The Art of Creating a Productive Environment

My job is to help clients create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. A productive environment is an intentional setting in which everything around you supports your goals, work style, and who you want to be. My clients and I accomplish this by organizing their time, space, and information so they can do their work and enjoy their lives. Work flows, jobs are enjoyable, and work and life are balanced.

Does your work environment promote productivity? There is a good chance that it doesn’t. Your work environment includes your office and everything in it — your desk, file management, information resources, people, computers and other office equipment, supplies, bookshelves, phone systems, contact management, scheduling systems, even your briefcase. If just one element thwarts productivity, you will benefit from learning about the Productive Environment Process.

The process to achieve optimum productivity can be boiled down to just five steps:

1. Design Your Vision
What will your success look and feel like? If you are successful, how will things be different for you? Your organization? Your team? Your clients? What will you be able to do that you can’t do now?

2. Eliminate Your Obstacles
Examine the stumbling blocks you are currently experiencing:

-Lack of resources
-Lack of space
-Lack of knowledge
-Lack of experience
-Lack of support

3. Commit Your Resources
What investment are you willing and able to make for productivity? Examples might be money, time, technology, and personnel.

4. Select Your Tools
If you don’t have the right tools and systems for the jobs you do, if they don’t work well and fit your work style, accomplishing what matters will be a struggle, plain and simple. One place to start is with the Magic 6. When selecting tools, give a great deal of attention to the habits you are willing to develop in order to use the tools effectively.

5. Maintain Your Success
Assess your results. Are all of your tools and systems working well now? Do you like them? Does something need fine-tuning? Is there a plan in place for periodic evaluation and modification? If you need to, go back through the first four steps to correct and adjust. As your business evolves, so must your environment. What serves productivity today, may not work a year or two down the road.

Notice the common word in each step is "your". The productive environment is all about you and your business. It’s your job to examine what you want to accomplish. You are the one who paints a picture of what you want to create so your environment supports your goals. Your ability to accomplish your goals is directly related to taking the right action at the right time with the right information.

I hope this helps you think more about your environment and how it’s affecting your productivity.

Anne Sedler is the President of HFD Productivity Associates. HFD offers a step-by-step process that will dramatically improve the ability to focus and organize your work flows. Find additional productivity solutions at http://www.hfdproductivity.com.

Article Source: ArticleSpan

Nancy – GotSmog.com – The Pollution-Reducing Blog

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