Cutting EDGE Productivity

To our blog readers: The content for Living the EDGE is switching gears to stay in tune with emerging practices that are aligned with new trends and tools, and how The Effective Edge is strategically planning and implementing these. We thank you for your readership and commitment to your best personal productivity. We hope you enjoy the new features: Our Favorite Things and Newsworthy in Productivity.

Our Favorite Things
What are we excited about?

Currently, "Start With Why" is being circulated around The Effective Edge by CEO, Christina Randle. Book author and speaker, Simon Sinek challenges leaders to ask the question to inspire everyone to take action. Christina feels that it's an inspirational approach for any organization that needs to go beyond the "what and how" about a business and it's existence.

At The Effective Edge, when we ask ourselves, "Why do we do what we do?" Do you agree that the answer is our Mission Statement?

"We are dedicated to inspiring our clients,
colleagues and associates by giving them the tools
to take back their lives and awaken possibility."

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Elliot Masie and The Learning Consortium are spear-heading "Learning Programs for Learning Leaders" in 2010, and Christina attended the kick-off event in early February in Saratoga Springs, NY. The program is "Virtual Leadership - Building Skills for Leading Distributed Teams." We can't wait to hear about the education and collaboration that takes place there. The buzz is all about webcams and Skype! Stay tuned for the full report and productivity resources!

Newsworthy in Productivity
Outlook 2010 in Beta Testing

Our Getting the EDGE - Mastering Work and Life Flow for Outlook will take on a new twist when Outlook 2010 is out of beta testing. There are several new features that will come to the aid of professionals by way of managing an inbox, based on the Microsoft Product Development Team's blog. With all of the bells and whistles, there are bound to be some time-wasters. The research is in full swing, and stay in touch with us to learn more about Getting the EDGE for Outlook 2010!

Are you going Google?

The word on the street is that going Google is going fast! If your organization is thinking about going Google, we would like to hear from you. Our product development team is crafting content for Getting the EDGE for Gmail. Be the first to pilot our materials to keep your Googlers less distracted and more productive.

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At The Effective Edge, we know your organization works hard. We know that results count. Are you achieving the productivity levels you need? Here's what an airplane manufacturer determined:

Overwhelm, chaos and stress were heavily present within the organization due to a shift in the economy and information overload. To combat this situation, the decision was made to pilot the course 'Getting the EDGE.' After the implementation of Getting the EDGE, the client hired an outside consultant who evaluates training to determine ROI. The independent in-depth study conducted six months after the Getting the EDGE implementation found that the ROI on the initial investment of the class was 610% per participant, per year based on the previous six months of productivity and projected into the future.

With this jaw-dropping measurement in mind, our productivity experts have come together to share insight that speaks to the corporate community's bottom line in this blog. Jump into the conversation to see where your organization stacks up and address its needs effectively!

Projects at Home too!

by Skip Colfax

As one of my hobbies, I like to bake and sometimes am asked to create beautiful and delicious cakes for weddings and other cake-worthy events. Creating these cakes takes a lot of planning and is clearly defined as a project.

To manage a project like this, I use the Effective Edge best practices on projects. In many cases, the cake order starts with a phone call from the new Bride and Groom. We talk for a while and I ask a few basic questions, such as: “What date is the date of the wedding?” “Where will the reception be held?” “Approximately how many guests do you want to serve?” “What did you have in mind for your cake?”

The answers to those 4 questions usually give me enough information to get started. I create the Project in my EDGE System and give it a snappy title that I’ll recognize instantly. I will assign a due date (the date of the event) and write the first version of my desired outcome for this wedding cake. The desired outcome gets revisited after I have met personally with the decision makers.

Next is my project mind sweep, where I think about what needs to be done to create the wedding cake as my desired outcome describes. This can be a lengthy list of tasks, including everything from “pick up the cake topper from the bride” to “buy groceries needed to bake the cake”.

Then, just like any other project, I pull one or two items at a time that are the very next tasks and add them my Task list, categorized as Actions. Once each is completed, it is marked with an asterisk in my project plan, indicating that it is completed.

This process works well, keeps me on track, and when I need to get refocused, I have a wonderfully descriptive desired outcome statement to keep me motivated.

I’ve been making wedding cakes for over 20 years and until I learned about how to manage projects from The Effective Edge, I haven’t had a good tool for managing a wedding cake project; keeping tabs on all of the things that need to be accomplished to produce a beautiful and delicious cake.

The point of all of this is that The Effective Edge best practices on projects works, not only for business related projects, but for any project.

The deck in my back yard needs to be rebuilt… and soon, so that’s my next project! I’ll be creating my Project Plan and Desired Outcome in the next day or two.

Now that’s effective!

I’m drowning in Social Networking. Are you?

by Zahra Petri

These days it seems as if new social networking tools are surfacing every few days between iPhone applications, twitter, Facebook and the many other computer and phone operated plug-ins. Along with each of these are the endless email notifications that quickly fill up your inbox. When faced with this daily increase of new information, questions begin circling in my mind: Which tools are the best? How many should I use? What do I do with all the emails? How do I manage all the information coming and going??

A feeling of overwhelm sweeps over me and I am brought back to my days before I had my EDGE System and my inbox was a black abyss of read and unread emails; back when I felt like I was jumping from crisis to crisis and everything was an urgent matter. Instead of going into panic mode, I decided to expand my EDGE system and apply the concepts to these social networking tools.

On Facebook I turned off all the email notifications except for alerting me of a message in my Facebook inbox. This way my email inbox is not cluttered because, frankly, I don’t need to know when Sara commented on John’s profile status or that Jenny put a smiley face on my wall. I will still be notified of these actions when I log into my Facebook profile, so why do I need an email to tell me as well?

For my iPhone applications I turned off ALL the notifications and sounds, but the notifications may be different as there are a wide variety of applications. For example, I have a chat application that runs in the background of my phone even when I don’t have that application open. It works similarly to text messages. I turned off all the notifications including sound, pop up message, text sent and received chime, and friend’s status alert. These are all distractions that I don’t need. If Tom wants to tell me he heard the new Modest Mouse song on the radio, I don’t need to know that right away. I can see the message when I check my phone later. However, if Tom has something urgent, he knows my notifications are off and to text message or call me.

It is very important when setting the standards for yourself and your notifications, no matter what the tool, that you let the people who contact you know what they are. Tell them that Facebook is not the place to let you know they won Longhorn Football tickets for a game beginning in one hour and to reply immediately.

For more updates and tips on how to manage your tools and applications, visit the ‘Programs’ tab at www.effectiveedge.com to view Whitepapers and OnDemand modules to help expand your EDGE.

What Does Your Email Subject Line Say to a Reader?

by Laura Finney

A few days ago, I received an email and the subject read: “REPORT ATTACHED….!!!!!!!!” I knew the person sending the email. What I did not know was the reason I was receiving the email. Clearly all caps must mean this is something “urgent” that I need to open and read. The exclamation points (all eight of them) were clearly excessive.

I opened the email to learn that I was one of four included on the distribution list. The “report” had no relevance to me or any work that I was involved with. I responded (because this would take less than two minutes) to ask if there was any action I needed to take with the information that had been sent to me. I was told, “No, it was just in case you needed it…later.” For clarification, this was not an email from an Effective Edge colleague.

When I see email subject lines that are not clear, I wonder if the sender is using The Effective Edge’s Email Effectiveness. The Email Effectiveness allows me to send clear and concise messages. In the subject line, the reader can determine before reviewing the email, what I want them to do with the email. Clarifying the need to respond or not to respond helps the reader by preparing them for the next action. For writing effective emails, reviewing the PASS (Purpose, Actions, Specific, Supporting resources) system allows me to use a method that will help the reader determine the next course of action.

As outlined in the Getting the EDGE training program, most people will scan the email within eight to ten seconds. The reader should be able to determine PASS within that amount of time.

Using PASS allows me to be more efficient in receiving any response I may be looking for in return. It has also given me the freedom from exchanging multiple emails when attempting to relay a clear message.

Now I send emails with confidence, knowing the reader can respond effectively and efficiently.

A New Stadium Does Not Equal a New Team

by Angela Ware

As many of you know I live Arlington, TX, the home of the Dallas Cowboys and their new amazing Cowboys Stadium!

As the new NFL session was approaching, commentator after commentator speculated as to how the “new stadium” would impact the Cowboys‘ chances of a post-session run for the playoffs. What?

Since when does brick and mortar have an impact on a player’s ability to excel at their position?

Commentators, fans, players and, yes, owners soon found out that a new stadium does not equal a new team. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am a Cowboys fan!! I am also I firm believer that it is what you put into the player, not where you put the player, that determines the outcome of the game.

In business, just as in sports, you can put a well-trained and professionally-mentored employee in any building and get great results. In the same respect, you can put a poorly trained and ineffectively mentored professional in a multi-billion dollar building and receive poor results. If you invest in your people, your people will build you a “new stadium of success”.

Ps. Fortunately for the Cowboys, they’ve got great mentor/coaches and a multi-billion dollar stadium! Let’s Go Cowboys!!!

Instant Messenger and Four-Alarm Fires

by Paige Webb

For the past five years, I have been an instant messenger user. My managers and teams in previous jobs were dispersed across offices and state lines, and that is how we stayed in touch, how we conducted troubleshooting, and how we responded to questions. It was such a relief to have access to any of them at my fingertips. I didn’t even have to pick up the phone! What a time saver! Well, that was the beginning…

The situation now has gone above and beyond the simple one-off questions via instant messenger (IM) to my boss during the day. There have been days when I log on, and I immediately get three IMs...that’s before I even check email or check my calendar. It’s like the IM pop-ups and indicators are telling me there is a four-alarm fire somewhere. I’m hardly awake yet, but let me give you my attention towards nothing that is all that important at this very moment!

Those days when you conduct multiple conversations via IM at once: one with your manager, one with tech support, one with a co-worker, can lead you to wonder and waste time doing mental gymnastics! "Who was getting my full, undivided attention?" "What did I promise to whom?" "Did I type in one sentence intended for another?" "How much time slipped past me shifting in between each conversation when I refocused?" And here’s a zinger: "How much time did I waste conducting searches in the conversation to find what I needed after the fact?"

A recent article published by Reuters Health highlighted a study conducted by Stanford University that discussed students who immerse themselves in multi-tasking, or task-switching. The results of the study showed that those "people who multi-task" performed more poorly on tests than people who were not prone to media multi-tasking. As professionals, we are depleting our competencies by remaining distracted with tech media. When you are working your hardest to get noticed, get promoted, and to keep your job in this economy, that hurts.

Instant messenger is a common denominator in the media that multi-tasking professionals face. My advice is to adhere to a plan that when you execute on it, you are more productive and relieved of stress and the mental drain associated with multi-tasking. You will ultimately have fewer fires to put out!

• Begin your day deliberately. There is a setting on most instant messenger products that allows you to disable it from starting up with your computer. Let your mind and body warm up before you go typing into oblivion.
• Turn off distractions like instant messenger for a period of time when you can engage in tasks and projects on a daily basis. Don’t just place it on "Do Not Disturb." That gets ignored. Shut it down completely.
• Honor your timed commitments on your calendar and the deadlines on your list. Don’t let the blinking bubble on the lower right hand corner of your monitor hold you down like a ball and chain.
  

Go forth and be productive!

“Control - Shift - K will make your Day!”

by Skip Colfax

“Control - Shift - K will make your Day!”

Do you remember hearing that quote in Getting the EDGE? It is often attributed to my colleague, Robertt Young, but I recently learned that the source of the phrase is actually a student who participated in a Getting the EDGE class that Robertt lead some time ago. The rhyme is simple and it makes me smile. I use that short cut multiple times each day for entering new Actions into my EDGE System; knowing that my system is only as good as its user… ME!

I use Control – Shift – K whenever I recognize something that I need to do; whether I’m processing information in my e-mail inbox, reading through meeting notes, or talking with people on a conference call. I’m always processing information… and doing it pretty quickly. I guess it’s no surprise that my laminated copy of the EDGE Deciding Model is right in front of me every day, all day. I’m continuously adding to my task list, lest I forget something and let it fall through the cracks. As I’m processing, I’m not only adding tasks, I’m adding calendar items also, but not as many. On average, about 85% of my actions go on my task List.

Sometimes I get a hot assignment from my boss and jump right into it to complete it quickly. If I haven’t entered a task for it, I feel cheated! So, I “Control – Shift – K” and add the task, so I have a record of my activities. But then, I turn around and check it off as completed! Checking things off my list makes me feel good.

I do have a surrogate for Control – Shift – K for times when I’m away from my computer. As soon as I think of something that I need to do, I’m thinking, “Control – Shift – K” but I’m grabbing my trusty notebook to write it down! Those items in my notebook get a Star to the left of them, so they are easy to identify when I’m emptying my notebook. My days are full of “Control-Shift – K” with a sprinkling of “Control – Shift – A” as needed.

Control – Shift – K does make my day! It keeps my system up-to-date, reliable, and helps keeps my head clear! Sure beats trying to remember all of that stuff!