamins and minerals that your body needs to be healthy. This includes vitamins like C, B6, E and K. Avocados also contain riboflavin, folate, magnesium, niacin, pantothenic acid and potassium. 

Avocados have been connected to an improvement in diet quality as well as a better intake of nutrients. They can even decrease your risk of developing metabolic syndrome, which is a set of conditions like obesity and high blood pressure. 

6. Almonds 

Almonds are jam-packed with useful vitamins. For instance, they contain vitamin E, a nutrient that supports your immune system. Almonds also feature B vitamins, which work to make the human body hardier when it’s dealing with moments of stress or depression. To gain the most benefit from almonds, try to eat a quarter cup of them daily.  

What you choose to eat can make your body feel better or worse. If you develop unhealthy eating habits, then the food that you consume could heighten your stress levels. To keep your stress levels as low as possible, eat foods that reduce stress and anxiety. 

7. Raw Vegetables 

Foods that reduce stress include raw vegetables. Snacking on raw vegetables can decrease your stress in a mechanical way. When you chow down on a celery stick, slice of green pepper or carrot stick, then you can relieve the tension that develops when you clench your jaw. 

After adding raw veggies to your diet, you may be inspired to start exercising. It can be tough to remain active if you work inside an office during the day but prioritize it as much as possible. Even a short walk will decrease stress and improve your physical and emotional health.  

Food Can Help You with Stress 

By knowing which foods reduce stress, you’ll have more ways to manage the condition. If you need support or guidance, contact me today. I can help you deal with the excess stress in your personal life and at your job. 

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Streamline Processes

7 Steps To Streamline Processes

DeClutter Your Life
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How to Streamline Your Business Processes in Six Steps

It’s time to face the fact that business people tend to overcomplicate things when it comes to operating a business or handling a project. Whether it involves establishing work assignments, setting up quality inspections, overseeing a project, or reviewing a to-do list, managers and teams frequently make processes more complex than they should be. If you think that you’re taking too many steps to get things done, it’s time to consider ways to simplify. Here’s how to streamline your business in six steps.

1. Assess Your Company’s Workflow

It may seem unlikely, but many project managers don’t know the ins and outs of their company’s work processes. To improve workflow, make a list of every process required in each area of the business. Do this to determine how your company operates and to see where things are becoming cluttered.

Discuss work processes with your employees. Be sure to ask them for feedback on the best way to streamline processes. Review every element and record the details. Once you’ve documented your company’s current workflow, you’ll be able to spot the bottlenecks, loopholes, redundant actions, and nonessential work. This will give you information about what is working well and where the business is struggling.

2. Pinpoint Important Focus Areas

After assessing the results of your company’s current processes, rate each one according to importance. Make it simple by rating them on a scale of 1 to 10. This will make it easier to pinpoint your business’s important focus areas. It also shows you where you can improve workflow. For instance, in some organizations, creating a better system for the warehouse and developing a way to keep the area maintained may be the highest priority. In other businesses, forming a customer retention management team could ease the workload for the sales associates.

According to Felix Oberholzer-Gee, a Harvard Business School professor, organizations focus too much of their attention on creating a strategy instead of how to streamline processes. This creates conflicting priorities. To resolve the problem, project managers should focus their attention on satisfying the business’s customers and its employees.

3. Break Your Work Processes Down

Streamlining processes requires you to break them down. Make each work process smaller and more manageable. Often, projects experience delays due to dependencies and the decision stages. This happens because the work process is too complex.

Make the steps as simple as possible. Break each one down into separate steps and work only toward the outcome that you need. Neuroscience and psychology research confirms that management is about how decisions are made. Some decisions are more challenging to make than others. Making good decisions when you need to make them relies on your reasoning and willpower abilities.

To confirm that your products or services are working as well as they should be, check with your clients about their pain points. Use this information to streamline processes better. For instance, if your customers feel as though they have to wait too long to receive their product or service, then you’ll want to look into ways to improve this. You may need to hire more employees or give your employees more power to make decisions.

4. Make To-Do Lists According to Particular Goals

It’s impossible to plan without a goal, so be sure to establish clear goals to streamline processes. When you have a goal, it’s much easier to make informed decisions without enduring extensive mental stress. General goals waste time. Once you’ve selected a goal, work backward to create your to-do lists.

Lists are incredibly helpful in encouraging you to take action. You’ll know what needs to be done and when. Lists help you remain on task and prevent you from missing important steps.

5. Implement Automation Where Possible

How to streamline processes? Implement automation where possible. The most popular way for businesses to track and oversee their workflow processes is by using work management software. Automate where you can. Powerful software programs and apps include advanced features that will make your company’s complex operational processes smooth and easy.

When you implement automation, your business will use less paperwork. You may even need fewer staff members since these types of programs to automate data entry and processing.

By streamlining processes, your employees will likely be more productive. This kind of reorganization will give your workforce an accurate idea of their everyday tasks and the assignments given to them. Your workers will be able to increase their focus and improve their work quality.

After you streamline operations, your company will be able to satisfy its customers and make work less frustrating for its staff. Streamlined operations also lower costs and make it possible for the business to do more using the same number of resources, which will make the shareholders happy.

6. Conduct a Test

After deciding how to streamline processes, conduct a test to make sure that everything is operating as predicted. You may need to make modifications. To test the changes that you’ve decided on, assess how your new processes operate live in the workplace. Try it out when you start working on your next project and review how each part of the new process works.

Keep in mind that changes take time to settle in, so be patient. Give it time to work. Evaluate how effective each workflow process is to confirm that everything is working as you intended. Give yourself the flexibility to make any needed changes.

7. Embrace Simplicity

How to streamline your business? Do it by embracing simplicity. Project managers who embrace simplicity will find it possible to streamline operations. When you eliminate unneeded actions, you’ll save time and money. If you need additional support or direction, contact me today. I can help.

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Managing Virtual Teams

Leadership Skills For Managing Virtual Teams

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While some industries were testing the pros and cons of their employees working remotely prior to the arrival of Covid-19, the work option wasn’t a focus like it is now. The pandemic took the world off guard, and today, many people are working from home without the proper support. Here’s what you need to know about developing leadership skills for managing virtual teams.

1. Let Go of the Micromanaging Mindset

Instead of overseeing your team from a controlling mindset, place your ego on the backburner and acknowledge your vulnerabilities. Be okay with the idea that you won’t have all of the answers. Embrace a humble attitude and welcome a childlike interest.

This different mindset will help you focus on common achievements by noticing and influencing varying skills, perspectives, and cultures within your team. When you release a micromanaging mindset, you’ll be better equipped to lead multicultural teams, which are more common with remote work. If you have a multicultural team, then it’s extremely important to be able to identify and manage conflict.

Tap into your sympathetic and empathetic side. When you genuinely care about the people you’re leading, it’s easier to develop trust, which is what people need to perform effectively. It’s important to realize that working remotely comes with different challenges. For instance, if you attempt to reach someone and they don’t answer right away, this doesn’t mean that they aren’t working.

Pay attention to your communication skills when leading people remotely because you won’t have the same methods available. Keep in mind that people communicate with their body language, mouth, and eyes. Misunderstandings are more likely to occur with remote leadership.

2. Offer Transparency

Leadership skills examples include embracing open communication. Create a transparent environment, one that allows each worker to take initiative without concern. As a leader, do your best to form a path that allows clear communication. This step will strengthen proactive actions and encourage responsibility.

When you provide a transparent environment, you’ll remove uncertainties about the company. You’ll also give your workers a greater sense of control during tough times. This will keep your employees feeling connected since they’ll be focused on a common goal. They will also feel like they’re a part of something important. Transparency will help you build a stable company culture.

3. Become Comfortable with Technology

These days, technology is imperative to running a company. Leadership skills examples for managing virtual teams include becoming comfortable with technology. This requires more than just being skilled at using the tools needed for virtual meetings or being familiar with live chat apps. Successful virtual team managers oversee the digital changes in their divisions. They also prioritize turning the latest technological advancements into calculated decision-making procedures and invest in technology that will improve productivity and implement their talents better within the team.

Provide training for your team. Make sure that your people know about any new products or services that are being rolled out. Also, when new technology becomes available, schedule time to train your people. According to a survey that included 440 employees from eight different businesses, an estimated 60% of the companies didn’t offer virtual team training. Specialized training will send people off to work at home more prepared. You can make sure that they know how to operate everything and how to do their jobs properly.

4. Be Consistent and Fair

As a virtual leader, it’s important for you to be consistent and fair when making decisions. Your team will be more productive if they can predict how you’ll react to situations. When leaders run things consistently, employees feel freer because they know that within particular limits, they can do what’s needed to get their jobs done.

If a manager is unpredictable, then his or her workers won’t know what they can or can’t do. This will make your staff feel restricted. It will also make your workload bigger. Consider an organizational restructure. Employees need to understand what’s happening with it and how it will affect them.

Make sure that you’re providing your people with as much certainty as you can. For instance, if you tell someone that you’ll get back to them by a particular time, then do it. Even if you don’t have an answer, contact the person to notify them of this.

5. Develop a Remote Team Culture

Managing virtual teams includes developing a remote team culture. While it might feel tired to use icebreaker questions and participate in games that help people get to know one another, you can make them fun and meaningful. Look for ways to bring your employees together using virtual apps. Catch people off guard by asking unusual questions. You could even invite team members to participate in a virtual run/walk, one that they can do as they wish.

Set aside time to get to know each member of your team personally. Ask them about their families and what they like to do for fun. When you’re meeting with them, see how their weekend went and if they’re doing okay.

6. Make Yourself Available

One of the toughest parts of managing a team remotely is that you’ll be missing out on in-person communication. When you’re with someone in person, you can tap into how the other person is feeling by paying attention to their voice tone and facial expressions. This ability is lost when people are communicating remotely. Make sure that your employees know when you’re available. Be there when they reach out to you with questions or concerns.

Leadership Skills for Virtual Teams

Developing leadership skills for virtual teams requires creativity and a willingness to tweak your in-person management techniques. For additional assistance, reach out to us at the Productivity Intelligence Institute.

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Make More Money

5 Ways To Make More Money Today

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Evaluating Five Ways to Make More Money Today – How You Can Earn More Money and Increase Productivity

If you want to make more money, you need to implement multiple strategies that will improve your productivity, maximize your profits, increase attentiveness and reduce your expenses. You may also utilize affiliate marketing, offer consulting services, and sell numerous types of products. Moreover, you should create a social media profile, and after you customize the profile, you may promote many products, accept paid sponsorships, offer promotional codes, and improve the reputation of your business.

Utilizing Affiliate Marketing

Once you join an affiliate network, you can evaluate advertisers that offer cutting-edge products, local services, many types of links, and numerous incentives. Some advertisers will also provide custom advertisements, and you may utilize advertisements that feature detailed pictures, promotional videos, and a call to action. These advertisements could quickly increase sales, generate many leads, and improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaign

The affiliate network will provide custom links, and after a visitor clicks the link, the system can automatically place a cookie into the browser. The cookie contains software that may track the customer, evaluate the interests of the client and store important data. When the customer purchases relevant products, the software can evaluate the custom link, and the affiliate marketer will receive a substantial commission.

After the marketer generates many leads, the business may increase the commissions by more than 50 percent. Sometimes, the company could also provide a monthly bonus.

Managing Social Media Profiles

Typically, you should create a social media profile that features several advertisements, which will promote your business. The social media page may contain many testimonials, relevant links, and promotional videos, and you could post pictures that show multiple types of products.

The social media profile can increase sales, improve the reputation of your business and generate many leads. Once the guests view the social media profile, the visitors may share links that are related to your business, and consequently, the new links could consistently increase your website’s traffic.

If you manage a popular profile, many companies can provide paid sponsorships, and you could post numerous advertisements that will describe multiple products, local services, or well-known businesses. Before the companies offer paid sponsorships, the businesses may inspect the social media page, estimate the number of followers, evaluate the comments and examine the interests of the visitors. Subsequently, the companies could determine the value of each sponsorship, and the businesses may offer sponsorships that are worth more than $5,000.

Offering Consulting Services and Helping Numerous Businesses

Many companies frequently hire experienced consultants who can provide valuable information. The consultants could evaluate how to make more money, and the experts may describe strategies that could improve brand awareness, decrease several types of expenses and increase the effectiveness of each marketing campaign. The consultants can also evaluate the needs of customers, and the specialists could describe products that may interest the clients.

The consultants will estimate the values of many products, and the experts can study numerous trends that could affect the clients, local businesses, the prices of the products, and the overall supply of the products. The consultants may also evaluate economic news, competing companies, the opinions of customers, and innovative products.

Sometimes, a business will pay consultants more than $100 per hour. If the experts provide useful information, the company may frequently request new consultations, or the business can provide a detailed contract, a monthly salary, and numerous types of incentives.

Selling Multiple Types of Products

Many businesses have created innovative websites that sell custom products, cutting-edge services, and monthly subscriptions. Once you create an online store, you could design landing pages that will promote the products, and each landing page may contain excellent reviews, a detailed video, several pictures, and a call to action.

The website can feature tools that will allow the clients to customize each order. The customers could quickly purchase multiple products, evaluate numerous types of shipping, view the online cart, and choose a payment method. Additionally, the clients can check the status of each order, and after the company ships the package, the business should provide an email that contains a tracking number.

Increasing Productivity and Utilizing Neuroscience

While you manage a business, you should create a positive workplace, provide substantial incentives and recognize the accomplishments of many employees. Typically, a positive workplace can improve productivity, reduce chronic stress, stimulate creativity and promote teamwork. A positive environment could also increase the loyalty of employees, and an excellent workplace may substantially improve the reputation of the business.

According to multiple neuroscientists, most companies should offer rewards that can motivate employees. If a business provides substantial incentives, the employees could increase focus, promote teamwork, improve innovation and create new solutions. The experts described how to make extra money, and the researchers indicated that the incentives can consistently stimulate the production of dopamine within the brain. Dopamine is a natural compound that could stimulate neurogenesis, and the neurotransmitter may enhance well-being, reduce chronic stress, improve motivation and increase energy.

Generally, you should provide clear-cut goals, and you can evaluate daily tasks, the duration of each project, the costs of the project, and various types of rewards. Once a company creates multiple goals, the business could increase productivity by more than 20 percent. After a business evaluates how to make more money, the company may also help the employees to create efficient teams, and the teams could complete important tasks, evaluate numerous types of obstacles, increase motivation and achieve many goals.

Evaluating Our Services and Requesting a Free Consultation

Our business provides consulting services that can help large corporations, project managers, online entrepreneurs, and local companies. Once you visit our website, you may examine how to make extra money, and you could evaluate many strategies that could consistently maximize productivity, increase motivation, improve the cohesiveness of a team and reduce downtime. If you would like to request a consultation, you can submit our contact form, and an experienced consultant could answer your questions, evaluate your needs and schedule an appointment.

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Thought Leadership

Secrets To Leading Others Through Influence To Get More Done With Less

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Choosing Influence over Authority to Do More with Less

For much of the twentieth century, businesses used a top-down approach to organization. Employees in an upper management position had authority over workers down the chain. In some cases, this arrangement led to tyrannical managers who used their power to hire and fire as leverage to get work done.

Flexing your authority may be a necessary tactic in a crisis, but more businesses are seeing the wisdom of developing influential leaders. Leaders with the soft skills to persuade and inspire are more likely to receive higher performance, greater commitment and longer tenures from their team members.

Traits of an Influential Leader

Some people are born leaders. They bring a charismatic personality along with the ability to articulate a clear vision. People are more receptive to a leader whom they like and admire. You may not have been born with all the traits of an influential leader, but you can develop them over time.

Passion

Leading others through influence involves passion. Your team members assume that you are an expert in your field who will do the necessary work with focus and zeal. Passion is contagious, and employees will mirror the enthusiasm of their leader.

Responsibility and Self-Motivation

In a top-down authority structure, those beneath the leader typically receive the blame for failed projects. Influential leaders take responsibility for their mistakes and work with the team to grow from them. Such leaders know how they fit into the organization, and the rest of the team can count on them to honor their commitments.

Self-Awareness

Influential leaders know their limits and hire employees accordingly. They have the confidence necessary to admit when someone else on the team has expertise. In this way, they demonstrate how to lead a leader and cultivate leadership within the team. 

Engagement

There can be a fine line between micromanagement and engagement. Influential leaders are aware of how a project is unfolding, but they do not control every step. Often, the leader gathers information by asking questions in an informal conversation with employees rather than disrupting the day with formal meetings.

A Role Model

Influential leaders provide leading examples for their teams. By reliably carrying out their parts of projects, they develop credibility and trust. Engaging other team members with a hands-off approach fosters an atmosphere of creativity and productivity.

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Traits of an Influence-Centered Workplace

Your workplace culture will reflect the example you set as a leader. An office is a place of business, but it does not need to be a place that employees endure for the sake of a paycheck. Influential leaders develop an atmosphere that brings the best performance from staff members.

Low-Stress Culture

Strong, authority-centered structures tend to use fear and anger as motivators. Employees will meet goals to avoid negative consequences. In this workplace, employees frequently trigger the stress response as they try to struggle with tight deadlines or quotas. Work is exhausting, and they can hardly wait to leave at the end of the day.

Low stress does not mean unproductive. Instead of fear, employees work with a shared vision. The influential leader sets the example, and the others follow. Leaders who listen will also acknowledge the realities of life. Long-term employees should not be nervous about asking for extra time to do a better job.

Empowering Curiosity and Creativity

In a low-stress environment, employees have the freedom to experiment in ways that can improve productivity. One of the most important leading examples is acknowledging mistakes and failures gracefully. Influential leaders know that failure can teach as many lessons as success. Employees in such a workplace are encouraged to learn more about their fields and look for innovative solutions to daily problems.

Positive Atmosphere

Neurological hormones shape the way that people feel. The anxiousness of stress stems from hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Feelings of satisfaction and reward come from the release of dopamine and serotonin. When employees feel appreciated and know that they are engaged in meaningful work, it triggers these positive hormones. As employees begin to associate positive feelings with the workplace, they will grow in enthusiasm for their jobs.

Growth Mindset

Influential leaders recognize that things can always be better. They are constantly on the lookout for ways to streamline processes and encourage team members to embrace innovation. Instead of dwelling in the comfort of what they have always done, they seek innovation to do it better.

Group Process

In an influence-centered workplace, team members trust that their opinions matter. They are free to discuss and even disagree with leadership. The group recognizes that every team member brings different gifts and expertise.

Secrets for Establishing Your Influence

Leading others effectively requires improving your soft skills and reframing your understanding of authority. Pursuing these changes will improve the productivity and general atmosphere of your business.

Listen to Your Staff

People are willing to listen when they feel heard. There is much more to the life of an employee than what you read on a job application. When an employee speaks to you, put down whatever else you are doing and pay respectful attention. 

Observe Patterns and Preferences

As you move from station to station at your workplace, take time to notice what is happening. How do your employees approach the task at hand? Some people are content when working alone, and others thrive with a partner. Employees will feel appreciated when you take these natural patterns into account.

Align Their Passions with Your Vision

Once you learn more about your staff members, it is time to bring them on board with your vision. If you can make connections with your mission and their passions, you will find that there is greater excitement about the job. Rather than employees who work for you, you will develop team members who promote your vision.

A Helpful Resource for Leading Others

At the Productivity Intelligence Institute, my focus is on helping entrepreneurs become the best leaders they can be. If you wonder how to lead a leader or grow in your personal leadership style, I can provide tools and training to get you on your way. Feel free to reach out for an initial consultation.

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Brain Hacks

Brain Hack Secrets for Productivity Professionals

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How do people achieve success? According to research, successful people develop a vision, continue to try after failing and are honest. Along with these positive characteristics, people can become successful in life with brain hacking. Here are seven hack secrets to train your brain for success. 

1. Think About Tomorrow Today 

Successful people prepare for the next day before they leave the office. Before leaving work, or logging out from your computer at home, take about 10 minutes to prepare for tomorrow. Make a list of the top three things or projects that need your attention the most the following workday. 

Sort your tasks to determine what you can complete quickly. Then, do them first the next day. This will eliminate them and free your brain to focus on the things that are more important. 

2. It’s Okay to Say No 

Become comfortable saying no to limit your obligations. This allows you to focus on the important stuff. People who struggle to say no often experience depression, burnout and added stress. Steve Jobs once said, “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on, but that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are.” 

3. Make Time for Your Health 

When you exercise, your brain releases endorphins. This helps your brain solve problems more effectively and helps with creativity. You can also hack your brain with meditation. Those who meditate enjoy inner calm, which works to break down the brain’s mental walls or emotional limitations. 

Eat a diet that’s filled with omega-3s and good fats. Including these nutrients in your diet will ensure that your brain’s dopamine levels remain active. It will also boost your cerebral circulation. 

Make sleep a priority. Try to get 6 ½ to 8 hours of quality sleep each night. Good sleep will help you be more alert and attentive. 

4. Embrace Feedback Loops 

In management, it’s important to embrace feedback loops. Look at your results and consider ways you could have improved them. Do this even if your results were successful. This brain hack will help you achieve even greater results for your next project. 

Become comfortable questioning yourself. Also, be open to feedback from others. Pursue preferably adverse feedback. This is always hard to hear, and it will be hurtful, but you’ll likely benefit the most from it. 

Take steps to hire people who have the skills and training to give you consistent and honest feedback. Tighten your feedback loop as much as you can for greater efficiency and speedier implementation. That way, you’ll be able to create a better overall product or service. 

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5. Keep a Consistent Work Schedule 

Hack your brain by creating a consistent work schedule. The brain loves a schedule, and when you choose work hours, you’ll be conditioning your brain to prepare to work at certain times of the day. You don’t have to work in full 8-hour blocks if your management job doesn’t require you to. 

If you’re working from home, consider splitting your day up into two sections. For instance, work from 9 am until 2 pm, and then, take some time to do something for you or your family. Complete your additional hours toward the late afternoon or early evening. The brain hack is to keep it consistent each day. 

6. Know Your Brain 

The human brain attaches to the spinal cord. The reticular activating system, or RAS, is located at the base. This part of the brain manages cognition. It is also responsible for filtering out around eight million pieces of information that enter the brain. Basically, the RAS gets rid of the white noise. When a message filters through your brain’s RAS, it is sent to the cerebrum where the message is categorized as a conscious thought, emotion or both. 

What messages are sent to your cerebrum? Any messages that are important to you will be allowed to enter your cerebrum. For instance, if you are preparing a presentation, then the RAS will permit thoughts that will help make it successful such as resources that will work to make your presentation memorable. 

Familiarize yourself with your brain’s fundamental cognitive functions and harness them for your productive needs. These functions are your: 

• Reasoning skills 
• Problem-solving abilities 
• Knack for planning 
• Execution expertise 

These functions are the perfect mixture for workplace productivity. However, the brain works best when you simplify things. While multitasking is often touted as a great ability, when you try to do several things at once, you’re holding your brain in a processing mode instead of in a thinking one. Decrease your choices as much as possible. 

Keep in mind that the brain’s neurotransmitters drop in the mid-afternoon, which is another reason to start each day with your most challenging tasks. 

7. Energize Properly 

Brain hacking involves staying energized and excited about projects while avoiding overstimulation. If you’re not excited about a task, then you probably won’t do it very well. On the other hand, when you start getting close to a deadline, you become more energized to reach it. 

Keep in mind that you can become too energized, which may harm your performance. Some stress is helpful, but too much can cause the kind of anxiety that will hurt you. Try to keep yourself near the tip of being energized but not overstimulated. 

Brain Hack Secrets for Success 

Take advantage of how your brain works by keeping your goals near the top of your mind. Document your goals each day, visualize what you want to happen and stick to a schedule. When you follow these steps, your subconscious mind will continue working toward achieving them. For guidance on how to hack your brain to achieve success, contact us at the Productivity Intelligence Institute. We work to help managers gain positive results for their companies.