October 29, 2008 - Three hours of real work per day...

I'm not sure if it's tactful to say this out loud, but most employees - myself included -
spend only a small percentage of their day actually getting things done.

Let me give you an example. I have many friends who have chosen to home-school their
kids. My wife and I valued our sanity too much to try it ourselves. In many cases, homeschooled
kids are often the smartest kids on the block. But here's the really shocking
thing: home-schooled kids spend only about three hours per day "at school."

So, how come regular kids spend twice as much time at school? The reality is, much of
an average day is wasted. Home-schooled kids often take three hours to do what it takes
six hours to do in regular school.

I think the same is true with work, where all too often very little time is actually spent
getting anything done. Personally, I find that maybe half my day is wasted on
unimportant things.

Consider two companies, A and B. In company A, the average employee spends three out
of eight hours getting things done. In company B, the average employee spends six out of
eight hours getting things done. Company B is 100 per cent more productive that
company A. If company A breaks even, then company B will have a profit margin of 50
per cent.

This massive profit can be distributed to employees and shareholders in all kinds of ways
- dividends, profit-sharing programs, or performance bonuses. Company B could quite
possibly have the happiest employees on Earth.

My point is this: do whatever is humanly possible to take away things that waste your
time, or your employees' time. I could write a whole book about this, but here are just a
few ideas:

Take a break
If you find yourself spinning your wheels, take a break, then try a different approach.
Imagine that you're in a maze. In some cases you have to back up and try a different
approach in order to actually progress through the maze. Take an hour off and read an
interesting book. Go for a walk. If your company has a fitness facility, go and work out
for half an hour. Clear your mind and then try again with your work.

Change your work venue
If you're having trouble getting things done, try working in different places. We have a
special room at work that we call 'The Sanctuary.' It's a private room with a couch, table,
and nice lighting. People can go there when they really need to concentrate on something,
or can also sign out a meeting room. One of our top managers tells me that she often
books a meeting room just for herself, partly to reduce the chances of being distracted,
but also because the change of venue can trigger new ideas.

Invest in great tools
I think there's nothing more satisfying than having the right tools. Don't forget to not only
make sure you have all the right accessories, but also that your tools are in good working
order - I'm amazed at companies that buy a $100,000 data analyzer to use up their budget,
but don't buy enough cables to actually use the instrument.

Take a comm-fast
You may already know this, but the word breakfast comes from breaking the eight-hour
fast from food that we take through the night. Personally, I have trouble sleeping and
eating simultaneously. Here's another type of fast you could try: take a half-day fast from
communications, and I mean all electronic communications: e-mail, instant messaging,
and phone. Plan exactly what you want to accomplish during this fast, and then focus on
completing that goal.

Consider meeting-free days
Another interesting idea that a friend and colleague, Kevin Rankin, suggested to me is to
institute meeting-free days; everyone could agree to not hold meetings on Wednesdays,
for example. This allows people to get into the habit of reserving Wednesdays for tasks
that require uninterrupted blocks of time.

These are a just some quick ideas to squeeze a bit more productivity out of your day. If
you can increase the average real-work hours at your company from three to four, think
of the profound improvement it could bring.

Michael Wakim is the founder and CEO of Fidus Systems, an Ottawa-based electronic
product development company.