5 Tips to improve your personal productivity

Mike Richardson, Managing Director EMEA

I have spent the last few days taking some time to look at our forthcoming release of Maximizer CRM, which is due in the next couple of months. Given our recent push at Maximizer around productivity in business, and the associated benefits a well set-up CRM solution can give to SMEs, I naturally concentrated on the productivity aspects that the updates and new features offered. Of course, I am happy to report these are all very good and definitely worth a review if you are currently using our product, however it struck me that the real key to productivity in business is not a software solution or the way a person is managed, it actually all comes down to personal discipline, enjoying your job and starting the morning looking forward to the day ahead.

Taking a look at your own personal work ethic and organisation can reap dividends in terms of results and performance, and of course, supporting your daily routine through use of an effective CRM solution will also make things easier.

Here are my top five tips for ensuring personal productivity:
An old cliché, but true… Always eat a good breakfast: breakfast does set you up for the day and ensures you start your work routine with high energy levels and an associated sense of purpose

Start the day by reviewing your goals: when scheduling these, ensure to rank the hardest tasks first, whilst your motivation is at its highest

Don’t get distracted by emails or discussions with fellow employees that lead to lesser jobs throughout the day

Keep meetings short, 15 to 30 minutes, and always have an agenda: if the meeting starts to move away from the agenda or drags on, it’s best to close the meeting and re-convene once additional background work has been done. Always have actions resulting from the meeting and delegate responsibility for these tasks

If you are a Manager, truly learn the art of delegation and don’t get dragged into taking back the work or assisting the person who has been tasked with the work if you don’t like the way they are doing something. Give the delegated person scope to complete the task and then gently advise afterwards how they could improve the way they did it next time.

There are of course lots more suggestions and this list could go on, however as with organisation of your personal working time, keep the number of tasks low and the time available to do them high, this way you will see results – and results are in themselves a self-motivator.