Unpacking Productivity Myths

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Speaker C: welcome to Accelerate youe Business Growth, where we're exploring all sorts of business topics. Experts from around the world join me, your host, Diane Helbig for a conversation where they share their expertise with all of you.

Speaker D: Take what you need when you need it.

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Speaker D: My guest to Excuse me. My guest today is Sarah Ohannessen. Sarah is a keynote speaker and productivity strategist who helps leaders and teams stop drowning in busy work and focus on what really drives impact. A former CMO and co founder of Super Productive, Sarah brings a neuro inclusive approach to building smarter systems, clearer workflows, and stronger alignment. Her talks and trainings leave audiences energized, equipped and ready to turn small wins into unstoppable, um, momentum. Thanks so much for being here today, Sarah.

Speaker E: Thanks for having me.

Speaker D: Absolutely. So I'm curious what you think is like one of the biggest myths about productivity that is actually holding organizations back right now.

Speaker E: I would say the biggest myth that I see across teams and it doesn't really matter what industry is, we think we have to do more. That the answer to being more productive is somehow doing more, which ultimately means spending more time, which ultimately ends up being working at night, working on the weekends and unfortunately, uh, that's often leading us straight into burnout. So I think that concept of if I only had more time, then I Could get everything done. That is a myth I encounter almost every day.

Speaker D: I'll bet. Yeah. And. And I get that. Even though it feels like, um. It's like the opposite.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker D: I mean, because. Because then you're just being less productive. You're doing more, but less productively.

Speaker E: Absolutely. And that's a concept that I try to really. That's the mindset shift I try to get people into, you know, and there's a lot of research that shows that if we actually rest, recharge, relax, we are more productive the next day. So you hear that term, burning the candle at both ends. I think that's what we think we have to do. But it's really not sustainable. And unfortunately, we've all been through Covid. Luckily, we make it through that. But this is now the epidemic that we are facing, this burnout, busyness epidemic. And so that's what I see is people think I have to do more, I have to work harder, I have to find more hours in the day. But again, that's what's really causing that burnout problem.

Speaker D: Um, so do you think this is a byproduct of. Of COVID like, do we feel like we have to catch up or overcompensate?

Speaker E: You know, that's a really interesting question. I've never quite thought of it that way. I think that we were on this path before, and then Covid disrupted everything and work from home, which so many people shifted for the first time to being home. That gave us this interesting situation, uh, where we didn't get in the car and leave work and have that clear transition from, okay, the work day's over. I'm getting in my car, and I'm transitioning to my home life. And so what ended up happening for a lot of people as a result of COVID certainly is that the lines got blurred also. Now we've obviously got more technology than ever before, so you can work from anywhere. You can be available at any time. And so that concept of when is the workday over? And I believe Covid blurred those lines for us, and I don't think that has gone back. So now we have people starting to transition into hybrid roles or back into offices, and those lines are still very, very much blurred for people.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker D: Wow. Okay, so talk to me about the hidden costs of busy work and how teams can start to, um, escape. Um,

Speaker E: I call this the busyness trap. And there's a tax that comes with busyness. So what I mean by busyness are activities that don't actually move the needle, they don't actually move us forward. And oftentimes what I see in companies and teams is we think we're working on the right things. We are doing activities, we are working and oftentimes we are working very hard. But the question I pose is, are, are we working on the right things? Because that's very different. You know, it's very easy to be busy. It's uh, harder to actually be productive and make sure that we're working on the right things. So my challenge for companies is to always think about of all the things we have to do, what are the most important things? What things should we be prioritizing? Does everybody on the team know what those things are and why they matter? Do we have clarity on what really is going to move the needle? Because we don't have time to do it all. That's one of the other myths I see. We don't have time to do it all. But what are those things that we do want to prioritize, we do know are going to result in a bigger result for our company? And the concept that I, that I teach Diane in this point is called compounding productivity. And that's thinking about what is something small, but that's really powerful, that one small action can actually result in a bigger impact. So you've probably heard that concept of compounding interest.

Speaker F: Yeah.

Speaker E: Put a little money in the bank and over time it grows. And it's the same with our productivity. So instead of looking at all the activities we could do equally, what are some of those high potential tasks? Some of those tasks that actually have the ability to compound. And so some examples could be making a template or hiring the right person or setting up an SOP or a process. Those are the kind of activities that actually give us compounding results and they can make a bigger impact over time because all our tasks aren't created equally.

Speaker D: And boy isn't that the truth. And it feels to me like while it makes perfect sense what you're saying, it feels like it can be potentially difficult for a team to mhm. Really be able to identify what the priorities are and what those.

Speaker E: Exactly. And so what happens to so many people who are doing the work is there's this gap between what leadership decides in the strategic planning meeting. And they feel like everything's clear. And I'm seeing this gap between what they uh, orchestrate and then what the team actually knows about and what they think is a priority. And so what ends up happening for a lot of the frontline workers and the frontline team is they're going, okay, well I'll do whatever email pops up next. I'll respond to whatever teams message pops up next. And so they're working on urgency rather than importance and prioritization and I see that causing a lot of this busyness problem. I'm just responding to everything. I'm getting to inbox zero. But did you do actually the most impactful work for the business?

Speaker D: Yeah. Boy, that is huge.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker D: Okay, so let's talk about like practical ways.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker D: That um, teams can align on their direction so they're not sprinting in 10 different directions.

Speaker E: Exactly, exactly. I believe one of the most foundational things we can do is get clarity and really be transparent with our teams. On um, this is the thing we decided in this leadership meeting, but then making sure that everybody on the team knows what those things are and why they matter. You know, uh, so many of us, we want to work, but we want to do important work. We want our work to be impactful. We want to feel like it matters to either the mission or the greater good of the company and that's so motivating for people. So I think the easiest thing that people can do is just be more open and communicate about let's get in alignment. And practically speaking, that can be easily done in a one on one with a teammate or in a team meeting. Just sharing a little bit more about this is a decision that leadership made, but this is why it matters and this is your role in that and why it matters to our organization. So it's really comes down to more open communication, more clarity, more transparency so that we can all get in, in better alignment.

Speaker D: Do you find that, um, leadership thinks everybody knows what they know?

Speaker E: Yes. And I say that so quickly and so confidently because I see it all the time. And they think, yeah, everybody knows we wrote the strategic pillars on the PowerPoint or the mission statements on the wall, so everyone knows what to do. And I'm finding that the team members are saying we don't, we're not sure how that translates to us. And so it's really about breaking down. What does success mean, you know, for pillar one? You know, our strategic pillar number one. What does it mean to accomplish that and what does it mean for everybody on the team? And so it's a little more front end work to get everybody in alignment and figuring out what those actual tasks and projects are that can help us to achieve that goal. But when we do that, then everybody's working in more alignment and the results are just obviously Tremendous.

Speaker D: Yeah. Right. You're not having to go back and clean it up.

Speaker C: Mhm.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker E: And there's less waste, there's less burnout.

Speaker D: People aren't.

Speaker E: You know how you ever work on something, Diane, that you thought, oh, that wasn't quite in the right direction,

Speaker F: and

Speaker E: then it feels bad to have to backtrack or do work again. Uh, so this is a way to get us all on the same page more quickly so that we feel like we're in alignment from the beginning and nobody's doing wasted work.

Speaker D: It's so true. And as you're talking about it, I'm remembering when I was, um, on the board of an organization where, you know, we were an advisory board and, and the organization, like the different, um, departments were totally siloed, so they were doing things because you walk in in the morning and your job is to create or come up with an idea or whatever it is. It's not tethered to anything. And, and so there's no cohesion, like no one really knows where are we going? What, what exactly are we doing? We're just doing stuff.

Speaker E: We're just, we're just doing stuff. We're busy all day.

Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. And, and it was just like, okay, why are we doing this thing? Like, tell me why this thing is a thing.

Speaker C: Mhm.

Speaker D: And the answer was usually, well, I mean, there'd be a reason, but you couldn't tie it back to a bigger vision, a bigger goal.

Speaker E: Right. And I would say that's a manager's primary function, is to paint that picture, paint that vision, and then help us, uh, help the team to get there. Because really, in my experience, most people want to do a great job. They want to help, they want to be a great employee. But, uh, it's harder when they don't have all the information. So that's really the gap I'm trying to bridge.

Speaker D: Ah.

Speaker E: Between a company's.

Speaker D: And then do you find that, um, for the frontline workers, so to speak, you know, boots on the ground, that they get to a point where what they're really feeling is what they're doing doesn't matter that it's not impacting the organization. So then you end up with morale issues and a lot less productivity.

Speaker E: Of course. Of course. Because it's just not sustainable. If you go to work every day and you think, I don't know why this work matters. I mean, but it, but it could and you just don't know how. So that's one thing. The other option often that I see is that it doesn't matter. And you're working on things that maybe you don't need to actually be working on. You're just doing the thing that popped into your inbox. So two kind of options to clean that up is to get clear on what is the work that actually matters and then make sure your team knows why it matters.

Speaker D: Yeah. Boy, it's such a huge message. I'm so glad you're here to share that with the listeners. I mean, it's. It's easier to do it this way, right? What you're talking about. And you're setting everyone up for success instead of having to go back and clean up, which, uh, I think is tough.

Speaker E: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. We assume everyone knows what we know, but really, it can be a couple of minutes to get that clarity. And it really goes a long way. And that's that compounding productivity. If I spend five minutes explaining it to you, that compounds. And now we're getting better results at the end.

Speaker D: Yeah, that's great. That is a great example. I always say when I do trainings, I always say, um, we have a tendency to under communicate. So if you think you're communicating enough, you're under communicating. If you think you're over communicating, you're potentially communicating enough, probably just right. Yeah. Yeah. So it's so great. Sarah, thank you so much for sharing this. Will you tell the listeners how they can find you, please?

Speaker E: Sure. Yeah. I'm very active on LinkedIn, so that's a good place to find me. And then also My website is sew productive.com.

Speaker D: i love that. Excellent. We'll make sure that's in the show notes. So again, thank you for taking your time and sharing your expertise with us.

Speaker E: My, uh, pleasure.

Speaker D: Excuse me. And listeners, thank you. You are who we're doing this for. Thank you for tuning in to this

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