Check Out my Interview with Robby Slaughter – Workflow and Productivity Expert

Robby Slaughter

Robby Slaughter is a workflow and productivity expert, and you know how important I think having workflows and being productive are to the success of your business. His consulting practice assists a wide variety of organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, regional non-profits, small businesses and individual entrepreneurs to help increase productivity, simplify workflow and optimize business processes. He discovered that to become more effective and efficient at work, we need to empower individuals with authority and responsibility, and I couldn’t agree more.

Here are some questions I asked Robby that you will benefit from by listening to his answers:

What is the #1 reason people struggle with being productive at work?
When asked, most business professionals tell me they waste about 2-3 hours a day. How can the average business professional become better at time management, so they aren’t wasting so much time each day?

Anne: To download my complimentary Time Log Exercise and help you and your team members be even more time efficient, so you are in a higher probability position to achieve your goals, go to: /time-log/. Simple instructions come with the sample document to help you know how to complete the time log.

What do you recommend people to help them reduce interruptions and distractions that plague most offices?

Get out of the office. Go to a conference room or a coffee shop. Work from an empty cubicle for a while. Close your door if you have one, or wear big headphones (even if they aren’t playing any music.) Put up a sign to let people know you are focusing for blocks of time, and put that on your calendar as well.

Anne: To claim your free audio training, Focus on Your High Pay-off Activities and Achieve Your Goals Using Effective Time Management, go to /landing/.

4. How do you suggested people create their To-Do List, so they make the most progress on their activities?

At the very least, try adding a face next to each item, indicating how you feel about the task. Most people can quickly sketch a face with a smile, sadness, anger, boredom, etc. That way you can quickly scan the list for something you’re willing to tackle, keeping the balance of high energy and low energy tasks.

Beyond that, asking what tasks can be delegated is especially powerful.

Anne: I recommend to my clients that they use, what I call, a Prioritized Action List (PAL) which is like a glorified To-do List. It is simply your To-Do List in priority order and with the highest payoff activities on it that will you to make progress on the achievement of your goals. These are activities that only the business owner or business professional can do and can’t be delegated.

Anne: To download my Free Sample Prioritized Action List (PAL) that everyone in your office can use, go to /pal-sample/. You can of course use this format to customize your To Do List that may reside online in your contact management system. I consider the PAL a glorified To Do List.

What does it mean to have a “workflow?” How can you design and improve on a workflow?

Anne: To help you be even more effective and efficient, so you can achieve your goals at an accelerated rate, you can delegate more to your team members than you have or might think possible. Stop holding on to things that can be done by someone else and do only those activities that you can do and can’t be done by anyone else. Stop doing revenue generation / business development avoidance activities and delegate more! You should be doing only those activities that only you can do and nobody else can. Successful people are excellent delegators, so work at being an even better delegator and be even more successful.

Download my Free Delegation List Sample Exercise to help you identify more activities to delegate, by going to /delegation-list-sample/.

What are some basic examples of business processes?
How do boss-employee relationships impact effectiveness and efficiency?

Anne: My business owner coaching client wanted to better hold his support team accountable, so I created a performance assessment tool. This enhances regular communication with each team member about their specific performance of what they are responsible for (whether internal or virtual). It lets the team member feel good about their progress and it helps the business owner feel more confident about what is being done and at what level of performance. You will benefit, just as my clients have, from utilizing this simple and effective performance assessment for every member of your team. Customize it for each person on your team based on their job description. More specifically, each team member should customize it for themselves and you approve it. Schedule a meeting every 90 days to review progress in each area you are measuring.

Anne: To download my complimentary support team performance assessment, so you can customize it for each of your team members, go to: /support-team-member-progress-assessment/.

How can people find out more about what you do to help them and their team?

Robby mentioned you might want to check out his book, The New Science of Time Management which you can find on Amazon or at www.accelawork.com.

You can find my interview with Robby at https://accountabilitycoach.com/my-podcast/, https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/accountabilitycoach.com/id290547573 and https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id305208343, and on most podcast platforms and in most English-speaking countries.

Subscribe and get new episodes as they are released.

Let me know how else I can be of service to you and your organization.

Get your daily Accountability Minute shot of a single, simple, doable idea, so you can start your day off on the “right foot”, subscribe to it based on your country.