Latest news with #workplaceproductivity
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
Fight Digital Distractions: How To Win Back Your Audience's Attention
Stacey Hanke is founder of Stacey Hanke Inc. and author of 'Influence Redefined: Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be, Monday to Monday.' You're not just competing with other speakers anymore. You're competing with every ping, buzz and notification in the room. The statistics are staggering: Based on statistics from users of Microsoft 365, employees are interrupted every two minutes during core work hours by meetings, emails or notifications. "The average worker receives 153 Teams messages per weekday," and 76% of employees become more distracted during video calls than during in-person meetings. Your listeners are exhausted. They're fighting an uphill battle against digital distractions that hijack their attention. When the average human attention span has drastically reduced since 2004 and people check their phones over 200 times per day, you're always competing for attention. The moment someone glances at their phone, you've lost them. When that camera mysteriously turns off during your virtual presentation, they've mentally checked out and begin to multitask. That subtle head tilt toward their laptop screen? They're not taking notes—they're checking social media, checking email or chatting with someone else on the side. We pretend not to notice, but we all know the truth. The battle for attention is happening in real time, and most of us are losing. The Four Fatal Mistakes Most Speakers Make Mistake No. 1: Trying To Out-Shout The Noise: Most speakers think that louder, flashier or more animated presentations will cut through digital distractions. They add more slides, speak faster and over-gesture. But this approach adds to the chaos instead of cutting through it. Mistake No. 2: Being A Human Sleeping Pill: Monotone voices, flat facial expressions and zero vocal inflection prompt listeners to reach for their phones. When you sound like you're reading a grocery list, you're less engaging than a notification. Your audience isn't choosing their device over you; they're choosing stimulation over sedation. Mistake No. 3: Fighting The Symptoms, Not The Cause: Speakers often blame their audience for being distracted instead of examining their communication habits. Many believe that since they feel like good communicators, they must be one; and yet they don't understand why many listeners tune them out. Mistake No. 4: Delivering Information Instead Of Creating Connection: Most speakers focus on what they want to say rather than how their audience experiences them. They forget that in a world where 45% of employees spend time on social media at work, connection beats content every time. 4 Steps To Win Back Their Focus: The Monday-To-Monday Approach Your eyes are your most powerful tool for cutting through digital noise. When 68% of people report finding it more challenging to focus at work, purposeful eye connection creates trust and engagement. Eye connection goes further than eye contact. Don't speak unless you connect with someone's eyes. Then maintain that connection for a full thought or sentence. After, pause to find another set of eyes to connect with before you start speaking. Start by thinking and speaking in bullet-pointed sentences. Put a pause where the period should be. The pause does two things: It allows your audience to visualize your message, and it allows you time to adapt to your listeners' needs. It also gives you that moment to breathe deeply. Breath helps you project your volume and vary your inflection in a way that engages listeners. Ask open-ended questions that invite listeners into the conversation. Sprinkle stories, analogies, quotes and references throughout your conversation to offer variety and interest. Your influence isn't built in the big moments—it's built in the consistent ways you show up in the small, day-to-day interactions. When inefficient meetings are rated as the number one workplace distraction, being consistently present and authentic makes you stand out. The Bottom Line You can't eliminate digital distractions, but you can make them irrelevant. Your voice matters more than their notifications. Your message deserves their full attention. The question isn't whether technology will continue to compete for attention—it will. Be honest: Are you showing up in a way that commands it? Stop competing with technology. Start making it irrelevant. When you master authentic engagement, you don't fight the distractions; you become more compelling than they are. That's influence that lasts from Monday to Monday. Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
Forbes
11-08-2025
- Business
- Forbes
5 ChatGPT Agent Prompts To Save 10+ Hours A Week At Work
With the right ChatGPT prompts, you could save more than 10 hours every week. According to ResumeBuilder, 25% of users already do—yet most still stick to basic, single-task requests. Now, OpenAI's new ChatGPT agent can automate entire workflows that previously took hours of manual work. With 86.7% of workers now using AI for day-to-day tasks, according to GoodFirms, the question isn't whether to use an AI agent but how to use it effectively. Imagine letting it handle research, scheduling, compliance and reporting while you focus on higher-value work. This is the next step in workplace productivity. The five ChatGPT prompts below are built for the ChatGPT agent's multi-step capabilities, so you can reclaim hours, boost efficiency and stay ahead in a changing job market. What Sets ChatGPT Agent Apart Most professionals use ChatGPT for drafting emails, brainstorming or summarizing documents. While helpful, these uses are limited to single-prompt text generation. The ChatGPT agent goes much further, acting on your behalf to automate complete workflows from start to finish. The AI agent autonomously browses the web, fills out forms, runs code, edits documents and integrates with your apps while you maintain control through approval steps. The result is hours back in your day. 5 High-Impact ChatGPT Agent Prompts ChatGPT Agent Prompt: Research the top three competitors in [your industry], gather recent press coverage and financials, then compile the findings into a 10-slide PowerPoint presentation including charts, and export the deck to my Google Drive. Key Benefit: Let the AI agent handle market research and create polished slides, saving hours of manual work. ChatGPT Agent Prompt: Check my work calendar for open slots this week, send scheduling requests to [names] , and fill in accepted meetings with agenda notes pulled from their LinkedIn profiles. Key Benefit: Never manually coordinate meetings or build agendas again. ChatGPT Agent Prompt: Download the latest regulations from [official website], extract actionable compliance checkpoints into an Excel table, and email to my compliance team with deadline suggestions. Key Benefit: Transform regulatory updates into clear action steps without copy-pasting required. ChatGPT Agent Prompt: Log in to my corporate expense portal, download this month's transactions in a CSV format, categorize expenses using my last quarter's labels, and upload the reconciled file. Key Benefit: Turn a tedious task into a hands-off process. ChatGPT Agent Prompt: When I receive a contract in my Gmail, download it, summarize key clauses in bullet points, add the summary to my Notion project board, and notify me in Slack when complete. Key Benefit: Automatically move important information where it needs to go across multiple platforms while you focus on strategic projects. Why These ChatGPT Prompts Deliver Bigger Results The difference between basic ChatGPT prompts and these prompts lies in their scope and execution capability. Traditional prompts are meant for single interactions. You ask, it responds, and you manually take the next step. These ChatGPT prompts are designed for complete workflow automation. Each of these ChatGPT prompts includes: By structuring ChatGPT prompts this way, you're not just getting better responses. You're getting completed work that previously required multiple tools, several hours, and constant manual oversight. How To Start Using ChatGPT Agent At Work Currently, the ChatGPT agent is available for Pro, Plus, and Team users, with Enterprise access rolling out soon. To access the feature, update your ChatGPT app to the latest version, then enable "agent mode" in your settings. Be sure to connect any apps you want the AI agent to use, such as Gmail, Notion or Slack, using the appropriate connectors. 7 Pro Tips To Get The Most From ChatGPT Agent To maximize AI agent performance, focus on specificity and control: What To Know Before Using ChatGPT Agent User approval is always required for high-impact actions such as purchases, logins, or sending sensitive data. The AI agent is powerful, but human oversight is essential. Double-check agent outputs, especially for workflows involving payments or external sites. Some features may be region-locked during the early rollout. How To Get Ahead With AI At Work The ChatGPT agent is just the beginning of a new wave of workplace automation. Those who learn to leverage these AI tools now will have a serious edge as AI becomes a staple in the modern office. Start experimenting with ChatGPT agent prompts today, and watch your productivity and free time grow.
Forbes
09-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Using Incentives And Recognition To Boost Productivity
No matter what industry you work in, one of the most important factors for driving results is having a productive and highly motivated workforce. Unfortunately, having an engaged team doesn't always come easily. Gallup reports that just 31% of employees feel engaged at work — and that disengaged employees result in $1.9 trillion in lost productivity in the United States each year. Part of the reason for this is because many employers overlook one of the basic tenets of work psychology. Using a carefully crafted incentive and recognition program can be a powerful tool for increasing engagement, productivity and other valuable employee metrics. The concept of using incentives in the workforce comes from the psychological theory that our behavior is largely shaped by perceived consequences. Trying to achieve a reward motivates us to pursue a certain behavior, while fear of punishment acts as a deterrent. However, for those perceived consequences to have actual power, they need to be consistently reinforced. Another important consideration is the inherent desire among most employees to feel valued, which is a powerful driver of workplace satisfaction and motivation. When employees don't feel valued, they are less likely to give their best effort, and are more likely to look for a job where they believe they will be more valued. Unfortunately, many employers don't deliver on these basic needs. Workhuman reports that 46.4% of employees say they are only 'somewhat valued' by their employer, and an additional 10.7% don't feel 'valued at all.' While many workplaces struggle to keep employees engaged or make them feel valued, the right incentives can completely transform the work environment—and the level of engagement. So, how do incentives motivate desired behavior? First, there's the fact that behavior is shaped by perceived consequences. Incentives act as positive reinforcement for desired behavior. For example, Toyota's famous kaizen mindset, which encourages all employees to look for ways to make continual improvements to company processes, incentivizes idea sharing by offering monetary rewards and personal recognition for implemented ideas. Incentivizing this program results in over 250,000 suggestions per year. Another example comes from a case study featuring a collaboration between Blueberry Pediatrics and Motivosity. As a fully remote company, Blueberry Pediatrics was struggling with engagement. They partnered with Motivosity to implement a centralized platform and realized an 89% increase in participation in employee programs. In addition, a peer-to-peer giving and recognition system led to a 30 times increase in employee recognitions, further driving engagement and deepening relationships among team members. As these examples illustrate, incentives can provide a powerful motivation to improve performance at work. Whether in the form of a monetary reward or public recognition, incentives create psychological motivation for employees to do their best — and even go above and beyond what is expected of them. Where recognition comes from can also make a difference. As one report from Gallup notes, 'Nearly one-quarter [of employees] said the most memorable recognition comes from a high-level leader or CEO. Employees will remember personal feedback from the CEO — even a small amount of time a high-ranking leader takes to show appreciation can yield a positive impression on an employee. In fact, acknowledgement from a CEO could become a career highlight.' Which types of incentives work best? Academic studies into incentives reveal that in many cultures, monetary rewards tend to be more powerful motivators than other incentives — but in other cultures, a psychological incentive proves more effective. A bonus or significant performance-based incentive isn't the answer to every situation (especially for businesses on a tight budget). Fortunately, money isn't the only way you can incentivize employees. And in fact, monetary rewards are often temporary, rather than permanent motivators. Employees who feel seen, valued and appreciated are more likely to remain loyal, engaged and productive in the long run. For many, consistently receiving public recognition and praise can go a long way in helping them this way. Some organizations may link incentives to the results of a team's campaign, seeking greater buy-in and collaboration from a department or even across the entire company. Rewards like team outings, special meals or even extra time off or unique experiences can give teams an extra goal to work for as they strive to complete a project or hit KPIs. Rewards can even be as simple as gift cards to a favorite retailer, restaurant or subscription service. Alternatively, some companies go in a different direction with rewards, like giving employees more autonomy with more flexible work arrangements. Regardless of the specifics of your incentive program, it's important that you adapt it to the needs of your organization and the values of your employees. Incentives should always be linked with desired employee behavior or work outcomes, and appreciation should be expressed consistently. At the same time, the incentives should feel meaningful, relevant and (when possible) personalized to your employees based on their contributions and interests. With the right incentive and recognition program, you can ensure that your employees feel valued and engaged at work. This will, in turn, make them more productive and less likely to look for jobs elsewhere. And best of all, incentivizing engagement, innovation and performance doesn't have to always be monetary. By providing recognition for quality work and understanding what types of incentives are the most meaningful for your team, you can give them greater motivation to do their best — and then get the results you want for your business.
