Leadership Institute

Improving Personal Productivity

Learning Format: Classroom, Video and Workbook-Based Self-Study

Order No. WD33

Lost profits, unfinished or late projects, abandoned initiatives, lost opportunities, personal inefficiencies, and dissatisfied or neglected customers. Such operating inefficiencies can mean the difference between success and failure.

Improving Personal Productivity -- which can be kicked off in a workshop or provided as a just-in-time reference tool -- gives employees the skills they need to increase their productivity while decreasing stress levels.

Do You Face Any of These Issues?

  • Do people react to one crisis situation after another instead of working on important long-term tasks?
  • Do employees keep organized and have a plan to keep track of ongoing projects?
  • Are employees less productive because of constant interruptions or tendencies to procrastinate?

Performance Objectives

Helps associates:

  • Improve their personal productivity by eliminating or changing non-productive behaviors.
  • Achieve higher levels of efficiency by applying new, more productive work habits.

Primary Competency Developed

  • Managing Work

Secondary Competencies Developed

  • Planning and Organizing
  • Work Standards

Course Overview

  • Open: Learners identify a work habit that inhibits their productivity.
  • Examining Priorities: Learners discuss criteria for determining priorities and use a tool to evaluate and prioritize their current tasks. A video depicts the dilemma of when everything is a priority, and learners discuss how to avoid five Priority Pitfalls.
  • Conquering Procrastination: Learners discuss why people procrastinate and how this appears to others. They create an action plan by applying strategies for overcoming this problem.
  • Handling Interruptions: A video shows common interruptions, and learners identify their most common ones. They learn techniques to identify ways to avoid or contain interruptions. Each learner completes an action plan for dealing with major interrupters.
  • Keeping Yourself Motivated: Participants identify demotivating situations on the job and ways to increase their motivation.
  • Where Do You Go From Here? Learners develop a plan to avoid slipping back into old, non-productive behaviors. A self-evaluation helps them identify additional productivity problems.

Video Segment Summaries

  • A “house of cards” analogy shows what happens when you take on too much. Madam Make It Happen overviews the workshop.
  • An associate experiences the dilemma of what to do when everything seems to be an urgent priority.
  • A montage illustrates common interruptions.
  • A segment shows feelings of frustration that people experience when their company is going through tough times.

Course Details

  • Target audience: All employees through frontline leaders.
  • Course length: 2 hours, 30 minutes, or 1 hour, 22 minutes Fast Track.
  • Facilitator certification: DDI certification not required.
  • Prerequisites: None.
  • Series: Suitable for all environments.
  • Group size: 10 to 20 people.
  • Prework: No.

Self-Study Handbook Details

  • The handbook provides tips and tools on how to handle 18 productivity topics along with a self-assessment for determining productivity areas that need improvement.