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Productivity How Can I Achieve It
| Guest post by: Cheryl McDuffie James |
Article Overview: If you are an entrepreneur or business professional who wants to increase their overall productivity? This article provides 5 steps that will assist you to increasing overall productivity for yourself and team.
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Free Download - The Illusion of Authentic Leadership: Where Did the Morals and Trust Go? By Cheryl McDuffie James |
Productivity How Can I Achieve It
In today’s economic climate, entrepreneurs everywhere are exploring various avenues that will result in getting the most out of their resources. The term “Productivity” has become a constant in our daily vocabulary. It’s time we ask ourselves, what is “Productivity” and how can we achieve it.
Webster’s defines “productive” as “yielding or furnishing results, benefits, or profits”. As business owners our energies are targeted towards this goal. It is through our ability to produce results, provide benefits, and grow profits that we measure our success. Now that we understand what being productive is, let’s explore how we can achieve it.
No matter what type of business you are in, “productivity” begins with you as the business owner. Here are five steps that will assist you in achieving productivity:
1. Write down your top 3 personal and professional goals for the year.
By writing down your top goals, you have started the first step in the “productivity” cycle. You have taken the time to determine what really matters to your overall success. Your success as an entrepreneur is dependant on your personal and professional success. You are not a pie that is meant to be sliced into individual pieces, you are “one” person who is meant to carryout multiple possibilities!
2. Develop “action’ steps for your top 3 goals.
A goal doesn’t result in success without a plan on how you will achieve it. For each goal, develop an action plan to include the “3 W’s”, what, when, and where. The steps required for you to achieve success lies in the 3 W’s. This ensures that your goals are not just thoughts or desires, but that your goals are ready to put into action!
3. Incorporate “measurement” tools to monitor your success.
Setting a goal and developing an action plan are great starts to success, but if you don’t have a way to measure how well you are doing in achieving your goals, then how are you to know if you have been successful? Incorporate simplistic daily “measurement” tools into your plan. These measurements can be as simple as tracking daily sales figures, number of daily sales calls made to customers, or number of daily referrals generated. These simple measurements can provide immediate gratification or identify “gaps” in achieving your overall success plan. This helps to ensure that you celebrate your small wins and refocus when needed.
4. Get others involved in the process.
One of the biggest pitfalls to entrepreneurship is a lack of delegation and buy-in. Don’t allow yourself to fall into this trap. Share your goals, action plan, and measurements with your entire team. Enlist their feedback as it relates to the action plan and measurement tools that you have developed. Who knows they just might add some real value to the process! Remember your success as an entrepreneur is not just dependent on your goal achievement, but more so on how your team achieves. Customers, suppliers, and employees are all part of your team and they are the key to your success!
5. Celebrate and Go back to #1.
It is important that we celebrate our successes, no matter how big or small. It is through the “celebration” process that we reenergize and keep everyone’s motivation levels up. Share successes with the entire team, let customers and suppliers know that specific goals achieved resulted in increased productivity, benefiting everyone. This will set you apart from the pack; they will see how diligent you are in ensuring that you provide the best product or service, in the most efficient way. And just like a game of “Monopoly”, go back to step 1 and start all over again. This ensures that you are in a constant mode of being a productive entrepreneur, while driving your way to success!
It’s important to remember that your ability to achieve productivity is a key component to your overall success. The road to achieving a productive life is not complicated. It doesn’t require the latest fad, books, or tapes; it begins with a computer or pen and paper. Now stop procrastinating and let the games begin!
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Article Tags: achieving your goals, action steps, avenues, business owner, business owners, desires, economic climate, entrepreneur, five steps, matter what type, measurement tools, possibilities, professional goals, professional success, profits, term productivity, vocabulary, webster
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About the Author: Cheryl McDuffie James RSS for Cheryl's articles - Visit Cheryl's website Our client services include a full range of business and leadership development services including one-on-one & team business coaching, customized professional development programs, professional facilitation, process management services, and small group seminars as well as speaking engagements upon request. We provide our clients with the tools they require to improve results, achieve goals, and get more out of each interaction. The firm is led by Cheryl McDuffie James, Managing Director, with over twenty years of experience in the areas of Finance, Marketing, Sales, Consulting, and Process Management. Her experiences were achieved in several industries including, Telecommunications, Pharmaceuticals/Biotech, Restaurant, and Consumer Foods. She serves as Course Instructor for Leadership & Organizational Behavior as well as Section Adjunct of Finance and Marketing for an undergraduate distant learning program. In addition, she serves as Business Contributor for a regional, quarterly magazine for professional women and provides leadership & business development coaching for professionals at all levels including MWBE owners. Ms. James has a BS in Accounting and a MBA. She is also a recipient of multiple sales and leadership awards. Click here to visit Cheryl's website   The Illusion of Authentic Leadership Where Did the Morals and Trust Go Productivity How Can I Achieve It Which Seat Should I Take |
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Your expression Eliminate; Automate; Delegate is easy to remember and will certainly stick in my mind. There are many good business ideas out there but they will ultimately run into difficulty without proper planning and execution so these tips will certainly help.
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