Productivity Hacks

Taking control of business taske with MindNode.

If you’re in business development, technology oversight or sales, MindNode (available for iPad and iPhone) is your essential tool for staying organized while attending trade shows or events. A visual mind mapping application, MindNode allows users to create a map of all the companies, people and products on their agenda, then strategize their day and constantly update the app to reflect new objectives as they occur. If you’re new to mind mapping, or you’ve seen other mind mapping apps with complicated user interfaces, have no fear. MindNode’s learning curve takes no time to get over, yet it’s packed with features that increase your productivity like it’s had a bit too much caffeine.

Getting started is as simple as entering objectives you’d like to accomplish as nodes in the application. Under each node, you can add subnodes that list the people or products you need to see to complete that objective. Then just color code the most important nodes to maximize your productivity. As you complete each goal, tap the node to re-color and mark it as completed. If you’ve found something new to add to your map during the day, that’s no problem for MindNode. Simply add nodes for each new product, company or person and the map will fluidly include all the new tasks you’d like to accomplish. You can even drag and drop nodes if associations change or you put something in the wrong place.

As a checklist, MindNode is a dream; but the app offers much more than that. If you need to take notes as you speak with prospects, potential partners or customers, you can easily add that information to their node on the mind map. To avoid speaking to anyone twice (or worse, missing someone), just change the node color of contacts to whom you’ve already spoken. It’s even possible to map these relationships by business or product groupings, meaning you’ll always associate contacts with the right company. Additionally, you can map your business development plans and associate people or products with each stage. The portability (and export ability for PDF and other formats) inherent in MindNode means you’ll always have those plans at hand when you need them. Plus, the no frills interface means you won’t easily be confused or waste time tracking down information on the go.

But, as you’ll see from the list below, those are just a few of MindNode’s offerings.

MindNode Pro

• iPhone, iPad and Mac OS X support
• Features full keyboard support
• Supports improved printing dialog
• Canvas automatically expands
• Allows users to:
• Create multiple new nodes and node wells
• Create multiple mind maps all on one canvas
• Customize node widths
• Export maps to PNG, PDF, HTML, RTF, OPML, and FreeMind formats
• Import FreeMind and OPML files
• Import MindNode (touch) files
• Drag and drop to reconnect nodes
• Image nodes
• Create visual file links
• Create cross connections
• Enable WiFi sharing with MindNode (touch)
• Enter full screen mode
• Fold and unfold nodes
• Embed hyperlinks
• Customize node creation shortcuts
• Customize default node color, stroke, font and more
• Change a node’s title alignment
• Reorganize nodes
• Fill any node
• Copy mind maps to the clipboard as a TIFF or PDF

The simple user interface combined with so many useful features makes MindNode essential in terms of productivity. Plus, the portability means the app is both flexible and practical for attending trade shows and events. So if you’re new to the mind mapping concept, you’ll be an old pro in no time with MindNode. And if you’re an old pro, you just might pick up some new productivity tricks.

Using MindNode for productivity isn’t the only thing that can help your business. The Green Initiative and How it can Help Your Business.

Boosting Morale and Energizing Your Employees!

Boosting Morale: When dealing with a group of employees there are several things that can be done to keep morale up. Keeping morale up will ensure higher production, higher quality, and of course a great working environment.

The first and foremost part of morale would be to know your employees personally. When we take orders from someone it helps if the boss knows us personally and we are not just a number to them. Recognize personal accomplishments and birthdays. Congratulate those who reach milestones. Acknowledge those who are improving or going the extra mile.

The second part would be Employee Relations. Do employees know how to contact a supervisor if needed? Be sure there are clear instructions about open door policies or the chain of command. When employees know these things, they are more comfortable in the environment.

Have company picnics, or ceremonies: Involve the employees in all aspects from planning food, to where it happens. This makes it more of a family event.

Be sure that the focus for the company future involves each and every employee: When deciding to update or write a new mission statement or creed, involve the employees. This motivates them to be involved in the future.

Implement an employee bonus program based on quality, production and attitude: If there is no current employee of the month program, start one. Earning titles such as that one plays an important part of self accomplishment.

Be on their team: When things get rough, assure them that it is a team and not an individual atmosphere. People tend to rise to the occasion when there is a team atmosphere. Allow others and encourage others to work along side of those who may be having a rough day. Instead of meetings, have an occasional pep rally or motivational and recognition ceremony.

Avoid cutbacks and layoffs if possible: Try not to make public bad instances and terminations. When a person is being terminated, try to do so in private and in such a manner that gossip will not spread throughout the workplace.

Be sure the working environment is as comfortable as possible: Keep the place clean, organized, and safe. The temperature should be at a point that it is comfortable. There should be clean, in good order equipment and up to date furnishings. Vending, coffee and a water fountain are always good things.

Be sure to have policies that allow employees to have room for advancement: When someone has a level that they can work to it helps motivate them. Promotions are more important than money according to surveys.

When doing a community project, involve employees: People tend to take pride in volunteering and it boosts self confidence when they feel an accomplishment. Be sure to recognize them when they do.

Show loyalty: When employees see that loyalty is practiced, they tend to be more loyal, and motivated to do anything they can for their employer.

And with everything an employer does, nothing beats a personal recognition: Avoid typed letters with stamped names. Hand write thank you notes, and award letters.

Boosting Morale Among Your Employee’s Benefits You, Your Business and Your Employees!

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How many times have you sat through an interminable meeting, wondering why on earth you are there? I have often found myself resorting to counting ceiling tiles with boredom, or planning the week’s grocery shopping in my head. The last meeting I went to was so pointless that I had a great opportunity to think about who I was going to invite to my birthday party. Not all meetings are like this, of course, but the majority are. The annoying thing is, it only takes a few simple time management tips to create efficient meetings– but it seems that most people running meetings don’t know about these. Meetings are an essential part of human existence. When you sit for hours with your accountant going through your tax return you might dispute this! But we humans are social animals. Meetings are not just about business. We might meet with friends to plan a party, or with family to plan an event like a wedding or holiday.

The key word here is plan. Every meeting needs a plan.

Things come in threes: and there are three parts you need to think about when planning a meeting: the preparation, the meeting itself and a recap at the end.

Preparing for your meeting

Whatever the size or scale of your meeting, it will need planning. The three P’s of meeting planning should help:

Purpose: What is your meeting’s aim? You need to have a goal. Don’t just hold a meeting because you always do. If the purpose of your meeting is just to update people, why not send an email instead.

People: Once you know what your meeting is for, you can make sure the right people are attending. Remember – top of anyone’s list of time management tips is the reminder that people’s time costs money. Think for a moment how much an hour of someone’s time costs your company. Will your meeting achieve enough to justify that cost? Are you engaging people at the right level? Managers are busy people who may want to send a deputy to your meeting, but if it is management-level authority that you need, then this might be a waste of time. Use time management tips to help in reducing meeting time.

Papers: All good meetings need to communicate in advance. You should send out a formal agenda – or at least an email with some idea of the meeting’s content and purpose – so that participants come ready to engage with the topic. Good time management tips include sending the papers out in good time (up to 48 hours in advance) and keeping them brief. This gives everyone a chance to read and absorb the topics.

Running the meeting

A good meeting has a limited agenda. This is where your pre-planning comes into play. An hour-long meeting should only have two or three topics for discussion. If you include more, and you risk over-running your time, and over-loading your participants with information.

If you worry about meeting time management, tips to follow include making sure that everyone knows what the agenda is, and then sticking to it during the meeting. If new topics arise, make a note of these for the next meeting.

Someone should take notes of your meeting. A formal meeting may need ‘minuting’ in detail. Even for an informal meeting, it is a good idea to make a note of any actions – who has agreed to do what. If there are more than two or three participants, it is generally not a good idea for the person running the meeting to take the notes at the same time.

Action replay

At the end of every meeting, there needs to be a recap of what has just happened. This helps to focus the participants on what has happened. The person running the meeting should summarise the proceedings of the meeting (very briefly!). It is also a good idea to run through any actions which people have agreed to undertake. After the meeting, send out a quick email with a summary of actions, and formal minutes if required.

This might all seem like a lot of work – but it pays off in the long run. If you everyone is in agreement about the purpose and outcomes of a meeting, it will be more effective, and hopefully shorter. You might even decide that you don’t need a meeting at all. Then you would have more time to plan that birthday party in peace.

While I was planning my party, I came across a new problem – there were many duplicate contacts in my phone’s address book and in my outlook contact list. Fortunately there is software that can help with removing these duplicate contacts – leaving me with more time for party planning, and other fun activities.

Armed with techniques for efficient meetings, Stop Wasting Time!

Additional relevant articles:
http://www.wisebread.com/7-things-id-love-to-change-about-meetings
http://humanresources.about.com/od/meetingmanagement/a/meetings_work.htm