Ready or not, here they come.

Managers everywhere are wondering how to deal with all the distractions so that productivity stays up without pulling morale down.  Some have already given up, or lightened up, choosing to go with the flow and simply enjoy. While others say, “Bah Humbug – this is business – nose to the grindstone.” 

Over the next eight days, we will share eight tips that will help you and yours be more productive and still enjoy the holidays.  Some of these suggestions won’t work for you because of the nature of your business or the size of your team or some other reason. But there is something in here for everyone – even Scrooge himself.

Tip #1 is

Decide what is most important this month – at home and in your business.

Do not skip this step.  Remember the Quote of the Week?  You must be clear about what you expect before you can make it clear to others.

What do you want to do? Who do you want to be?

On the business front, this may have been decided by a boss or by a creditor or by your very own business plan. If so, you know the revenue you need or the billable hours you must have or the number of customers you must service or some projects to complete. If it hasn’t been done, decide on some measurable targets for the month and share them and the reason for their importance with your team.

Besides these measurables – what else is important to focus on right now? Consider things like teamwork, morale, customer retention, systems.

What about the home front?   Your spouse, children and other family members – how and how much time do you want to spend with them? What is most important? What memories do you want to re-live or create?   What are their thoughts on this?

If your mind free flows with ideas, keep a pad and pen with you all the time and write things down as they come to you – one page for home – one page for business. Before the week is over – read over both lists and use this marking system to help you prioritize:

*** for things that are really important – must do – absolute top priority
** for things you would like to do if at all possible
* for things you think would be nice to do
Leave everything else blank, meaning they were good ideas but…

Now go back and review your list.
Are you being too optimistic?
Are you allowing for sleep?
Can you do all of this and still be who you want to be?
Now might be a good time to read or re-read Traditions.

Note:  Tip #2  at this link.  Or see side bar for “Most Recent Articles” and links to all posts.

copyright 2009 – Business Class Inc