How to Be Productive when the Organization Isn't

Today’s episode is a conversation between Stever Robbins—the outgoing Get-It-Done-Guy—and me, Rachel Cooke, your incoming Get-It-Done-Guy. Have a listen to our conversation by clicking the link to the podcast platform of your choice or clicking the audio player above.

(SIDE NOTE: You may find yourself thinking, Rachel doesn't sound like a guy at all! It's true! The masterminds at QDT are busy preparing to unveil a brand new show name soon. Stay tuned!) 

An organization-wide productivity problem

In our chat, Stever and I talked about how to be productive in an organization when it feels like you’re fighting an uphill battle. The challenges we highlighted will likely be familiar. But don’t worry—we’ve included solutions too. 

We began with Stever generously sharing a story of “unproductivity” from his past. In short, he joined an organization, was tasked with redesigning a website (an estimated one-days’ worth of work), and found himself laboring for nearly seven weeks to bring the project to completion. 

Stever’s story was incredibly relatable. We’ve all had that experience of staring down a project and knowing exactly how to get it done efficiently and effectively. And then, other people enter the picture, and suddenly we find ourselves thinking “How is this possibly taking so long?”

Organizational productivity is its own animal.

Stever discovered that the problem he had wasn't one of personal productivity. He had that in the bag! The issue was a problem with organizational productivity. 

Right on, Stever. Organizational productivity is its own animal. 

So we talked about why this project took so darn long and we highlighted strategies for improving efficiency the next time around.

So many stakeholders, so little time

While Stever was well-versed in the mechanics of redesigning a simple website, and knew he could easily execute the task at hand in a single day, this project required more than mechanics. The need for brand consistency, strategic messaging, and a clean user experience meant that marketing, corporate communications, and IT all needed a seat at the table.

Unfortunately, only top-priority items tend to get attention.

Stever needed approvals from these other departments. And approvals require attention. Unfortunately, only top-priority items tend to get attention. And while this project was priority number one for Stever, the others had bigger fish to fry.

So what do you do in this situation?

You compel...

Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips