I am fascinated by cognitive biases and heuristics which are part of the growing field of behavioral econonomics. I’ve written about a cognitive bias known as “The Dunning-Krueger effect” before, but today I’d like to discuss one that I see quite often at work – the “status quo bias”. The status quo bias occurs when...
It’s all too easy to bash meetings as a manager. They can eat into your day and make you feel like you haven’t completed any “real” work. It’s what good leaders do But what can be more important than speaking with your employees and managers, checking in to make sure all is ok, communicating progress,...
I have been using to-do lists to plan my days for more than 25 years and am pretty confident that my productivity would be cut in half without them. But I also use my to-do lists for more than just tasks that I need to accomplish for the day. One of the great features of...
Although perhaps not officially a “generation”, the term Generation F is being used to describe the wave of people entering the workforce who have grown up with social networks and Facebook in particular. There’s been a lot of written about these Millennials (the official term) and their attitudes to work but the impact that social networking has...
I often hear how hard people are working – how much they are trying. Sometimes, I think it is easy to confuse activity with action. Don’t get me wrong – a high work ethic is essential. It shows character. It should be admired and celebrated and encouraged. But there is a difference between being busy...
One of my employees recently told me that he had 2750 emails in his inbox. I couldn’t believe it, no wonder he had problems keeping on top of tasks and felt “overwhelmed” at times at work. Keeping emails in your inbox longer than they “need” to be there is the equivalent of having papers spread...
The lack of an effective system for managing tasks and time can leave you feeling over-whelmed and under pressure. It amazes me that time management (or task management) systems like Seven Habits or Getting Things Done are not taught in school as the positive impact that they can make on someone’s life is immeasurable. I...
When I was researching for this post, I visited the wikipedia page on “Job Satisfaction“. I was actually surprised by how much academic research has been done on this subject. I was also surprised that so much of it has been over-complicated. In my opinion, the amount of control you have over your working day...