Elena Volk is a speaker, entrepreneur, blogger, and author of business articles. She has over 8 years of experience running businesses, including an IT recruitment agency and an online school for IT recruiters. Elena also helps others start working for themselves through mentorship.
"How do you manage everything?" – I hear this question really often. Today I will tell you what exactly productivity consists of and what habits help me to stay active every day.
My name is Elena. I’m the Founder of the IT recruitment agency EvoTalents and also run an online school for recruiters EvoTalents.School. Moreover, I have a mentoring program for people who want to start their realization. I'm a wife and mother of a five-year-old daughter.
In this article, I will share the habits that help me manage several projects and to be productive.
First of all, I recommend defining the concept of "productivity" for yourself before moving on to habits.
What does productivity mean to you?
According to the dictionary, productivity is an indicator of labor activity of employees; it is the amount of output produced per unit of time by one worker.
You should ask yourself: "What is the product (result) of my work in my position?"
When I answered this question to myself, I saw that the result of my work as a founder is a company that develops and fulfills its goals.
The result for a recruiter may be vacancies closed in the relevant period of time and candidates who have passed the trial period. For the sales manager – contracts signed with new clients.
In each company, depending on its type of activity, employees have their own goals. I recommend the manager to think about both themself and their team.
For example, at the recruitment agency EvoTalents, we have written results for each position. So people in the team know what results we expect from them. Everyone has a guide to their position, which starts with this information.
Why is it necessary and why do we start from this point? Because we keep our focus on our core product by fully understanding it, allocating our time correctly, and deciding which task to solve first.
In my opinion, the lack of understanding of this basic interferes with productivity. That means we can work a lot and not have any results.
Now let's talk about what can help us get the highest result in the shortest time. We’ll see how exactly formed habits may help to be productive. I will share my top 5 habits below.
Making notes in your calendar
“Everything that is not in my calendar is not in my life” – a phrase I often say.
In this case, I plan both my work and free time, sports, and so on. This way my schedule is full of planning and there is no time for procrastination.
This is what my calendar looks like:
I not only plan my tasks but also highlight different projects/areas of my work in different colors. That is how I analyze what I spent the most hours on at the end of the year/month.
If I knew that my result was the development of the company, and I was busy with other functions and did not pay attention to new directions and ideas at all, I may think that I misdivided my time.
Delegation of tasks
This point is especially relevant for managers and entrepreneurs. In order to scale and be productive, you need to define tasks that can be delegated to employees or contractors.
I write out all my tasks once a month, analyze what I no longer want to do, and decide who to delegate it to. This way I can relieve myself for new and larger tasks.
Conduct meetings productively
Team meetings, calls with clients, interviews – all this takes quite a lot of working time. A few years ago, my team and I hired a consultant who helped us build effective collaboration during calls.
Our basic rules:
We have a specific time for each call. If we do not have time to resolve the issue in time, the moderator asks the participants whether we can delay for 15 minutes or postpone the discussion to the next call. This helps not to be delayed on calls.
We start calls on time, and if someone is late, they warn about it.
Be sure to define the purpose and agenda for each call.
After discussion and decisions, we always write follow-ups (both within the team and to clients).
We have a moderator who manages the call and directs the conversation.
We don't interrupt each other, we give everyone the opportunity to participate in the discussion, and if someone from the team wants to add something, they use the raised hand emoji in Zoom.
These points help make calls productively.
Automatization and AI instruments
One of the most important skills is the automatization of tasks through the use of AI.
For example, I check the text, add, and generate headlines often with the help of AI, and it also helps me manage my social media.
The same approach is used in the recruiting team – we regularly automate tasks and thanks to this, we are able to speed up and significantly simplify work processes.
Technologies nowadays are developing very quickly and I think it is important to keep abreast.
Stay at your best
Last but not least, (for me the first and most important thing in my life) the skill of maintaining the necessary level of energy. Everything else is of no importance without this skill.
Our energy level = what gives us energy – what takes it away.
Everyone has something that drains their energy away during the day, week, month, and that's okay. It is very important to maintain this level and add habits that help to both your calendar and life.
Energy can be worked on at four levels: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. The physical level is especially important to me. That is why sleep, sports, nutrition, contrast showers, SPA, facial massage, and regular check-ups are my basis.
And the last thing I want to add: it is very important to do exactly what you really like. It is very easy to be productive under such conditions. This way the work you have chosen for yourself fills you with energy and pleasure from the process. As a result, you get more done. This detail will also be noticed by other people and you will be often asked about your productivity secrets.
My main secret is not only habits that I have formed for myself, but also the fact that I really love what I do and feel that I implement my mission through my projects.
Read more from Elena Volk
Elena Volk, Founder & CEO of EvoTalents Recruiting Agency
Elena Volk founded the IT recruitment agency EvoTalents and the online school for IT recruiters, EvoTalents.School.
8 years ago, she made one of the most challenging but best decisions of her life — to leave her job, move to London, and start working for herself, first as a freelancer and later as an entrepreneur.
Over these years, she built a team and established an agency that is now among the top IT recruitment agencies in Ukraine.
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