WHAT EVERY LEADER OF CHANGE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT PRODUCTIVITY

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Hint: it isn’t just about ticking off your to-do list

Type ‘productivity’ into Google and you’ll unleash endless actions for how to do more in less time, with minimal effort. 

It’s a tantalising idea – we all want to shrink that to-do list, whether it’s so we can get to ‘done’ sooner, clock off earlier, or just get our name on the ‘employee of the month’ board. 

But, what if we’ve been getting productivity all wrong? What if, like the notion of an ‘employee of the month’ board, our definition of productivity is, well, a little outdated? What if productivity isn’t just about ticking off all your to-dos, but about doing your best work, more often? 

One of the biggest shifts we help our clients make is changing their perspective on productivity: expanding its definition and adding new ways to be productive, so they can evolve the ways in which they take action. It’s about tailoring your approach for the tasks at hand.

So, let’s do something about that…

The two types of productivity

Most of us think of productivity in terms of input vs output, quantity over quality. That’s a valid approach – just not all of the time. 

Let’s take a closer look at the two main types of productivity. 

1.     Fast input, maximum output

This is the traditional go-go-go approach – where you have a big list of things to do and you want to power through them as fast as possible. Every time you complete a task you get a little buzz of satisfaction, which is probably why we tend to apply this approach to every type of work we do, and why we feel disappointed when we don’t complete everything on our list. 

This productivity gear is super-helpful for process-style work, where we know what the steps look like and there is a defined outcome. It’s great for admin tasks, paying bills, standard operating procedures – anything that you can do on autopilot. 

2.     Getting it done AND doing it well

The other productivity gear you need is a little slower, a little more considered. Intelligent. Because for some of your work, giving yourself space and time to do your best work is the most effective approach in the long run. 

Think of this productivity gear as a wise professor – the one who urges you not to rush and make silly mistakes that will trip you up later down the track. This productivity mode is the one you want to deploy when you need to focus and fully engage. It’s ideal for complex problem-solving, strategy work, and creative thinking or writing.  

What you don’t want to do when you’re in strategic thinking or problem-solving mode is to go as fast as possible just to get any outcome. Taking your foot off the accelerator removes the time pressure and allows innovation to bubble up to the surface.

Choose your gear

The next step is to lean into awareness so you can activate the right productivity gear for the task at hand. 

Our Ripple Effect Framework starts with awareness, because evolving this kind of emotional intelligence has a positive and potent impact on everything we do. 

Often, we dive straight into our day with no real plan or sense of how we’re feeling. That sees us scrambling as we react haphazardly to emails, requests, problems, hiccups – anything that pops up waving a priority flag.  

If you decided to schedule five minutes at the start of your day to think about what kind of work you need to do, where your head is at and what work would feel good for you, imagine the flow-on effect for your productivity. You’d be able to choose what to focus on, prioritise the important actions and make decisions to support that choice. 

That kind of daily check-in is crucial for understanding what productivity gear you need to activate. If you take stock and decide you have a morning of email admin to attend to, go ahead and shift into GO mode. Write that to-do list, get it all ticked off and enjoy the sense of satisfaction that goes with it. 

But, if you’re going into a day of client meetings, or you want to do some strategy work in your business, it’s time to shift your productivity gear into that focused space. That could mean blocking out time in your calendar so you’re not distracted by requests, switching off email notifications or doing a quick meditation to prime your mind for creativity or deep thinking.

When you understand the power of a flexible approach to productivity, you can create the right conditions for the kind of work you need to do – and, ultimately, win the day.  

Want to learn more about productivity and how to build awareness into your daily rhythms? We’re supporting leaders of change to create a sustainable pace from July. Take a look at what's possible in eight weeks of our Sustainable PACE course.