Tools for Team Collaboration

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”—Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist, in War and Peace. Late in June 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the results of the previous year’s American Time Use Study (ATUS), as it has annually since 2003. I’ve reported on it each year for more than a decade. The ATUS data for 2020, released in 2021, reflected significant effects from the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the nation since March 2020. Fortunately, during 2021, the crisis loosened its stranglehold on the economy, allowing it to bounce back to pre-plague levels. However, the economy has since fallen behind again d…

5-second summary Research shows that weather impacts mood, focus, and energy. Seasonal Affective Disorder and disrupted circadian rhythms reduce winter productivity, while summer sun boosts mood but offers distractions. Mindset matters: People with a positive view of winter stay more engaged. Studies from Harvard Business School show people are more focused on rainy days, and that time of day and weather conditions affect ethical decision-making and performance. Tips: Adapt workspaces and schedules to match the season, such as cozy, light-filled spaces in winter and flexible hours with outdoor breaks in summer to support different personality types. Subscri…

Subscribe to Work LifeGet stories like this in your inbox Subscribe You’ve settled into your workspace, a steaming cup of coffee in hand, ready to dive into the strategic plan your boss eagerly awaits. But just as you begin – Ping. A Slack message from your finance partner: “Don’t forget to send budget requests by EOD.” You barely process this before – Ping. An email from your dentist’s office reminding you to schedule your biannual cleaning. You take a breath, but – Ping. Workday lets you know your direct report’s timesheet is ready for approval. In mere moments, your focus time spirals into chaos, your to-do list expanding with relentless urgency. This barrage o…

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE In a rapidly changing environment, it’s no surprise that new “buzzwords” occasionally pop up on your bingo card. One of recent example is upskilling. At first glance, the definition seems obvious, but it means more than you might think—especially after our shared ordeal with the COVID-19 pandemic. These days, we all need to take the time to upskill and refresh our work habits, which the World Economic Forum predicts will raise the global GDP by up to $6.5 trillion by 2030. Upskilling involves taking your work to the next level, to better fit your job’s current and future needs. It’s not good enough to just tread water. You must consistentl…

Subscribe to Work LifeGet stories like this in your inbox Subscribe 5-second summary Divergent thinking is a creative process that generates new ideas through free-flowing, unstructured brainstorming. It encourages exploring any and all possibilities, rather than taking the fastest, straightest path to one answer. Divergent thinking is most effective when the people doing it feel safe, have the time and space to get inspired, collaborate with others, set expectations as a group, and warm up first. Using divergent thinking exercises can help you get started by providing a little structure and inspiration to a purposely unstructured process. If you’ve ever c…

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”—Peter Drucker. Making predictions about the future of productivity can be dangerous business. Remember all those people who predicted that the Internet would be a flash in the pan? Yeah, me neither. What I do remember is how wrong they were. That said, I’m going to make a few predictions about what might happen in 2023 in the productivity field, based on what we’re all hearing lately. Inflation will continue to eat at your productivity. Inflation has many causes, so we’re not looking to blame it on anyone here. But as prices for everyday costs like food, housing, and energy rise, so…

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE “Artificial intelligence would be the ultimate version of Google. The ultimate search engine that would understand everything on the web. It would understand exactly what you wanted, and it would give you the right thing. We’re nowhere near doing that now. However, we can get incrementally closer to that, and that is basically what we work on.” ― Larry Page, co-inventor of the Google search engine. Is there anyone in the Western world who hasn’t seen (or at least heard about) the Terminator or Matrix movie franchises? As much as we’ve loved our Tamagotchis, Furbys, and Roombas, we still worry our digital and robotic creations will grow bey…

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE “The best laid schemes of mice and men/often go astray.” ― Scottish poet Robert Burns Sometimes, unexpected events occur that tear apart a carefully planned life. Hopefully this hasn’t happened to you, but if it ever does, your productivity is likely to come crashing down… and really, no one could blame you. But some people might anyway. You may even lose a job, especially in this gig economy where speed reigns supreme. This recently happened to a colleague of mine, who had been his mother’s primary caregiver for several years. In March 2023, they experienced a perfect storm of health crises, culminating in his mother entering her final i…

Subscribe to Work LifeGet stories like this in your inbox Subscribe There’s been more than a little buzz about habits lately. To take just one example: James Clear’s 2018 book “Atomic Habits” spent an eye-popping 260 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Books like these – including the 1989 classic “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” – promise that habits are a key to transforming your personal and professional life. And they draw on our collective, perennial desire to form good habits (and break bad ones) as a way of optimizing our life. But does the power of habits live up to the hype? Experts point to a deep well of neuroscience to show that ha…