I Done This Blog

6 Most Effective Ways to Increase Workplace Productivity

September 26, 2017 by Evan 2 Comments

Workplace productivity is a problem. American workers say their co-workers are unproductive for at least an hour a day, according to one study. Stress, lack of motivation, procrastination — these are just some of the causes of the productivity pandemic. Here are six ways employees can boost productivity in the workplace.

1. Reduce procrastination at work

A sizeable chunk of the American workforce procrastinates at work, according to research. The annual Wasting Time at Work Survey, conducted by Salary.com, found that 70 percent of employees wasted time at work on a daily basis in 2013 — up from the previous year.

The reason?

12 Startup Leaders on What They Love about Their Company Cultures

September 19, 2017 by I Done This Support Leave a Comment

Startup founders begin with building new products and end up building new companies. Ultimately, some of the most successful companies not only reinvent a product or market, they change the way people work in a way that’s reflective of what they value most, and that’s embodied in their company culture.

To find out how startup leaders think about building companies that they themselves enjoy working in, we surveyed the founders of some of the most innovative startups out there to ask them one simple question:

What do you value most about your company culture, and what’s one important way that you contribute to it?

We received some amazing, proud and insightful responses from startup founders personally, another individual within the company who was eager to chip in, and the PR or marketing team.

The Science Behind Working Smart

September 12, 2017 by Jonas Fischer Leave a Comment

It’s late Friday, and your to-do list has four items that are all due within the next hour. When you planned out your week, the workload seemed realistic, but in the end you somehow over-promised and under-delivered.

Working Smart Friday

We all have a tendency to overestimate our capabilities, while at the same time we underestimate how long it will take to complete a task. However noble our intentions are to take on more work, our inability to accurately predict our productivity sometimes leaves us scrambling.

By understanding the science behind why we overestimate our capabilities, we can develop a smarter approach that counteracts our planning biases to create manageable workloads and get more done.

How to Sync Items from a Kanban Board to your Daily Standup

September 5, 2017 by Cody Leave a Comment

This is a guest post from Kim Kadiyala, Partnership Manager at Zapier.

A daily status update is only as helpful as it is complete. If your team struggles to log their dones, goals, and blockers, rest assured you’re not alone.

But if you’re using a project management tool like Asana, Trello, or Basecamp to take care of your team tasks and deadlines, it’s a safe bet that the tasks in your project workspace are the same tasks mentioned in your daily standups. Syncing those tasks from your project directly to your daily stand-up entry could help eliminate the manual effort needed to prep for the meeting.

Sound interesting? Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to connect your project tasks directly to your I Done This standup entry, powered by app automation platform Zapier. The best part? It takes just a few minutes to set up these automated workflows and no coding knowledge is required.

How to Motivate Your Female Workforce After Maternity Leave

September 5, 2017 by Kaitlin Macholz Leave a Comment

This is a guest post from Kristen Craft, VP of Marketing at Ovia Health.

Every loss of talent is a blow to a team. Companies spend time and resources to recruit the best people, incorporate them into the team, and rely on their skill and drive to make the company the best it can be. When great team members leave, it hurts.

In particular, a lack of support after maternity leave can lead to major talent losses at a company. According to a study by KPMG, global companies spend up to $47 billion recruiting and training new team members to replace women who leave after having a baby.

Motivation after Maternity Leave

There’s no way this is sustainable for business or successful for team building. But it’s avoidable if you take the right steps.

New Approaches to Teaching Teamwork Skills

August 29, 2017 by Meaghan Murphy Leave a Comment

It’s no secret that AI will change the job market. An estimated 10.5 million jobs are at “high risk” of getting replaced due to automation and new technology, and 80% of employees are concerned about job loss due to AI.

But instead of panicking, we should be adapting.

Teamwork skills

According to an Atlassian report, teamwork is the most important skill for the future workplace. This report found that “90% of companies are confronting problems so complex that teams are essential to solving them.” AI can replace a human in pure computing power or in data analysis, but it can’t replace the magic that happens when you and your team learn to work together and really trust each other.

5 Habits to Supercharge Team Productivity

August 22, 2017 by Jonas Fischer Leave a Comment

Lebron James had a historic, MVP-level performance in the 2017 NBA Finals, but in the end, his team lost the championship.

At work, we sometimes get caught up analyzing individual performances when the metric that really matters is the overall team productivity. As the traditional silos quickly disappear, our day-to-day work has become a cross-functional, team sport.

Vince Lombardi, the famous NFL football coach, summed up what makes a successful team: “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

Managing a group of diverse personalities and skill sets can be daunting, let alone trying to figure out how to set everyone up for combined success. Luckily, we’ve compiled several research studies with insights that your team can incorporate to help them jell and improve their productivity:

The Biology Behind Productivity

August 15, 2017 by Jonas Fischer Leave a Comment

Superb time-management skills are worthless when you’re feeling unmotivated, distracted or tired at work. Until robots take over our day-to-day workloads, our productivity is directly linked to our mental and physical well-being.

via GIPHY

The expectation at work to remain competent, motivated and attentive for the entire workday puts a huge strain on our biological resources. Thankfully modern science has given us a better understanding of how our bodies work, which can help us leverage our physiology to work smarter.

By implementing a few biological disciplines, you’ll be able to work with your body and avoid unproductive behaviors like impulsivity, sleep deprivation, and stress.

Here are some hacks based on the biology of productivity that can help you and your team perform at their best:

7 Unconventional Co-Working Spaces That Are Raising Eyebrows

August 8, 2017 by Jonas Fischer Leave a Comment

If you thought it was too early for the co-working industry to experience disruption, think again.

A new breed of co-working spaces is emerging focusing first and foremost on the tenants’ interests, needs, and values. Each space is built around one core idea, and it’s meant to attract tenants who align with its single-minded purpose, creating a work environment where everyone in the building shares a common bond.

For example, if your startup cares about sustainability, you can find co-working spaces that are certified green and all of the tenants have a similar desire to help the environment.

This personalization enables you to integrate your lifestyle with your work style and plug into a like-minded community. When you work alongside people that share a similar passion, it creates an instant camaraderie and support system that is hard to find in the traditional co-working spaces due to their size and diverse priorities.

Here are seven unconventional co-working spaces pioneering a work movement that focuses on people first:

Managing a Remote Team – A Leader’s 7-Step To-Do List

August 1, 2017 by Jonas Fischer 2 Comments

Managing a remote team is about employee empowerment, not oversight.

Remote employees that excel are self-motivated, reliable and results-driven. As a manager, your job is to create a supportive environment that encourages employees to manage their own projects so you can focus on building a culture of trust and communication.

managing-a-remote-team

Here are seven things a remote leader must have to set their team up for success:

6 Most Effective Ways to Increase Workplace Productivity

1. Reduce procrastination at work

12 Startup Leaders on What They Love about Their Company Cultures

The Science Behind Working Smart

How to Sync Items from a Kanban Board to your Daily Standup

How to Motivate Your Female Workforce After Maternity Leave

New Approaches to Teaching Teamwork Skills

5 Habits to Supercharge Team Productivity

The Biology Behind Productivity

7 Unconventional Co-Working Spaces That Are Raising Eyebrows

Managing a Remote Team – A Leader’s 7-Step To-Do List

What you don’t know about productivity and happiness, delivered to your inbox daily

Categories