Tag Archives: Office Productivity

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8 Supervisor Tips For Getting More Done

by "Be Mission Capable"

When I took over my duty position, my supervisor told me that in order to succeed, I needed to get more involved in orders and taskings than the officer I replaced. I did the opposite and got better results. Here’s how.

Supervisor

Gen. Raymond Odierno presents a coin to a Soldier wearing a Level A, hazardous materials, suit Jan. 13. Soldiers from the Incident Response Training Department provided Odierno with a demonstration of the different equipment, training and techniques used in case of a chemical incident. Link to photo.
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10 Microsoft Excel Shortcuts to Make Your Life Easier

by Dan Hudalla

Microsoft Excel is one of the most widely used software tools in the military.  We use it more than we fire our weapons.  Many a staff officer and commander have spent countless hours creating that perfect spreadsheet to accomplish the mission.  And if you’ve ever frustratingly uttered, “there has got to be a more efficient way to do this,” check out these Excel tips.

Productivity

Thanks to Army Captain Dan Hudalla for contributing this post!
If you found it useful, also check out “11 Keyboard Shortcuts You Must Learn.”
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Sleep that Sabotages Leadership

Today’s HBR recommendation, “Your Abusive Boss Is Probably an Insomniac,” is a summary of findings from a study published in the Academy of Management Journal. The researchers studied 88 leaders and their teams to find out if the leaders’ sleep habits affected performance at work. The result?…you guessed it, but there’s a twist:

We found that daily leader sleep quality, but not quantity, influenced the leader’s self-control and abusive supervision behavior, and ultimately the degree to which his or her subordinates were engaged in their work that day. It is not clear why sleep quantity did not have the effect we predicted, but the effect for sleep quality was very clear; a given leader engaged in more jerky boss behavior after a poor night of sleep than a good night of sleep, and this influenced his or her subordinates to disengage from work.

sleep

Photo by Odi Mitch. Link to photo.
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Article: “10 Things You’re Doing at Work That Say ‘I Don’t Care'”

Here’s a thought-provoking article from FastCompany.com that will bring you back to the personal elements of leadership, customer service, and engagement that we often forget. Check out all of the “10 Things You’re Doing at Work That Say ‘I Don’t Care’,” but here are a few that stood out as relevant for military leaders.

  • #1 – You Don’t Touch Base on Projects. One big problem for the military is that staffs don’t coordinate as much as they should. Parallel planning turns into separate planning, and echelons arrive at the deadline only to find that they have been shooting at different targets. Tip: Pick up the phone, confirm details and guidance, ask questions, and share products.
  • #4 – You Don’t Ask About Someone’s Personal Life. I have been guilty of this fault and I feel like a hollow leader when I can’t connect with subordinates/teammates on a personal level. It is a fact that military leaders have more official topics to discuss than there is room in the day to converse about them. It’s easy to leave out personal conversation but the good leaders recognize that connection as a way to not only build cohesion, but to discover important details about individuals, such as motivators and risk factors.
  • #6 – You Wait Until the Last Minute to Ask for What You Need. Military leaders are notorious for taking on a task, retreating to a dark office to plan it, then rushing out at the last-minute to plead for help. The worst offenders are the ones who don’t delegate well and the organization suffers because they don’t ask for help from the team or their boss. Rank is a great motivator; you should use it sometimes. As long as your boss isn’t a toxic jerk, let him know you’re coming up short on a project and could use both his expertise to generate new ideas, and his authority to energize others.
  • #10 – You Forget to Say Thank You or Great Job. Recognition is also an incredible motivator. Tell the team they matter by expressing your thanks in the midst of an event, not just at the change of command. Tip: If you have the authority to give out awards, why not make it your primary method of recognition? Achievement Medals don’t cost anything, so hand them out like candy. 

Questions for Leaders

  • Do you know the first names of the people who work for you?
  • When is the last time you asked your boss for help on a project? Is there a project you need help on now?
  • How much difference would it make if you said Thank You or Great Job at least once an hour every day?

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Article: “9 Things Successful People Won’t Do”

This short article on LinkedIn, by the coauthor of Emotional Intelligence 2.0, provides a list of 9 Things Successful People Won’t Do that challenges leaders to examine their professional practices and interactions.

Dr. Travis Bradberry elaborates on this universal set of behaviors to avoid, recommending them as a way to improve the emotional aspect of one’s leadership. “The trick is that managing your emotions is as much about what you won’t do as it is about what you will do.”

Here are a couple highlights, but the author expands on each one:

  • They Won’t Prioritize Perfection. “Emotionally intelligent people won’t set perfection as their target because they know it doesn’t exist.”
  • They Won’t Dwell on Problems. “Emotionally intelligent people won’t dwell on problems because they know they’re most effective when they focus on solutions.”
  • They Won’t Say Yes Unless They Really Want To. “The more difficulty that you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout, and even depression.”

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16 Resources for Preventing Distraction, Maximizing Productivity, and Prioritizing with Purpose

Military leaders have PLENTY of reasons to be overworked…“The Commanding General is visiting next week!” “The units are waiting for us to publish the order!” “Soldiers’ lives are at risk!”

The reality is that Soldiers’ lives will always be at risk. Command authority in the military will always dictate immediate response/action to higher headquarter demands. There will always be something to look at on the BlackBerry. We can’t fight these facts, so why not focus on being as efficient as possible despite them?

This post is all about giving you resources for eliminating distractions, delegating, prioritizing, and protecting your cognitive function. And along the way you’ll be challenged reconsider sacrificing so much “life” in the name of work.

productivity

Sgt. 1st Class Robert Russell, a platoon sergeant and member of Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul’s security force, crosses the Tarnek River in Qalat City, Afghanistan, July 9, 2011.
Photo by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Grovert Fuentes-Contreras

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“Don’t Do What Others Could Do” – Lessons for Delegation and Authority

“Working harder does not equate to being more productive.” Do you feel that military leaders still have not embraced this fact? Do we try to personally do too much? Do we hold on to projects until deadline, trying to get ever closer to perfection?

Listening to Michael Hyatt’s podcast on “The Fine Art of Delegation,” I again came to the conclusion that effective delegation is a battle that military leaders and staffs fight on a daily basis.

Michael Hyatt gives 5 Imperatives of Delegation in this podcast, but the real gem of the episode is his description of the 5 Levels of Authority. He simplifies the exercise of authority, which then clarifies how leaders should be delegating.

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno speaks to company-level leaders to discuss leadership
and answer questions during his visit to Wiesbaden, Germany, April 30, 2013.
Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Steve Cortez
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11 Keyboard Shortcuts You Must Learn

There are few obvious skills that military leaders need to be experts at…digital efficiency is usually not cited as one of them. But where do we spend the vast majority of our time? Behind the computer. Why not focus some effort on learning ways to be more efficient where we spend most of our time?

shortcuts

Staff Sgt. Shantae Allen and 2nd Lt. Jessica Barbee configure a laptop computer in their simulated regional contracting center. Allen serves in the 620th Contingency Contracting Team, 902nd Contingency Contracting Battalion, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill. Barbee is assigned to the 90th Contracting Squadron, F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wy. Photo by: Ed Worley

Here are a few keyboard shortcuts that you should already be using:

  • CTRL + C = Copy the selected item/text
  • CTRL + X = Cut the selected item/text
  • CTRL + V = Paste the copied/cut item
  • CTRL + A = Select all the items/text on a page

And here are 11 powerful shortcuts that could make you lethal behind the keyboard: