A recent Harvard Business review post by John Coleman about “old-school” business practices worth bringing back highlighted several traditional office habits that still improve productivity.While I love posting about the cool new trends (growth vs marketing , lifetime value-driven ad spending, etc.) that can have a huge impact on your business, I agree with Coleman that you shouldn’t abandon everything from business pre-2005. The four suggestions from Coleman’s post that I most agree with (he had five but I was not sold on one of them) are:
- Make meetings distraction free. This to me is the most important practice Coleman highlights, and it’s not necessarily “old school.” Meetings are not as productive if half (or even one) attendee is looking at their phone or playing with their laptop. Getting rid of these distractions make meetings more focused and productive. Although those using their devices may be doing something productive, if they have something more important to do they should not be in the meeting in the first place. (This brings to mind another good practice: make sure everyone in a meeting needs to be there.) Continue reading “Four old-school business practices that still create value”
