Charles Duhigg, acclaimed author of The Power of Habit, has written another very useful book, Smarter Faster Better. Duhigg’s research, based on neuroscience, psychology and behavioral economics, reveals that there are eight core concepts that are the secret to increasing your own productivity as well as that of your team. The eight concepts are:

1.To Generate Motivation

  • Make a choice that puts you in control.
  • Figure out how the task at hand is connected to something you care about.

2. To Make Teams More Effective

  • Manage the how not the who of teams. Create a team culture where teammates feel safe to speak openly and candidly.
  • Encourage equality in speaking rather than rewarding the loudest, most extroverted teammates.
  • Practice active listening.
  • Be attuned to peoples’ feelings and the interpersonal issues that inevitably arise.

3. To stay Focused

  • “Envision what will happen. What will occur first? What are potential obstacles? How will you preempt them? Telling yourself a story about what you expect to occur makes it easier to decide where your focus should go when your plan encounters real life.”

4. To Set Goals

  • “Create a stretch goal: an ambition that reflects your biggest aspirations.
  • Then, break that into sub goals and develop SMART objectives.”

5. To Manage Others Productively

  • “Lean and agile management techniques tell us employees work smarter and better when they believe they have more decision-making authority and when they believe their colleagues are committed to their success.”
  • Push decision making to those closest to the problem (this fosters trust and encourages innovation).
  • Listen and act upon employees’ suggestions.
  • Treat employees’ mistakes as opportunities for them to learn.

6. To Make Better Decisions

  • “Envision multiple futures. By pushing yourself to imagine various possibilities – some of which might be contradictory – you’re better equipped to make wise choices.
  • We can hone our Bayesian instincts by seeking out different experiences, perspectives and other peoples’ ideas. By finding information and then letting ourselves sit with it, options become clearer.”

7. To Encourage Innovation

  • Combine old ideas in new ways.
  • Be sensitive to your own experiences and emotional reactions to events.
  • Recognize that the creative process produces stress that can push us to see old ideas in new ways.
  • Don’t rest on your laurels, particularly after experiencing a creative breakthrough. Look at the success with critical eyes and look at it from different perspectives – and continuously improve.

8. To Absorb Data Better

  • Force yourself to do something with new information and lots of data.
  • “Write yourself a note explaining what you just learned or figure out a small way to test an idea or graph a series of data points onto a piece of paper or force yourself to explain an idea to a friend.”

Duhigg believes that the above eight core concepts are very much connected and that the overall message is that “Productivity is about recognizing choices that other people often overlook. It’s about making decisions in certain ways. The way we choose to see our own lives; the stories we tell ourselves, and the goals we push ourselves to spell out in detail; the culture we establish among teammates; the ways we frame our choices and manage the information in our lives. Productive people and companies force themselves to make choices most other people are content to ignore. Productivity emerges when people push themselves to think differently.”