Author: PPM Academy

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Entrepreneurship

How Entrepreneurship Contributes To Economic Development 

How Entrepreneurship Contributes To Economic Development
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Five Ways Entrepreneurs Contribute to the Economy 

When we talk about entrepreneurs, we often focus on the success stories of certain individuals. We often forget, however, that these entrepreneurs and their businesses contribute to the overall economy of a city, town, or country. In the same way, fostering your entrepreneurial traits can enhance your contributions to your company. 

1. They create jobs

This is the chief way it the economy. Successful businesses grow, and this growth requires new employees. These employees spend money on goods and services in their local businesses. Communities flourish, and this cycle creates even more opportunities for everyone.

In a recent United Nations report, the authors predict that “Entrepreneurship will contribute to growth and employment creation in advanced, emerging, and least developed economies alike. “

2. They create the need for more businesses

A successful business needs support services, and fellow entrepreneurs will rise to meet the challenge. There are many examples of this. During the recent pandemic, restaurants and other retailers relied on delivery companies to keep their customers happy and their businesses operating. If you have successful businesses somewhere, you typically also have grocery stores, restaurants, transportation companies, and other service businesses.

2. They drive innovation

Successful entrepreneurs respond to emerging trends and needs by creating products and services that answer those needs. The best entrepreneurs are those who can predict those trends ahead of time. We can thank these forward-thinking innovators for creating products that make our lives easier. 

Lou Costello, head of regional markets for PNC Bank, writes, “Many of the products and services we rely on in our professional and personal lives weren’t around 10 to 20 years ago, especially technology advances. The results of entrepreneurship and the innovations that come with it are now the basis for the entire economy.”

4. They foster social change

Entrepreneurs help transform societies by developing new ways of doing business. According to an analysis by the Duke Sanford Center for International Development, companies that focus on social innovation have transformed the way we think about conducting business: “These changes are associated with improved lifestyle, generous thinking, better morale, and higher economic choice. In this way, social changes gradually impact national and global changes.”

5. They help companies become more successful

Entrepreneurs are not only found in startups or individual businesses. 

“Intrapreneurship” refers to people in companies and organizations who have an innovative, entrepreneurial mindset. When these independent spirits have the room and the flexibility to experiment, the company benefits enormously. Creative solutions help everyone succeed.

How to Foster Your Entrepreneurial Spirit

While every entrepreneur has a different approach to business, they share certain characteristics. Most people with this mindset are:

• Tenaciously focused on their goals
• Self-confident and optimistic
• Able to find creative solutions to problems
• Willing to take chances

If you are looking for proven techniques to enhance your work skills, contact the Leonard Productivity Intelligence Institute. We help business leaders, project managers, and executives transform their work lives by becoming more engaged, more creative, and more productive.

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Creating High-Performing Teams

What Makes a High-Performing Team Work?

Building high-performing teams
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Considering how specialized roles and skillsets have become over the years, it’s rare for one person to be able to accomplish everything in an organization. Because of this, collaboration is the most important part of the modern workplace. People need to work as a team and form something that is greater than the sum of its parts. However, getting team members to work together in a way that is conducive to the organization’s goals can be a challenge. You want teams in your organization to reach their full potential, so you should check out this overview of the most crucial aspects of building high-performing teams.

The Right People

No two team members are exactly the same, and someone who doesn’t fit in with the team can seriously hold the team back. To build high-performing teams, you must first make sure that you have good hiring practices to filter out employees who aren’t driven, skilled, adaptable, and amicable. If you’re building a small team, you should ask frontline managers and other professionals about how people get along in your organization. With this information, you can avoid building teams consisting of employees whose personalities clash.

Clear Objectives

Even the most skilled and driven employees won’t accomplish much if they aren’t given clear and achievable goals to work towards. Furthermore, managers must clearly outline each team member’s role and responsibilities. If team members begin to find certain aspects of their objective unrealistic after some time, then you may want to set a new target. Sometimes, you can go into a new project aiming for the stars, but reality doesn’t always align with a manager’s initial expectations. If you’re unable to shift the objective, then you should try to give the team more resources to reach their difficult goal.

Efficient Meetings

Different teams need different kinds of meetings to be as productive as possible. For example, a team of specialized professionals who won’t benefit from top-down micromanagement may get more out of daily scrums than standard meetings. In contrast, a group of entry-level employees might not have the self-direction or skillset necessary to make the most out of a daily scrum meeting, so another kind of meeting may be more suitable. No matter what kind of meeting you’re conducting, you should try to waste as little time as possible on unnecessary chit-chat and tangential topics. The shorter your team’s meetings are, the more time they’ll have to work towards their objectives.

A Lot of Trust

For a team to make progress, people need to be open to constructive criticism. Moreover, team members must feel comfortable sharing their input with the manager. Without the ability to openly and honestly discuss issues that the team is dealing with, those issues will never go away, and the team will be inefficient. To foster trust, you should encourage a culture of openness and allow everyone to speak without judgment at meetings. On top of that, it’s important for managers to recognize their team members’ efforts and show appreciation for their hard work.

Foster the Right Environment To Improve Your Team’s Performance

Every team is different, but the principles for building high-performing teams remain the same. Without suitable team members, clear objectives, defined roles, sensible meetings, and a healthy amount of trust, your organization’s teams will never reach their full potential. Therefore, if you find your teams lacking in one of these areas, then you need to consider the underlying causes and find a way to fix them so that your teams can operate at peak efficiency.

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Artificial Intelligence

Will Artificial Intelligence Take Over

Artificial Intelligence
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More and more big players in the tech field are talking about artificial intelligence and its implications for humanity. Some say that it will push the species towards new horizons. Others claim that AI is a threat to humanity’s long-term survival. If you’re uncertain about all of the commotion surrounding artificial intelligence, then you should keep reading to better understand how it will shape the future and what to consider when exploring AI solutions for your enterprise. 

Will AI Take Over the World?

Most of the public figures who claim that AI will overtake humanity or somehow rule the world likely don’t even believe that idea themselves. These people have a very simple agenda. By making such bold statements, high-profile individuals and organizations can get a lot of attention with very little effort. In turn, AI-driven search algorithms across the internet boost their content for more people to engage with.

Ironically, the people who insist that AI will dominate humanity are actually manipulating AI-driven technologies for their own gain. This illustrates that, although AI is a powerful tool, it achieves nothing without human intent behind it. Under no circumstances will AI have the autonomy and self-direction to lord over humanity. Even if scientists were to develop an AI technology that is comparable to the human mind in its ability to think and act on its own, there would be multiple safeguards in place to minimize its influence over the world.

Will AI Harm Workers?

Less dramatically, some people assert that AI will make so many jobs obsolete that people might have a hard time finding work in the future. While new technologies may render some tasks too inefficient to perform manually, they don’t eliminate workers entirely. For example, the invention of the chainsaw did not result in fewer jobs. Instead, the chainsaw streamlined the process of cutting wood and increased overall productivity. As a result, the adoption of the chainsaw allowed foresters to focus on more important tasks, and it ended up generating more jobs in wood processing, transportation, administration, and other fields. 

AI-driven technologies will have a similar effect. While some routine tasks may become obsolete, workers will simply spend more time performing other tasks. Consequently, your company will be more efficient and prosperous, so it can offer higher wages and hire more employees. Job descriptions may gradually change, but workers don’t need to worry about being sent to the breadline by AI. The human mind is simply too complex and adaptable for AI to replace.

How Should Organizations Adopt AI Technologies?

As your organization expands, you may want to use AI-driven technologies to streamline processes and increase efficiency. However, there are a couple of things to consider before adopting any software or new technology. Firstly, you need to be sure that the product is secure. What is the seller’s history? Have they had any data breaches? What kind of encryption do they use? If you’re too eager to use a new product without asking these important questions, then you may put your company’s sensitive information at risk.

Secondly, you need to understand what the product or service actually does. Some companies that market AI-driven products often include a ton of technical jargon in their marketing materials to impress buyers who don’t really understand the AI field. If you’re entirely sure about what a product does, then you should consult with a professional in the industry to make a more informed decision. Otherwise, you may end up paying for something that your organization doesn’t need. 

Good Companies Adapt to New Technologies

No matter how you feel about it, AI will likely become more important over time. After all, experts project that AI will contribute nearly $16 trillion to the global economy by the end of the decade. While you may be excited to adopt new technologies to make your business more efficient, you must always remember to do your research and spend your firm’s money wisely. The uncertainty that comes with the emergence of new AI technologies may be frightening. However, as long as you keep an open mind and are willing to adapt to changing conditions, your organization will thrive no matter what the future holds.

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Cultural Intelligence

Cultural Intelligence In The Workplace

Cultural Intelligence
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Why Cultural Intelligence Is a Crucial Part of Any Workplace 

As international commerce continues to expand, the average business can expect to interact with a more diverse range of people. These days, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to interact with a buyer from Sri Lanka, a supplier from Tanzania, and an employee from Lebanon all within a matter of minutes. Most companies’ employees will likely engage with people from many cultures, and nobody wants their workers to make any cultural faux pas. Thus, if you want your business to be more inclusive and succeed in the global marketplace, then you need to read this helpful guide on cultural intelligence and how to make it an integral aspect of your workplace culture.

What Is Cultural Intelligence?

Interests, values, and social norms vary widely between social groups based on income, religion, nationality, language, and several other factors. All of these different aspects of a person’s cultural background influence how they understand and interact with the world. Cultural intelligence is the ability to understand these varying customs, see the world from multiple viewpoints, and effectively navigate sociocultural differences.

Why Is Understanding Other Cultures So Vital?

Considering the global nature of the modern business landscape, it’s more important than ever to be able to understand and work with all kinds of people from around the world. First and foremost, you don’t want members of your organization to accidentally offend customers, suppliers, or other employees by being ignorant of their cultural norms. Moreover, products, services, and marketing campaigns will perform differently among different social groups. In an era where global commerce continues to expand, organizations must understand their target markets and the cultures of their suppliers to maintain long-term prosperity.

How Can You Promote Cultural Sensitivity Within Your Business?

Building and maintaining intercultural competence isn’t as easy as hosting an occasional seminar or hiring a specialized HR professional. Your organization also shouldn’t just emphasize cultural sensitivity in public-facing roles. To build effective intercultural competence within your organization, you must integrate cultural sensitivity into every aspect of the workplace. 

This means that you should have regular multicultural training programs for all employees. Teams that engage with people of a certain culture must have a deep understanding of the culture in question. Your company’s employee handbook should have clear protocols for how to deal with instances of cultural insensitivity. The marketing department must develop an in-depth understanding of all of the different regions and sociocultural groups that it aims to appeal to. To succeed in the modern business landscape, your organization must take a holistic approach to cultural sensitivity. Otherwise, your company will not be able to compete as different groups continue to gain greater representation in the global marketplace.

Intercultural Competence Is Integral to Success

A good workplace culture can’t exist without inclusivity and cultural sensitivity. The days when companies only interacted with and appealed to narrow groups of people are over. Without strong intercultural competence in every facet of your organization, it will not be able to sustain long-term success. Therefore, if your company doesn’t have a solid framework to build and maintain cultural sensitivity, then your managers and executives need to work together to come up with a plan before it’s too late.

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Projects Programs and Portfolios

Why is Projects, Programs, and Portfolios in Strategic Organizational Transformation Important

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Projects programs and portfolios in strategic organizational transformation are important. They are important because they work together to ensure that a company reaches its strategic objectives. While each one has its own set of goals, aligning your projects, programs and portfolios makes your company more resistant to market shifts.

What Factors Impact Alignment?

A company’s projects determine its profitability. Projects are also what companies use to meet their goals. Many businesses establish a project management office (PMO). They do this to make sure that they are achieving their objectives. This division is also key in developing criteria for choosing projects that keep groups working toward the same goal.

Companies that use this type of strategy usually begin projects that provide a better Return on Investment (ROI). For project managers, the strategy makes sure that each of the projects aids their standing within their companies. This strategy also supports them when it’s time for a promotion.

If a project should fail to meet a company’s overall planning goals, then it would be a drain on its resources. The situation would also likely impact profits. This means that prioritizing and choosing a project is an important part of a portfolio’s strategic alignment.
Link- https://www.saviom.com/blog/what-is-the-strategic-alignment-of-portfolio-and-why-is-it-important/

Large and small organizations run differently in today’s economy than they did in the past. According to the Harvard Business Review(link), several decades ago, organizations typically dedicated 80% of their resources toward operations and 20% for projects. These days, that percentage has flipped.

Creating a Resource Distribution Strategy

For most projects programs and portfolios, resources tend to be limited. Once a company’s planning team has chosen a project and prioritized it, leadership must determine and distribute the proper resources to develop the project. Creating a resource distribution strategy is an important task, one that ensures that a company will be able to meet its goals. The task also works to maintain productivity.

When a company develops a resource distribution strategy, it will send important resources toward various projects instead of just focusing on one major project. A resource strategy will also help you avoid overloading your resources and possible conflicts.

If a company’s resources aren’t distributed properly, it may result in the company initiating more projects than it can handle. The company may wind up overwhelming its workforce and causing harm to employee performance and engagement levels.

As a PMO, it will up to you to determine project accountability and develop an oversight committee. This strategy helps different divisions align. A PMO’s job is to make sure that the company doesn’t begin new projects until the proper resources are available. Organizational transformation will help you create a consistent strategy.

The Benefits of Strategic Organizational Transformation

When you implement strategic organizational transformation within your business, you’ll be aligning the company’s different areas. With strategic alignment, a company can make the best use of its people, financial resources, and other assets. For guidance, contact me at the Productivity Intelligence Institute.

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Agile Leadership

Agile Leadership vs Servant Leadership

Agile leadership vs servant leadership
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How Agile Leadership and Servant Leadership Fit Into Your Organization

There are hundreds of ways to manage employees, and you want to choose the right management style for your organization. However, with so many options, deciding on any single approach can be very difficult. Lately, agile team leadership and servant team leadership have become extremely popular in innovative organizations.

Each leadership style has its advantages, but which one is right for your team? Do your managers need to adopt a new style of leadership? Is there still value in the traditional way of doing things? You need your workers to be as productive as possible, and you don’t want the wrong management philosophy to hold them back. Therefore, you should check out this overview of agile leadership, servant leadership, and traditional leadership to make an informed decision when choosing management styles for your organization’s teams.

How Does Agile Leadership Benefit a Team?

An agile leader strives to decentralize power and eliminate unnecessary obstacles to their team’s success. Under agile leadership, managers still provide firm direction, but they avoid micromanaging team members and try to stay out of their way whenever possible. This management style emphasizes adaptability, open communication, and experimentation, and it works well in teams where members are capable of thinking for themselves. Moreover, for agile teams to work, there should be a lot of trust between team members and managers. Members of agile teams typically feel less stress and are more willing to provide valuable input that can help the team pursue their goals more efficiently.

How Does Servant Leadership Benefit a Team?

The role of a servant leader is mainly to facilitate coordination between team members. They often organize daily scrums, which are 15-minute meetings where team members quickly check in and address emerging problems. During the daily scrum meeting, servant leaders only step in to maintain focus and moderate the discussion. They also act as a liaison between their team and the rest of the organization. This leadership style is especially effective in teams with specialized roles that work on very complex problems, and members of a servant leader’s team should have a ton of experience and be highly capable of self-direction. Under such circumstances, a traditional manager might not understand the work enough to provide helpful top-down leadership. Instead, they’re more likely to get in the way. 

Should These Methods Fully Replace Traditional Management Styles?

Servant leaders and agile leaders can streamline processes and increase productivity when team members are capable of self-direction. However, not every team will benefit from these leadership styles. Sometimes, a top-down approach is necessary to sustain your team members’ focus and achieve specific goals. Teams that contain many entry-level workers or focus on basic and repetitive tasks won’t gain anything from agile management or servant leadership. In fact, the level of autonomy involved in these methods may confuse workers and decrease productivity. Thus, a traditional management style may be more suitable for such teams.

A One-Size-Fits-All Approach Will Hold Your Business Back

While an agile leader may be helpful in one context, they may hold a team back in other situations, and traditional management won’t get the best results from a team of experienced professionals who know how to work autonomously. You may be tempted to latch onto the trendiest management style and apply it to your entire company. However, your organization’s needs are more complex and varied than any single management philosophy can handle. 

Instead, it’s better to mix management styles within your organization to effectively facilitate each team’s unique goals. Running a business isn’t a simple affair, so you should never try to fit your organization’s operations into one narrow framework. With that in mind, next time you’re thinking about how to run a team, make sure to carefully consider the benefits and drawbacks of each management style before coming to a decision. Your workers will be happier and more productive as a result.

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Actionable Insights

Actionable Insights with Amazon Quicksight

Amazon Quicksight
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If you need to make an educated decision for your company and don’t want to search through a ton of data, Amazon QuickSight may help. What is QuickSight? It is an analytics platform that’s set up in the cloud. The program makes it easy for you to obtain business insights quickly and affordably. 

What are the Features of Amazon QuickSight? 

Amazon’s actionable insights platform is available anytime and from anywhere. The program is set up in the cloud. This means that you can use it from all types of mobile devices and from any browser that you have available. 

Amazon’s platform also lets you select your source of data. Regardless of the application or source that you prefer to work with, Amazon has the technology to link to it. 

With Amazon’s program, you don’t have to be an expert in data analytics. Amazon’s insights platform makes it easy for you to create visualizations. You can also use it to complete assessments and develop insights. Amazon’s program is one that you can use regardless of your technical skills. 

While the establishment and growth of big data is an amazing tool, most people have more material than they can ever effectively use. When you look at it from an advertising perspective, it’s common to see multiple reports filled with data. Work reports draw data from multiple sources like emails, websites, searches and even social media. 

In comparison to the abundance of data that’s available and being used, insights are hard to come by. These data-driven determinations are a valuable tool for businesses. Actionable insights are different than unprocessed data. For a company to gain access to insights, they need people with different work skills and technical knowhow to develop them. This makes Amazon’s program even more useful. 

How to Use the QuickSight Platform

QuickSight runs using Amazon Web Services. The connection makes it easy for you to set up the platform. The program’s direct setup allows you to begin forming assessments and visualizations right away. QuickSight comes with a built-in solution. It is called the “Super-fast Parallel In-memory Calculation Engine” (SPICE). This feature includes an in-memory optimized measuring system that you can use for data assessment. 

SPICE stores information on Amazon’s cloud platform. It is available for you when you need it. Amazon provides each account holder with 10GB of SPICE capacity. 

QuickSight includes tables that you can use to quickly analyze your data. The SPICE feature of QuickSight will help you keep your data analytics current. You will need to activate the automated refresher feature to keep everything up to date. The program also lets you customize your visuals and edit the filters. 

Developing insights is challenging but incredibly powerful. Companies that use them will be able to improve their product or service. This is also something that can help you improve customer experiences. 

To develop insights, you’ll need to have a way to collect data. You must also connect, manage and assess the information. With statistics, reporting info and visualization tools, you can produce the insights your company needs. This will help you improve your products or services, and it will help you make your company more competitive. 

Actionable Insights 

Amazon QuickSight can help you assess your data and transform it into usable information. If you need help or direction, then contact me at the Productivity Intelligence Institute. I can help you with Amazon’s program. 

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Managing Virtual Teams

How to Manage Virtual Teams for High Performance

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Remote work has become very common in recent years, and it will likely become more popular over time. Thus, managers must understand how to work with virtual teams. Managing virtual teams can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. You don’t want to let your company down, so consider the four following ways to coordinate with remote workers more effectively.

Use the Most Effective Means of Communication

Different methods of remote communication are better for different circumstances. For example, if you need constant updates on a team member’s progress, then sending emails back and forth might not be optimal. You’d get more accurate and timely information by arranging periodical calls instead. Using a suboptimal means of communication will annoy your team members and decrease their productivity, so make sure to carefully consider your options before opening your next dialogue.

Hold Regular Team Meetings

Even though you’re not working together in person, it’s still important to conduct regular meetings. This will allow everyone to engage in discussions and deal with emerging challenges before they spiral out of control. Different teams should meet at different times, and the frequency of meetings should reflect each team’s unique needs. For example, the HR team probably won’t need to meet more than once per week to touch base. However, the marketing department may have to meet multiple times per week to deal with each stage of implementing a new campaign.

Set Clear Goals and Expectations

Remote work is makes micromanagement very difficult. Employees are unhappy and less productive when managers hover around them, so this is a good thing for your team. However, for team members to succeed without constant supervision, they need to know what you want from them. Therefore, you have to present clear goals and expectations while delegating specific tasks to the most capable team members. When team members know what they’re supposed to do, they’ll be able to efficiently organize their workflow and deliver results with little micromanagement. You may have to check in and answer some questions now and then, but setting the right expectations will allow you to mostly take a hands-off approach and focus on more important aspects of your business.

Maintain Team Members’ Trust

Working remotely can be frustrating at times, and team members may run into unexpected obstacles in the process. To effectively navigate the challenges of virtual collaboration, everybody should feel comfortable expressing their concerns and sharing potential solutions. However, if your team members do not fully trust you, then they may be reluctant to speak with you or other team members about serious problems. Consequently, you won’t be able to promptly address emerging issues, and productivity will suffer.

High performance is only sustainable with a lot of trust and cooperation. Therefore, you must make sure to always maintain an atmosphere of trust with your team members. To achieve this, you should be transparent about your decisions and remain open to criticism. Most importantly, your team members have to know that they won’t be punished for expressing themselves.

Achieve High Performance With Smart Management

Managing virtual teams can sometimes be difficult. Nonetheless, as long as you have clear expectations, effective communication, and plenty of trust, your team will thrive. Remote work is here to stay, so if you want to be an effective manager in the modern workplace, then you must constantly brush up on your skills and keep your team’s happiness in mind.

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Reduce Stress

How to Reduce Stress and Anxiety like a Navy Seal

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Stress won’t only ruin your productivity, but it can also negatively affect your health and long-term mental wellbeing. As an entrepreneur, you likely face a variety of challenging situations every day, and you might be afraid that your business will fall apart at any moment. While a little stress can push you towards your goals, you can’t let it rule your life. However, you might not know how to reduce stress effectively. You deserve to be happy and healthy, and you don’t want to feel anxious all the time, so keep reading to uncover the secret technique that Navy Seals use to reduce stress and anxiety in all kinds of situations.

How Navy Seals Tackle Stress

Navy Seals can’t afford to break down in combat, so they need to know how to reduce stress quickly and effectively. When Navy Seals find themselves in difficult situations, they practice box breathing to calm down so that they can handle the hectic world around them. Box breathing is super easy yet very effective; the entire process only involves a few steps. First, lightly breathe through your nose for four seconds while mentally focusing on the gradual expansion of your lungs. Then, take a deep breath.

Hold your breath for four seconds. Slowly exhale through your mouth over a four-second window. Concentrate on the air leaving your lungs and passing through your mouth at this stage. Take another deep breath, hold it, count to four, and slowly exhale. Keep repeating the process until you feel better. Eventually, you will calm down and be able to think more clearly. Even if you have to repeat all of the steps several times, the entire process shouldn’t take more than five minutes, so it’s a super convenient method to reduce stress and anxiety for busy entrepreneurs.

How Box Breathing Works

Oxygen is an integral part of human life, and the amount of oxygen in your blood affects the production of stress-related hormones in your brain. Box breathing resets the biological processes in your heart, brain, and lungs by regulating the flow of oxygen through your body. In turn, your brain will decrease its production of stress-inducing hormones, and you can resume your day with a reinvigorated spirit.

What To Do if Your Stress Doesn’t Go Away

Although box breathing is an extremely effective technique, it might not work for everyone. If you’re not seeing results after trying these breathing exercises, then you need to seriously investigate the causes of your stress and anxiety. Have you undergone any major life changes recently? Have you failed to address a major source of friction in your life? Can you make any healthy lifestyle changes to mitigate your anxiety?

If you have no answers to these questions, then your negative feelings may be a symptom of a serious medical problem. Many people struggle with stress as a result of a cardiovascular issue or mental disorder, so it’s a good idea to see a doctor as quickly as possible if your stress won’t subside. Otherwise, your stress won’t go away, and your health may spiral out of control.

Deal With Your Stress Before It’s Too Late

Chronic stress can severely impact your health. Under certain circumstances, it may even lead to a heart attack. You only get one life, and you shouldn’t have to succumb to anxiety whenever it strikes. Thankfully, box breathing can reset your mind to help you enjoy a more productive day without stress and anxiety.

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Streamline Processes

Developing Operational Excellence Requires Streamlining Processes for Efficiency 

Operational Excellence
1,498 Views

Streamline Processes for Efficiency and Operational Excellence 

The modern business landscape changes more quickly than ever. For this reason, companies need to operate as efficiently as possible. Even if your teams are very effective, there is always room for improvement. Luckily, your business doesn’t need to spend a ton of money to increase productivity. Instead, you can simply follow these five important steps to streamline processes for efficiency.

Analyze Current Processes

What do your current processes look like? You must focus on every aspect of the current way of doing things to understand its strengths and weaknesses. As you track your team’s performance through all of the stages of a process, you’ll likely notice bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities. It’s important to take detailed notes of all of your observations so that you can revisit them when you’re ready to optimize the process.

Understand Your Clientele

Knowing how your company operates from the inside isn’t enough. You need to know how your customers interact with your business to get a fuller understanding of your organization’s processes. What do your customers want? Do they avoid a certain part of your store or website? What do they enjoy about your services? To answer these questions, you should watch customers as they walk through your store, send out questionnaires, and pay close attention to your sales data and online analytics. Once you have a better understanding of your customers’ preferences and behaviors, you can easily adjust your organization’s processes to satisfy their needs. 

Set Clear Targets

What do you intend to achieve by adjusting a process? No matter what your goal is, you need to set measurable standards to accurately assess a new process. Instead of simply wanting a process to be quicker, it’s better to use exact numbers or percentages. For example, if a process takes five days to complete, then you might want to set a new goal to do it in four days without sacrificing quality.

Modify Procedures

Now that you have actionable goals, you can finally start tweaking your process. After consulting with relevant personnel and analyzing the weaknesses of the current process, you should determine which aspects you want to modify. Then, you can develop a new process and share it with your team.

Test, Revise, and Repeat

Once your team understands the changes to the process, it’s time to put the new way of doing things to the test. As the team carries out the updated method, you should repeat the first two steps to assess the effectiveness of your modifications. At the end of the test, you can determine your success by seeing how your team measured up to its goals. If the new process underperformed, then you’ll need to start over and use whatever insights you gained from the test. However, even if your changes were effective, you should still try to find ways to improve the process over time. 

Streamlining Processes Will Improve Your Company

You don’t want your company to stagnate. While the old way of doing things may seem good enough at the moment, an inability to adapt will cause your organization to fall behind. Therefore, you must consistently streamline processes for efficiency. That way, your organization will always maintain a culture of excellence and stay ahead of the competition.