Tackling Taskology with Leslie Shreve

Speaker A: Welcome to the Teamwork Advantage podcast with Greg Gregory, founder of TeamsRock.com join us as Greg interviews thought leaders and successful team and leadership experts, from professional sports to manufacturing to business and industry. Now let's join Greg for another powerful episode of the Teamwork Advantage.

Speaker B: Uh,

Speaker C: welcome back to the Teamwork Advantage podcast that's dedicated to helping leaders develop more powerful teams and focus in three key areas. Teamwork, leadership, and culture. What we like to call the TLC of business. In order to be able to do that, there's a lot of things that have to go into a great team. There's individual traits, there's also team traits that have to be worked on. And that's where we're going to focus on today is who what can we do as a leader to help our people become more productive? That's a key thing because there's a lot of that going on today. Since the pandemic, people have been struggling with how to be more productive working remotely or, uh, working hybrid versions and everything else. What can they do? They find themselves getting more and more distracted. Today we're actually fortunate to have a fantastic person joining us here in the area of productivity management. Leslie Shreve is a workload management and efficiency expert. That's a whole mouthful right there. And she's the founder and CEO of Productive Day, the creator of Taskology, which is the science of getting things done. A unique, all encompassing system for workload management productivity that includes management. Are you ready for this? Tasks, time, email, information and more. I think we all can use something about that. She's also worked in corporate, uh, office environments for more than a decade before she established Productive day back in 2003. Since then, she's taught hundreds of leaders, motivated professionals, how to increase efficiency productivity by up to 300% in as little as four weeks. That means they're gaining about one to two hours in their workday every day, all the while. And this is the part that just gets me going. All the while spending less than 50% of their time in their inbox. As a result, they made greater progress on the subjects that matter to them and the companies that they serve. Clients who were previously frustrated or overwhelmed with too much to do or too many emails and not enough time. They now claim to have a secret, a new system that they can use to take charge of their workday. They say it's the easiest, most effective system they've ever used, calling it a game changer, a lifesaver, and a difference maker. Guys, let's strap in. Get your Notes out. Get ready. Leslie Shreve, welcome to the Teamwork Advantage.

Speaker B: Thank you, Greg. It's great to be here today with you.

Speaker C: Yeah. We've chatted off and on over the years and your new system that you kind of come up with, and I don't know when you came up with taskology, but it's kind of revolutionary in many ways. And, uh, again, as I said in the opening, there's a lot of people today who are overwhelmed, bogged down, and I don't know about you, but I'm getting, I don't know, 250, 300 spam messages a day.

Speaker B: I'm not getting that many, but I'm getting a lot. Yes. In my clients.

Speaker C: Most of those are going right into my box. I'm good with that. I learned something. You shared something with me years ago about folders not to use, and I think like that. So those. All those things have really come back. So I remember hearing some of those. But let's take a step back. Leslie, let's talk now about you didn't wake up one day saying, I'm going to be a productivity expert.

Speaker B: Okay. Um.

Speaker C: No, no, no. I'm sure you struggled like many of us, and you just happened to find the right mix.

Speaker B: I did.

Speaker C: So how did you get there? You were in corporate America. But take us back a little bit. Give us the shortened down version of how you got to where you are today.

Speaker B: The shortened version is I always knew I would be in the business world, in the corporate world, because I wanted to, since I was a little girl, because my dad worked at Black and Decker for more than 30 years. And as a role model, I was very interested in where he was working and got to visit. And I was like, wow, I want to be here, like, in a place like this someday. So going through high school and getting my jobs and making sure that my resume showed some really great companies on it. Before I graduated with my business degree, I had Black and Decker and McCormick and Company on my resume for summer jobs and, you know, winter breaks through college. And it really paid off because I got my first job two weeks out of college, really excited to dive into the corporate world. And I landed in a. In a career of purchasing material management, supply chain contracting, that whole ball of wax. And I stayed for 13 years, not at the same company, but in that career path at different companies. And I actually never thought I would own my own business. That wasn't my goal at all. But as I got into corporate, you know, and I was in this career And I thought, there's got to be more to life. So I decided I just had this itch that, you know, I needed to change gears. I was really excited about using my innate talents to serve people. And for a year I looked and looked and looked and looked at what I could possibly do. So I left in 2003 thinking that I was going to help people get organized. But I found out very quickly that is not my jam. Um, yes, being organized is a byproduct of helping people be more efficient and be more productive. But it's a side thing, it's adjacent to that. Um, I figured out in the first couple of years as I was working with businesses that they had big gaps, really big gaps. So I would say, listen, I can help you find or file this piece of paper in three seconds or less. That's great. But if you can't dig out of email, you're always going to be behind. And if you can't get the time you need to work on your most important priorities and initiatives, you're never going to hit your targets. Then if you can't get a grip on all of your responsibilities and tasks and follow ups, you're never going to be able to reach your goals. And so when I started seeing these gaps in the first five years of doing what I was doing, that's when I realized I had a system because I was teaching the same thing over and over and over again to bridge those gaps. And that's when I started getting it out of my head in 2008. It all came out in little ebooks back in the day, you know, and I started with task management and then time management and so on and so forth. And by 2010 I put it all together and we didn't have a name for it yet, but that's what became the system of taskology, the science of getting things done. It was a 550 page PDF. Now I had been doing private consulting the whole time. That's what I've been doing for 22 years now. But I wanted the asset. So I got it out of my head so that I could have it in a written format. I've revised it five times since then, so it's a tidy little 330 pages now. Uh, plus there's a video series and more. But that's how it came to be. And in 2012 I trademarked it.

Speaker C: And taskology again, I'm fascinated to learn more about it. We got 330 pages. Try and condense down to about 40 minutes.

Speaker B: Uh, easy to do.

Speaker C: Yeah, easily. Yes. Right. So what are some of the key strategies, uh, in the taskology system that people need to use now? Uh, keep in mind our audience is going to consist of leaders through frontline of many different industries and a lot of self employed entrepreneurial types. So let's try and make sure we got something that covers a little bit. Oh, and by the way, can your tasks also be used in the home environment?

Speaker B: A lot of my clients have said they take what they learn from the system and apply those theories at home and concepts. Absolutely, yes.

Speaker C: That's key because a lot of folks want to take some of that and use it at home.

Speaker B: Right. So let's start here. The taskology is not software, it is a methodology for your technology. Okay. So no matter what anybody has, it will rest on there. Now it's most powerful in something like Microsoft Outlook, which I've been teaching it uh, for the whole time because all my clients are corporate clients or you know, business owners and stuff like that. I have worked in over 30 different industries and so this is industry agnostic. And the reason for that is because I'm not focused on what the person is doing for their expertise. You know, the attorney who's working on legal matters, the accountant who's working on taxes, it doesn't matter. What I'm focused on is what's called workload management. And that is how a person is working. Because if how you're working isn't working, it's literally stealing time from the time of your day that you could be doing what you do best, what you love to do. But unfortunately people are spinning their wheels in very rushed, reactive work days. And since I work with all, all people in the C suite, you know, presidents, EVPs, all the way down like, and business owners as well. This applies to everybody. If you've got too much to do, not enough time, too much information, and way too many emails, this is for you. So the four pillars, you've already named them in the intro, which is tasks, time, email and information. Those are the four pillars of the system. Now I do happen to tuck the information piece into the time management, uh, component of the system because there's two parts to the time management in taskology. One is protecting time and one is saving time. We'll come back to that in just a second. What we always start with is task management, and that's because that is the driver of your progress every single day. Even email management is task management in disguise. Email is also information management in disguise. But email management just like the phone. I mean these are communication tools. We don't call it phone management. No, it's email management. Because we get so much, it became a thing, but really it's just a communication tool. And what matters the most is what we do with the information that is brought to us. And that's what makes it either a task or a follow up or maybe it's information you save. So we always start with task management. Research shows that progress comes from teeny tiny action steps that we take that gives us that steady forward movement in the workday that everybody is craving. So looking for progress through project management, not going to happen. Project management is a thing. People get their masters in that. But that's for much bigger, you know, companies that have massive teams for a certain project. What we're talking about today is individual productivity and efficiency. So this is individual, just you and me.

Speaker C: If we're talking about leadership, the, their tasks may be vastly different than the persons that they're leading, correct?

Speaker B: Surprisingly, not too terribly often.

Speaker C: Okay, yeah. Believe it or not, uh, but the methodology behind those tests are still going to be the same.

Speaker B: They're going to be the same. Okay, yeah, they're going to be the same. Surprisingly, every leader, whether it's a C suite leader, an evp, a director, a manager, they're all going to have phone calls, they have to make emails, they have to send agendas, they have to build reports, they have to review all kinds of the same things. I think sometimes with the um, C suite leaders, sometimes they're going to have some strategic things on there and they're going to have an opportunity to delegate more. So their task lists might be a little lighter. Um, all my clients have anywhere from 30 to 150, sometimes 200 tasks on their task list. But they're not all for today or this week or even this month. Um, but the way that we structure the system by giving everything an action date with what we call a due date, but not D U E. It's do that. Action date is about when you're going to do that task. And so because you're assigning that to every single task on the task list, then you can start grouping them your plan by the day. And that makes it easy because in outlook you can. The way you put taskology in there, which is the proprietary part, I change the columns, I change the column names, I simplify it, I teach the methodology and all of a sudden you can comp every day forward except for today, which really helps with two things. No overwhelm More focus. So, and where there's a limit to how many tasks you can plan in a day, you're not going to try to do this big bucket of things in this tiny little thimble of time because they're never going to match up.

Speaker C: We haven't try to.

Speaker B: Oh my gosh, even I'm like, I want to do all of this today, but we all know that's not really possible.

Speaker C: So this task, there's too many fires that pop up, there's too many alternate things that come into play.

Speaker B: Right. To end meetings and you got to deal with email like there's too many other things you have to do. So I teach my clients how to align those tasks in time so that it's very logical and realistic for them to very clearly see in black and white. Oh my gosh, I'm trying to do too much. So I have what's called a fast action formula for tasks, which makes every task on the task list small and achievable. Because this is one of the things that the other gurus out there are not teaching. Um, they're not teaching the difference between a task and a project, even when they show off their software. Maybe it's Asana Trello todoist Monday notion. Like there's more than 300 out there. I've seen the demos and they'll say, yeah, you could put a project here and then a task and then a subtask. And I'm like, oh my God, way too complex. You don't need that.

Speaker C: That's overwhelming.

Speaker B: Too many bells and whistles and colors and categories, right? And so when they start filling in a task, Greg, it kind of makes me laugh because I'm like, dude, that's a project. Like, that's way too big. And they're calling it a task though. See, and that's the problem because they're leading people down these long, dark, dead end hallways and then that's when people stop. They're like, oh my God, I just realized I've spent way too much on the system and not on my work. And that's a problem.

Speaker C: See, I looked at that back 30 some years ago at the Franklin Covey Planner.

Speaker B: I had that too, which I thought

Speaker C: was amazing, but for me it was so overwhelming I was spending too much time trying to figure it out than trying to do anything.

Speaker B: Plus, you got to turn the page and keep writing and rewriting your to do list every day, which we got to get away from that. Like, paper is the most archaic, oldest, inefficient ineffective way to manage things to do. And yet every client that comes on board at productive day, they're bringing their legal pads, big pads, little pads, spiral pads, steno pads, post it notes, you name it, it's on paper or it's a whiteboard or an Excel spreadsheet. Word document. So a for going digital with Word and you know, Excel and OneNote and all that stuff. But there's no methodology wrapped around it.

Speaker C: Yeah. Oh yeah. But if there's a larger thing you want to work on, ABC project, do you put that on your things? This is what I want to do. I want to work on this for one hour today or how do you break that?

Speaker B: Yes and no.

Speaker C: Because there's so many different aspects of it. How does that work?

Speaker B: Right, Exactly. So great question. So what we do is we approach it by figuring out what the first action step is going to be. So there's nothing wrong with saying, hey, I'm going to go after this project or I've got three big uh, initiatives that I'm working on right now. You're not going to be able to list that and call it that and know exactly how to get going. This is what makes people hesitate and procrastinate because they're marking things, they're writing things, typing things way too big. Whether they're multi step tasks or projects and you know, if that's listed on the legal pad, they're going to be like, oh, and they're going to go, uh, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go after something I can cross out. That's the small and achievable. Right. So what we do is we are talking about the particular project in such a way that I lead my clients through an exercise that helps them identify. Great, we're going to get that started. What are you really going to do first? And I talk them through the exercise so they can identify it. That's the task. So everything on the task list that we build is going to be either a first or a next action step and it's going to be really small. And not to make people an underachiever, but if they only had five minutes or ten, we want to get that ball rolling. Whether it's, hey, I just have to call a call Bob and schedule a meeting. Like that's our first step. Right. Or I have to pull that report from last year and see how we did it before I do this year's report. You know, could be a multi step task that they could work on for Weeks. But what are you really going to do today when we find that step, that's the task. Because when you take care of your tasks, your projects will take care of themselves. You just have to know how to think about it. So that's what I teach is thinking, decision making, and execution. One task is going to lead to the next step and next step and next step. Next step, you get on a roll, and you start with that first step, and you're like, hey, nobody's bugging me, and I don't have a meeting to be in, and you want to keep going. Great. I don't stop people and say, no, that's the only thing you're going to do. No, that's just to get people started so they don't get stuck. Do you know what I mean? Now, if they said, leslie, um, I could do that step. But, you know, when I do this project, this kind of project, let's say it's performance appraisals. Let's say they have to do five different performance appraisals for their. And they want to kind of get into the groove. Well, fine. If you want to block time on the calendar and still have a task on the task list, we totally do that sometimes because they want to get in, they want to do some deep thinking. They don't want to be interrupted. They want to block two hours. Great. You can totally do that, because there are some things that you're going to want to sink into and not come out of for a while. But everything else where people think that's the case, I actually get them moving on those projects a lot faster and easier than they imagined.

Speaker C: Okay, let's talk about the inbox. I mean, uh, that's the elephant in the room. There's no doubt. We all get so many emails. Most of. And the one thing that drives me personally crazy is when somebody sends out a group email, then people start hitting reply. All that drives me bananas more than anything else.

Speaker B: Agreed.

Speaker C: Uh, how can we stay on top of it without letting things fall through the cracks? Because I know for a fact I've had things fall through the cracks, and I feel so bad with it.

Speaker B: Understood. Yeah, it's frustrating and overwhelming when it keeps pouring in, but there's two really big roadblocks that stop people from understanding what to do with it all and how to manage it all. So the first roadblock is the decision, do I need this? Do I not need this? Now people have decision fatigue. That prefrontal cortex is getting worn out every day, and it gets earlier and earlier that it gets worn out in the day, and by the time you get to noon, you're kind of spent. Um, that decision of whether I need it or not is really key because too many people are bypassing emails like, oh, my God, I can't think about this right now. I have to move on. And they just open it and then move on. And that's how things just accumulate in the inbox, which is problematic. So I teach a process where the very first step is making that decision. And then, you know, I need it. I don't need it. If it's, I don't need it. Well, can you delete it? You know, let's go with, you know, your records retention guidelines for sure. Let's not get anybody into hot water. So your company is going to have records retention guidelines. If you have to archive it, great. But whatever you do, get it out of the inbox. If it's only going to hold you up and get in your way, get it the heck out of there. Okay, where are you putting it?

Speaker C: Oh, I'm sorry, Where are you putting it then?

Speaker B: Well, okay, so some people are going to have, um, the ability to delete. So if you don't need it at all, you want to delete it. If your company says, I got to save it, we do have a select number of folders on the left side of the screen, um, for saving emails. Now, there is such a thing as over organizing. When I find clients who have a gazillion folders over there, that's problematic because now you're scrolling and searching for too long to either find something or file something. And often when people set up folders, they're trying to get out their crystal ball and they try to think of everything they could ever possibly need even before they need it. My cautionary note there is don't ever do that. Only set up a folder when you see a need for it, number one. Number two, your aim here is to go with a screen view. Whether your monitor is huge or you're on a laptop. Don't have your major category folders list. Take more than a screen view. There's a way to consolidate and put things together that belong together so that you have your major category folders, almost like departments in a company. Admin, finance, sales, prospects, leads, projects, whatever, something big, think big umbrella, you know, and then have your subfolders under that. I've seen way too many people bring me their email folders list and it goes way off the screen. And there's so many Folders that really belong together. And that way you can shorten the list, zero in on exactly what you need a lot faster and easier by putting things together. That streamlines it. Do you know what I mean? Even with client lists, you can do that. I can come back to that later anyway, so you can do recommendations.

Speaker C: A lot of times I will go in and change the subject line to something that resonates for me. So when I do that, I can then go up to the top and search.

Speaker B: I try to get every. Okay, so we get everybody to zero in the inbox. So we don't want to search for anything because the search can get time consuming and cumbersome. Um, so I hear what you're saying, and I'm totally for changing subject lines, just not for that reason. Sometimes subject lines are so cryptic and mysterious. I tell my clients, hey, if you want to change that, you totally can, but it's not for the purpose of a search. I mean, it could be if you're in the right folder and you still need to search that folder. So that's great. It's all good. But I don't want anybody searching because sometimes the search results comes up with this, this selection of emails, and you're like, oh, darn, I didn't find it. Now I got to do a search on the search results and I don't want anybody going down that rabbit hole. See? So I really want everybody to get the right folders on the left for reference. And a lot of times people don't need the email because it's contact information that really belongs in contacts or your CRM. Right. Too many people are leaving contact information in the email in a folder, and now you don't quite know where it is and you have to search for it. No, no, no. Let's use the systems we have already created. They're meant for managing certain types of information. Contacts is a great example. The hard drive is another one. If you've got an attachment and you don't need the email, we'll ditch the email but save the attachment in the hard drive or Wherever. You know, One, OneDrive, Dropbox, SharePoint, whatever. But you know, put it where you're going to have that E document library. So these are all the decisions I help people make where if it's not useful, delete it. If it is useful, um, or you want to delete it but your company won't let you. Well, then you can archive it or put it in a specific folder. The part where we get into over organizing is that People think that they have to have a folder for everything, but they don't. No, there's going to be a frequency of need that plays into that decision. If the likelihood that you're going to need to find it again is super low, well then archive it or put it in a folder just named after 20, 25 emails, whatever. You don't have to, we don't use miscellaneous here at productive day, but you don't have to be specific with every single email. If you don't, if you don't think you're going to find it, don't worry about it. So that's for all the reference information, you know. So that decision of whether they need it or not is first. Then the next roadblock is, okay, I know I need it. Well, now what do I do with it? Okay, it could be, could be an event, opportunity, contact E document content in the email, task, follow up, conversation, question. Like it could be anything inside that email, right? And their question to me is, what do I do with it? And that's because they don't have systems set up in their workday like little mini systems like your contact system or the system you have for E documents in the hard drive or, um, you've got a calendar that's really strong where you can put your events and opportunities and whatever. And then without the task list, then they're really backed into a corner because without a really robust central digital task list that's complete, they're trying to flag things or mark things as unread. So they stick bold in the inbox or they print them and put them all over their desk.

Speaker C: So these are flag and bold. Guilty.

Speaker B: Yes, flag, bold. And then send themselves the email again. So now it's at the top of the inbox. You know, all the things. And so my clients are like, I do all of those. So what we do is we, that's why very first, when I teach taskology to people, we set up the task list. I mean that really is the key because you can't get to email that's always last in our system because you have to have all these other little mini systems set up, um, and ready to go, ready to receive information that you either want to reference in the future or that one place for action. And that's the taskology task list. So that is one of the most important things I teach is how to get tasks and follow ups out of email onto the taskology task list. But without using the flag. There are many ways to do it that people don't Know of. And I also have to teach the methodology of, like how this is how you create the task after you do that. Because when you flag it, sure it goes to the Microsoft to do list, but that's not going to serve you either because it's just bringing over the subject line of the email. So without a methodology wrapped around the technology, people are still spinning their wheels. But I do get my clients back to zero. Not just to see the pretty white space. It's so, you know, you've seen everything, you've made a decision on everything and you've moved it out to either a place of reference or action or it's gone, archived or deleted.

Speaker C: Uh, I'm anxious to know more about the folders that you set up. So your task folders type thing. Can you briefly touch on that?

Speaker B: Well, there are no task folders. Everything that is an action or a follow up step, uh, a task that goes on the taskology task list and the email goes over there with it. Now if you also need that email later, like let's say the task is done and you delete it takes that email that's attached there and it's gone. But you also want it in a folder for later. Well, you can do both. And there's a way to do that now. Um, everything that's in a folder on the left side of the screen should only be referenced like ever, ever, ever. You never want to put action over there. This is the thing I hate about rules. People start using rules, they're not seeing it, they're flying blind. Like it's immediately going into a folder over there and they haven't even seen it. And I have people who are like, oh gosh, I've missed so much because I don't go back to those folders and I dismantle rules all the time. So yeah, you never want to put action over there. It's just for reference.

Speaker C: I use very, very few rules because I know what I need them for and I leave them alone at that point. I think I've got like three rules.

Speaker B: Yeah, sometimes people can twist my arm. Yeah, they can twist my arm. And we'll get one or two rolls. It depends.

Speaker C: All right, so let's talk a little bit about time.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: Uh, I had a friend of mine, decades ago say, I can make more money, but I cannot make more time.

Speaker B: That's right. Limited resource.

Speaker C: You can't manage time, but you can only manage the resources and the tasks that go into that time. So what is your 32nd view on organizing and Getting yourself. Not to say organizing, but getting yourself structured for a more productive time management day.

Speaker B: Right. Because you can't make time, buy time, find time, keep time, none of those things. But you can, uh.

Speaker C: I know I'll speak for myself.

Speaker B: Sure.

Speaker C: If I say I'm going to work on XYZ and I think it's going to take me 30 minutes, I usually allow 45 to an hour, just in case of overflow.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: And then sometimes that goes way over that. Uh, doing my own business. A lot of times I'm going into QuickBooks. The next thing you know, I'm not going down a rabbit hole. It's just things have changed.

Speaker B: It can be a bit of a rabbit hole. But I see what you're saying, because what you've got is your first step led to a next step and a next step and a next step and a next step. And so when people learn taskology, they start to understand the mechanics of that. Like, they recognize, oh, this first step just turned into something a lot bigger than I expected. And they can then stop themselves and go, okay, do I really have time for this today? So they start making that decision about the best use of their time, because they knew that only the first step was really what they needed to get going, just to get the scope. And so what you're talking about, taking those added steps is more of the scope. Like, oh, what's next? And they go back to their task list and they rephrase the task and they go, okay, I've done this. First thing I'm going to rephrase it because I can see how this is going to grow and balloon. So I'm going to name my next action step, because I'm going to do that on Friday. And they let it fall down the list like, they know how to gauge that. Now, uh, like I said, if they have time, they can keep going, but if they've got to, they got to be cognizant of their meetings and calls, on the schedule, et cetera, and the other tasks on the task list, which

Speaker C: is, there's my challenge of staying with the other tasks.

Speaker B: It's because of 100% awareness, Greg. And that's what people get when they build the taskology task list. Because we're pulling all tasks away from all sources, and there are more than 10 of them in the typical workday. Email is just the most annoying. Right. So we're pulling them away. We're making a complete inventory of everything that's on somebody's plate. Nothing is left out and when I say sources, I mean email, voicemail, texting, IMs, um, DMs, um, CRMs, meetings, hallway conversations. That's where tasks are coming from. And then let's talk about the tools. I, uh, listed them before, but people grab a tool like a legal pad, a planner, the whiteboard, the Excel spreadsheet to try to keep track of things. We do away with all of those. That's why this task list is so powerful, because it has everything. And everybody's awareness goes up to 100%. And that is the key that it's complete. Because everybody's working with a partial to do list right now. Oh yeah, that's trouble.

Speaker C: You're working with the priority to do list.

Speaker B: Yeah, right. And it's hard to prioritize when it's not all in your vision. So you're flying blind and you're like, oh, I'm having trouble prioritizing. Well, that's because it's still spread out among all those sources.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And then you got the tools. And I've had people who have had like eight different legal pads. It's like, okay, now they're getting lost on the desk. Right. And so they're trying to juggle all that and planning and prioritizing becomes impossible. It's impossible without missing, losing or forgetting something.

Speaker C: In today's world, people are spending more time at work than they are with their families, which is sad. It's very sad. And yet everything is overlapping. There's things you have to do during the day for home, there's things you have to do at night for work, everything else. So on your taskology list, are you recommending one list, your overall list for personal, volunteer business, everything only during the workday.

Speaker B: So people, if they have, if, uh, people have things they have to do after work or on the weekends, they can certainly do that in the Microsoft Outlook, um, environment. And I teach them how to do that. But for the day, the workday, let's say it's between 8 and 5 or 7 and 6, or whenever they're spending time at work and they have to call the vet because their dog is sick, or they got to call the dentist and make an appointment for their son, or buy flowers for somebody's birthday, it doesn't matter what it is, if you're doing it in those work hours, it absolutely goes on the taskology task list. And that's because it's going to take time out of your day. And you have to see that because that phone call, they could throw you on hold. You could be on hold for 10 minutes before you get to do your thing, you know, whatever it is. So you have to know the scope of that call, whether it's 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, whatever. We don't get that granular. But yeah, it needs to be on there.

Speaker C: As a leader, how can I help my team be more effective and efficient? Not just one or the other, because there is, they are separate and still reduce the stress. Because right now the level of stress in the workplace is astronomically high. Mhm. Everything and people are freaking out and there's nervous breakdowns and there's everything else. And there's so many people talking about how you do deep breathing and everything else. And I get that. Yeah. What can I as a leader do to try and help Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice on my team?

Speaker B: So the first thing, let me just mention what not to do. Um, the what not to do is to just tell them. Because I've heard this recently actually from a leader. It was a president of a company and he sat down with his employee, um, of a pretty good managerial level and he's like, dude, you got to get it together. Like you need a system and then leave that person. Okay. So it's almost like unfair for a leader to say to somebody, I expect this level of achievement from you and

Speaker C: then not giving them a map or

Speaker B: the system or the whatever to do it. So that's why my mission is my lifelong mission now, which is I'm here to help because I already have it dialed. So don't let your people spin their wheels because when you give them that directive, what are they going to do now? They're going to start experimenting with stuff. They're literally going to take time out of their day when they should be working. And now they're going to get online and Google it and go try to find some app, some tool tips, tool, tactic, shortcut, app or hack to save them. And again, more long, dark, dead end hallways. You don't want to leave it up to them. I tell leaders, do not leave this up to chance. That is a costly mistake. Investigate whether it's my company or somebody else's company, there's going to be somebody out there who already has this dialed, where it's inclusive of everything. Because people are not clear if they have one trouble in their day. Like, oh, my biggest problem is email. They're going to go find an email app. But guess what? It's the whole day. It's not just email. It's task management too. It's Information management too. They're all tied together. So do not leave it up to your people to spin their wheels and try to fend for themselves. They are already overwhelmed and have zero time and they're going to sit there and go, how am I going to find the time to figure this out? And that's what I'm here for. So please do not do that to your people. Um, and usually I work with the leaders themselves, so they might need it too. So when the leader starts with learning something, whether again, my system or somebody else's, start with you whether you think you need it or not. Because so many people just say, oh, I don't need that. My system works. That may be true, but if you're going to model something for your people, you've got to be invested. You've got to know what it is that you're having them learn. And you got to know why you're standing behind it and get excited about it, why you're doing it and why now. So it's really great for everybody to do that. And that is my recommendation.

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker B: No matter what system, they've got to

Speaker C: at least have an idea where to direct them to not just say, I need this, not give them the result of what they need, but give them how to get to that result.

Speaker B: Amen.

Speaker C: Uh, that's key. And by the way, that goes the same, not just in this situation, but if somebody, uh, needs help in their productivity, they may need a mentor, they may need a mentee, they need something along those lines all the time. And too often they just say, here, do this better, I know that.

Speaker B: Or they just say, go watch this video series or go read that book or go do. And so a lot of leaders do that too. And I'm going to caution them right now on that. Please do not do that. Because 99.9% of the time people need a guide, they need a coach, they need a mentor, like you're saying. And that's why I have my taskology for teams training course. It's a 90 day course and they get me. And that's why it's effective. Because you can't just let somebody. I mean, it takes a while to change these habits.

Speaker C: Oh yeah, yeah. If you're going to give them the video, then have them come back and sit down with you and do a review of the video of how it's working and how they can apply it to themselves. Because so often people will see something that works over here, they don't know how to apply it. Over here.

Speaker B: That's why we do weekly group coaching calls live. Like, that's the Juicy Juice right there. Is that, um, I'm asking people, where did you get stuck? Let me help you implement. Let me see your task list, let me see your calendar, let me see your email, etc. Because they need a guide. I still have my individual clients say that all the time. They could have bought my book, which is right back there, you know, and then said, yeah, well, now let's do the private consulting, because I love the book, but I need help implement.

Speaker C: So let's stay with the leaders.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: How can we help them get a grip on everything that the leader needs to do? Because let's face it, in today's world, you're not just leading. You're leading and working and doing. So there's no doubt about that.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker C: So that. How can we help them get a grip on what they do so that they can become more focused and have a better impact? Because bottom line is, people are gonna model what the leaders are doing.

Speaker B: Right. If they know how to do it. Yeah.

Speaker C: Well, even if they don't, a lot of times they follow them and they go down the wrong path. Now you got three people going down the wrong path.

Speaker B: True. That's so true.

Speaker C: Yeah. My father used to always say, do as I do, not as I say.

Speaker B: Oh, my God. My parents, too. No, they say, do what I say, not as I do.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Um, yeah. So they really want to start looking at going digital. And a lot of leaders are still using illegal pads and planners and spiral notebooks and whatnot. And we do do away with those. Um, but that's the first thing they want to really attack is like, how many. Like, where are all your tasks? Spread out. They really start consolidating that. And right now, without me, just pick a digital platform you like. There's usually going to be a task list in your email system. And if it's Microsoft, you know, we fix that. So it's not about subject and due date, but, you know, start building something, whether it's an Excel spreadsheet, word document, whatever you got. Like, it's better than paper. But get all those tasks together, get rid of the tools, because that. That idea that it's all dispersed is only holding everybody back. So that's the first thing is start to consolidate tasks. You know, question, what's on your desk? Uh, you know, some leaders are not paper intensive. Some are, you know, pick up the piece of paper, pick up the file. Is there a task here? You Know, get that in that one central area where you're going to call home base, like mission control, get it listed in there and think in terms of due dates. Do not do, you know, it's, it's an action date. It's, it's, I'm going to do this on that day, not Dubai, because by the time you see it on the due date, due, the jig is up. So get an action date going. Um, start protecting time. You know, we do protecting and saving time and productive day, but it's about protecting time. We go a lot deeper into that in, uh, our methodology. It isn't just throwing one or two time blocks on the calendar here and there. No, do it on a recurring basis. Two blocks a day, ad infinitum. You know, we talk about how many days a week, how many times a day and how long the block should be. But just start protecting more time. You need time for strategic thinking, creative thinking, innovative thinking and all of that.

Speaker C: And then with, um, where does someone's peak time come into play on this? Because there are obviously some people who are morning people. I had a mentor whose peak time was 2 to 3 in the afternoon. So he blocked that time out. Nobody, they knew not to even knock on his door at those times.

Speaker B: It is totally fine if they want to pick a time that they think works best. What I find most with the corporate folks is that there's no time of day other than morning, early morning that is, you know, going to be their best because they're pulled and stretched in so many places. They're like, I'm open. What do you suggest? And so what I do is we talk about blocking the earliest part of the day because that time block shouldn't be at like 11 because again, it's too late by then. You really want to get those early hours when you're fresh and you're ready to go. And nobody's probably going to want that time anyway. Um, and then right after lunchtime is the key. Don't wait until 3 or 4 because again, it's too late by then because email has already spun out of control. Task list is probably out of control. You really want to do it early in the morning and early in the afternoon. And for my clients it's an hour to an hour and a half each time. And there's rules to the game. They are stretchable, they are shrinkable, they're movable. Everything is easy peasy. Like it's very, very flexible. And it doesn't even have to be the same time. Every day or every afternoon. But there's a lot to know. It's just really simple. But they gotta know how to play the game.

Speaker C: We could go on and on.

Speaker B: We could. And on another show down the road.

Speaker C: Oh, uh, absolutely, absolutely. So let's talk for a minute. You've got a couple of offers you want to give, uh, our listeners. Okay, sure. Tell us about what you've got and how they can get to you on that.

Speaker B: Sure. The website is easy. Productiveday.com got three free resources on the website that are super fun. One of them is the report I told you about. It's called 7 Surprising Secrets to saving Time. That's a written report, a nice quick Insights report, if you will. And you'll find seven places where time and productivity are hiding in your workday. One of the really fun ones that we have is a very diagnostic quiz. It's only eight questions, but it's really fun because when you finish taking this quiz is you'll find out if you're a giver, a marker, a jumper or a detective and what that means. So you get your own unique results report at the end of taking the quiz and then shortly after you get a special report, another Insights report about your specific blind spot. It's called what's your number one productivity blind spot? That's the name of the quiz. And so you find out more about your particular blind spot and how to start fixing it. So we've got a couple things that follow that initial quiz that, that really helps illuminate what's really going on in your workday. So that's another one. And another one that we have, which I love, love, love is called the Productive Day Smart steps. And this is a 52 week series. So we'll be together, connected for 52 weeks for a whole year. And you'll get a short little audio from me with strategies straight from taskology. Every week, two to four minutes, really quick hits. And those are the smart steps. So you can sign up for any one of those or all three if you want on our website. It's on the page and on the navigation bar. So we have plenty to start everybody off on the right productive day.

Speaker C: And then in there they can find the free stuff.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker C: Pretty straightforward that way. All right, if people want to find you on social media, LinkedIn, things of that nature, what's the best way to do it?

Speaker B: LinkedIn is really my strongest platform, but I am on Facebook, um, as well. There's a productive day page and people can certainly, if they want to Talk. They can book a call with me right from the website. There's a book a call button everywhere. Um, so. But LinkedIn, I welcome them to connect with me on LinkedIn and they can see all sorts of things there and see our posts from there.

Speaker C: All right, one last question.

Speaker B: Sure.

Speaker C: If you were going to tell someone one thing that they need to do on a more global or generic level, because I know it gets specific. But if you're going to tell somebody one thing to do in the next 24 hours, what would that be?

Speaker B: Make decisions about the stuff that's on your desk, including the to do lists. Like start making decisions about what you have, why you have it, where it really belongs. Start putting things together, consolidating things, letting things go. You know, recycle, shred, toss. But then really separate your reference from your action. Separate the things that are giving you follow up steps and action steps and get that apart from, well, this is just reference for the future. And the reference stuff either can be scanned and put in the hard drive or filed in an actual file drawer, or you might need to give it to Mary down the hall, you know, but make decisions about what you have and why you have it and really seek out those action steps because that's the stuff that's getting lost on the desk or in one of those eight legal pads. You really want to get those tasks together and the only way to find them is to start that decision making process.

Speaker C: Okay, productiveday.com is it. Leslie Shreve is the expert of taskology. Let's figure out how we can get better for ourselves so that we can better lead the teams that we're leading. The Teamwork Advantage is committed to helping you get better at teamwork, leadership and culture. And those are the things that will bring it home for us all. So thanks for listening. Reach out to Leslie, go grab the free stuff@productiveday.com and let's see how we can get more productive in our daily lives with our tasks, with our information, with our email, all of it. By the way, I like the idea getting the system in place reduces our stress because we all have it. There's no doubt. Leslie. Thanks so much for being here, folks. Once again, thank you for joining us on the Teamwork Advantage, the podcast that's designed to help you get a little bit better.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker C: Until our next program, be sure to make every day excellent and exceptional. Take care. Bye. Bye.

Speaker A: You've been listening to the Teamwork Advantage with Greg Gregory to learn more about how Greg can help your organization. Develop a powerful winning culture. Visit teamsrock.com that's T E A M S R O C K.com be sure to join Greg next week when he interviews another exciting and powerful thought leader on the teamwork advantage. Until then, as Greg says, make sure you have a great week, because a good week is just being average.