As a "geek with executive tendencies" and interim CIO, I walk into a lot of offices. I have yet to see a mission statement that reads, “We exist to waste time and money.”

Yet, I observe a lot of practices within companies that accomplish just that. In the words that follow, I will introduce you to a common practice that costs two months of productivity. I will also highlight a simple correction of a practice that increased a company’s productivity by 7%. Every C-Suite Executive I ever met likes the sound of efficiency.

Introducing LEFT brain thinking…Not the standard understanding that the left-brain is for analysis and the right brain is for creativity, but 4 commitments that will reduce waste and increase productivity, teamwork and morale.

Lessen emails

C-Suite Executives control the number of emails they send. Harvard Business Review published the report of a company in which leaders committed to learn how to reduce the number of emails they sent. The result was that employees, who were not trained, learned by example and also sent less emails.

Here are the numbers: Within three months, executives decreased their email output by 54%. Employees reduced their email output by 64%. The result to the company was a gain of 10,400 man hours and 7% productivity. Those reductions have been sustained for the two years since the initial findings.

One study showed that the average employee spent 40% of their week on internal emails that did not add value. That isn’t just a loss, that’s a call to war.

C-Suite Executives and chosen leaders learned the following:

1. Be deliberate in email usage: Reduce the number of emails you forward, and restrict the number of recipients of each email.
2. Be discerning in communication: A phone call may be more effective than an email, especially if you want to ensure that the other person understands what you seek. A meeting allows you to read posture and facial expressions.
3. Know the goal of the email. State concisely what you want, and state clearly the actions the recipient can take.
4. Set a target for how many emails you will send in a week.
5. Measure whether you hit the target, evaluate and adjust.

Employ Right Tools

Cloud technology, use of one platform for calendars and documents, and company chat software, such as Slack, all promote efficient communication when used well.

C-Suite Executives leverage all forms of internal communication.

Programs like Slack have channels that allow you to ensure that the right people are receiving right information. Some companies even set up a random channel, so that employees can promote a little more fun in the work place with videos and other entertaining bits.

Group collaboration tools allow the company to keep key metrics in front of the employees, as well as messages that keep the greater purpose in front of people. Craft your communication to inspire, not just inform. Use these tools to recognize and celebrate successes among the employees.

Company-based social media channels allow employees to post and comment on their work activities; rather than ban social media platforms, C-Suite Executives are learning how to use them to foster pride in the workplace and team morale.

Focus Meetings

Executives spend 23 hours a week in meetings, with 34% of that time wasted, adding up to two months of lost productivity. Forty business days gone to dead air.

Harvard Business Review even has a Meeting Cost Calculator: Poor meetings waste money.

The LEFT brain leader ensures that their meetings are focused:

1. They can state the problem to be solved in 120 characters or less.
2. They invite to the meeting only those who can contribute to the solution.
3. They employ guardrails, perhaps a moderator if not their self, who ensures that conversations do not veer off-course.
4. They ask questions of specific people to foster participation and to protect against any one person’s dominance (the dominant talker will rev up and then bring up issues that are not related to the task at hand).

Train, not Try

The C-Suite Executive, LEFT Brain leader knows that people need uninterrupted time to work on deep-focus projects critical to the company’s business and success. Interruptions, even by well-meaning colleagues, kill the flow of thought.

Unfortunately, most employees try to work uninterrupted. But training beats trying: I can try to run a marathon, or I can train to run a marathon. There is a huge difference. Leaders know that they need to train people to focus, and train people to not interrupt.

Some companies utilize a meeting-free day; others allow employees to block “unavailable” time on their calendar or to do off-site work at a specific time. I have a friend whose responsibilities involved a high degree of creativity yet required an open-door policy for his subordinates: He scheduled times in which his door was closed with a sign that had a picture of a coffee cup on it and the phrase “Creativity Brewing.”

Lessen emails.
Employ right tools.
Focus meetings.
Train, not try.

Using your LEFT brain will increase productivity and cut down the cost of wasted time.