Congratulations! You’ve made it to the end of this 10 week quest to optimal productivity. We’re honored that you joined us for this journey, and we appreciate all of the comments, questions and feedback we’ve received along the way.  This last week is our opportunity to tie everything together, and show you our approach to maintaining your efficiencies and achieving a sustainably productive work day.  It’s all about being accountable.

Week 10: Be Accountable

Accountability Sessions

Ultimately, our goal is to help you discover and maximize your three most valuable resources: Time, Technology and Talent.  These are the threads that tie your business together.  They are the vessels you use to get from your goal to your impactful outcome.  Accountability sessions are our way of keeping you on the right path toward those outcomes.

Think of it like learning to ride a bike.  At first, you have training wheels and someone giving you little pushes for momentum.  You get a lot of encouragement and advice, and pretty soon you’re riding that two-wheeler like it’s an extension of your body.  Once those training wheels are off and your confidence is lifted, you can do some pretty amazing tricks and go on incredible adventures.  However, if you don’t oil the chain and put air in the tires, you’ll surely be slowed down or even halted.  With the proper training and maintenance, you’re ready to take on any trail, bumps and all.

One Month

During our initial meeting, we assign “homework” to help you progress toward your goals.  Think of it like getting fitted for your shiny, new bike, equipped with those training wheels for support, of course.  Then, we’ll schedule the next meeting about a month out, so we can see if you’re getting the hang of it, and discuss what adjustments might be needed.  Studies show that it takes at least three weeks to form a new habit, probably longer in many cases.  A month is what we have found to be the right amount of time to give you to settle into your new ways of operating.  We expect there to be obstacles, changes and new discoveries.  Sometimes it’s easier to fall back into old, bad habits, and we’ve heard from many of our clients that anticipating the accountability sessions was the one thing that kept them on track toward accomplishing their top priorities.

Momentum

We love the excitement of the initial momentum of new efficiencies; it’s like that first ride down the path on two wheels.  We want to keep that momentum going and the energy high.  Now that you know the previous nine steps to optimal productivity, we encourage you to continuously review them, and note your progress and obstacles.

10 Weeks Summary

There is an art and science to our process.  The art is thinking creatively and finding ways to maximize your resources.  The science is all about measuring the progress, so we know it’s working. Here’s a summary of the last 10 weeks to give you an idea of how to measure your progress when working toward sustainable productivity:

Issues and Goals: Has your progress impacted your original goals, or do we need to redefine goals?  What short-term goals have you accomplished? Celebrate your successes, no matter how big or small! Have you made progress on your long-term goals?

Change: What changes have you made that have had a positive impact to your bottom line?  How can you build on those changes to make an even greater impact?  What additional changes could be implemented to further your progress?  What obstacles have you faced, and how are you dealing with them?

Resources:  How have you maximized your time, technology and talent?  Do you feel like you have more time? Are you utilizing the functionality of your available technology?  Are the right people in the right roles?

Focused Time:  Have you defined your focused time of day, and are you using it to its maximum potential? What actions have you taken to make sure that your focused time is free and available for you to work on your top priorities?

Get Organized: How are you maintaining your organization?  Whether the issues were with physical clutter, electronic clutter or over scheduling, are the systems we’ve established sustainable, or are you back to your old ways?

Streamline Processes:  Are you faced with fewer mistakes and inconsistencies? How much time savings do you have?  Are you working less hours and getting more done? Do you have more time to focus on your more strategic work?

Get Help: If you’re working with us, you’ve already taken the step to seek professional guidance.  However, there is often help available within your organization. Are you outsourcing and delegating anything and everything you can? When you ask for help, are you getting it?

Share Best Practices: As we’ve observed and worked with different members of your organization, we made discoveries of who’s doing what most efficiently. By now, we’ve shared the love with those in your company who can benefit.  Are you implementing these best practices, and how have they impacted your productivity?

Make It Official: Where are you at with documenting your processes and procedures? Do you have the resources (talent) in house, or do you need to consider hiring a professional technical writer?  How are you making sure your procedure documents are being utilized?

These are just some of the questions that we will ask during our accountability sessions, and we encourage you to keep an open dialogue with your management team, colleagues and employees, as well.

Recap of Productivity

Once again, thank you for joining us on this journey.  We understand the quest to be more productive can be challenging, frustrating and vastly complex.  We leave you with this reminder of why we do what we do.

What’s the Point?!

• Productivity is about quality and value, not quantity and volume.
• Productivity relates to the accomplishments in your day that have meaning and purpose.
• Productivity is about achieving an end result that possesses integrity and value.
• Productivity is about maximizing your most important resources: Time, Technology and Talent.

Last, but not least…if you remember nothing else, remember this: Productivity is about giving you more time and energy for the people and activities in your life that bring you joy.

The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. – Russel M. Nelson