Read like a Ninja!

Slogging through email or large word documents is necessary sometimes. When big pieces of reading trap you and stop you from doing something else, use that as an opportunity to train yourself.

Spreeder will help read like a Ninja!

Spreeder, at the beginning, displays only one word at a time at a very fast clip. It is enough for you to understand but faster than you would read normally. It trains your brain to process words faster.

It is awesome. I have used it for a few days and it is addicting. Just follow their instructions in this link to get it working in your browser. Highlight the text you need to read, drag, drop, and hold on. Soon you will be able to up the ante and get more words on the screen, reading faster than before.

Give Productivity the power of Friendship!

A new book, Vital Friends from Tom Rath touts the power of friendship in producing an office full of engaged, producitive employees.

I imagined some kind of Care Bear stare to turn the staff into bubbly. whistling cogs seamless integrated into the corporate machine. But as it turns out, the book turns some of the industry rational on its head with old fashioned logic.

Some bosses would consider an abundance of friendships on the job a drain on company time. The difference is that the added camaraderie has positive influences on communication and overall good feelings. Gallup, whom Tom Rath worked for, places a lot on emphasis on engagement as a goal for managers seeking extra productivity.

Gallup has surveyed companies for years and has shown that people with friends on the job are 7 times more likely to be engaged. That is big considering that "engaged employees" are:

• 44% more profitable
• 50% more profitable
• demonstrate 50% higher degree of customer loyalty

Think of your Employees as Dirt

Nice, soft dirt. Your customer service team and forward facing departments are beds where ideas could grow like a well-cultivated garden. Or, like a haven of weeds and insects, you can let your attention and investment lapse until you have a larger problem. Dirt can yield weeds or something useful; the important thing to note is that it needs attention.

• Fertilizer: Adding resources like dual-monitors or knowledge management systems gives productivity a boost.
• Sunlight/ Water: Like plants who grow taller or bigger to reap a larger haul of resources, giving out more authority to high-performers or just generally rewarding those who show engagement is a great way to reap benefits of on the job training.
• Vegetables and Fruit: New products, internal promotions, and better service are things you can look forward to after a good harvest.
• Weeds and Bugs: Little attention and poor or unsupervised application of additional resources will result in lackluster/ inedible results.