By Shannon DiGregorio Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.
This month we’ve been discussing community management hiring topics, including what traits a hiring manager might look for in a potential community manager and things an aspiring community manager can do before they are hired to be the best possible fit for a community role. Today I’d like to change gears and talk about a challenge that everyone – not just community managers – face: how to be more productive.
Being more productive isn’t a task you can add to your list – it requires a change in your work habits. We spend a lot of time at TheCR talking about the power of forming habits – and how hard that can be for even the most disciplined person. You’ve probably heard the old adage that it takes three weeks of consistent behavior change to form a habit. Or is 27 days? Or 66 days? Turns out I couldn’t find any conclusive evidence on the magic timeframe that turns a chore into a time-saving, productive habit. I did however find a lot of really helpful advice on ways to encourage behavior change and productive habit forming.
The Happiness Project author Gretchen Rubin has an upcoming book focused on habit formation – Better Than Before, and she sums up the entire book in just 21 sentences. The whole post is worth reading, but this list showcasing the four pillars of habits really jumped out at me:
Pillars of Habits
Monitoring: You manage what you monitor, so find a way to monitor whatever matters.
Foundation: First things first, so begin by making sure to get enough sleep, eat and drink right, move, and un-clutter.
Scheduling: If it’s on the calendar, it happens.
Accountability: You do better when you know someone’s watching–even if you’re the one doing the watching.
If you are looking to affect behavior change (namely, being more productive at work or at home) this list is a great place to start. The concept of monitoring habit change strikes me as especially valuable since through the act of deciding what to monitor you are defining and documenting the change you’re looking to see.
Another great resource for anyone looking to form better habits and change their behavior is John Stepper. John blogs about the power of working out loud – a concept that goes hand-in-hand with the accountability pillar above. Inside TheCR Network our community manager Hillary has started a weekly working out loud thread based on the concepts that John advocates. Each Monday, Hillary and our members share their top priorities for the week. This speaks directly to the monitoring and accountability pillars of habit forming, but it has an added benefits for our members as well. Since Hillary can now see what each member is focused on she can better provide resources, research and connections to help each person tackle their week. Working out loud doesn’t just help make sure you are more productive by helping you focus on forming better habits, but also connects you to the community you’re working in.
Finally, I wanted to share this great post from Forbes on productivity hacks. Being conscious of intended behavior change is important, but having the resources and tools to help you be more productive is an important piece of overall success as well. Forbes outlines seven strategies to help you maximize your productivity, and they apply especially well to the role of a community manager where you are not only wearing many hats, but possibly expected to be in multiple places at one time. Their list includes “let your phone go to voicemail” and “set specific times to check your email.” Obviously, each of these tips had to be applied to your specific role – you might have the type of job where not answering the phone when it rings is unacceptable, but the list does provide a starting point for time-saving habits that might boost your productivity.
Have you undertaken any habit changes this Summer? We’d love to hear any tips you have for affecting positive behavior change and being more productive as a community manager.
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