People who are productive – those who get things done – manage to do so not just because they have a productive mindset or because they've prioritized their commitments. They're effective and efficient because they draw on their skills, strengths, and qualities.
What skills do you have?
Maybe you have good written and verbal communication skills; you can clearly explain and understand ideas, opinions, thoughts, and feelings. You can clearly and succinctly tell others what does and doesn't need doing.
Perhaps you have good social and interpersonal skills; you can work cooperatively – listen to others, share ideas. You can be tactful and persuasive; you're skilled at negotiating, motivating, and encouraging others. Are you good at networking? If you do have good communication, social, and interpersonal skills, you can draw on those skills to work with others to be more productive – to be more efficient and effective in getting things done. (There's more about this in Chapter 5.)
Perhaps you have good research skills; you're good at finding relevant facts and information. Maybe you have good IT skills? Do you have any specific practical abilities? Perhaps you're skilled at using equipment and tools?
Any of these skills and abilities can support you in being productive; in getting things done more effectively and efficiently. Identify what they are so that you can exploit them to help you get things done.
Read through this list and, as you do, tick each and every quality that applies to you.
Choose five of the qualities you've ticked. For each of those five qualities, think some more about how each quality has helped you in the past and can continue to help you be productive; to get things done effectively and efficiently.
For example, if you felt that patience was one of your qualities, you might recognize that at work you don't rush things or overlook details; you take time to do things properly so that you don't make mistakes and so you don't waste time having to go back over things.
If being imaginative and innovative are two of your strengths, you'll know that you can come up with new ways and ideas to make things happen and get things done. Can you think of times in the past when you've done that?
And if you're cooperative, you work well with other people. How do you think that's helped you be more productive – to be more effective and efficient at getting things done?
Being aware of your skills and strengths can help you feel more confident that you do have what it takes to be more productive. But did you know that as well as having specific skills, strengths, and qualities, you have your own individual way of learning? Imagine, for example, that you had to learn how to make, install, or mend something. Would you want to read the instructions first, think through each step, and then do it? Or would you just want to get stuck in and try different ways of doing something until you find the most successful?
The way the one person learns – takes in new ideas and information and acquires new knowledge and skills – may be different from the way you learn. Quite simply, some of us learn best by doing things first and then thinking about what we've learnt. Others learn best by thinking things through first and then getting on with the doing. When you're aware of how you learn best, you can use it to your advantage and apply your preferred approach to learning to help you be productive; to get things done more easily and efficiently.
In 1986, occupational psychologist Peter Honey and his colleague Alan Mumford, a management development advisor, identified four different learning styles: Activist, Pragmatist, Reflector, and Theorist. Not only can each of these learning styles be seen to apply to how a person learns, they also apply to how they approach tasks and activities and get things done. There are strengths and weaknesses to each style. The trick is to identify and make use of your strengths and to be aware of and work round your weaknesses.
If you're an Activist, you're someone who likes to get started on things straightaway. You're happy to hit the ground running. You love the challenge of new experiences and you'll try anything once. You're open-minded and enthusiastic about learning and doing new things. You learn best – and are therefore more productive – when you can just get on with it, without any constraints. However, you have a tendency to do too much yourself. You take unnecessary risks and rush into action without sufficient preparation. If things don't work out, instead of stopping to consider why, you often just move on to the next thing. You're impatient; you often don't consolidate – pull everything together at the end – and you leave things unfinished.
If your style of learning is that of a Pragmatist, once you've understood an idea or theory, you're keen to try it out and put it into practice. You learn best and are therefore more productive when you can solve problems, make practical decisions, and, like activists, get going on things. However, you may tend to seize on the first convenient solution to a problem and, although it might be practical, it may not always be the best, most suitable, or most appropriate way to get things done.
To be more productive – to be more efficient and effective at getting things done – Activists and Pragmatists need to work on:
If your preferred way of learning is that of a Theorist, you take a logical, structured approach to everything you learn and do. You like to analyse and understand the theory behind ideas, concepts, and systems. You're organized and disciplined and likely to be a perfectionist. However, you don't like uncertainty, disorder, and ambiguity. You're not happy until things fit into a rational scheme: a systematic and logical theory. Your perfectionism can result in procrastination; you hold back from doing something for fear of not being able to do it perfectly.
If your style of learning is that of a Reflector, you like to stand back, see things from different perspectives before doing anything. You're happy to observe and listen to others. You like harmony. You're ordered, careful, cautious, calm, methodical, and thorough. You learn best, and so therefore are more productive, if you can think first: do some research, gather views, opinions, ideas, and information. You like to do things in your own time without pressure and deadlines. You learn least, and so are least productive, when there's no time for planning and you don't have enough information to make a decision. You may have a tendency to procrastinate and you find it difficult to make short cuts.
When it comes to being more productive, Reflectors and Theorists may need to work on:
You can find out for yourself what your preferred learning style is by Googling ‘Honey and Mumford Learning Style Questionnaire’. You will probably find that you're not 100% any one particular learning style; that you prefer different methods of learning and doing things depending upon the situation.
It isn't that each of us can only learn or approach tasks and activities in one way, it's just that we might find one way easier and more effective than others. Honey and Mumford recommend that to maximize learning, we each need to understand our own learning style and seek out opportunities to learn and do things in the way that suits us best. But, just as importantly, we also need to develop our ability to learn and do things in other ways in order to become more efficient and effective at learning and being productive.