7 Simple Ways to Make Team Meetings Count

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7 Simple Ways to Make Team Meetings Count

Team meetings play a traditional and sometimes obligatory role in office culture, but that doesn’t mean they’re appreciated.

On the contrary, a recent Harris poll revealed that 46 percent of employees would prefer to do anything else other than sit in a status meeting. Seventeen percent said they would rather watch paint dry. Yikes.

Transforming those counter-productive meetings into meaningful ones is no mean feat, but in this post, I’ll share seven simple tips ways to make team meetings count.

1. Keep it Casual

Instead of being an extension of office life, attending a team meeting should feel like you’re taking a breather from your work.

To make that feeling a reality for your workforce, try setting a more casual tone in your team meetings by starting with an interactive game, a quick story, or even a joke. However, be wary of being overly relaxed, lest your important team meetings become nothing more than social gatherings.

2. Ditch The Chairs

To further set your team meetings apart from the daily grind, empty out the chairs from your meeting room and have stand-up meetings instead.

Not only does standing up encourage engagement, but it also reduces meeting times by up to 34%, so your team can spend less time in meetings and more time producing results.

3. Refresh the Agenda

If your agenda rarely changes, you can’t expect anything other than stale meetings.

To keep your employees engaged, refresh your agendas with relevant issues, industry news, and new strategies that can help the company on micro and macro levels.

But whatever you do, don’t invent talking points in order to “fill up” your agenda. If nothing needs to be discussed, then so be it.

4. Rotate The Leader

Each meeting should be led by one person for the sake of efficiency. Rotating that leader will give your team meetings the variety they desperately need.

You’ll want to write up a short guideline for different leaders to follow, but ultimately, you should let your employees volunteer and enjoy the experience of leading a meeting.

However, if the meeting is being held in order to make an urgent decision, be sure that the leader is also a high-ranking decision-maker.

4. Celebrate Successes

If your company wins a new contract or an employee reaches a personal milestone — celebrate it.

Team meetings help make up the culture and personality of your brand, and if you aren’t marking the big occasions with some celebratory cake, you’re sowing the seeds for a disjointed workforce.

This also applies to project post-mortem meetings, where it’s best to end on a congratulatory note.

5. Get Feedback

Surveying your employees is perhaps the most efficient way to optimize your team meetings.

  • Ask them about what they want to discuss
  • How they want to discuss it
  • What suggestions they would make in order to make team meetings more enjoyable and useful

6. End With a Summary

Even when they’re kept short and sweet, your employees will typically forget the key points of a meeting by the time they return to their workstations.

To ensure that your employees are going back to work with the meeting’s most valuable advice in mind, spend thirty seconds at the end of each meeting summarizing the key takeaways.

7. Make Meetings Rare

Although team meetings can be made fun, productive, and inspiring; nobody can dispute that it is not real work.

I suggest you take a leaf out of 37Signals’ book and keep team meetings to a minimum. They prefer to make use of email and IM to communicate. As they say, “every minute spent outside of the meeting room is a minute you can get real work done instead.”

Make Team Meetings Count for Your Team

The disdain for team meetings is almost universal among employees.

But if your company can make team meetings enjoyable and meaningful, you’ll be set apart from your competitors. This can only be a good thing when your workforce inevitably shares stories about your company on platforms like GlassDoor.

How does your company approach team meetings?

How to Get Yourself Outside More

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How to Get Yourself Outside More

After a full year of off-and-on lockdowns and remote work stints, getting outside is more important than ever. Research from the University of Alabama suggests that spending just 20 minutes outside in a park will make you feel happier. Sunshine, fresh air, and exercise will do wonders for your physical and mental health as you rebound from these tough times.

How to Get Yourself Outside More

Don’t sweat it if you’re still struggling to get outside. These suggestions will help you take the first couple of steps so you can make outdoor living an integral part of your life once again:

Utilize Work Breaks

Unless you have a job with strange hours and responsibilities, you’ll have a couple of 15-minute breaks and time for lunch every day. If the rest of your schedule is so jam-packed that you can’t fit in time to go outside, this will be your best shot.

If you plan on going out to eat for lunch, look for a restaurant within walking distance. To fill a 15-minute gap, invite a co-worker to go on a short walk with you for some team bonding. This could even turn into a team tradition that’s included in everyone’s online calendar.

Exercise in the Morning

By prioritizing morning exercise, you’re certain to get some outdoor time into your schedule. The benefits of exercise are well-known, attributing to better physical and mental health and increased productivity.

Morning exercise ensures you make time in your day to get outside. Trying to work out after a long day in the office can be tough, making exercise easy to procrastinate. Exercising first thing each day will also set up a great morning routine for you to get accustomed to.

Of course, you should exercise when it suits you best. Morning happens to be one of the easiest times to get started, even if you snooze your alarm the first few mornings you try. Try going on a morning jog or taking a yoga mat to your back porch.

Move Activities Outdoors

What daily activities can you complete outside? See what you can get done outdoors to make sure you’re getting some sun and fresh air. You might even find that you enjoy these activities more outside than you did inside.

If you spend a lot of time on the phone, take your calls outside. If you’re a person that feels the need to pace while they’re on the phone, you’ll have plenty of room to walk about. If WiFi reaches a shady spot outside, you can catch up on emails or do some typing on a laptop outdoors.

Even some recreational activities can be moved outside. Reading a book, watching TV, or playing a handheld video game can all be done outside your house. You’ll be able to enjoy the same relaxation and feel healthier while doing it.

Schedule Outdoor Events

You can attend so many outdoor events if you make room for them in your Calendar. A set plan is much more effective at getting you outside than wishful thinking.

Look around your community for events you can add to your schedule. A local 5k fun run might be supporting a noble cause and motivate you to get out and run more. Swap meets, concerts, and parades will all make fine additions to your Calendar and become fond outdoor memories.

Pick Up a New Hobby

Need a new hobby to fill the blank spaces in your Calendar? Look for something you can do outside. Pursuing this new hobby will draw you outdoors and help you develop a new skill while you’re at it.

There are plenty of outdoor activities you can pick up, including:

  • Biking
  • Fishing
  • Photography
  • Gardening
  • Skateboarding
  • Golf
  • Geocaching

All of these activities you can do by yourself but are even more enjoyable with others. If you ever want to spend some time outdoors with family and friends, coordinate with them using your Calendar. Share events and scheduling links to get on the same page and enjoy some outdoor activities together.

Become a Kid Again

Remember when you were a kid and you’d play outside until dark? It was so easy back then. Perhaps the best strategy for getting you back outside again is to revert to your child-like ways just for a moment.

What was it that brought you outside so much as a kid? Perhaps it was adventuring the woods near your house or finding cool rocks by the side of the road. Look for those little bits of joy that come from the outdoors and you’ll feel decades younger.

Plan a Project

If you own property, there’s always work to be done. Add projects to your Calendar and you’ll always have something to do outside. While it may be hard work, the result will always be rewarding.

Lawn care will always need attention in the spring and summer months. Create a lawn mowing schedule in your Calendar and make reminders to check on any flowers or plants you have growing on your property. You can also make time for other projects such as painting the fence, trimming bushes, or spraying weed killer on the driveway.

You won’t become Meriwether Lewis overnight, but by using your Calendar, you’ll be able to make outdoor activities a habit rather than a sacrifice. Take note of the benefits you get from making time to get outside and use that as motivation to keep venturing out.

Meaningful Motivation: What Actually Drives Employee Engagement

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Meaningful Motivation: What Actually Drives Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is tricky. While our workers tell us money is the way to maximize productivity, results tell a different story. What do we believe?

Recent experiments run by Dan Ariely, author of the book Payoff, showed that money is a poor motivator for getting the best work out of people. In fact, large bonuses for key executives produced deteriorating efficiency.

Based on these findings, if not money, what incentives produce the output employees?

Here are 3 rewards other than cash that we can give to our workforce to boost productivity. All these privileges have been shown to produce more engagement in companies than dollar-based incentives. Start using these motivation boosters in your business today, and watch your company culture and happiness increase substantially.

1. Seeing a satisfied customer

One of the worst parts about pivoting in a startup is the amount of previous work you must throw away. Imagine working 12 hours a day, sacrificing family time, and working weekends to help build a product you believe in. Then after months or years of working your tail off, the company you work for scratches the project. No one will use what you built, and now you have nothing to show for it. Your motivation is gone.

Unfortunately, this scenario is seen in companies of all sizes. While many times an instance like this is unavoidable, the way decision-makers handle a scenario like this can make all the difference.

Seeing a customer have a great experience with something that you helped create is a wonderful feeling. It allows you to see first-hand that what you are working on has a greater purpose, and you can see with your own eyes the positive effect you have caused.

To take advantage of this, if your company is going through a pivot, find ways to save as much of the work that you did as possible. Tie it into your new product, or dig into the processes that worked well before you pivoted and incorporate them into your new plan.

Throughout the building process, bring customers in and have them test the product in front of your team. When your employees see customers light up, they will light up as well.

Once the product is built, share positive feedback from your customers directly with your staff.

When I receive positive comments about the content my team produces, I share it directly with my team. It means more to them to see the customer say good job than it does for me to tell them the same.

People want to work for companies that are improving the lives of others. The best way to show your team they are working for a purpose is to allow them to see happy customers with their own eyes.

2. Meaningful motivation builds trust

Sadly, some employees view trust as more of a privilege than a right. For these organizations, motivation is nonexistent.

While having faith in your team can increase employee output exponentially, not having confidence in them can lead to your company lacking vision and any kind of connection with the organization.

While trust can be expressed in a variety of ways, one of the best is enabling a sense of autonomy to your workers. For instance, in my company, we allow everyone to work from home. There is no office, and we don’t have a set start time. We update each other on our daily schedule and all have tasks we are responsible for that day, but there is no micromanaging.

When I was deciding to build a company this way, I thought about the kind of company culture I’d want to work for. I didn’t want a company who treated me like a child. I wanted to be an equal in an organization, not a prisoner. As I’ve built an autonomous culture in my own company, the rewards have been substantial. Happier employees, increased productivity, and less burn out are just a few of the perks.

The more trust you put in people the better results you’ll get. If you don’t have assurance in your team, then you’re hiring the wrong people.

3. Congratulating Employees For A Job Well Done

When an employee is doing an amazing job, the first thought in many employer’s minds is to up their salary. The issue with this thought process is that the worker quickly becomes used to the increased pay anytime they do something well. So when they do something exemplary again, they want a bigger bonus. Then an even bigger bonus, and on and on.

Try going back down the ladder, and your worker will be furious. Once pay has become the dictator of worth, smaller bonuses are seen as a bad thing not a great motivator.

Instead, positive reinforcement is shown to be just as effective as increased pay but without diminishing returns. So, let’s say if instead of paying you a fat bonus for a project you knocked out of the park, I tell you how great of a job you did and invite you out for a drink. To most people, this will be an equal motivator as a bonus. But, when you do amazing things in the future, you won’t expect more money, you’ll instead just expect me to give you more praise.

Appreciating employees is easy. There are no monetary resources that you need to pour in. All you need is sincerity and time. Over the long term, this is a much better way to motivate your workforce, and a better way to build your company culture.

Your Appointment System Works for You. Does It Work for Your Clients?

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Your Appointment System Works for You. Does It Work for Your Clients?

If you use online appointment software, you’ll almost certainly love it. It’s amazing how the right piece of software can transform your entire business for the better. However, even if you’re happy with your appointment system, you need to know how your customers feel about it.

Every customer interaction you have provides an opportunity for feedback. The more opinions you get about your appointment system, the better service you can provide. Here are some ways you can get feedback from your clients at every step of their customer journey:

Send Email Blasts

While email is no longer everyone’s primary form of communication, it’s still a good way to seek feedback on your appointment system. Customers are likely used to receiving emails from you, so they’re the perfect spot to place some strategic survey links. 

Standalone survey emails are often deleted instantly, so incorporate your survey links into the emails your customers are already expecting. For example, add a survey link to the bottom of the confirmation emails you send when a customer books an appointment. Attaching a survey about your appointment system to an email thanking customers for their business could also do the trick. You can send them after each appointment or purchase.

Leverage Social Media

The average social media user spends nearly two and a half hours on digital platforms each day. That’s 150 minutes of opportunity for client interaction. You can use that time to target customers scrolling through their news feed. 

Surveys distributed through social media are visible and can be easily shared. They can also be packaged in a more attractive way than most other surveys.

Many businesses use social media to announce deals, events, and promotions to their followers. Use this knowledge to your advantage. Make customers who submit survey responses eligible for a giveaway. This will incentivize them to stop and answer questions about your appointment system rather than scroll right by. 

Use Built-In Wait Time

Keeping wait times for clients to a minimum is important. But customers will inevitably spend some time in your waiting room on occasion. This provides an excellent opportunity to pass along a small survey for them to take before their appointment begins.

Utilize the check-in procedure to get the process started. Once a customer signs in, ask them if they’d be willing to answer a few questions about your appointment system while they wait. Of course, you needn’t stop there. Your survey might also address the layout of the lobby or ask customers to rate their interaction with the front desk staff.

Update Customer Records

Not every survey about your appointment system has to be formal. Questions asked during an appointment will give you great, candid responses you’ll want to remember. To keep track of the information, record individuals’ responses on the relevant customer records. 

The patient portals doctors use are a great example of this. They allow doctors to keep track of patient responses during check-ups. Then they have all patient information in one place and can refer to the file as needed. 

Other industries can try a similar method. Online appointment software solutions that let you take note of any comments customers make could prove very useful. 

Run a Case Study

Is your company just now considering implementing online appointment software? There are things you can do to make the transition easier. Before you make the switch, run a case study with some volunteer customers. 

Identify customers who are willing to be your guinea pigs. Explain the new system and tell them that they’ll be asked for feedback about the experience. After a case study, you’ll know exactly how customers feel about your new appointment system before a full launch. 

Remember that when you run a case study, you should assemble a diverse group of volunteers. Older customers may have different questions and concerns about online appointment software than younger ones. Getting many perspectives will help you provide the best service to every customer who walks through your door. 

Add a Feedback Box

Making it easy for clients to share opinions can get you more respondents. So add a feedback box to your website. This will encourage customers to share their thoughts about your appointment system even when they’re on the website for a different purpose. 

A website feedback box acts just like a physical suggestion box you might have seen at a store or in your workplace. Online, the box may be a small chat bubble or even use a chatbot. Visitors can quickly jot down a thought and submit it in seconds. Plus, these feedback boxes catch customers at a moment when they’re naturally interacting with your website. This will make their responses more authentic and valuable. 

A customer might be using your online appointment software and make an immediate judgment. Maybe they think the layout is a bit cluttered, or they’re struggling to find a vital piece of information. Putting a feedback box right on the website will give customers a chance to share their insights. If it’s not there, they might forget the thought — and you might lose an opportunity to improve your business. 

As you gather feedback from your customers, be sure to put it in use. Businesses that strive to improve themselves in order to please their customers are the ones that stick around the longest. An appointment system that’s efficient and helpful is an important part of the client experience. Keep your customers happy by using the right system and taking their comments and concerns seriously. 

9 Productivity Mistakes You’re Making Every Day

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9 Productivity Mistakes You’re Making Every Day

Who wouldn’t want to be more productive? I think most of us would want to accomplish the goal of higher productivity daily — which is why you’re reading this article. The thing is, sometimes, when it comes to productivity, it’s not about adding a new hack, habit, or app to your life. It’s eliminating the things that are holding you back, such as the following nine productivity mistakes.

9 Productivity Mistakes You’re Making Every Day

1. Not making the most of your morning.

There might have been a time when you consistently hit snooze and stayed in bed until the very last second before you have to go. But, we’re creatures of habit, and a morning routine gives us that much-needed structure. In turn, you’ll be healthier and more productive.

So, how should you spend your morning? Well, that’s really up to you. But here are some suggestions you should try:

  • Wake up before everyone else so that you have time to yourself.
  • Don’t look at your phone as soon as you wake up.
  • Avoid coffee first thing, and drink a 24 oz glass of water instead.
  • Eat a healthy breakfast.
  • Read, journal, meditate, and exercise.
  • Set a daily intention.
  • Review your calendar.

Most importantly, plan the night before so that you aren’t rushing around in the morning. For example, packing your lunch and laying out your clothes. And, don’t forget to establish and stick to a regular sleep schedule.

2. Wasting the two most productive hours of the day.

“One of the saddest mistakes in time management is the propensity of people to spend the two most productive hours of their day on things that don’t require high cognitive capacity (like social media),” psychologist Dan Ariely said in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” (AMA). “If we could salvage those precious hours, most of us would be much more successful in accomplishing what we truly want.”

When asked when are these “golden hours,” Ariely responded, “Generally, people are most productive in the morning. The two hours after becoming fully awake are likely to be the best.”

At the same time, this varies from person to person. But, Stephen Borgman, in Psychology Today, says, “Everyone needs a powerful morning routine to buffer stress and maximize their days.”

Most of us have an idea of when we’re most productive and when we’re not. If you’re uncertain, track your time to get a clearer picture. After identifying your peak hours, spend that time on your most demanding and challenging tasks of the day.

3. Treating cheating as a reward.

“People often decide to treat themselves if they are doing something they find difficult, such as dieting, saving money, exercising or working,” writes Amy Johnson in Lifehack. “However, if someone treats themselves to a dress after a week of saving, this undermines the achievement they have made.” Even worse, this could ‘encourage you to ditch your plan entirely, as you’ve already been ‘bad.’”

“Try to view the act of you achieving your goals as a treat,” suggests Amy. “You wanted to improve yourself — and now you are well on your way.”

4. Allowing yourself to get mentally fatigued.

You’ll not want to waste your most productive hours on low-demand tasks. Remember, who only have so much energy and willpower in a day. So, it’s better to reserve it for essential activities. Better than just reserving your energy is to build your energy during the day.

Deep Patel gives some ways to boost your energy during the day that I’ve found to be quite successful — including getting rid of emotional contagions.

Another way to preserve — and build your energy throughout the day is to block apps and distracting noises when focused on deep work. Take frequent breaks, walk around your building — do something to recharge and recover from mental fatigue. If mental fatigue is something that you struggle with — go back to the Pomodoro Technique. It’s where you work in 25-minute blocks and then take a short break.

5. Falling into the urgency trap.

If there is one takeaway I want you to remember from this article, not everything is an emergency. I know that you’ve got a full plate. But, you won’t be able to clear it if you keep piling more on.

One way to avoid this is by creating a master list and analyzing it. Your master list is everything that you need or want to get done. Don’t worry about putting it in order just yet.

After you’ve developed your list, use the 4 D’s of time management to thin it down. The tasks that need to be done right now should be put in your calendar first. These would be things that can be completed quickly, have deadlines, or contribute to your goals.

For important tasks that aren’t urgent, defer them to a later time. Urgent but unimportant tasks can be delegated. And, anything that is neither should be deleted from your list.

6. Being afraid to say “no.”

Let’s say that you’re in the zone, and there’s a knock on your door. Your co-founder pops their head in and asks if you have a minute. Unless it’s a life or death situation, your response should be “no.”

Of course, you don’t want to come off like a jerk. You can merely tell the individual you’re busy and ask if they can come back in an hour when you’re free.

The same idea is valid to any sort of time request. You just received an invite for an unnecessary meeting? Decline it. What do you do if you’ve already committed to a party this weekend? Have it clearly in your mind that if you’ve already accepted one engagement, you can’t attend another social function.

As Derek Sivers once wrote, “If you’re not saying “HELL YEAH!” about something, say ‘no.’” When you do, you can remain focused on your priorities and avoid spreading yourself too thin.

7. Believing in the myth of multitasking.

“Multitasking might be your favorite way to forge through your daily tasks,” writes Howie Jones in an article for Calendar. “The logic is flawless. Accomplishing two things instead of one thing is always better.”

Here’s the problem, though. Multitasking is a myth. The reason? “The human brain seems to be set up to handle one task at a time,” explains Howie. “It is impossible to change the way our brains are set up, so it is better to accept reality and avoid multitasking.”

As a result, when you multitask, “you cost yourself time and efficiency that you cannot get back.” Focus on one thing at a time and then move on to your next task.

8. Focusing on time, not results.

All too often, we focus on how many hours we work and not what we’ve achieved. It’s like some strange badge of honor. Do you think that you’re any more productive by working 80 plus hours per week?

I hate to break it to you. But you’re not. In fact, according to a Stanford study, productivity begins to drop after working 50 hours per week. And, it plummets so much after working 55 hours that it’s pointless.

What’s more, research from Behance “found that placing importance on hours and physical presence over action and results leads to a culture of inefficiency (and anxiety).” Furthermore, sitting “at your desk until a specific time creates a factory-like culture that ignores a few basic laws of idea generation and human nature:

  • When the brain is tired, it doesn’t work well.
  • Idea generation happens on its own terms,
  • When you feel forced to execute beyond your capacity, you begin to hate what you are doing.

Instead, reflect and acknowledge what you’ve accomplished in a day. An easy way to do this would be creating a done list to show you how you were productive and not just busy.

9. Thinking that work-life balance is 50/50.

Perhaps the biggest misconception about work-life balance is that it’s a 50-50 split. In other words, you spend an equal amount of time at work, and the other at home.

The reality is that that’s not realistic. Work-life balance is all about doing the right thing at the right time. For example, you need to launch your app by the end of the week. That’s where a majority of your time and energy should be focused. But your child has to go to the emergency room. Well, that should take precedence over everything else.

Sometimes if you want to attain a work-life balance — you need to find something in life that is worth balancing. Do you want to run a marathon? The training will build your confidence and force you to adjust your life experiences better. Have you always wanted to learn another language besides the two that you already know? Immersion in a new language learning program will balance your life better than you may be doing currently.

“A more attainable goal than work-life balance — is work-life integration,” writes Amanda Abella in a previous Calendar article. That means integrating “your work and your life so that they complement each other instead of competing with one another.”

Leveling Up Your Respect for Your Customers’ Time

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Leveling Up Your Respect for Your Customers’ Time

They say that time is money. The problem is that while you can make back your money, you can’t regain lost time. That’s one reason respecting your customers’ time is one of the most important things your business should strive for. 

Customers who feel that they and their time are respected will more likely remain loyal to your business. Loyal customers increase revenue, reduce turnover, and provide referrals that will further grow your business. Here’s how you can make sure you’re respecting the time of every customer who walks through your doors:

Always Start Appointments on Schedule

When your customers commit to an appointment, they’re offering up their precious time to your business. Starting every appointment on time shows them that you respect the time commitment they make. 

There are many reasons why an appointment might start late. An employee might get stuck in traffic, or the previous customer might be tardy, pushing subsequent appointments back a few minutes. You can avoid delaying the next appointment’s start time by scheduling some wiggle room between appointment slots. Alternatively, you might have one of your employees begin serving the customer — bringing them a beverage or handling their paperwork — until their scheduled service provider is available.

Send Reminders in Advance

Reminders are one of the most effective tools businesses can use to prevent no-shows and late arrivals from happening. However, when you send the reminder is also important. Reminding customers about their appointment only an hour beforehand isn’t likely to be the most effective approach. 

The best reminders are the ones customers can set themselves. Some will prefer those last-minute reminders, but many others will want their reminders a day or even a week in advance. Provide reminder flexibility through your online appointment software so each reminder notification can be customized for maximum effectiveness. 

Prioritize the Customer

Running a business involves a lot of moving parts. Responsibilities may include back-office roles like payroll, HR, and more. As important as these aspects of a business are, customer needs should always be the priority unless there’s an emergency in another department.

For example, let’s say you’re in charge of running a dentist’s office. There are supplies to be ordered and hygienists’ schedules to be arranged, but you have a customer waiting at the front desk. How will they feel if you put them on the back burner? From their perspective, they’re being neglected, which will not result in good reviews of your business or recommendations to their friends. 

Make it a point to help out every customer before turning to other tasks or dealing with co-workers. If you have issues balancing back-office tasks with customer interactions, consider increasing your workforce to close the gap. 

Constantly Seek Efficiency

Respecting your customers’ time goes behind assisting them on a daily basis. You should constantly seek to improve your business’s efficiency to help future customers save even more time. 

Online appointment software is an excellent example of increasing efficiency to respect your customers’ time. Using online software, booking and managing appointments is faster and easier than ever. Customers don’t need to call in to schedule each of their appointments and can even book them after business hours. 

Optimizing your business operations will also show you value the time customers lend to you. Perhaps the paperwork you have patients fill out before their appointments causes bookings to run longer than expected. Look for ways to digitize these forms so they can be completed faster — and preferably only once — for the benefit of everyone interacting with your business. 

Focus on Communication

Ask any team leader, teacher, or couple, and they’ll all tell you the same thing: Communication is key to success. There are two ways communication will help you respect your customers’ time. 

First, ask your customers how they think you can better respect their time. Simple surveys sent after appointments will give you the answers you need. Customer feedback regarding a specific aspect of your business, perhaps the check-in process, will direct you to the exact area that needs improvement.

Second, focus on team communication. A hair salon is a great example of how good team communication ensures a pleasant booking. Let’s say a guest arrives and shares some special requests at the front desk. If those aren’t passed along to the stylist, guests will waste time repeating the same things over again. 

Resolve Problems Quickly

Even when you’re trying your best, mistakes will happen. Appointments will run late, details will get misplaced, and your internet might even go down. How quickly and effectively you resolve problems is another way you show your customers that their time and satisfaction are important to you.

Here’s a scenario that you may have encountered before. At the end of an appointment, a customer comes up to the front desk with a problem — perhaps their parking didn’t get validated at their last appointment, or they’re not receiving appointment reminders. By the time your team has come up with a solution, the customer has become frustrated with their entire experience, even though everything prior to that point ran smoothly. 

Focus on teaching your employees problem-solving and critical thinking skills. While you can’t expect every problem to have an immediate solution, employees will be prepared to handle most potential holdups that cost your customers valuable time. 

When you show respect to your customers, they will reciprocate. This is vital for appointment-based businesses that require timeliness and cooperation to function efficiently. By embracing these tips, you’ll be on your way to better respecting your customers’ time — and they’ll know it.

Innovate, Innovate, Innovate

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Innovate, Innovate, Innovate

Thomas Edison once said, “There’s a way to do it better – find it.” In my opinion, that perfectly sums up what innovation is. But, marketing specialist Will Purcell has a more in-depth definition of how to inovate. “Innovation, as a concept, refers to the process that an individual or organization undertakes to conceptualize brand new products, processes, and ideas, or to approach existing products, processes, and ideas in new ways.”

Purcell adds that in the business world, there are three types of innovation to pursue. These include product, process, and business model innovations. Chasing any of these not only sparks creativity and inspiration, but it can also take your business to new levels.

The most obvious reason is that innovation will help your company grow. In fact, according to economists, between 1870 and 1950, innovation was responsible for 85% of all growth in the US economy. More recently, McKinsey reports that 84% of executives believe that innovation is important to growth strategy.

That actually makes sense. Through innovation, you’re better equipped to reduce waste and costs, embrace new opportunities, and stand out from your competition. Moreover, it can strengthen your relationships with customers and employees. And, it encourages you to continually improves and stay on top of trends so that you’ll remain relevant.

So, yeah. Innovation is incredibly important. And, in my opinion, it’s particularly true in the world we currently live in as we’re surrounded by so much uncertainty.

The good news? There are simple and effective ways to train yourself and your team to become more innovative, such as the following 10 techniques.

1. Cultivate your innovative traits.

There’s a misconception that some people are just born to be innovative. That’s not exactly true. Victor Poirier, a professor at the Institute of Advanced Discovery & Innovation at the University of South Florida, believes we all possess this trait.

“Almost everybody [has] innovative traits,” he told Fast Company. “Some people use them; some people don’t. [I did this research] to make people aware of what traits people do have, wake up dormant traits that they don’t even know they have, and prove the utilization of those traits.”

Which traits specifically? Poirier lists the ability to think abstractly, having deep and broad knowledge, curiosity, openness to risk, grit, and dissatisfaction with the status quo as the most common. If you notice any of these in you or a team member, he suggests seeking out experiences that force you to put them to the test.

For example, you’ve noticed that you’ve got some grit in you. You decide to strengthen this trait. You can do so by developing alternative plans to handle potential setbacks.

Poirier also recommends that you put yourself in environments that are conducive to innovation. And, you should have some ego since this can push you out of your comfort zone. Just make sure to keep it in check.

2. Turn “I can’t” into “I can.”

From my experiences, we often don’t chase innovation because there are roadblocks in the way. For example, maybe the COVID-19 pandemic forced you to close your retail shop. Instead of “I can’t make money because I can’t have indoor gatherings,” look for alternatives, such as opening an online shop.

That may sound simplistic. But, it’s possible if you start small and track your progress. Most importantly, believe in yourself. As Carolyn Rubenstein, author of Perseverance, puts it, “Don’t give yourself any other option. If other people can do it, so can you.”

3. Don’t discount “crazy” ideas.

Airplanes, coffee, light bulbs, personal computers, and vaccines. All are a part of daily life. But did you know that they were initially ridiculed?

The point is, never listen to the naysayers. Whenever you have an idea, jot it down and run with it if it keeps nagging you. It might not change the world. But, life is too short to live with regrets.

4. Shake things up.

I have nothing against routines. In addition to providing structure, it pretty much automates planning. At the same time, monotony can put you in a rut.

To avoid this and light the creativity spark, find ways to diverge from the normal — ideally every day. It could be something as small as eating something different for breakfast or working somewhere besides your office. Or, it could more of a shock to the system, like rearranging your home or traveling abroad.

5. Be constantly curious.

“Humans are naturally curious—anyone who’s spent time with a toddler knows that a hunger to figure things out is a primal motivating force,” wrote Neil Blumenthal, Co-founder, and Co-CEO of Warby Parker. “Learning also leads to ideation: the more you know, the more you imagine.”

“We’ve institutionalized learning in a few ways— by creating employee book clubs and establishing Warby Parker Academy, a program that offers free workshops on everything from frame design to public speaking to retail real estate to fantasy football,” adds Blumenthal. “Learning naturally leads to cross-pollination and ideation. Ideation can lead to action. Action is how innovation comes to life.

One of my favorite ways to cultivate curiosity is to just talk to others. It could be an employee, friend, or stranger you’ve just met at the airport. Actually, listening to others is a great way to learn new things and gain fresh perspectives.

6. Ban things.

While this may sound counterintuitive, Annabel Action, founder of the site Never Liked It Anyway, has a different opinion. When you have constraints and parameters in place, it can “inspire innovation by forcing you to think dynamically and creatively.”

“As an exercise, start banning things and exploring the implications,” recommends Annabel. Ban words, resources, and your primary target market. You could even take it further by banning “your default communication tools.” In most cases, “the ideas you settle on will likely be watered down versions of your initial suggestions, but the point of this exercise is to spark new thoughts on how to do the same old things.”

7. Involve others.

Even if you’re a solopreneur or pride yourself on being a lone wolf, the reality is that innovation stifles when other’s aren’t involved. You need someone to bounce ideas off of and then have them bring in their own diverse knowledge, experiences, and perspectives.

And, sometimes this can push you beyond your limitations. Take the “amazing competition” between John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

“It was a great way for us to keep each other on our toes,” Paul told Uncut in 2004. “I’d write ‘Yesterday,’ and John would go away and write ‘Norwegian Wood.’ If he wrote ‘Strawberry Fields, it was like he’d upped the ante, so I had to come up with something as good as ‘Penny Lane.’”

8. Enjoy the silence.

While you should definitely surround yourself with others, you also need time to be alone. Silence can lower blood pressure, bolster your immune system, and gives you a chance to reflect.

Silence also generates new cells in the hippocampus region of the brain, which is linked to learning, remembering, and emotions. Additionally, it can inspire creativity.

“When allowing thoughts to go where they will, inspiration may bubble up,” writes Suzanne Kane for PsychCentral. “Solutions to current or long-standing problems may suddenly occur to you, or a work-around or innovative approach may seem more feasible.”

9. Give failure a hug.

Richard Branson says: “Don’t let the fear of failure become an obstacle. You can create your own luck by opening the door to change, progression, and success.”

No one wants to fail. And, as someone who experienced it, it sucks. But, failure isn’t your enemy. It’s a friend who lets you know what works and what doesn’t so that you can find different ways to overcome obstacles.

10. Juggle multiple areas of interest.

“Truly great innovators aren’t satisfied with focusing on one project,” Deep Patel wrote in a previous Entrepreneur article. “They feel driven to pursue multiple ventures and interests, which may overlap and feed off of each other.” In other words, they possess multipotentiality, “or the ability to excel in multiple areas and fields.”

“It may seem like some creative people are easily distracted, constantly bouncing from one thing to the next,” explains Deep. “In reality, they are just wired to be interested in many things. They may feel a calling to dive into multiple projects because their wide range of creative interests pulls them in different directions.”

Plan the Best Honeymoon With an Online Calendar

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Plan the Best Honeymoon With an Online Calendar

The peak wedding month is June — and we’re almost there.  A lot of time and effort goes into planning the perfect wedding. Occasionally the wedding is so intense that honeymoon plans are left on the back burner. Yet your first trip as a married couple is a wonderful bonding experience that deserves just as much attention as your other wedding arrangements.

Plan the Best Honeymoon With an Online Calendar

Just like with any other trip, an online calendar can help you iron out the details for an unbelievable experience. When it comes to your honeymoon — remember it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that deserves some time and attention to planning.

Save the Date

Your wedding date will likely be chosen far in advance. You should give your honeymoon sufficient heads up as well. This allows you to make sure everything is in order before you set sail.

The sooner you set your honeymoon dates in your online calendar, the quicker you can ask off work if needed and organize your future schedule. This will prevent last minute any last-minute tie-ups from throwing a wrench in your plans.

Planning in advance also helps you purchase plane tickets if needed and make reservations with plenty of time. There wouldn’t be much of a honeymoon if you forgot this. Note; you don’t have to leave for your honeymoon immediately after the wedding, you can add a day or two to prepare for your trip if you’d like.

Set a Budget

Even if you plan on going all out with your honeymoon plans, a budget is nice to have. A budget will help you plan out how many activities you can afford and stop you from too much overspending. Otherwise, you might go a little too crazy and regret it later.

You can start budgeting now with your online calendar. You can set your parameters and even start saving up for the trip. Not having to worry about finances during your honeymoon enables you to enjoy all the good things.

Do Your Research

Head into your honeymoon with proper preparation. Scope out vacation sites based on location, price, and available excursions. Your initial idea might be overshadowed by new findings you didn’t think about before.

After some digging, you might realize that original honeymoon plans don’t fit your proposed budget. Look for similar options and ask for advice from others based on their own honeymoon experiences.

Above all, be sure to schedule research time in your online calendar with plenty of time to make decisions about the location, flights, days you’ll stay and hotel bookings.

Pack Early

The less you have to worry about when your honeymoon dates arrive, the better. A simple task to take care of in advance is packing. While it might seem tempting to leave tossing stuff in your suitcase until the last minute — you’re asking for more stress than you need — and you’ll likely forget important items.

While some packing tips will help you fit everything you need, what’s most important is getting your packing done in advance. Schedule packing time in your online calendar on a day where you can handle it without a problem. Even getting the majority of your packing done before the wedding is a viable option.

Create an Itinerary

Honeymoons should be equal parts relaxing and exciting. While most of the time you might want to relax on a beach somewhere — it’s important to add some activities that make for fun memories as well. By creating an itinerary you can make sure there’s room for both.

A strict schedule isn’t everyone’s idea of a great honeymoon. If you prefer, keep a more relaxed itinerary. Flexible times take out the stress of vacationing, but still make sure you’re planning some day trips and activities throughout your honeymoon. However, some more specific details benefit from rigidness, such as flight times and hotel check-ins.

As part of your honeymoon itinerary, consider adding a few surprises that your spouse doesn’t know about. A romantic dinner or other surprise special event can really add to the honeymoon feel for them.

Make the Most of Travel

Now that the days of your vacation are all straightened out, don’t forget to give some attention to your travel time. Especially if you’re travelling far, there’s a lot of time you can fill and make more enjoyable.

For long flights, prepare some movies, books, or games to keep you connected as you reach your destination. Long drives can benefit from music and audio books as well. Prepare for travel and there will never be a dull moment.

While talking about travel, be sure to space out your flights if that’s your method of transportation. Nothing will ruin a honeymoon faster than a missed flight or an unexpected delay throwing everything off balance.

Talk to Locations in Advance — and Ask Someone Whose Been There

This might be the only honeymoon you ever take in your life, so you should take advantage of it as much as possible. Being newlyweds unlocks a lot of perks at hotels, restaurants, and even airports, but you won’t get any of them unless you ask.

Call hotels, restaurants, and other locations of interest a day or two before arrival. Bring up the fact that it’s your honeymoon to them. Even if you get nothing more than a small room upgrade and a free dessert, it’s worth the even smaller effort.

Plan a Day at Home

Returning from your honeymoon back to work and reality is a sad time. You’ll quickly miss the carefree feeling of vacationing after tying the knot with your significant other. To mitigate the post-vacation blues, plan a day at home to end your honeymoon.

Having at least one day in between your vacation and when you have to return to responsibilities makes for an easier transition. That day at home can be used to transition and prepare for a successful return to society. A little staycation never hurt anybody anyway.

At the end of it all, be sure to enjoy the quality time with your spouse. This trip set the tone for your marriage and future trips to come. Using your online calendar can get it done right.

Employee Vacations Don’t Need to Slow Down Your Business

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Employee Vacations Don’t Need to Slow Down Your Business

As summer arrives, many employees are eyeing their next vacation destination. Managing absences can get tricky. Even for experienced business managers, especially if they don’t plan ahead.

However, employee vacations don’t have to slow your business down. There are ways to plan around them, and even encourage them, to keep workflows running smoothly and employees energized. Here’s how you can make it happen:

Recognize the Importance of Employee Downtime

First of all, you need to acknowledge the fact that employee vacations are necessary. When a manager is willing to work with employees to take time off, the process becomes a lot smoother. Additionally, you’ll see notable improvements in workplace productivity.

The American Psychological Association’s Work and Well-Being survey found that 58% of workers were more productive and 55% believed their work quality increased following a vacation. Paid time off (PTO) allows employees to recharge and come back with an improved mindset, which ends up paying dividends to your business. 

Once you realize that vacations help your business instead of hurt it, you’ll be more open to implementing the following suggestions to make time off increasingly possible. Employees, in turn, will be more willing to cooperate with your PTO guidelines when you show them that you truly value their vacation time. 

Operate Above the Bare Minimum

A big reason why businesses struggle with employee vacations is because they regularly operate on a bare minimum basis. They have just enough employees to cover every shift. When someone asks for PTO, it means there’s no one who can pick up the slack. 

Employees will burn out quickly when they are overworked and feel incapable of taking time off. This leads to a decline in job performance and high turnover rates, which are complicated and costly for businesses to handle. 

Sit down with your finance team and calculate the budget needed to add one or two more team members to your roster. Even having a few part-time or on-call employees can help cover essential tasks when a worker is on vacation or even taking sick leave. 

Encourage Vacations During Slow Season

While you’re building a culture that supports time off, try to do so as efficiently as possible. Businesses will be able to support employee vacations much more easily during their slow season as opposed to their peak months. 

Let’s use a car dealership and/or its service department as an example. The auto industry typically booms in the summer when driving conditions are optimal and travel is more feasible. You’ll want all hands on deck in these months, so encourage your employees to take more time off in the fall and winter. 

Of course, many vacations and family reunions are planned in the summer when kids are out of school. Don’t use the busy months as an excuse to never allow an employee to take time off. Work with all employees to stagger their PTO so you can cater to their personal situations and the needs of your business.

Update Your Scheduling System

Many organizations use outdated systems to field and approve time-off requests is outdated. There are too many hoops to jump through, or forms get lost and verbal commitments are forgotten. If you really don’t want employee vacations to slow down your business, update your scheduling system.

Start by moving the entire process online. If you’re reading this blog, you probably already use online appointment software to benefit your business and its customers. Implement technology to do the same with your employee PTO scheduling. 

Scheduling software will keep employee shifts organized, ensuring that everyone knows their work schedule and every day is covered. PTO requests can be digitally submitted, reviewed, and approved in minutes. The schedule can then be altered accordingly without miscommunications or lost time. 

Establish PTO Guidelines

Rules are never fun, but they’re necessary to maintain order and equity. With a set of rules and guidelines in place, your employees will be able to better choose when to cash in on their vacation time.

For example, one of your rules might be that two employees in the same department can’t be on vacation at the same time. Workers then know that they won’t be able to ask off work, except for emergencies, if certain dates are already claimed. This also encourages employees to plan in advance so that a lack of foresight doesn’t cause them to miss a wedding or a family reunion. 

Transition as Much As Possible to Remote Work

Employees who work from home have much more flexibility when it comes to taking a vacation. In many cases, they can still work on the road, and the business won’t even notice they’re gone. Enabling as many remote work opportunities as possible keeps your business running even with vacation time in the mix.

For appointment-based businesses, there may be fewer opportunities right now for remote work. Still, you can look at digital customer service options or have your back-office teams work from home. Your IT technician can be just as effective from a hotel room in the Bahamas if you really need them. 

Another exciting development in the world of appointment-based businesses is telecommunication. Some professionals, such as physicians and therapists, can hold consultations with patients via videoconferencing. This gives these service providers more scheduling flexibility, allowing them to plan vacation activities around the appointments they have each day. 

Vacations are an essential part of life. Make sure both you and your team are taking the time you need to unwind and relax. And use these tips to make sure your business doesn’t suffer because of it. 

Follow the Calendar Editorial Process

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Follow the Calendar Editorial Process

The aim of Calendar is to present you with the possibility of owning your own life and destiny through scheduling.

With your online Calendar, everything comes together. Your work goals align, your plans fall into place, and you gain a vision of the whole of life. You have clearly defined objectives and intentions.

No more scrambling to get your plans down on your Calendar or find an empty space for others. Trying to bring these together can sometimes take longer than the appointment itself.

Follow the Calendar Editorial Process

You can now skip the hassle, embarrassment, and exasperation of missed appointments, lost opportunities, inconvenient meeting times, and plans that are never made.

We want to make scheduling faster, focused, and more productive — for you. We want to ensure that you have the time to meet and get together with those you choose.

You’ll also learn exactly how to raise your productivity level bit by bit until your success meets your aspirations.

When you meet with someone — you’ll accomplish more than you ever have before. We teach you how to apply productivity as a principle of power. You won’t waste your efforts.

Who Are We?

The team at Calendar includes technological support, staff writers, scientists, educators, Doctors, and freelancers who keep track of the newest and most consistent help and tools in the productivity arena. These writers and authors read and research the latest academic studies, and additional authorship on calendaring and productivity, and we even ask that they dip into the psychological whys and how-tos.

Additionally, the team of writers searches for studies into workplace practices that have proven worth, and reliable information that gives procedural input into how to get more out of work hours.

What does it take to build an effective team? How do you get things done?

We discover — and present to our readership — what it takes to build an effective team and get things done. We’re passionate about sharing all of our hard-earned findings with you because we truly feel that your success is our success.

As we look for the latest research and newest strategies for making the most of our time on this planet — we go over the findings and verify sources. We work with those who have better ways to explain foundational and fundamental topics — and with them, we present the best to you, our clients.

How We Do What We Do

We ask our talented writers to take a few moments before presenting their new content concepts and titles for review. Also, we ask them to check the newest updates and latest reports. We ask for any new products from technology firms that could benefit our clients. How can this product or process help our client? Have you examined the new product, or read the research from academics — what is your conclusion?

We have found our writers assessing studies by researchers and academics from the factories in southern China to the plethora of Startups in Silicon Valley. They have uncovered truths about the most efficient ways of working, and how to relieve work stress.

How do you make the most of your time at work and home?

The writers have presented information about how employees and executives are making the most of their time and producing the best products and services in the hours they have available.

Our team looks at what other experts are producing and pulls out the lessons that everyone should be learning. These lessons are then presented in a capable and compelling manner that you can easily understand.

Where to find an industry expert?

Every industry is different. Every line of work has its challenges and its difficulties. If the industry is not understood, we consult an industry expert for help with applying a concept so that you can also garner the knowledge.

The industries may vary — but how to gain an edge in that industry through the knowledge of applied productivity strategy — rarely is industry-specific. The information we take, study, and apply our productivity formula to leaves us with workable, actionable and reproducible processes.

What Our Editors Do

Before a Calendar writer begins writing, we ask for their new content concepts and titles for review with a few sentences of article intent. These are okayed before writing begins.

Naturally, with a Calendar product — we have to have articles that review dates on a Calendar — and that includes holidays and other dates that affect everyday life.

How to stick with your Calendar.

Some of the information on Calendar will alert you when you have other days that require your attention besides work. We don’t want you unprepared for your daughter’s swim relays; let alone an essential holiday that you may need to address by next week. We consider these our “fluffy or fun” pieces, but we know celebrations can cause a blip in your screen-of-life, and we hope to alert you to the big ones.

Upon receiving the okay for topic and concept, a writer proceeds to produce the article and they submit the article to the site. The site editor then begins the editing process. There are generally few typos or other such structural mistakes.

The site editor begins reviewing the article by checking the links to make sure they are linking to credible sources that augment the subject matter being presented. At this time, any broken link is found because all links are checked.

Fact-Checking at its best.

Next, the site’s editors begin fact-checking. Too many far-fetched-fanatical facts have been uncovered and analyzed in the last year to last all of us a lifetime. Our site editors do not fear to make fast, decisive, and vicious slices to information that is erroneous.

We aim to be correct and clear in our explanations and direction. We want an article that’s accurate, easy to read, and we want your time to be well-spent with us.

Time is the one resource that every person and company burns through at the same rate every day.

Lastly, at Calendar, we want to be a benefit to your life and business. We want to make sure that you’re making the most of the time you spend with us and our product.

Contact Calendar

If you have a productivity problem that you haven’t been able to solve — please contact us and explain the issue in detail. We will set our expert research department on that topic — and search for answers.

Conclusion

We believe productivity answers free the universe to perform its work. We are your resource for new answers in productivity research.

For all productivity questions, comments, or answers we’ve missed — Contact us HERE.

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