Skip to main content

How To Help Your Team To Stop Drowning In Work

 


In Nick Sonnenberg’s new book, Come Up For Air(available February 7, 2023), you’ll learn about his CPR Business Efficiency Framework, which stands for: 

  • Communication
  • Planning
  • Resources 

This framework focuses on eliminating the pain points most teams experience by optimizing these three operation areas foundational to every organization.

“In my book, I show you the tools that will boost efficiency in all three of these domains and I provide you with a detailed blueprint for the most effective ways to use them,” explains Sonnenberg.

He further shares that some sections of the book may be more applicable to managers, and some may be more applicable to individual contributors. “However, it is still integral that both roles understand all of the concepts within the CPR Framework as each one benefits the team as a whole,” says Sonnenberg.

As you read the book, you’ll learn what Sonnenberg has learned through years of building a leading efficiency consulting business – that the primary reason why so many teams are overwhelmed is not because they don’t have enough time, or that managers expect too much of their employees, or that there aren’t enough people. The problem is that everyone is drowning in unnecessary work and inefficiencies that prevent them from focusing on the work that drives results.

Sonnenberg believes that by implementing the CPR Framework, you and your team will:

  • Reduce stress and burnout by creating a more stable work environment.
  • Eliminate the 58% of employee time per day spent on “work about work” instead of being productive.
  • Improve company culture by empowering your team to spend their time on work that matters.
  • Stop wasting time on the “Scavenger Hunt” of trying to find where information is stored.
  • Increase employee happiness, satisfaction, trust, and retention by making work easier.
  • Stop wasting time in meetings with four proven techniques.

Additionally, supplementing the teachings found within the book, Sonnenberg provides you with more learning opportunities via free content and in-depth instructions at ComeUpForAir.


Nick Sonnenberg

Play special attention to the Three Key Takeaways and Pro Tips that expertly summary each respective chapter's teachings. 

Today, Sonnenberg shares these insights with us:

Question: How long does it typically take for an organization/company to fully embrace and fully benefit from the CPR Framework?

Sonnenberg: It depends on so many factors, such as:

  • how big is the team?
  • how tech savvy?
  • how willing to adopt change?
  • how bought in is the leadership in the transformation?
  • what tools is the team using already?

On average, however, it takes about a month per tool IF you invest the time to learning and show up.

Question: You say that even a team using the best systems and tools on the market can still be inefficient and drown and in work. What’s the missing link there?

Sonnenberg: The missing link is that teams aren’t aligned on when and how to use each tool in the same way. One person likes email, another likes Slack, someone else keeps track of everything in a spreadsheet, etc.

When everyone is using different tools in different ways, information starts to live in different places, and it makes work needlessly confusing. It becomes difficult to get everyone on the same page. So, a huge part of the solution is simply aligning as a team on when to use which tools, and then establishing some baseline knowledge around how to use them efficiently.

Question: What do you mean when you say that by using your CPR method that people can potentially free up a whole workday of productivity?

Sonnenberg: The reality is that there are thousands of inefficiencies in most businesses, and almost everyone is struggling with the same things. We’re all wasting time in meetings, searching for information, chasing people for status updates, endlessly checking email, getting distracted by notifications. The CPR Framework focuses on tools that most companies are already using, and it can quickly fix a lot of those common inefficiencies.

We find that, on average, we’re able to save people at least five, but more like eight hours per week just by optimizing when and how they use their tools as a team. And that’s time that people can either reinvest into the business, or if they’re underwater, it means they can go home at a normal hour, and they don’t have to keep playing “catch up” or working on the weekends.

Question: How do you define productivity?

Sonnenberg: There’s a famous quote from Peter Drucker that says, “Efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing.” To me, productivity is when you’re being both efficient and effective with your time.

Question: Any favorite personal hacks you yourself like to use?

Sonnenberg: Loom is a fantastic tool I use almost every day. It lets you create a recording of your screen and webcam with just one button, and when you’re done it converts the video to a link so you can instantly share it with anyone. It saves me tons of time, especially running a remote company.

Question: With all the systems and tools on the market, how do you even begin to select the right tools for you and your team?

Sonnenberg: Well, you’ll be happy to hear that the actual software you choose doesn’t really matter. What really matters is understanding which types of tools to use, and when and how to use them.

For example, Slack and Microsoft Teams are both “internal communication tools.” They effectively do the same thing, and they have mostly the same features. It doesn’t really matter whether you’re on Slack or Microsoft Teams—they’re both going to get the job done. What matters is that you and your team are aligned on when and how to use that tool in conjunction with your other tools. And the same could be said for work management tools, knowledge base tools, etc.

Question: You say individual productivity is necessary but not sufficient for team productivity. What can co-workers do right now to get more on the same page?

Sonnenberg: I think the biggest thing is to optimize for the speed of retrieval of information. What this means is that when you have a document, message, file, update—whatever it may be—you should really stop and think for a second about where the best place to put it is. Because chances are, someone in the future is going to need to find that thing.

It might be easier for you to just put it in an email or call someone to let them know. But that’s how things get lost, and you could be making your coworkers’ lives a lot harder in the future. So just take a step back and spend the extra few minutes to put things in the right place, where they won’t get lost, and you can save your entire team a ton of time in the future.

Thank you to the book's publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How To Reframe Healthy Risk For Greater Achievement

“Facing rapid change and rising uncertainty, risk can feel intimidating, overwhelming, and even paralyzing. Yet a culture of safety, where risk is seen as dangerous, can flatten growth and spur stagnation,” explains Ben Swire , author of the new book, Safe Danger: An Unexpected Method For Sparking Connection, Finding Purpose, And Inspiring Innovation .  “We all crave inspiring experiences, meaningful work, and deeper relationships. But getting there requires risk,” adds Swire.  Swire is an award-winning designer, IDEO (A Global Design & Innovation Company) veteran, and team builder and in his book, he shows how to reframe healthy risk for greater achievement, supercharging employee engagement, and creating more innovative workplaces.  Whether you're a leader looking to engage your team, a professional seeking to infuse your career with new life, or an individual striving to get more out of your time each day, Safe Danger offers the tools and insights you need to help...

The Ordinary Skills Of Exceptional Leaders

New York Times - bestselling author, chartered psychologist and Professor of Leadership at the University of Exeter Business School, John Amaechi , has released It’s Not Magic: The Ordinary Skills Of Exceptional Leaders .   It’s an important read for particularly managers, executives, board members, and other business leaders, and anyone else expected to motivate and inspire others to achieve great things.   The book walks you through the seemingly obvious but difficult-to-nail mindsets and intentions you’ll need to adopt to influence and motivate others. You’ll learn strategies and techniques you can apply immediately, including:   Easy-to-follow explanations of the straightforward behaviors you can model to improve your ability to lead others. Habits you can adopt immediately to motivate others in any setting, from the boardroom to the classroom or the battlefield. Data-driven insights into the tiny, little things that great leaders do every day and how to incorporate t...

How To Master The Cycles Of Leadership: The Four Seasons

Whether you’re an aspiring leader, a newly appointed CEO, or a board member wanting to better steward your company’s performance, A CEO For All Seasons: Mastering The Cycles Of Leadership is the hands-on playbook you need – packed with practical, proven tips to help you navigate the four distinct phases of leadership.  “The journey of a CEO has a beginning, middle, and end, and the challenges leaders face early on are often far different than those midway through and near retirement, explain the authors of the book – Carolyn Dewar , Scott Keller , Vikram Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink .   “For us, the most apt analogy to describe these cycles is the four seasons of the year,” they add.  Spring : Stepping up - Preparing for the role. Summer : Transitioning into the role. Starting strong. Leading with impact. Fall : Navigating the middle years. Staying ahead. Sustaining momentum. Enhancing your learning. Future-proofing the organization. Winter : Transitioning out of the rol...

How To Align Sales And Marketing To Drive Company Success

Nearly 90 percent of startups will fail without ever reaching a point of positive return on investment. Founders and entrepreneurs are facing unprecedented challenges in pursuit of becoming one of the coveted 10 percent.   Who better to turn to for advice than the duo behind the most successful software IPO in history?   That is where Denise Persson and Chris Degnan come in, authors of the new book, Make It Snow .   During the nearly nine years they worked together at Snowflake, they built  one of the longest-running and most effective sales-marketing partnerships from the ground up, unifying  two historically divided groups in corporate America. Together, they took Snowflake from struggling startup to a tech powerhouse on par with Google and Amazon. Over the years, Snowflake surged to more than 9,000 employes and $3 billion in annual sales.   “Sales and marketing are often neglected in startups, with focus squarely placed on the engineerin...

Effective Listening: Do's And Don'ts

Here are some great tips from Michelle Tillis Lederman's book, The 11 Laws of Likability .  They are all about: what to do and what not to do to be a leader who's an effective listener : Do : Maintain eye contact Limit your talking Focus on the speaker Ask questions Manage your emotions Listen with your eyes and ears Listen for ideas and opportunities Remain open to the conversation Confirm understanding, paraphrase Give nonverbal messages that you are listening (nod, smile) Ignore distractions Don't : Interrupt Show signs of impatience Judge or argue mentally Multitask during a conversation Project your ideas Think about what to say next Have expectations or preconceived ideas Become defensive or assume you are being attacked Use condescending, aggressive, or closed body language Listen with biases or closed to new ideas Jump to conclusions or finish someone's sentences

How To Be An Inspirational Leader

Today, I bring back one of my most-read blog posts from 2017. It read as follows: At the end of each year, I select my choice for the  best new leadership book  for that year and then highlight that book on my blog. Well, we're only five months into 2017 and there is a new leadership book so good that I can't wait until year-end to share it with you. And it's likely to be among the select few options for best new leadership book of 2017. It's called,  The Inspiration Code , by  Kristi Hedges . Perhaps now more than any other time, the need for inspirational leadership is critical in the workplace. Filled with profound insights and compelling data and based on a commissioned survey on who and what inspires people, Hedges uncovers a set of consistent, learnable behaviors that dramatically enhance leadership success. And shows you  how to inspire those you lead. And, how to energize people every day . Kristi Hedges But, first, what exactly is inspiration? Hedges ex...

How To Find The Job You Love

In 2024, I named Be The Unicorn: Data-driven Habits That Separate The Best Leaders From The Rest , by William Vanderbloemen , as the best new leadership book of that year.   The book is timely, incredibly practical, and immediately usable for any leader wherever they are on their leadership journey.   Through extensive research of more than 30,000 top leaders and proprietary data, Vanderbloemen identified in the book the twelve habits that the best of the best leaders have in common. These superstar leaders are the unicorns – highly desirable but that are difficult to find or obtain.   And now, Vanderbloemen followed up that gem of a book with another terrific book called, Work How You Are Wired: 12 Data-Driven Steps To Finding A Job You Love . It’s a great companion book to Be The Unicorn .   Those 12 steps align with these 12 personality traits/interpersonal habits: Fast Authentic Agile Solver Anticipator Prepared Self-aware Curious Connected Likeable Producti...

How To Become A Leader

Here’s another must-read book to add to your list as you transition from manager to leader. It’s  The Leap to Leader , by  Adam Bryant . As the creator of the iconic “Corner Office” column in the  New York Times , Bryant has spoken with more than a thousand leaders over the years about the challenges and nuances of leadership. Many of his discussions are included in his interview series on LinkedIn.  “The goal of this book is to provide an intensely practical guide to making that transition by sharing insights, stories, and approaches from hundreds of leaders to build the skills you will need to make the leap to leader,” explains Bryant.   He adds that the book is useful to everyone who is interested in leadership, regardless of where they are in their career.   The book covers:   The central paradox of leaders: selfless vs. self-centered. How to perfect the do-to-say ratio. Ways to navigate office politics. Tactics to making better decisions. The cruc...

10 Quotes From The 5 Levels Of Leadership -- John C. Maxwell

Soon I'll post my full review of John C. Maxwell's latest book, The 5 Levels of Leadership .  In the meantime, here are some of my favorites quotes from the book that I believe should become a must-read book by any workplace/organizational leader: Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself.  It's about advancing your team. Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others. Leadership is action, not position. When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted, they begin to work together with their leader and each other. If you have integrity with people, you develop trust.  The more trust you develop, the stronger the relationship becomes.  In times of difficulty, relationships are a shelter.  In times of opportunity, they are a launching pad. Good leaders must embrace both care and candor. People buy into the leader, then the vision. Bringing out the best in a person is often a catal...

How To Achieve Transformational Success For Leaders

The book,   Reinventing the Leader ,  is an inspiring account of the magic that can happen when a leader realizes they must undergo their own transformation in order to transform their organization.  This candid and practical book by  Guilherme  ( Gui) Loureiro , Regional CEO overseeing Walmex, Walmart Canada, and Walmart Chile (now Chairman of the Board for Walmex and Regional CEO for Canada, Chile, Central America, and Mexico), and his executive leadership coach  Carlos Marin  shows how even the most successful leaders must be open to personal change in order to transform their company. The book details how the pair pioneered a data-driven, customer-centric business transformation at Walmex—Walmart’s biggest division outside of the United States. “This book is a blueprint for transformational success for leaders in any business who find themselves facing the need to retool their own company’s systems and operations and energize and inspire an entire ...