The Right Software Can Increase Collaboration

Recent years have witnessed a rise in software tools specifically designed to aid collaboration through video meetings, real-time messaging, and content sharing. Collaboration software, also known as groupware, can help any team, from the smallest startup to the largest enterprise, to share content quickly and easily, in the form of documents, messages, videos, and other formats. Collaboration tools offer, among other things:

Organize discussions into channels, making them easier to maintain and follow
Support voice and video calls, streamlining communication
Integrate with various popular apps (Google Drive, Trello, Dropbox, etc.)
Provide easy navigation through documents and other content

How to move from Fuzzy to Clear (and S.M.A.R.T.)

If you want to achieve real success and drive purposeful action, you need to set clear goals that are specific (what will be done, and by who) and measurable.

Schedule tasks and block out time

Time-blocking works since it helps us to focus on getting our work done right then. This is critical because our brains need constant focus when we’re at work. Absent focus and discipline, Parkinson’s Law will likely kick in. This law states that our work expands to fill the time available for its completion. So, a task that should require 20 minutes may take double or triple that if we don’t focus on it and instead just “let it happen.”

Become a leader of IMPACT

Impact is all about results. And results start with clearly written, actionable goals that help leaders build alignment and amplify output.

Goal-setting is a critical component of any growth process, personal or professional. There are many benefits of setting goals, including…

Clarity and Focus. Goals motivate us to cut through the weeds and get focused on what’s really important.
Planning. Goals help us map out the necessary steps to achieve our desired result.
Accountability. Goals force us to set and meet deadlines and be accountable to others.
Transparency. When shared, goals help others understand what we’re focused on.
Self-esteem. Goals raise our self-confidence as we see ourselves grow and progress.

achievement, coachingNaphtali HoffDecember 21, 2020Impactful Coaching & Consultingimpact, influence, integrity, leader, leadership, goal settingComment

Become a Leader of Influence

At the heart of great leadership is influence, as in the ability to influence others to do what needs to get done.

In a piece written for Forbes, Kevin Kruse defines leadership as “a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.” I like his approach because it factors in some important primary leadership elements: (social) influence, others, effort optimization and goals.

Leadership is about influencing others, rather than demanding and coercing. It speaks to the ability to win people over to a new way of thinking and practice, through idea sharing, collaboration and role modeling. It emphasizes persuasion and motivation over coercion.

Influence occurs primarily through emotional connections, such as when we share triumphant or challenging times together. It also develops when leaders routinely demonstrate feelings of appreciation, care, concern, and empathy.

How (and why) to organize your workspace

Research is clear that we get more done when we know where things are. This is true with our physical things (papers, files, gadgets, etc.) as well as our digital ones. Not only can things be found more easily when they are systematically organized, but there is also a significant psychological benefit of keeping our things in order.

Our external order creates internal sense of orderliness and allows us to do more while handling challenges in stride. It makes us feel in control of our situation and allows us to clearly focus and identify areas that need attention

In contrast, a messy workspace sends a subliminal message that our work lacks importance or that the processes we are involved in are not meaningful. It also increases distractibility and can promote both negative energy and anxiety.

Setting positive, actionable goals

Now that we have determined which tasks we need to be doing, the next step is to set clear, actionable goals that will help us get our tasks done. Goal setting is a critical component of any growth process, personal or professional.

There are many benefits of setting goals, including:

Clarity and focus: Goals motivate us to cut through the weeds and get focused on what’s really important
Planning: Goals help us map out the necessary steps to achieve our desired result
Accountability: Goals force us to set and meet deadlines and be accountable to others
Transparency: When shared, goals help others understand what we’re focused on
Self-esteem: Goals raise our self-confidence as we see ourselves grow and progress

Manage and prioritize your to-do list

Few productivity tools elicit divergent opinions as does a to-do list. Despite their longstanding as the method of choice for productivity enthusiasts, to-do lists have come under recent fire as an antiquated system that must be improved upon or dropped.

Gary Keller, best-selling author of "The One Thing," argues that, “Long hours spent checking off a to-do list and ending the day with a full trash can and a clean desk are not virtuous and have nothing to do with success. Instead of a to-do list, you need a success list -- a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results.”

How to identify (and then do) your most important tasks

When considering what to work on, start with the “big rocks,” the priorities and cornerstones that you first need to “place in your jar” before filling other things (the metaphorical pebbles, sand, and water) around it. These could be “one off” tasks that can be achieved in a single time block (we’ll discuss time blocking later,) or may span several days. If you don’t put the top priorities into your calendar first, all of the other demands will clutter your time and mental bandwidth.

The “big rocks” are commonly called “MITs,” or most important tasks. Whatever term you use, it is a critical to identify the tasks that will produce the most important results you’re looking to achieve. Not everything on your plate is of equal importance, so don’t treat them equally. At the beginning of every day, create a list of 2-3 MITs, then focus on getting them done as quickly as possible. So as not to get distracted, keep this short list separate from your general to-do list or task tracking system. I suggest you write them down on a Post-it or index card and keep it positioned squarely in front of you until the list is complete.

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