Think Like a Leader: How to Improve Productivity and Collaboration

This transcript has been generated by AI and may contain slight discrepancies from the audio or video recording.

Anne: In just the past few years, we've seen an incredible transformation: the sudden shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, the evolution of hybrid workplaces, and now the accelerating impact of AI and technology on how we work. In this dynamic environment, we're feeling that pressure to work smarter, lead better, communicate more effectively, and collaborate to stay innovative and keep up with all of these changes.

In this episode, we will learn some practical ways to confidently improve our productivity and support collaboration within our team using mindset shifts, along with that technology. Here to guide us through this conversation and empower us with a leadership approach is Jamie Champagne, Executive Advisor and speaker who has also had a session earlier this year at SHRM 25 in San Diego speaking on this exact subject.

Jamie, welcome to All Things Work.

Jamie: Thank you Anne. I'm super excited to be here and talk about how we can get more value given this turbulence, sea of change we're dealing with.

Anne: I'm really excited for that. We talked about how AI kind of really threw a wrench in a lot of maybe our three to five, seven year plans. I'm curious from your standpoint, since you're coming with us with all this experience, what was the moment you realized you had a level up with AI and did you feel ready for that moment?

Jamie: That's a great question about when are you ready? I'm not sure we really truly know. For me, like what I teach a lot of others, it's about that business scenario. It became about that business value. It's like just because we can doesn't mean we should. Everyone was playing with AI and you should be on ChatGPT and I'm like, okay, I can but it, to be honest, for me, it really clicked the moment and it was a productivity moment.

The moment I found and saw that an hour and a half of my time was just done in a matter of seconds with an AI tool, but it was about getting the right tool and using it for the right way. Until that happened, it was a shiny object. It was something out there everyone's talking about, but no one was really being clear on what exactly it could do for me. 

Anne: I think a lot of people have felt kind of the same way in that moment. They're like, whoa, I just did this in minutes. So then the question is, okay, how do I keep moving forward. You discussed optimizing productivity. Organizations like you mentioned, really want us to be AI natives, where we just naturally integrate that latest technology into our workflows and we'll get into that. But let's start with a simple process to cleanse, reset our minds. You call it now, next, later, and never method. Could you explain that framework? Let's break it down.

Jamie: Sure. I like simple. How many of us are super busy daily? We're busy working and we're working on a lot. What the trick though is with productivity, it's about getting things done. If we're always working on stuff, how much are we getting done or delivered?

To take the chaos of day-to-day and think about what has to be done now. Like say before lunch, what do you have to get done before lunch? Let's do that. That's our now. Next is, all right, we have a little more time today. What could we get done next and what needs to be put into later? This changes daily because when I wake up today, what is now wasn't, it becomes later when you open up the emails or you get a phone call. Right now, that's the now and getting comfortable because what you're doing, you're getting comfortable with change.

What was my priority is now maybe later because I have a higher priority. Things are gonna change. That's what we want to do about productivity is reprioritizing, really, to be honest, daily, but keeping track of what we're still looking at, what's on our plate, and being comfortable that what I was going to get done today. That's okay if it's later because we have something more important. But then I'll come back to that later when it does become more important.

The best trick to this, honestly, and probably the hardest part is I would challenge you to put on there something in the never column. Maybe it's not never ever. It's really not now. What is talking in your ear a little bit there, bugging you and going, you know, we really should look at this. And you're like, yeah, we should, but not now. Let's save that for way later. What we're doing though is that prioritization. That's the trick here is are we working on the highest priority item that gives us the most value? That's where we really want to look. That's the essence behind that. What are we getting done today? But we keep that value delivery system going no matter what changes.

Anne: So walk us through maybe the average day. You walked us through kind of generally what that could look like, but how did you apply this maybe on an average day with your work?

Jamie: For me, I love having this piece because I always challenge people and say, how many things are on my to-do list today? How many things are in my now column? When I open up the laptop, I sit down at the computer. What's on the today? For me, honestly, it's one thing. I start each day with one thing to get done, and stuff happens. There'll be a day when the only one thing was to send you that email. I needed to get you that email response and come four o'clock in the afternoon, I still haven't sent you that. Wasn't because I was working, I was totally being busy and getting things done and responding to other things. But that one thing has got to get done before I leave here today, before I log off my computer.

That's where I get one prioritized item and I can do other things. Other things will have to just wait till tomorrow because now I've got to send that email to Anne. If I don't get that out today, that was my one thing. People are like, really? You only do one thing a day? I go, well, I get one thing done and that's the part where tomorrow I'm gonna come in with another one thing and I have a plan for it. Like tomorrow I'll work on that presentation, but it's okay if tomorrow morning I wake up and like, hmm, I've got to respond to this new request. That's gonna be the priority. Presentation will wait till the next day, and that's okay. But that's where we get the feel on here is when things come in, is it more important than that one thing today to re-shift? Or it's like, nope, got to get one thing at least done. You can still do a lot of other things, but get one thing done and that's that value delivery. 

Anne: I love it. We mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic in our introduction. It really shifted organizations to evolve going to fully remote, obviously except for the essential workers. Then we shifted to this hybrid model to satisfy that need for flexibility, what everybody got used to. Now we're seeing some companies return to the office full time. So we know that that's a lot that we all went through in just a matter of years. Could you share some examples of simple ways we can use technology here to help us make us more productive and efficient regardless of that environment we're in? I know keeping that method in mind as well.

Jamie: Absolutely. It's about making things easy for teams. Now the question becomes is how easy is it for teams to participate? As much as like getting something done, even that list, what are we working as a team on now, next later? Do you have that in a shared collaboration space? That whether I'm in the office, I'm online, I'm working remotely, can I still access and know what the team's priorities are?

What we start to do is realize that we need to treat everybody equally knowing that everyone may participate differently. What I mean by that is we can't use a whiteboard in the conference room if not everyone's gonna be in the office. Even though you are in the office, I need you to still jump online with the rest of us who are online so that we're starting to treat it equally.

That's what's great about the technology is we do have collaboration tools, though. It can't be like just information pushing tools. They need to be spaces that everyone can access. Then, like you say, lay out priorities. Clearly identify work. I love like a planner view or a Kanban board where teams can even like self-select which areas they're working on today, which ones they're prioritizing, but that gives that informational view. No matter how you're participating from, you can still participate and be a contributor to that work accomplishment.

Anne: As technology evolves and the expectation for increased productivity grows because we know it'll help us be more efficient in many ways. Many of us also want to go beyond efficiency and move towards evolving into a leadership position. So what are some innovative ways individuals at any level can demonstrate leadership in their day-to-day work? Even in the hybrid or remote settings. There's a lot of factors playing here.

Jamie: Absolutely. Constant change, right? Well, one of my favorites is to always demonstrate the behaviors you expect of others. We can do this from any role and position, so that could be a simple, I know people talk of challenges with remote work. Not everyone turns on their camera and it's like, well, is your camera on? Do you have audio? Are you calling on people equally, like giving everyone a turn, even if they totally agree? Did you check that Crystal is okay with what we've said here today before we log off?

Think about your day-to-day behavior and really think about those that inspire you to get excited about the work. Are you excited? Or are you inquisitive and unsure about what's coming tomorrow? Like again, even going back to that now, next, later being okay with the team and say, you know what? I realize later, we don't know which day later that is. It's just kind of later. But at least I see it on the roadmap and I want to share that roadmap with everybody else.

So is everyone at least clear where we're going? A few of those things that you just do daily and become daily habits. That's some of the best leadership we can get from everybody on the team. Really model those behaviors you're looking for and what gets people comfortable, like what gets people excited? Think about what excites you, take a little interest. That can also be good. 

Anne: So what I take away from that is really having integrity in your job in general will make you great at your job, will make you a good worker, but it'll also show you as a positive leader. Again, just having that integrity and caring about your job and then also communicating effectively, communicating with your team. That also shows great leadership skills, no matter what level you're on. You don't have to be the director of comms. You could just be, you know, associate specialist in comms. But if you're the one who cares and wants to communicate with your team, it shows that, oh, okay, maybe this person could take on this new project and lead the way on that one. So I definitely think that that can carry people far.

Jamie: Yes. Oh, absolutely. Like I have a quick piece on that. Even the communication. One more thing. Always think about what makes it easy for them. What makes it easy for you to participate? For you to feel engaged. What makes it easy for those around you? So, like you said, the communication. Sure it's easy for you to send an email. Did you make a follow up with a phone call with a person and say, you know, I want to make sure you understood my message. Did you send a teams chat just to say, did you get my email? I want to make sure that there wasn't any questions.

Make sure that you're reaching out to them in a way that others want to be communicated to others like working with the team. That part can really bode well where you're making it easy for them to come to the table, even if it might feel like a little more work on your part. Again, it goes towards the team's goal. That little effort.

Anne: Five percent more effort. Exactly. So I would love to build onto the idea of how productivity and leadership intersect with some myth busting exercises. We've done this kind of before in our episodes. So for this segment, I'll share a misconception around productivity and we're gonna get your hot take on whether or not it's true and just your general thoughts on it.

Jamie: Sounds good.

Anne: Awesome. So myth number one, digital tools will automatically improve team performance.

Jamie: Oh, that's a fun one because, and I say fun one on this, because technology is really awesome to show just how bad your processes are. I always tease, if you can't write it out on paper, please do not give a technology. This is the part there where like anyone who is playing with like your AI chat prompts, if you've ever gotten frustrated at it. You might need to pause and take a look in the mirror because who was giving it the prompts?

So if you didn't get what you wanted, it's about you asking better questions. So the part on there I always tell if you can't write out on paper what we're trying to achieve, what the problem is we're solving, to go right to technology. Expect it to understand there's a difference between doing and understanding. That's where we might not have enough information and we'll have unmet expectations there. 

That's where I say technology can help, but think of it again as that tool, that speed, that enhancer an assistant. Right now I kind of think it's like an intern. I could give it instructions and explain things, but there's only so much I'm gonna let my intern run loose with to go create.

Anne: Right? Yeah. You're not gonna hand it a stack of papers and say, do what you will. You're gonna give it instructions. You're gonna say, this is what I need. You can't expect the intern to just read your mind. So I think that's super important. This is where SHRM comes in with the AI plus AI. The AI plus Human ingenuity. Human intelligence side. You need that human aspect to direct the AI, like you said, the intern. I love that. So myth number two, multitasking makes us more productive. I have my own thoughts on this, but I'll let you go first.

Jamie: I always feel like I'm a multitasker. I always feel like there's lots going on, but then it's, think about this is, I'm gonna just come back and rather than a to-do list, a to done list, that now, next and later, like even coming back, that works because you're getting an item done. I love sharing this because I know exactly why people are busy. They pick something off their to-do list and they work on that. They go back to the to-do list, pick something else up, work on that. Phone call comes in, we'll go work on that. We got an email, we work on that. All day long we're working. If you look at your done column, look at nothing because you were working.

That's the piece there where you can totally work on multiple things. You can have multiple assignments. I mean that happens, right? That's our reality. What the piece is though is which piece are you getting done? So I love people to switch their to do list to to done list. That is the key there is that to pick it up. You can work on lots of things, but I will ask you at the end of the day what you get done. Maybe we didn't solve world hunger by lunchtime, but did we do...

Anne: You took a step forward.

Jamie: Yeah. Did we take a piece of it? We got the recycle bins in the lunchroom check. We sent out a memo check. Those are little done bites, but they add up. They add up to a lot, and I think that's the part where, again, it's not about how busy you are, but how producing you are. That's the definition of productivity a product.

Anne: Yep. And there's nothing more satisfying than checking the box and saying that you did that, you accomplished it. But the, and this applies to the first myth and the second myth that we just brought up. So we've heard of everybody say, work smarter, not harder. I have worked with people, I have been this person myself where I feel like, oh, I'm so busy because I'm multitasking. I'm doing 20 things at once. I'm trying to get things done and so many people are coming up to me and oh my God, I'm so busy and it almost makes me feel like important. But the problem at the end of the day is, am I actually being productive?

So you may see someone take 20 phone calls at a time or send emails sporadically, but you really have to focus and ask yourself or ask your worker. Okay. Are we working smarter or harder here? Are we making things harder ourself and that's what's making us busy? Or are we actually accomplishing those tasks? Getting the done list filled up a little bit more. That's kind of, I was talking to my producer about this before, and so that was just a conversation we have all the time here. 

Jamie: Yeah, and that's why you can see even like just our cute little exercise here with the now, next, later, not now, asking your staff, are you working on the highest valued activities we're working? But is that's what valued. Again, with all this change in environment, technology, workplace, all those changes going on. Is this the highest value activity right now?

Anne: Right?

Jamie: You might need to ask them, can we put something in the not now call. I know it's all important, but is it urgent now? Can we move a few things? That conversation, that can be one of the best things. Whether you're in a leadership official title or not asking the question, is there anything we should not be worried about right now?

Anne: Exactly. Exactly. Because it takes away your efficiency at the end of the day sometimes. So, okay. I got to move on to the third one because I could talk forever on work smarter, not harder. So myth number three. Teamwork happens naturally if people are in the same space.

Jamie: Oh, don't you love this question with all the, how many times have we been on the teams or the Zoom call and there's no cameras, and I love it when you ask a question and there's absolutely no response. Oh, that awkward silence. You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. So again, the part here is being clear that just because you put teams together doesn't mean, like you say, amazing things just instantly happen.

That's where we have outcome driven focus. What's the purpose? You even need a vision. Where are we going? Why is this important? If those questions are answered upfront, whether we are in person, remote, hybrid, any format like technology is not gonna help it. It's gonna worsen it because it's gonna point out what we're missing on there.

So with the teams, it's more about what's the point of having a team? Just like we say, why have a meeting? If we could do it in email or a chat message. Ask him that because reality, we're busy people. So if you're gonna bring the team together, do they not only know why they're being called in, but what their role is? On that, those questions answered. Then we can just, everything else is logistics. How do they best work? What do they best, like, notice again, I'm like, what is they? Not just you, we have a lot of people in management positions. I call management different than leadership. Sometimes managers often will like create a space and say, here I created the space. Go do the work. But if it's not clear what they're doing exactly and why them, why now, why is it being asked? It will stall. It won't have that productivity feeling of a team that's charged with, here's a mission, here's A, we need B, make it happen. What do you need to make it happen? And I think, again, there's one more great question. The leadership, what do you need to make this happen or be successful, or what roadblocks are blocking you from making this happen? Those are great questions. So then teams will be wildly successful when you bring them together.

Anne: Speaking of teams, I'd love to shift our focus to how technology can help improve that collaboration, but also how it may also hinder. You touched on it a little bit. Let's dig a little deeper here. For this segment, we are gonna call it connection or correction and where I'll share some common workplace scenarios. We're gonna get your input on if it's positive and reinforces connection, or if it's actually an opportunity to do better. Okay, so scenario number one for hybrid or remote teams that meet virtually, like you kind of brought up already, you require everyone in the meeting to have a mandatory camera's on, like you said, everybody has, it can't just be one person or the other. So Jamie, do you see this as a move that really genuinely supports teams connection, or does it kind of hinder that collaboration? 

Jamie: This is the part, I'll be a good analyst and say, well, it depends. This is one of those ones where, again, I like to step back a little bit and say, why are the cameras needed? So again, you might need to step back and say, what are you looking for from participation? Because if it's participation, can they fully participate via chat? Like if they're active in chat, they're responding, they're doing reactions, is that just as participatory as the person has their camera on, but they're staring at their second monitor the whole meeting?

Do you feel, is it you want people to feel engaged, that people care? I've run, like even today was doing more trainings online and some people, they don't have their cameras. You can ask it, you can demand it, you can do it. Doesn't mean they're doing it. That's the part where. What I'd really like to think about is what was the activity I want them to happen. Maybe it's not so much a force piece. I think that's the other part here. Because we have the technology, we want to force it. Okay, everyone on camera we can see. Everyone said chat. You want to force it? Well, it's okay, I recommend it. Some people don't. But we did an activity and I said, well can you share it to the camera? Like your picture? Can you grab something nearby and show it to me, Anne? I'd love to see it in person. Show it up to the camera. Well, then people turned on their cameras to show the exercise. So they were totally connected. They were vested, but they just didn't want their camera on earlier, and that was their comfort level.

Anne: I would say some people are more comfortable with that. Or even honestly, we've had people who maybe they were sick with a cold and they didn't want to see people blowing their nose 24/7, but they really wanted to pay attention, but they didn't want to be a distraction to people. There's always like small reasons left and right. And like you said, it depends on the scenario and the company and the team. So let's jump into scenario number two after an initial brainstorm meeting where deadlines and action items. We discussed a follow-up meeting is put on everyone's calendar to talk about the updates, any questions, and next steps the following week. So no need to clutter everyone's inbox and complicate the conversation because everybody's got so much to do. Thoughts on this scenario.

Jamie: This is the part again, and like you say, we're really hitting the nail on the head here. What are you trying to accomplish with whom and why? That's the piece there that I'm a big fan. I tell people there is an actual decline button on those meeting invites. I know it doesn't seem like it, but there is one. So like, if you're gonna get people together, what's your desired outcome by getting us together. What are we gonna do? Because then if you write that out and you say, what are we achieving today? We're gonna meet today, what are we achieving? Well, everyone will go around and update their status. Well, that's what we're doing. What are we achieving? If we just want to know what other people are working on, can a status board or some sort of, like you said, team chat work. It can totally work. And I think that's the part where. I'm not sure email's really a communication method so much as just an information push and pull method. So how are you actually communicating? And so that becomes the piece there. Is that the goal? Do we want to communicate? And again, I'll push one more time, but this is the facilitator in me. What makes it easy for others? If you know others are really swamped with meetings, ask them to respond to your email and you'll post it all on the dashboard. What the statuses are, can they respond in chat and you'll make sure the report goes out updated to everybody, what can we do that makes it easy for them? But this is where I always kind of step back, what's the purpose? And if I don't know the purpose, like you invited me to a meeting, sounds like fun, but I got a plate full of stuff to get done over here. So I might decline and say, just CC me on the results. I don't need to be there for the whole meeting. Or, yeah, let me know how it goes. I'm interested in the outcome, not the actual session. Those are might be some questions to really consider, and that frees up space to get more done.

Anne: It does, yeah. Talk about efficiency. So, third scenario, the team rotates digital shout outs at the end of each week, recognizing contributions using a shared chat or video message. Now the question here is this practice enough to really build those connections and team morale.

Jamie: The part here where, what works for the team, where they, I really appreciate the organic. Celebrations, their organic sharing and communication. It's hard because that can't be forced. You can't just demand it and expect it. I think that's the challenge is when we've demanded and expected that like it becomes a thing. We can't leave the meeting until somebody shares out something good. Well now it's a pressure, now it's a burden. It's not like something that we want to do or just happens. So where I would say, those may not be the best for some groups, it really does depend. If it feels like a mandate, then I think you might hit some challenges.

But then there is other opportunities. So like one of the things I love to do, as busy as we are, if I said, why don't you come with me, Anne, and I'd like you to come join this meeting, I just want you to watch how I run this meeting. Like, don't worry, you don't know about the topic, but we're gonna play with whiteboards and digital sticky notes and watch how I can try to get them engaged. By doing that, you get to come see me in action. You see some techniques, but then you also learn what I get I'm doing today or what I'm working on. It might be of interest, maybe, maybe not, but then I might want to do the same thing with you. You'd be like, Jamie, I need help with the note takers and managing the meeting, letting everybody in. I just want to run the meeting. Can you help? But that'd be like, sure, I'll jump in. But I could see what's involved, what's going on, where's your focus? I can see a different technique and that might be more valuable that to where at the. Weekly, it's no longer a status meeting, it's just a check-in meeting anyone and anyone have concerns, things going well, just anything you want to highlight.

That real collaboration, coffee chat, so to speak, rather than a status update. But you and I start chiming in, well, you know, I got to see this in action. I never thought about that, but that was kind of cool and it becomes more natural. I think that's the only part where I worry a little bit when people force fun or force team building. 

Anne: Mm-hmm.

Jamie: Yeah, I think it, that word force there kind of delineates, so once we are demanding it versus a ritual that's expected of the team and let them own it. I think that's the part we get a little challenge.

Anne: Gotcha. All right, so we actually have some questions, Jamie, from our All Things Work subscribers. To get your expert insights and for our audience tuning in, be sure you are signed up for our newsletter. Your thoughts could be featured. An upcoming episode. We always get such great questions from here, so I'm gonna share this question from Colleen from Canada. She asked, what are some techniques to identify individual contributors that are high potential for management positions?

Jamie: So that's the part where I'll challenge you and ask Colleen. Where are you looking at what they're contributing? How do you know what they've got and delivered value? Because we have people who are busy. I have lots of people like help desk teams and call centers. They answer calls like crazy. Did they convert a call? Customer that was gonna leave our company, did they help solve a problem of executive staff who was able to deliver that big sales pitch?

Where is that value connection? To me, I see that whereas people who are great leaders, they see the why behind what they're doing. So if you're looking for what are people producing? Where do I know they are a high performer? How do I know it? They're not just busy, right? We've already just debunked that. No, being busy, we have to be productive. So how do you know they're producing? And then do they talk about that they're producing the highest value items to others? It's that service for others is a great leadership quality. And then again, they're reprioritizing their work. They're rethinking which things matter more to the bigger team, to the larger organization, to our customer, our market, our industry. Those ones are ripe for, ready to go for more.

Anne: Awesome. And Colleen also asks, how do you balance providing flexibility and accommodations without sacrificing productivity and team unity? Really great questions here, Colleen.

Jamie: Oh, that's a challenge in there. So one of the biggest things, tell from a leadership and those working with teams, be clear on what and why. So like what are we doing and what, why do we need it be, if there's a win in there, give a date. Dates drive results. Think about it. If I say, oh, I need something next week, when are you gonna work on it? You're gonna give it to me the end of next Friday, next week, if that, right? If I say I need a close of business today, that's a different story. We'll have a conversation. So give the dates on there, but tell me what and why, and then pause and don't tell me the how. Just, yeah, we need this by this date for these reasons. This is why we're talking about it today. What can you deliver? Now you've got the freedom and flexibility. You've let people take their own initiative, bring their creativity to the table, and you've given them a box. So there's some control, there's rain, there's perspective there. They're not going off on their own. You've given them a nice feeling to what's in the box, that now they figure out the best way to deliver that. Best way to solve that.

That's the part where do they need teamwork? Where, there's a clip in Apollo 13, the movie with Tom Hanks. I love it. They're like square peg, round. Here's all the materials on the spaceship, make it work. And everyone just dives in. They've got a what? They've got a why, and their job was to figure out the how. They didn't care what the roles were. Here's our goal, let us make it happen. That's where I think leadership, you really do need to step back, remove roadblocks and barriers, but just give them that structure and then step back, let them go wild. Your high performers will do some amazing things. 

Anne: Really amazing things. So Jamie, let's wrap up this conversation with one final question, peeking into the future and getting your insights as more organizations are built with that AI first mindset, how can your framework that we mentioned earlier in our episode, support team members to help them thrive through these ongoing technological changes while also staying productive, collaborative, and adaptable?

Jamie: Oh yes. And the simple thing you can see here is prioritization. But again, that prioritization on productivity. Here's one piece where like you say, just because I can, doesn't mean I should be doing it. We can use that in our day-to-day prioritization, but now that same piece is now it needs to apply to technology just because I can do it. Could somebody else? Maybe we don't all have interns or team members that report to us that we could delegate. But then the same part, well just because I can do it, could we automate it with the system? Maybe it's just automation. It's not even AI. It doesn't have to be fancy. But being mindful that everything you're doing, even sending email replies, scheduling meetings, see that takes time.

That part to where, what should I be working on now? I shouldn't be scheduling meetings about this other project. I need to get something done now. Let's do that. Now. Next I want to look at automating that so that I don't have to schedule. What tools do we have that could automate it for me, because now that was taking my time. Let's do that. I think that's the mindset. Now where we want to embrace technology for the right reasons, is you have to start with just paper and pen and say, am I working on the right things for the right reasons at the right time? That's my now next, and later piles. Then for each one, as you work on it, ask and say, could technology help me do this faster? Is there an easier way to do this? Maybe I do need to ask somebody else and collaborate a little bit. But for each piece, if we all did that, we'll have exponential value in what we can actually deliver.

Anne: Awesome. Wonderful. And thank you so much, Jamie, for your thoughts today. Your methods, just putting it into real life, day-to-day experiences to help us work smarter, not harder, especially in the AI technology phase that we are in. So thank you so much for joining us today on All Things Work as well.

Jamie: Oh, thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed talking these topics and again, getting maximum value out of every little thing you do.

Anne: All right. That's gonna do it all for this week. We'll catch you next time