In the business world, where time management is always a priority, multitasking skills are expected, especially in younger workers reared in multiple media environments (i.e., computers, iPods, iPhones, TV, video games, online social sites, texting and instant messaging).

Beginning in 2005, however, studies began to show that distractions negatively affected productivity and efficiency. A study funded by Hewlett-Packard and conducted by the University of London’s Institute of Psychiatry found that “workers distracted by email and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers.”

A second study found that it took an average of 25 minutes for workers to recover from interruptions (phone calls, emails) and return to their original tasks.

On expert estimates that extreme multitasking and information overload cost the U.S. economy $650 billion a year in lost productivity.

The brain doesn’t handle more than one problem well. While we can certainly walk and chew gum at the same time, we cannot pay attention to multiple challenges. Instead, the brain must switch tasks, using up time and energy. And when task-switching is poorly executed, we waste time and make mistakes.

All the research in the world won’t discourage us from juggling more than one ball. So, if we’re going to multitask, how can we do it effectively?

This article gives 10 tips for getting more done.

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• The Art of Paying Attention
• Smart Multitasking
• 10 Tips for Getting More Done

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Debunking Multitasking Myths:
10 Tips for Getting More Done

To effect change, you must do something differently.

It starts with you. Do it right, and you’ll enjoy a snowball effect that helps your team, direct reports and even family members implement change.

While many books have covered organizational change, business school professors Chip and Dan Heath cover the patterns all successful change efforts have in common in Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard (2010).

The Heaths avoid looking at the history of failed changes. Instead, they share stories of spectacular changes that worked because execution built upon prior achievements.

In researching significant social, educational, governmental, marital and organizational changes, what are the patterns that emerge that anyone can apply in real-world business situations?

In many ways, the first small steps you take to change your behavior are the most important. Once you initiate change, it seems to feed on itself.

Perhaps the famous Stephen Covey maxim, “Begin with the end in mind,” needs to be revised: Start with the beginning and the end in mind.

Here’s how to get started and unleash the snowball effect.

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The complete 1,000 word article includes these important concepts:

•    First Steps
•    The Snowball Effect
•    The Problem with Problems
•    Follow Your Bright Spots
•    Start with the Beginning in Mind
•    Unleash the Snowball Effect

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Snowball Effect – Start Change Now

A growing body of research reveals that our behavior and decisions are influenced by an array of strong psychological undercurrents, all of which are more powerful and pervasive than we realize.

By charting these undercurrents and their unanticipated effects, we can identify our faulty thinking that lead us to make irrational decisions.

Despite a great need for them, judgment and decision-making skills are only beginning to appear in better business schools’ curricula. But studies show we still don’t know enough about how good decisions occur.

Rational versus Emotional?

Psychologist and political scientist Herbert Simon in 1957 laid the groundwork on the limits of rationality when he attacked classical economics and game theory. Simon’s work made it clear that we must take the real world’s messiness and irrationality into account when making decisions.

“Research indicates that people are myopic in their decisions, may lack skill in predicting their future tastes, and can be led to erroneous choices by fallible memory and incorrect evaluations of past experiences,” wrote psychologist and Nobel Prize laureate Daniel Kahneman.

Neuroscientific research also proves that the brain is influenced by subconscious emotional reactions from its more primitive centers. We’re not in control of our reasoning capabilities as much as we’d like to think.

Scientists have identified several flaws in how we think when making decisions. Because they’re hardwired into our thinking process, we often fail to recognize them. This means they can undermine everything from new product development to acquisitions and divestiture strategy to succession planning.

This article examines 5 biases that lead to bad decisions and how we can avoid their traps.

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The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• Rational versus Emotional?
• Loss Aversion
• Commitment
• Value Attribution
• Diagnosis Bias
• Too Much Information
• Decision Effectiveness
• Rate Your Company
• Leaders Can Improve
• The Certainty Bias

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5 Biases that Lead to Bad Decisions – July10-103a  2000-word article, reprint rights

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5 Biases that Lead to Bad Decisions – condensed version – July10-103b  1000-word article, reprint rights

What’s the most important thing to learn if you want to advance your career?

Should you gain diverse experience? Specialize? Go back to school for an advanced degree? Attend workshops? Get a coach?

While all of these career decisions may undoubtedly prove beneficial, book smarts don’t guarantee good teachers, nurses, doctors, businesspeople or leaders.

In today’s emerging right-brain economy, most professions require a set of skills and characteristics that cannot be taught in schools. Professionals who have the edge — those singled out for high-potential programs — are skilled at forging meaningful relationships.

The adage “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care” has never been more relevant.

While a good education is important, it’s no longer enough. Unfortunately, most business schools aren’t teaching the emotional competencies future leaders require. Perhaps these skills are far beyond a classroom’s reach.

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The complete 1,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• Leadership Skills for the 21st Century
• Training Leaders for Future Complexities
• The Boss Is Last
• Combining Smarts with Heart

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Career Strengths for the Future: Show You Care

Business is fundamentally an extended conversation. Whether you’re speaking with your boss, team members, colleagues or direct reports, conversations shape what gets done.

As a leader, you must engineer conversations to foster:

• Clarity
• Cooperation
• Creativity
• Connection to company values

Sadly, the quality of many work conversations borders on mediocrity and/or boredom, with meaning and connection reserved for personal conversations.

Fierce Conversations

In her books, Fierce Conversations and Fierce Leadership, consultant Susan Scott explains that the word “fierce” doesn’t imply menace, cruelty or threats. In Roget’s Thesaurus, the word fierce is associated with synonyms like robust, intense, strong, powerful and passionate.

“The simplest definition of a fierce conversation is one in which we come out from behind ourselves, into the conversation, and make it real,” Scott writes.

Some people, however, are intimidated by the idea of talking about what’s real because it requires raw honesty and vulnerability. In truth, it’s the unreal conversations that should scare us because they never address what needs to be said, cost organizations untold fortunes and limit individuals’ career advancement.

While politeness and constructive criticism matter, they should not come at the expense of meaningful interactions that explore diverse perspectives and competing recommendations.

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The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

•    Fierce Conversations
•    Making It Real
•    The Risk of Being Real
•    Start Having Fierce Conversations
•    Four Goals of Real Conversations
•    Human Connectivity
•    Emotions Have a Bad Rep
•    How to Sharpen a Conversation

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Leading Change, One Conversation at a Time

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Leading Change, One Conversation at a Time, Condensed Version, 1000-words

Our quality of life largely depends on two factors:

1. How we experience work
2. How we experience other people

This is the conclusion of numerous studies on human happiness and meaning. One’s self is largely defined by what happens in these two contexts.

If we have optimal work experiences, we’re more motivated to do good work, which also benefits the organization and our coworkers. Our satisfaction is energizing and self-perpetuating, and it carries over into our home life because we’re in a positive frame of mind.

To improve the quality of life through work, two complementary strategies are necessary:

1. Jobs should be redesigned so skills levels and challenges are high. This contributes to a more cheerful and active workforce, improved concentration, and greater creativity and satisfaction.
2. Workers must define and develop self-directing, intrinsic goals. When we learn to recognize opportunities for action, hone our skills, set reachable goals, and immerse our concentration and focus in the present, we become more engaged at work and experience a state of “flow.”

Without these strategies, it’s easy to multitask on autopilot and miss opportunities to excel.

People at all levels report a need for challenges that create flow at work, according to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Challenges must stretch our capacity, without being overwhelming.

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• Creating Flow at Work
• How to Create Flow Experiences
• 4 Steps
• Taking Control of Flow

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Click HERE: Finding True Flow

If you’ve been working hard for any length of time, in any field, chances are you’ve experienced at least one humiliating career failure. Career “hiccups” can kill your spirit and make it difficult to regain your motivation and drive.

Some of the “bad” things that happen to hardworking, well-meaning, capable people each day include:

• Missing the big opportunity
• Getting passed over for a promotion
• Getting demoted
• Losing a lot of money
• Getting fired
• Going bankrupt

What happens to us when our worst career nightmares come true? Career-altering events can happen to anyone — and they do. But when they happen to us, they seem incomprehensible, largely because we’ve worked so hard to be nice, dedicated and well-meaning.

But even when we can partially blame the economy, there comes a time when we must take a hard look at what we could have done differently. Despite faltering companies, imperfect leaders, coworkers who don’t like us and other external variables, we must eventually engage in private, honest introspection.

It’s time to ask: What part did I play in the events leading up to the career crisis? And how do I get my “mojo” back?

Historically, the word “mojo” has been associated with witchcraft and voodoo — specifically, the ability to cast spells. Over the years, it has become urban slang for personal power, magnetism and charisma. In business, mojo refers to the moment we do something purposeful and powerful — an act lauded by others.

For some, it represents personal advancement: moving forward, making progress, achieving goals, clearing hurdles, passing the competition — and doing so with increasing ease. Star athletes call this being “in the zone.”

In Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back If You Lose It, leadership expert Marshall Goldsmith introduces the term “nojo”—the opposite of mojo. Nojo sufferers approach their work negatively. They’re bored, frustrated, dispirited and confused, and they aren’t shy about sharing their dissatisfaction with others.

Goldsmith lists seven professional mistakes that contribute to nojo in otherwise competent, successful and smart people.

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This is a brief synopsis of a 2000 & 1000-word article suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials.

You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• Defining Mojo
• Lost Mojo
• 7 Common Career Mistakes
• Over-committing
• Waiting for the Facts to Change
• Looking for Logic in All the Wrong Places
• Bashing the Boss
• Refusing to Change Because of “Sunk Costs”
• Confusing the Mode You’re in
• Maintaining Pointless Arguments
• Mojo Recuperation

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7 Career Mistakes that Turn Mojo into Nojo -  May10-101a — 2000-word article

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7 Career Mistakes that Turn Mojo into Nojo -  May10-101b — 1000 word Article