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Productivity Shortcuts For Stressed Human Resources Professionals

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Productivity Shortcuts|Productivity Shortcuts For Stressed Human Resources ProfessionalsGetting on top of all your HR obligations is a massive challenge. There’s just so much work that needs to be done on a typical day that it can make your head spin. That’s why, in this post, we take a look at some productivity shortcuts that you can use to get more done in less time. Check them out below.

Set Priorities

One of the reasons that you feel rushed off your feet all the time is that you’re not setting priorities. Some jobs are more important than others. So when you leave them to the last minute, it makes you feel like you’re racing against the clock.

Setting priorities allows you to get all the most critical work done first. In the morning, spend 10 minutes putting all the tasks for the day into various “bins” representing your priority list. Start arranging them into perhaps five categories and then work your way through each of them. If high priority tasks arrive during the day, return to category 1 and start working your way through them again. This way, you can use your time more effectively.

Choose The Most Challenging Tasks First

People tend to be at their most productive in the mornings. That’s why it’s a good idea to do your most challenging tasks first. Don’t leave them until later. Get them out of the way and then save all the easy stuff until the afternoon when you’re feeling more tired and sleepy.

Avoid Multitasking At All Costs

Ignore the propaganda about some people being good at multitasking: it’s mostly untrue. You’ll get more done if you block time for specific activities. Focus on one thing at a time and you’ll get more done throughout the course of the day.

Use Productivity Tools

Not sure how to sign a PDF electronically? It’s actually way easier than you think. Mostly, you just need the right tool.

Want to organize your colleagues’ time more efficiently? There’s a tool for that too.

In fact, you can find productivity apps for practically any rote task that you find yourself doing daily. Make sure that you use them.

Meditate

This might sound a little strange, but it’s a good idea to meditate daily. Being an HR professional is a tough gig. There are so many pressures on your time that you can sometimes feel rushed off your feet. Avoid this through daily meditation and focus. Remind yourself that your work isn’t your life. It’s just something you do to make your leisure more enjoyable.

Set Work Sprints

Work sprints are a relatively new concept, but they tend to work exceptionally well. Instead of slogging through every day like one long marathon, take shorter sprints followed by breaks. Many people in the HR profession, for instance, like to work-sprint for 45 minutes and then take a break for 15 minutes at the end of it to recharge. Then they do it all over again. Research shows that breaking up the day like this can actually increase productivity.

Improving Your Business With Technology

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Technology |Improving Your Business With TechnologyTech has a significant impact on everything we do. From how we wake up in the morning – via that digital alarm clock or your mobile phone. Smart homes where we can turn lights on, set our thermostat, and even make coffee. So it makes sense that technology is going to be good for business. There are more applications for it.

Let’s take a look at a few ways that you can improve your business with technology.

Flexibility

Where once upon a time you’d need to be in the office for each meeting, and communications was a long and arduous process now Slack is commonplace. Big corporations have their in-house versions of instant messaging software too. So you can work from anywhere, anytime and still have access to the people that you need. This gives your team and your the flexibility that wasn’t possible 10 or so years ago.

Hiring

With so many people using the internet to find new jobs and create networks, of course, it makes sense that tech is improving how we now build teams and talent pools. In fact, you can now implement AI in HR and have the process even more streamlined than ever before.

It also means that you can also build a global freelance team. Using various sources, casting a wider net you have access to talent that you haven’t really had until recent years.

Marketing

Marketing is now fast, and anyone can do it. Yes, not everyone can do it well, but there are so many only resources now that it can be easy for almost everyone. Technology has given us tools that can do everything from automating months of content to collating precisely the information we need to take actionable steps.

Email marketing has taken center stage and means you can reach out to your customers in a way that wasn’t possible before. You can utilize all of the social media platforms and reach millions of people, which is substantially more than more traditional marketing in a magazine or a newspaper.

Tools like Buffer, Sprout, MissingLettr and Planoly give us a lot of freedom.

Productivity

You can do everything better and faster. Which is excellent news, because the less time you have to spend on busywork, the more time you have to spend on growing your business, building your network and putting all of that analytics and numbers to work. Tracking your time, creating Pomodoro focus times, Trello boards with a list of tasks you need to do – and share with your team. Task management software gives us so much extra time.

Of course, as with everything, you have to find what works for you personally and for your business too. Not every piece of tech will make sense for you and your company. So when you are trialing new technology take your time and see what is a match. Improving your business with technology is essential if you intend to grow and move with the times.