4 Tips for Managing your Energy, Not your time

4 Tips for Managing Your Energy, Not Your Time

With organizations demanding more and more from their people these days, time-pressed employees have to scramble to keep up. You may not be able to make the day any longer, but you can replenish your energy. Use these four simple tips to help you work smarter and prevent burn out: Take brief but regular breaks. Step away from your desk every 90 to 120 minutes. Take a walk, get a drink, just stretch your legs, or go for a smoke break, just remember smoking can kill you. Say thank you. Being positive boosts your energy level. Regularly express appreciation to others. Reduce interruptions. Perform tasks that need concentration away from phones and email. Instead, designate specific times in your day to respond to messages. (Scratch out your diary) Do what you love. Understand where your strengths lie and what you enjoy doing. Find ways to do more of those things and less of what tires you out.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself, one of six HBR article collections in the popular 10 Must Reads series further adapted and brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

Exercise Ambidextrous Decision making

Exercise Ambidextrous Decision Making

Do you rely on data and analytics to make big decisions or do you follow your instincts? While analytical decision-makers are usually more likely to make the right judgment call, intuition and gut feel can't be overlooked. In fact, many leaders have missed great opportunities because the data didn't support the risk, and the risk was actually worth taking. Great leaders adeptly use both inputs. If you are really good at collecting and analyzing data to inform decisions, find ways to check your data against a gut feeling. If you generally rely on creativity and an intuitive understanding of the customer, see if you can develop more analytic muscle.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Learn to Make Judgment Calls On the Other Hand" by Tom Davenport brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

3 Tips to Re-Focus your team on the New Strategy

3 Tips to Re-Focus Your Team on the New Strategy

Most strategic change initiatives fail, or at least hit some major bumps along the road. It is really difficult to change behaviour. If your team is struggling to adapt to a new strategy, try these three things to get them back on track: Push decision-making down. If people are told to act differently, they feel like "doers" with little control or power. Let people make choices about how they will contribute to the new strategy. Ask for input. If your people are stuck, ask them to suggest ways to remove the barriers that are holding them back. Share successes. No one wants to change if they don't think the new strategy will succeed. Whenever you make progress, no matter how small, share it with your team as evidence that the new strategy works.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "When Your Team Reverts to the Old Strategy" by Amy Gallo brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.