Today on The Methodology Blog we tell the story of Joe, who has been in phone sales for over a year and has done pretty well for himself. He spends his days pitching a product and setting up appointments for potential customers. All in all, his phone calls appear successful. But are they really? We’ll let you be the judge.
Improving workflow doesn’t require intimate knowledge of technical systems. As one blogger demonstrates, it simply requires keen observation.
Bert Martinez, CEO of a business training firm in Houston, recently decided to implement a four day workweek. This notion, according to MSN, is unusual enough to be considered a top story in weird news.
As The Methodology Blog has previously discussed, facetime is a paradox. Strangely enough, many people still believe that being present in the office means they’re being productive. Why is that?
Writing blog posts that make sweeping claims for all time are like the story of the patent clerk who said that “everything had been invented.” Still, Alfie Kohn’s 1993 article for Harvard Business Review may be the most important and yet almost completely ignored idea in business.
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As our economy continues to fluctuate, one major concern for Americans is job security. So it’s not surprising that many of us turn to articles published on the Internet for assistance and inspiration on how to keep ourselves up-to-date on current trends and solutions to this common predicament. But what if the advice leads you astray?
Contemplating how to improve productivity in the workplace is certainly not uncommon. But when it comes to addressing it between employer and employee, it can be a sensitive topic of discussion. So is there a good way to broach the subject matter without creating tension or anxiety?
You might have seen the four letters LIFO or FIFO before. These may sound like obscure industry acronyms, but they actually describe a fundamental aspect of everyday workplace productivity: order.
The essayist Paul Graham likes to point out that productivity is not about appearing productive. He writes, “If you work here we expect you to get a lot done. Don’t try to fool us just by being here a lot.”
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I recently dined at a new Mexican restaurant in town. And though the atmosphere was inviting, the waitstaff polite and the food relatively good, I left the establishment less than satisfied. The problem? I had no idea what I was ordering.