Creating a Culture of Productivity 5.16.13 Dallas

 

 

Click here to download a PDF invitation.

 Please call 214-387-9960 to RSVP (required).

 

For more information please visit our site: www.the5choices.com

 

 

Creating a Culture of Productivity 12.06.12 Tulsa

Clickhere to download a PDF Invitation

RSVP Required

Creating a Culture of Productivity 12.04.12 Dallas

 

Click here to download a PDF invitation

RSVP Required

CINE Awards

Franklin Covey Co. and Kaleidoscope Pictures Win Three CINE Awards in 2012 CINE Golden Eagle Film and Video Competition

Films Given CINE Awards from Franklin Covey’s New Productivity Solution, The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE: FC) announced today that Franklin Covey and Kaleidoscope Pictures are winners of three new CINE Golden Eagle Awards in the 2012 CINE Golden Eagle Film and Video Competition. The two companies, who have won a total of eight CINE Awards from their collaboration together, created the outstanding films for use in Franklin Covey’s newest productivity solution, The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity (www.the5choices.com).

The CINE Golden Eagle Award acknowledges high-quality production in a variety of content categories for professional, independent and student filmmakers. Each year, more than 400 jurors judge nearly 1,000 entries in 36 categories.

The following videos from Franklin Covey’s The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity Work Session were awarded CINE awards (www.The5Choices.com):

• The Art of Transformation: Looks at how a teenage “rebel” transformed his life by changing how he saw (Features American performance artist David Garibaldi) – Motivational
• Closer/Choices: A compelling and hope-filled reflection on our power to choose – Motivational
• Energy Crisis: The impact of neglecting your physical and mental energy and an overview of the 5 Energy Drivers – Adult Education and Entertainment

The CINE Golden Eagle Award has been recognized as a mark of excellence throughout the film and television industry for over 50 years. Since its founding in 1957, CINE has been instrumental in promoting the careers of thousands of filmmakers through juried competitions, educational programs, and networking opportunities. As the industry has evolved, CINE has adapted its programs and competitions to assure that the CINE Golden Eagle continues to provide prestigious peer recognition to established and emerging filmmakers.

CINE has a remarkable track record for the early recognition of excellence in filmmaking, particularly among new and emerging filmmakers. Many prominent members of the film and television industry have received the CINE Golden Eagle Award, and for some – such as Ken Burns and Steven Spielberg – it was their first major award. Ron Howard was a teenager, Robert Zemeckis a college student, and Mike Nichols a young comic when each won his Golden Eagle, and hundreds of other distinguished filmmakers, producers and journalists have since followed in their footsteps, some in CINE’s early years (Mel Brooks, 1963) and others in the present day (Martin Scorsese, 2006). For members of the film and television industry, the CINE Golden Eagle Award is an acknowledgment of excellence and validation by their peers.

“These award-winning films reflect the powerful content and principles taught in our new productivity work session, The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity. We are pleased to carry on the tradition we have established with Kaleidoscope Pictures of creating award-winning films that will continue to inspire program participants for years,” said Sean Covey, Executive Vice President of Global Solutions and Chief Product Architect, Franklin Covey.

“Recognition by film organizations of this caliber is such an honor for us,” said Adam Anderegg, President, Kaleidoscope Pictures. “We are privileged to again collaborate with Franklin Covey to create exceptional instructional films that reflect the principles found within their world-renowned content.”

Franklin Covey’s newest productivity solution, The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity, which includes the CINE award-winning videos, features a process that measurably increases the productivity of individuals, teams and organizations. In the work sessions, participants learn to make more selective, high-impact choices about where to invest their valuable time, attention and energy. They are inspired to apply the process to dramatically increase their ability to achieve life’s most important outcomes. Supported by science and years of experience, the process not only produces a measurable increase in productivity, but also provides a renewed sense of engagement and accomplishment.

The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity is facilitated in live one-day open enrollment work sessions available to the general public, facilitated onsite by a Franklin Covey consultant or a certified client facilitator. The 5 Choices is also available through these channels live online via Franklin Covey LiveClicks webinar workshops. For more information, please visit www.the5choices.com.

About Franklin Covey

Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE: FC) is a global company specializing in performance improvement. We help organizations achieve results that require a change in human behavior. Our expertise is in seven areas: leadership, execution, productivity, trust, sales performance, customer loyalty and education. Franklin Covey clients have included 90 percent of the Fortune 100, more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500, thousands of small- and mid-sized businesses, as well as numerous government entities and educational institutions. Franklin Covey has more than 40 direct and licensee offices providing professional services in over 140 countries. For more information, visit www.franklincovey.com.

 

Franklin Covey Co.
Debra Lund, 801-244-4474
Debra.Lund@FranklinCovey.com

 

Source: Franklin Covey Co.

Pattern of Renewal

In June 2012, my colleague, Mark Murphy, and I wrote a 5-week series introducing our readers to our newest content, The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity.  You can follow this link to read all 5 archived posts.

Today, Mark is going to give you a little more insight to Choice 5, Fuel Your Fire, Don’t Burn Out.  If you are planning to attend Dallas ASTD’s 2012 Southwest Learning Summit on August 14^th, consider joining us for Mark’s breakout session on Productivity.  He is going to expand on this topic in more depth.

Want to register for this event?  Contact me for a discount code for our clients and readers.

________________________________________________________________

The Premise: We all have the potential to do extraordinary things.

The Paradox:  In today’s world it’s both easier and harder than ever to achieve extraordinary productivity.

The very same technology that makes us more productive can also destroy our productivity.  There are three main reasons.

1)      The sheer number of decisions we have to make on a daily basis.

2)      Our attention is under attack.  We get interrupted every few seconds.

3)      We live in a perpetual crises of energy.  

The Promise: There are 5 choices that, when consistently made, ensure that you will achieve extraordinary productivity in your work and your life.

Choice 5 - Fuel Your Fire, Don’t Burn Out, addresses that last of the three reasons for lost productivity. 

What do people with this paradigm do differently?  They eat, sleep , relax, and connect with other people.   Of course we all do these things, but people with this paradigm do them differently. 

Watch the following video and see if you can relate?

Mark Murphy, FranklinCovey Consultant               

Copyright © 2012 - Mark Murphy

_____________________________________________________________

For more information, please join us at the ASTD SWLS event on August 14^th or make an appointment using our calendar on the top right side of this page.

Increasing renewal and productivity one person at a time,

John Vakidis

Choice 5: Fuel Your Fire - Don’t Burn Out

Today I am writing part 5 of a 5-week blog series about The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity.  If today is your first day to the blog, make sure to go back and read Choice1, Choice2, Choice3 and Choice4. 

The 5 Choices is about Decision Management (Choices 1 & 2), Attention Management (Choices 3 & 4) and Energy Management (Choice 5). 

One thing that sets this program apart from the last 20 years of “time management” training released from FranklinCovey is that we partnered with about 20 brain scientists that also study productivity.  These Doctors and PhD’s have dedicated their life’s work to very specific aspects of brain health and productivity.  After about 2 years of collaboration, we boiled down 5 Energy Drivers that affect one’s energy level and productivity:

Well, without trying to re-write our content, I’m going to let you take it from here.  In my last post, I promised  a surprise.  I know most people like FREE STUFF, so follow this link below to download your FREE PDF mini-book of The 5 Choices toExtraordinary Productivity.  Here you can go into more depth about Choices 1-4 AND get all the details about the Choice 5 and the 5 Energy Drivers!

If you found this 5 week blog series helpful, do me a favor.  Send me an email to let me know what was most helpful to you.  Make sure to check back next week for our next series!

Enabling greatness in people and organizations everywhere,

John Vakidis

PS - if you enjoyed this series, please re-post the links on a social media site that you use regularly.  We are nearing a milestone of 10,000 page views and your help is greatly appreciated!

Choice 4: Rule Your Technology - Don’t Let it Rule You

Today I am writing part 4 of a 5-week blog series providing an overview to the principles covered in The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity.  Have you been so swamped in emails you missed the first 3 posts?  If so, today’s post should be helpful, but before you begin, make sure follow these links to read Choice1, Choice2 and Choice3.

When participants attend our 5 Choices Program, they get exposed to a video in the beginning of their training on Choice 4.  Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.  (author of Crazy Busy and Shine), points out that many of us have an addition… to technology.  He states it might not be a full blown addiction, but it is certainly a habituation. 

When your phone rings, your texts whistle at you or your computers ding, do you jump to see what it is?  When you see messages in your inbox that you haven’t read, does it stress you out?  It reminds me of a game I played when I was a teen.  We used to go up to our male friends and act like we were going to punch them in the arm.  When they flinched, we yelled, “Two for flinching!” and then we punched them in the arm twice.  If your technology could punch you for flinching, would you be sore?

We want the paradigm that “We Rule our Technology”, not the other way around.  The principle is of ALIGNMENT.  Our program teaches participants to Design a System that works best for them, to make the 3 Master Moves and how to use Productivity Accelerators.

This is by far one of the most popular parts of the program.  Participants find sanity in the process of setting up rules and alerts and learning new ways to look at information.  For example, almost every email you have can provide you information with one of the following: Appointment, Task, Contact or Notes/Document.  We teach participants to “turn it in to what it is.”  It’s one of the 3 Master Moves.

When you apply this content, you will have an effective system for appointment, task, contact or notes and you will no longer have to “live in your inbox.”  Your email will be organized so you can act on your most important work quickly.  This is a key step to achieving productivity!

Well, next week we’ll dive into Choice 5: Fuel Your Fire; Don’t Burn Out.  Be sure to check back.  I have a surprise for you!

Until next week,

John Vakidis

Choice 3: Schedule the Big Rocks, Don’t Sort Gravel

Today I am writing part 3 of a 5-week blog series providing an overview to the principles covered in The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity.  Did you miss the first 2 posts?  If so, follow these links to read Choice1 and Choice2.

One of the most common concepts taught by FranklinCovey over the last 25 years is the concept of Big Rocks.  The concept is simple.  In life, we have activities that require planning and others are more reactionary.  We also have some that are more important than others.  Once you have determined what tasks you need to accomplish, you need to schedule those into your calendar.  When urgent 9non-important) things come at you, stay focused on your most important goals.  When you do this over time, you will feel like you are accomplishing more in life and will become more fulfilled.

In order to achieve this, you will need to take 3 steps:

1.       Create a Master Task List

2.       Do Weekly Q2 Planning

3.       Do Daily Q2 Planning

Your master Task List captures all of your goals in one place.  It clears your mind of gravel.  It is used as a reference during Q2 planning.  It also helps categorize incoming tasks in natural chunks.

Your Weekly Planning should connect with your roles and goals.  You should take approximately 30 minutes to schedule your big rocks into your calendar and then organize the rest.

In order to achieve Extraordinary Productivity, we must live in Q2, as much as possible.  Here we find our most proactive work.  We create high-impact goals, do our creative thinking, we build our relationships and take time out for learning & renewal.

When working on your daily planning, build in some recurring Q2 time zones if possible.  Maybe you have a permanent block of time each day for planning, working out, reading, etc.

As a good rule of thumb, you will need to plan out 30 minutes a week and 5-10 minutes per day for planning.  Taking these 60-90 minutes per week to plan will allow you to live in Q2 and react less to unimportant activities.  Some things will simply not get done, but at least that isn’t what is most important!

Next week we’ll dive into Choice 4: Rule Your Technology, Don’t Let it Rule You!

Until next week,

John Vakidis

Choice 2: Go for Extraordinary, Don’t Settle for Ordinary

Last week we kicked off a 5 week blog series to give you an overview to FranklinCovey’s Newest Solutions, The 5 Choices of Extraordinary Productivity.  This week, we will focus on Choice 2: Go for Extraordinary, Don’t Settle for Ordinary.  CLICKHERE to read CHOICE 1.

Last week Mark Murphy took us through Choice 1 where we learned the power of acting on the important.  He took us through the time matrix and explained the importance of living in a Q2 culture. 

Once you understand what Q2 really means, it’s time to identify your Q2 Roles.  This is where we define who we are, but we take the time to define what it means to be extraordinary in each of those roles.  Do you want to be like an average ant carrying crumbs, or do you want to be the one who earns the fruit (like the strawberry shown above) of living an extraordinary life?

Your Q2 roles should…

·         Represent your key responsibilities

·         Should be limited to approximately 5 or so

·        Should express your deepest values and aspirations

·         Create a balanced perspective of your life

·         Change over time

I attended this program back before we released it to the public.  I have also been through FOCUS, 7 Habits and a number of other programs at FranklinCovey.  It wasn’t until I defined my extraordinary roles that I started to achieve extraordinary results.

Once you define your extraordinary roles, you have to craft your Q2 roles statements.  This process has a formula that you repeat for each role:

As ______________ I will ________________________ through ___________________

          (Role /Title)                    (Extraordinary Outcomes)                             (Activities)

The final step is to actually draft goals for each of these roles.  You want to give yourself a deadline and define the contribution you will make through achieving this goal.  Otherwise, without setting the deadline, your goal becomes a dream, something aspirational.  All goals should follow this formula:

From X to Y by When

Below are a few examples…

·         I will go from 200lbs. to 180lbs. by Dec 31,2012

·         I will go from reading 1 book a month to 2 books a month by 3 months from today (insert date here)

·         I will post 1 blog per week for 12 weeks straight by August 31, 2012

Lastly, once you have defined your roles, you’ve written your role statements and set your goals, it’s time to share them someone that you respect and will help hold you accountable.  Declaring your intent is a big deal.  It’s where the rubber meets the road and it’s where you build trust with others and yourself.  If you accomplish these goals with excellence, you’ll not only feel good about yourself, but you’ll increase your credibility.

Next week we’ll dive into Choice 3: Schedule the Big Rocks: Don’t Sort Gravel. 

Until next week,

John Vakidis

Buried Alive

Is your life filled with constant distraction?  Does gravel fill every moment preventing you from getting the truly important accomplished?  Don't get buried alive!

Want to learn more about how to become Extraordinarily Productive?  Take a look at The 5 Choices now. 

Need more information?  Contact me today.

Increasing personal productivity, one person at a time,

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

The Power of Positive Questions

Today’s post comes to you written by J.D. Frailey, FranklinCovey Consultant.  Take a moment to read this post and examine yourself and your team afterwards.  What kinds of questions are you formulating together to drive your business forward?  Enjoy!

“Why can’t I find time to do things before the deadline?”

“Why can’t I stick to an exercise program?”

“Why can’t I get people to communicate with each other?”

 If you’ve ever asked yourself questions like these—and who hasn’t—it was probably in frustration, maybe even with hands thrown up, awash in a feeling of anger or helplessness.    

But here is something to consider: maybe the questions themselves are the problem, specifically the way you’ve worded them.   

You see, the human brain is excellent at answering questions and solving problems, that’s what it does.  So—be really careful as to how you word the questions  you ask yourself, because your brain will do its best to answer those questions, and the answers will either help you solve problems and move forward—or create more problems and hold you back.

Every answer to a question that begin with “Why can’t I—?“ is an OBSTACLE to what you want, a reason why you CAN’T, whether those answers are logical or even true. 

“Why can’t I find time to do things before the deadline?”  Because I’m too busy, because I’m a procrastinator, because I watch too much television, etc., etc.

“Why can’t I stick to an exercise program?”  Because I don’t have time, because I hate to exercise, because I’m lazy, etc., etc.

Why can’t I get people to communicate with each other?”  Because they’re lazy, because they don’t get it, because they want me to do everything for them, etc., etc.

The result?  We are frustrated and we don’t get the results we want.

But what if you worded those same questions such that the answers are solutions rather than obstacles?

“How can I find time to do things before the deadline?”  As taught in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People or the FranklinCovey goal setting process:  Start early, allot a bit of time each day, block out distractions while I work on the project, etc.

“How can I stick to an exercise program?”   As recommended in The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity:  Work out with a partner, plan and schedule my exercise time in advance, set specific goals and record my progress, remind myself of the benefits of good health, etc.

Here is an example.  I once worked with a client, a sales manager, who was frustrated that his team was convinced they could not meet a sales goal imposed by corporate, and therefore, he felt, were not really trying.  After sharing the power of positive questions with him, he called his team together in a conference room.  He titled a flipchart, “Why can’t we reach the sales quota goal?”  He said to his team, “I know you feel strongly that the goal is unrealistic, unreachable, and I need to clearly understand why you feel this way, I need to understand what the obstacles are.  So let’s hear them, and don’t hold back.”

His team mistakenly felt they had convinced him the goal was unreachable, that he had come to them for ammunition so he could push back on corporate, and they really opened up. 

“It’s the economy!”  “Look at what the competition is offering!”  “We have too many other priorities!”  And on and on.

He recorded every obstacle on the flip chart page, and after about five minutes the page was nearly filled.  “Is there anything else?”   When he was sure there were no more obstacles, he tore the page from the flip chart stand and turned to his team.  “Follow me,” he said. 

Confused, they followed him outside and to a far corner of the parking lot.  Without a word, he wadded up the flipchart sheet, got a lighter from his pocket, and held the flame to the paper.  When it had ignited he dropped it to the asphalt and stood with his team watching until it had extinguished itself.

He turned to face his team.  “Now let’s be clear,” he said in a quiet voice.  “We are going to reach the goal, and we are going to do it the right way, period.  I have tremendous confidence in you, and in our ability as a group to get creative and to work hard and to make that number.  We’re going back in that room, and I don’t want to hear one more word about why we can’t.  We are only going to focus on how we can.  And as a group we ARE going to get there.  Come with me.”

They followed him back into the building and into the conference room, obviously down and disheartened.   They watched as he headed a clean flipchart sheet, “How can we reach the sales quota goal?”

“All right,” he said, marker in hand.  “Let’s hear your ideas.  I know it will be a challenge, but how can we get there?”

After a silence that had begun to stretch to an uncomfortable length, one of the sales reps finally spoke up.  “Well, there is one thing I’ve begun doing that has gotten me some really good appointments.  What I do is…” 

“Great idea,” the manager said, and wrote it down.  “What else?”

After a shorter silence, another team member raised her hand and shared an idea regarding benefits comparisons.  The manager wrote this idea down, then turned around to see two more hands raised to share ideas.  After ten minutes the flipchart was nearly filled with over a dozen ideas for increasing sales. 

Any guesses on what ultimately happened?  The team exceeded the “impossible” goal by over five percent. 

If you really want to reach a difficult goal or solve a tough problem, and you find yourself stuck, be sure to ask questions that provide answers, not obstacles, and you greatly increase your odds of success.

J.D. Frailey, FranklinCovey Consultant      

Copyright © 2012 - J.D. Frailey

________________________________________________

We hope that you found today’s post thought provoking about your paradigms as a leader and the culture of your team.  If you would like to visit with us to discuss enabling your culture to achieve new and better results, let’s talk!

Enabling greatness one organization at a time,

John Vakidis

Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey

214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

Let's connect online: LinkedIn & Twitter

Roles

Last week I wrote a blog titled, What is low productivity costing you?  My goal of writing that blog was to get leaders thinking about their workforce and to determine if they are really getting the most out of their teams.  When individuals don’t perform at their highest levels, it actually costs the organization.

This week, I want to write this post for individuals and get them thinking about how they can contribute more in 2012, but not just for work, but in all the other areas of their lives.  So let’s take a moment to think about how we can do that.

So let me ask you a question, “Who are you?”  How did you answer that question?  My guess is that you responded from the context of a role.  You might have said, I am a spouse, a parent, an employee, etc.  In our newest program, The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity, Dean Collinwood, Ph.D., explains…. Even when people give a list of personality traits in response to that question, such as “I am shy,” or, “I am a fun-loving person,” those traits are always acted out in the context of roles.

Defining your roles with meaning is what makes all of the difference!

For example, I can call myself …

A.      a parent -  one that begets or brings forth offspring.

B.      a father - a man who raises a child.

C.      Asher’s Role Model - I will show Asher how to THINK to make good choices.  I will guide him to BE a leader and how to DO relationship.  I will show patience with him through love and guidance.

HOW I define my role will determine the actions I take towards that relationship.  Our society can label us: male or female, black or white, rich or poor, etc., but when we become intentional about  WHO we want to be, we can achieve extraordinary things. 

So, I am going to leave you with a challenge.  Before the new year arrives, take 30 minutes of time to reflect in a quiet environment.  I want you to come up with 4-6 roles you have in your life.  First, I want you to give them standard titles.  For example, I am a father, a husband, a servant leader, an employee, a family member and a friend.  Secondly, I want you to re-define those roles.  For father, I replaced it with Asher’s Role Model.  Once you have done that for each title, take some time to define them from the context of what it would be like to be extraordinary in that role.

If you do this exercise, and establish weekly goals for each of your roles, you can live an amazing life and have enduring relationships.  To wrap it all up, a wise man once told me that life is about choices and relationships.  So, be intentional and live a rich and full life!

To your victory in 2012!

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

What is low productivity costing you?

At FranklinCovey, we’ve been studying individual productivity for over 25 years.  To date, we have sold over $1B in productivity training, so I guess you could say we are an authority on the subject.  We have had over 350,000 people respond to our “Time Matrix” survey.  As of 2011, we have found that the average employee spends about 70% of their time on urgencies and irrelevancies.  That means it’s possible for your employees to only be spending 30% of their time on important priorities.  Take a moment to do the math on what that is actually costing your organization.  With layoffs, cutbacks and a major focus on organizational spending, these statistics should get you thinking. 

Let’s take a look at an example of ABC Organization.  They have 500 employees earning an average of $20/hour.  If everyone gets 2 weeks of vacation a year, that leaves 50 weeks at 40 hours per week, so 2,000 hours of actual work per employee, per year.

In the example above, this means the company is spending $14,000,000 to pay employees to work on urgencies and irrelevancies.  Now you don’t have to be a CFO to understand that this is a problem.  What if you could improve productivity by 10, 20 or 30% or more?  This would have a dramatic effect on your organization's effectiveness and your bottom line!

Giving your employees the right “mindset, skillset and toolset” to become more productive is a worthy investment.  Not only will you see an immediate ROI in your first year of application, but over time, you Create a Culture of Productivity throughout your workforce where everyone is spending more time on important, meaningful work.  This allows for improved sales activities, better time spent on customer service, more time for collaboration between departments, time for creative thinking, planning and more.

To learn more about FranklinCovey’s NEW Productivity Solution, give me a call to set up a meeting with your client partner.  We’ll be happy to help you achieve your top strategic goals in 2012 and beyond!

To your success in the coming year!

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com