Productivity Archives | Clark Executive Coaching

How to amp up your email management

Email overload is a universal workplace struggle. I share my top tips for effective email management with FLOW-e.

Email Management 101 from People Who Get 100+ Emails

Here’s my best advice to be an inbox hero:

Focus

Focus on email two or three times a day. Set a timer for 20 to 30 minutes. During this period, don’t multitask. A huge pitfall to effective email management is multitasking.

Categorize

A significant part of effective email management is being able to recognize and sort the types of communication that come in.

During your focused time, make a decision point on every email. Categorize it into one of five options: Delete, File, Delegate, Respond Now, or To Do.

Delete as many emails as you can. While you’re at it, unsubscribe to promotional or email campaigns of low value.
File emails you need to keep for reference in your folder structure.
Delegate emails when possible or forward to the correct contact.
Respond right away if it will take you less than two minutes to reply to the email.
Move to-do emails into your Tasks folder on Outlook or your task manager app if you need more than two minutes to respond. Set a date for when you need to take action on it. For emails to read when you have time, set the date as unspecified. This becomes your reading list.

For more great tips, check out the FLOW-e article.

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How to appreciate employees so they feel valued

We’ve all heard how important it is to appreciate employees. When employees feel appreciated and valued, they’re more satisfied, motivated, and productive. And they’re more likely to stay in their job.

Research shows a strong correlation between retention and recognition. “Yet a significant majority of employees (79%) don’t feel strongly valued for the work they put in.”

My top tip I shared with Smart Business Hacks:

Let Your Employees Tell You How to Do It

Ask your employees how they like to be appreciated. Everyone is different – from under-the-radar, sincere emails to loud-and-clear public displays. You’ll go much further keeping employees engaged if you take the time to find out their preferences in appreciation. Your employees will feel valued when your appreciation is meaningful and unique to them.

How do you appreciate others? What type of appreciation helps you feel valued? What one thing can you do today to show appreciation for someone who deserves it?

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Motivation boils down to this one thing

In 3 Types of Motivation That Can Inspire You to Do Anything, I share my thoughts with NBC News on intrinsic, extrinsic, and the newly discovered category called family motivation.

One of the best books I’ve read on motivation is Daniel Pink’s Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Pink suggests that motivation is largely intrinsic. This aligns with my view from coaching accomplished and emerging leaders that motivation boils down to values.

3 motivation categories

Intrinsic

Intrinsic motivation is doing something because it feels good to you. You feel internally rewarded for doing it. In a job, this can be doing work that feels purposeful, enjoying time spent with your teammates, or achieving goals you’ve set for yourself.

Extrinsic

Extrinsic motivation is doing something for the external rewards you get from it. In your career, this can include financial gain, benefits, perks, and even avoiding getting fired.

Family

Family motivation can relate to both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. If family is a top value of yours, then your family can serve as an intrinsic motivator. If you feel family pressure or obligations, then that is more of an extrinsic motivator.

Motivation and values

Everyone is different. Not everyone needs all types of motivation. For some people, it’s enough to do work that is meaningful to them, regardless of the financial rewards. For other people, high earnings are more motivating than the type of work they’re doing.

Motivation boils down to values. You are naturally more motivated when you align your work with your top values, whether they’re intrinsic, extrinsic, or family-related.

How to find your motivation

The best way to find motivation if you’re struggling is to identify your top values and choose work in alignment with what you value most. If you’re doing what’s most important to you, motivation will come authentically.

What does motivation look like/feel like to you? When are you naturally motivated? What are your top values? How does honoring your values impact your motivation?

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How to be super productive

Want to supercharge your productivity? Check out this Best Life article and my advice in tip 9. Productivity (and its nemesis, procrastination) is a hot topic for leaders of all levels. You’ll find 15 ways to be more productive every day.

Here’s an excerpt from Best Life:

There are certain times during your day where you might feel more confident or willing to tackle particular issues. Shawna Clark, owner of Clark Executive Coaching, a leadership development firm, recommends that you “schedule your challenging tasks during the time of the day when you have the most brainpower and energy.”

How to supercharge your productivity

Know your most productive time of day, and use it to your advantage.

Track your activities for a few days by writing down what you did and how you felt. Find the pattern when you feel most productive. Schedule your challenging tasks during the time of day when you have the most brainpower and energy.

Do your most important tasks first.

Start your day with the things that are most important. That way, something urgent but unimportant doesn’t take time away from the most important activities of your day.

Focus on one thing at a time.

A huge pitfall to productivity is multitasking. As Harvard Business Review says:

You can’t multitask, so stop trying.

Task switching is what happens when you do more than one mental activity at a time. It’s inefficient and ineffective. Task switching fatigues your brain and slows down your productivity by up to 40%.

Set up rewards for getting your work done.

Find small ways to reward yourself when you complete your necessary tasks. This gives you an extra incentive to finish the things you usually procrastinate. Plus, you’ll get the intrinsic reward of completing your work, which feels great.

Find support that works for you.

Experiment to find the tools and support you need to encourage productivity and keep procrastination at bay. Get a task management app (my favorite is Week Plan – goal, time, and task management + to-do list in one), ask for help from a trusted colleague, delegate work that someone else can do, or hire out work that drains you.

What’s important to you about productivity? What does productivity look like/feel like for you? What gets in your way? When are you most productive?