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<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>Business Insider </div><keyword id="1534393" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="scaling">Scaling</keyword> a business is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/aaron-schildkrout-how-to-build-a-startup-2013-1">an extremely nuanced process</a>: It takes a brilliant strategy, smart delegation and tons of hard work. To gain some insight on how to pull this off, we spoke with <a href="http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=220890">Harvard Lecturer Robert Pozen</a>, who offers some great tips on building an efficient workplace culture in his book <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-professor-robert-pozen-on-productivity-2012-10">Extreme Productivity</a>.
Here are the best parts of our conversation: As you grow, managing well is really about effective delegation. How do you figure out what you still should be working on, versus what to outsource? That depends a lot on the type of business you’re with and types of people you’re working with. The question isn’t whether you're better at the function than anybody else. The question is, can you as the founder be the only person to do it? The classic problem as an entrepreneur is that they have a hard time delegating. But that’s really crazy. Recruiting other executives is critical, so is dealing with customers and dealing with regulators. Those are functions that only the top founders can do.
The way you delegate is that first you have to hire people that you really have confidence in. You won’t truly let those people feel a sense of autonomy if you don’t have confidence in them. For example, you tell an employee they need to develop a new product in a particular niche. But if you go further and say they should go about it this way, then you’re micromanaging and depriving that person of feeling any sense of control over their situation.
If you want to keep an entrepreneurial mindset within the culture, you've got to be ready for people to make mistakes — and they will. It's fine to make a new mistake once. You've got to be very tolerant of people making mistakes for the first time. But then if it happens again and again, you've got to have a discussion. How do you balance strategic thinking against everyday tasks? It's hard to answer the question in the abstract. There's a priority exercise that I urge people to go through (discussed <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-professor-robert-pozen-on-productivity-2012-10">in our previous interview here</a>). What do you want to achieve? Who's the best person to do it? Make sure that your goals align with how you spend your time.
It's important to reduce the number of decisions you make every day (because <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dr-oz-how-to-spend-your-morning-2012-11">making decisions depletes energy and brain power</a>.) Most people get overwhelmed by the insignificant decisions of their lives. I’m urging people to minimize the time spent on these when they’re not critical to their most important goals. What's the key to using the 80/20 rule, or Pareto Principle, on a daily basis? Everything we talked about starts with this: if you don’t know what your priority of the year is and how that translates to this week, you’re not going to know what’s important to you. A shocking number of people don’t do that. Even the people who do never compare how they’re using time as compared to their goals.
If you go through those two exercises <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Productivity-Results-Reduce-ebook/dp/B007HBLNSS">I mention in my book</a>, you'll get a lot more focused on what’s important and discover what you should and shouldn’t be doing.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to getting the goals right and understanding how much time you’re spending on tasks, and trying to figure out where your comparative advantage is as a leader vs. as a producer – and what only you can do as a leader.
<h4>NOW READ: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tips-for-better-productivity-2012-11">14 Ways To Dramatically Increase Productivity </a></h4>

How To Delegate Responsibility To Other People

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Working adults or job seekers tend to prefer remote work over being in the office full time, per Bankrate.</li><li>Those who support flexible work are happy to quit to avoid going in person each day.</li></ul>Many US adults want some kind of flexible work and don't mind job hopping to achieve it.New survey results from <a href="https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/hybrid-remote-and-4-day-workweek-survey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bankrate</a> found 64% of US adults who are part of the workforce are in favor of fully remote work instead of work done all in person. Additionally, 68% said they are somewhat or strongly supportive of a hybrid model over having to be fully in person. The July survey from Bankrate was done by YouGov and included US adults who either had or were looking for full-time work."I think it's going to be a huge challenge over the intermediate term for employers to retain talent — particularly if they're in a setting where they can't provide these aspects of flexibility," Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate, told Insider — where these aspects of flexibility include hybrid work, fully remote work, or a four-day workweek. "Of course for those who can, it's an opportunity."According to the new Bankrate results, almost 40% of those who support hybrid over a fully in-person work structure said they would be happy to either change jobs or industries. 28% said they would be happy to complete work during off-peak hours like weekends. Similarly, 42% of those who prefer fully remote over being fully in person said they would be happy to change industries or jobs, and just over a third of them said they would be happy to get their work done during off-peak hours.Many workers have gotten used to working from home or somewhere else during the pandemic, and they might not feel like it's productive to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-making-workers-employees-return-to-office-rto-wfh-hybrid-2023-1">return to an office</a> every day even if their companies wish for them to head back."It's hard to imagine that for a knowledge worker that they really need to be in the office five days a week," Robert C. Pozen, a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, told Insider. "If they organize their time well, they'll have some days where it makes more sense for them to be at home. That learning was so powerful after Covid that I don't think there's any going back on it."People have already shared with Insider how they have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/manager-quit-over-rto-2023-8">quit because they didn't like having to return to an office</a> or didn't want to head back. One person told her story of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-rto-return-workplace-quitting-job-office-trends-freelance-benefits-2023-7">becoming a freelancer</a> after quitting a job before an official return-to-office announcement."I never want to get on a rush hour subway car ever again," she told Insider. "I never want to put on a business casual suit ever again. I never want to line up to use the microwave at lunch in a shared lunchroom ever again."One person who is in a new fully remote position had previously been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-job-return-to-office-quit-job-double-salary-2023-8">working remotely as an ad tech contractor</a>. He chose not to return to the office after being told to come in and couldn't work out an alternative plan with his company. He had already moved away during the pandemic and was unsure how he would "commute 550 miles three days a week.""I made the decision that I wasn't going to return to office, that it wasn't viable for me and my family," he said. Some people quit their jobs during the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quit-job-great-resignation-big-stay-changing-jobs-market-2023-5">Great Resignation</a> for <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/03/09/majority-of-workers-who-quit-a-job-in-2021-cite-low-pay-no-opportunities-for-advancement-feeling-disrespected/">better flexibility</a>. Hamrick noted while the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jobs-market-hiring-july-unemployment-rate-2023-8">labor market has cooled</a>, it is still very strong for workers, with more openings than unemployed Americans. Workers' interest in flexible work may make it hard to fill these roles, meaning the desired flexibility "is both a challenge and an opportunity," according to Hamrick."I think that this desire for flexibility is one impediment with respect to employers who are still looking to fill those many job openings," Hamrick said. "And then there are other questions or issues as well that relate to the need to get more people into the workforce, having seen some setbacks there in recent years through a number of different impacts."While people want flexibility in their work locations, people looking to switch jobs for a <a href="https://www.gallup.com/401384/indicator-hybrid-work.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fully work-from-home role</a> may not be able to find one."I think fully remote work is going to be tough for them to find," Pozen said. According to Pozen, that's because companies see that brainstorming, negotiation, and some other work functions for the jobs of knowledge workers are simply better done when in person. Pozen added companies would also argue it's good for company culture.<h2>Companies are going to have to make hard choices if they're determined to get workers back in the office every day</h2>Paul Rubenstein, chief people officer for people analytics company Visier said that companies have to be clear about their goals and both leaders and employees "have to be willing to make hard choices.""Just because you've decided as a leader that you want people in the office and that's part of your business model and you've made that choice, that's OK," Rubenstein said. "If you're an employee and you are like, 'my company wants people back in the office,' they're not a bad company. It's a business choice. And maybe that's just not the company for you."Despite hybrid work being pretty popular among employers, managers, and workers according to survey results from talent solutions company Robert Half and reporting on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-microsoft-ibm-companies-hybrid-work-office-collaboration-flexibility-happiness-2023-8">companies from Insider</a>, a hybrid mandate may also still mean people are unhappy and look for a new role."Among knowledge workers, the hybrid is here to stay," Pozen said. "It's a bad idea for any organization to make a uniform rule across the whole organization as to what exactly should be the design of the hybrid.""If you want to have productive teams, you've got to tailor the design of the hybrid to the needs and the functions of that team," Pozen said, adding that otherwise some people may say goodbye in this uniform hybrid situation.Are you thinking about switching jobs or have already quit because of return to office requirements or a desire for flexible work? How do you feel about your company's workplace model? Reach out to this reporter to share your story, at <a href="mailto:mhoff@insider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mhoff@insider.com</a>.

Working in an office full time is a no-go for some people who desperately want remote work

<ul class="summary-list"><li>How should productivity be measured? Desk workers and executives disagree.</li><li>Many companies with remote or hybrid workforces use tracking software to monitor their workers.</li></ul>The jury is still out on whether <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-wfh-productivity-impact-no-consensus-goldman-sachs-2023-8">fully remote workers are less productive</a>, but many companies seem to be coming to this conclusion — and acting accordingly.But overly focusing on how long someone's sitting at their computer, whether at home or in the office, may not be the best way to gauge how well they're doing their job. Employees and workplace experts say there are better ways to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-productivity-scores-dont-effectively-measure-employee-performance-2022-9">measure productivity</a>.Tech giants such as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-monitors-attendance-to-get-workers-back-to-office-2023-6">Google</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-employees-are-worried-about-badge-swipe-tracking-rto-office-2023-4">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-email-ends-remote-work-twitter-staff-office-2022-11">X</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/all-rules-of-metas-new-aggressive-strict-rto-mandate-2023-8">Meta</a> have started requiring employees to work from the office more often. At the same time, some companies with a fully remote or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-microsoft-ibm-companies-hybrid-work-office-collaboration-flexibility-happiness-2023-8">hybrid workforce</a> are relying on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bosses-use-employee-tracking-software-for-remote-workers-2023-8">employee-tracking software</a> to keep tabs on workers when they're not in the office.In a March ResumeBuilder.com <a href="https://www.resumebuilder.com/1-in-3-remote-employers-are-watching-you-work-from-home-on-camera/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> of 1,000 US business leaders, 96% of respondents working at organizations with a primarily remote or hybrid workforce said their firms used some form of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/majority-remote-hybrid-work-companies-wfh-monitor-employees-rto-2023-3">employee-monitoring software</a>. Only 10% of those companies were doing so before the pandemic, the survey found. Many respondents said the software was being used to monitor web browsing. Some said their company used it to block content, track keystrokes, and capture <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bosses-use-employee-tracking-software-for-remote-workers-2023-8">random screenshots</a> of workers' screens. Sixty-three percent of the leaders said they strongly believed introducing the software helped boost <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/next-recession-economic-outlook-labor-productivity-negative-impact-workplace-trends-2023-6">productivity</a>. There's also tracking going on for those who need to work in person. JPMorgan's monitoring system, for instance, tracks <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-jpmorgan-tracks-employees-zoom-calls-id-swipes-2022-8">office attendance</a> and time spent composing emails, Insider reported last year.As office attendance and productivity tracking become increasingly common, more companies are using it to evaluate, discipline, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bosses-use-employee-tracking-software-for-remote-workers-2023-8">even fire</a> employees. Employees who break Meta's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/all-rules-of-metas-new-aggressive-strict-rto-mandate-2023-8">return-to-office rules</a>, for instance, risk termination, according to the company. About three-quarters of respondents in the ResumeBuilder.com survey said they had fired employees based on findings from their tracking software. But if US companies are truly concerned about maximizing their employees' productivity, some of them may be doing it all wrong.A <a href="https://slack.com/resources/why-use-slack/state-of-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report this year from the workplace-messaging company Slack</a> found a lack of agreement about measuring productivity between employees and executives."Based on our data, visibility and activity ranked at the top of leaders' go-to metrics," the <a href="https://slack.com/resources/why-use-slack/state-of-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Slack report</a> on global survey results from desk workers and executives said. "However, most individual contributors prefer to be measured based on what they produce, through team goals and KPIs." Aaron Terrazas, the chief economist at Glassdoor, told Insider that there's a "rich debate" going on about what exactly productivity was in a remote setting compared with in an office. Terrazas said that traditionally, economists and probably many executives believed that this would be time spent in the office, visibility, and the revenue an employee generated from their hours working. "Our economy is no longer kind of a manufacturing economy, and creative work is not necessarily sitting in front of a screen," Terrazas said. "We are starting to recognize that a lot of workers who are in front of a screen in an office aren't necessarily productive and a lot of workers who look like they are out for a run or doing laundry — that is kind of ways to spark creative productivity as well."Robert C. Pozen, a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management who has written about <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/extreme-productivity-robert-c-pozen?variant=32893857759266" target="_blank" rel="noopener">productivity</a>, told Insider: "The notion of tracking hours is so antithetical to being productive."This kind of tracking, Pozen said, gives "a false sense of accountability" because hours are not a "very good proxy for productivity." The key to figuring out productivity, Pozen said, is "to figure out what your high-priority objectives are, what your success metrics are, and then to focus on them and not to get hung up by how many hours you work."Companies don't need to stop keeping tabs on attendance, but it may not be helpful as a productivity measure. Paul Rubenstein, the chief people officer for the people-analytics company Visier, told Insider that work contribution was a good measure versus attendance. Rubenstein added that attendance was still important."Just telling people to come to the office or back to the office without any purpose to it is silly," Rubenstein said. "People won't connect to it."It remains to be seen whether tracking will become the new normal."As managers become more comfortable in managing a remote workforce, and as younger workers become managers and have been working more of their career remotely, software monitoring will hopefully become antiquated and the focus will be on results and not the amount of time worked," Stacie Haller, the chief career advisor at ResumeBuilder.com, said in a <a href="https://www.resumebuilder.com/1-in-3-remote-employers-are-watching-you-work-from-home-on-camera/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.How does your company track productivity, and how do you feel about it? Reach out to these reporters at <a href="mailto:mhoff@insider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mhoff@insider.com</a> and <a href="mailto:jzinkula@insider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">jzinkula@insider.com</a> to share.

Bosses are tracking how long you're working — and using it to judge your performance. It's a terrible way to get the best out of workers.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Scott Olson/Getty ImagesElon Musk doesn't seem to delegate.</div></div></div><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> is both the chairman and chief executive of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tesla">Tesla</a>. </li><li>He's also the CEO and lead designer at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/spacex">SpaceX</a>.</li><li>Despite having the most "excruciating" year of his life professionally, he doesn't plan to step away from any of these roles, he told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/business/elon-musk-interview-tesla.html">The New York Times</a>.</li><li>That points to a classic issue with many entrepreneurs: the inability to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/delegating">delegate</a>.</li></ul> Elon Musk's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/business/elon-musk-interview-tesla.html">bombshell interview with The New York Times</a> revealed a number of worrying details about the famous businessman and his companies.One striking anecdote: Musk has been working up to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-dangers-of-overwork-2018-8">120 hours a week</a>, spending nights and days in Tesla factories in an attempt to meet demanding production targets."There were times when I didn't leave the factory for three or four days - days when I didn't go outside," he said. Musk is both chairman and chief executive of Tesla. He's also the CEO and lead designer at SpaceX.The Times reported that Tesla executives are searching for a No. 2 to assume some of Musk's daily tasks at Tesla.Musk said he wasn't aware of any search. Despite saying that the past year has been "excruciating," Musk said he has no plans to step away from either of his roles at Tesla. It points to a problem that many entrepreneurs have: refusing to delegate or find new people to step into leadership roles. <div>And according to MIT Sloan School of Management senior lecturer <a href="https://executive.mit.edu/faculty/profile/308-robert-pozen">Robert Pozen</a>, that's a problem."The classic problem as an entrepreneur is that they have a hard time delegating," Pozen previously <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/robert-pozen-maximizing-productivity-while-scaling-2013-1">told Business Insider</a>. "But that's really crazy. Recruiting other executives is critical, so is dealing with customers and dealing with regulators. Those are functions that only the top founders can do."Rather than getting, say, bogged down in the daily happenings of a factory, Pozen said leaders need to reserve their minds for high-level, strategic decisions. "Most people get overwhelmed by the insignificant decisions of their lives," Pozen said. "I'm urging people to minimize the time spent on these when they're not critical to their most important goals."</div>But when Musk spoke about relinquishing his role, he only focused on those who he believed could "do the job better." "If you have anyone who can do a better job, please let me know," he said to the Times.Pozen suggested a different tack."The question isn't whether you're better at the function than anybody else," Pozen said "The question is, can you as the founder be the only person to do it?"<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/business/elon-musk-interview-tesla.html">Read the entire New York Times profile »</a>Get the latest Tesla stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/TSLA-Quote"> here.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-thai-cave-sleeping-factory-2018-7">What's going on with Elon Musk</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Elon Musk says he works 120 hours a week and isn't searching for new execs, and it looks like he's falling into a common management trap

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"></div></div>Sometimes it seems like there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done.
In his book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Productivity-Boost-Results-Reduce/dp/0062188534">Extreme Productivity</a>," Harvard lecturer <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-professor-robert-pozen-on-productivity-2012-10">Dr. Robert Pozen</a> outlines the keys to achieving more, and better, results.
Read on to see 18 of Pozen's best tips, so you can learn how to do exactly that.
Thanks to Dr. Pozen for permission to feature <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Productivity-Results-Reduce-ebook/dp/B007HBLNSS">his work</a>.
Carolyn Cutrone contributed to this article.

18 Tricks To Dramatically Increase Your Productivity

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image">Andreas Rentz/Getty Images</div></div>Email is many things, but a time saver it is not.
A <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high_tech_telecoms_internet/the_social_economy">2012 McKinsey study</a> found that the average office worker spends 28% of their time reading and responding to email. If you work 260 days per year, <a href="http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/08/01/workers-spend-the-equivalent-of-73-days-a-year-on-email-study-f/">AOL Jobs notes</a>, that's the equivalent of spending 73 days doing nothing but staring at your inbox. 
Suddenly those threads on where to go for lunch seem a lot less important.
In many professions, however, ignoring email entirely during the workday is simply not feasible, so it becomes necessary to adopt a strategy (or several) for keeping an eye on your inbox without letting it take over your whole day. In <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/02/executives-biggest-productivity-challenges-solved/">an interview with Harvard Business Review</a>, Robert Pozen, the former chairman of MFS Investment Management and author of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Productivity-Boost-Results-Reduce/dp/0062188534/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1392756981&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Extreme+Productivity" target="_blank">Extreme Productivity</a>," shares his best advice on how to get through email faster at work:
1. Close your inbox tab. "Don't look at it every minute; look at it every hour or two," he says.
2. Only open 50% of your emails. "Try to discipline yourself to read only the subject matter in order to discard 50% to 80% of your emails right away," he says. "We all get so much spam."
3. Practice "OHIO" - Only Handle It Once. When you first open an email, immediately decide what to do with it, says Pozen. "Concentrate on the emails that are important and answer them right away. And don't put them into some sort of storage system, because by the time you're ready to finally tackle them, you'll spend another half an hour trying to find them."
For more tips on how to increase your work productivity, <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/02/executives-biggest-productivity-challenges-solved/">read Pozen's full interview here</a>.
Want your business advice featured in Instant MBA? Submit your tips to <a href="mailto:tipoftheday@businessinsider.com">tipoftheday@businessinsider.com</a>. Be sure to include your name, your job title, and a photo of yourself in your email.

3 Ways To Get Through Your Email Faster

<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div><a href="http://instagram.com/p/R_H6-uRKHk/">Instagram</a></td></tr></table>It takes proper screening and careful analysis to hire talent who will excel at their job and fit into the company's culture. 
The tricky part is the right person isn't always the smartest or the one with the most experience, so it can be difficult to identify them during a short interview.
In his book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Productivity-Results-Reduce-ebook/dp/B007HBLNSS">Extreme Productivity</a>," Robert C. Pozen, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, says that there are a few lessons he considers essential to the recruitment process. Below are some questions Pozen says you need to ask during the interview:
1. Ask the candidate to talk about their personal history, which includes where they grew up and went to high school. "The answer will help you understand their character and motivation; we are all heavily influenced by our roots," Pozen writes.
2. Find out how they made the biggest contribution in their prior jobs and "working hard" should not be an acceptable answer. "You want to hear specifically how they came up with a different approach or solved a difficult problem."
3. Pozen advises that you should "engage candidates in intellectual debate about a subject of their choosing that they know well." Their answer can tell you a lot about how they think, how well they make their arguments and how they deal with counterpoints.
4. Ask them creative questions that have no absolute right or wrong answer, but will reveal the candidate's problem-solving abilities. For example, you can ask "What are all the possible uses of a brick for our business?" and see how many different uses people can come up with. 
5. Ask questions that will reveal how driven that candidate is about their expertise and potential position. Pozen says that you should hire the candidate with the most potential and not the one with the most experience in the industry because "a smart, hardworking individual will learn the intricacies of a new field."
Furthermore, when conducting a reference check, the former employer may not want to provide too much information, so make it easy for them to "to subtly provide negative inputs" by asking specific questions, such as "Was this candidate the best you've worked with? Why not?," "Are there any potential downsides to <keyword id="6357342" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hiring">hiring</keyword> this candidate?" and "Would you hire him or her back?"
In short, if you hire the right people, your company will grow. On the other hand, if you make the wrong choice, Pozen says you'll spend a lot of time closely supervising your team and resolving disputes.

Ask These Questions During The Job Interview To Identify The Right Hires

<table>
<tbody>
<tr valign="middle">
<td>This post was originally published on <a href="http://www.openforum.com/articles/harvard-lecturer-explains-how-to-get-employees-to-think-like-entrepreneurs/">OPEN Forum.</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.openforum.com/"></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foradoeixo/7848979586/">Fora do Eixo via flickr</a></div>An organization’s most valuable assets are its employees. When workers are happy and motivated, they’re more likely to perform at the highest levels.
The most strategic way to create this type of environment is by giving everyone a sense of ownership, says Robert C. Pozen, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, in his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Productivity-Results-Reduce-ebook/dp/B007HBLNSS" target="_blank">Extreme Productivity</a>. In other words, get all your employees to think like entrepreneurs. “If your employees don’t feel that they own their own spaces,” Pozen writes, “they will constantly wait for your day-to-day directions and expect you to solve every problem.” 
In his book, he outlines what he calls the ”Owning Your Own Space” principle, which will <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-professor-robert-pozen-on-productivity-2012-10" target="_blank">help employers get employees motivated</a> to become star performers:
1. Set project goals. At the beginning of every project, make sure your subordinates know your goals and constraints for each task. Give them “considerable leeway in establishing the time frame for those goals,” Pozen says, because when they’re able to choose their own deadlines, they’ll feel more accountable in meeting them.
2. Establish accurate metrics. When implementing both quantitative and qualitative criteria, you’ll have to have ”a deeper discussion with your team about what you really consider important about the project,” Pozen says. As a manager, you need to let your workers know what metrics you consider more important than others so they can decide what tradeoffs they’re willing to take when making choices.
3. Supply needed resources. If your employees don’t have the appropriate resources to complete their tasks, they won’t be able to finish the project. If there are budget constraints, as a manager, you should understand how much of a role this will play into the success of the overall project and reduce parameters of certain tasks, or decide if the project is realistic.
4. Monitor without suffocating. Just because you’re not physically hovering over your worker’s desk doesn’t mean that you’re not micromanaging. Pozen says that micromanagement is a lot more subtle in reality. For example, it could take the form of you taking back authority over previously delegated projects or having an overly critical eye for details.
Are you micromanaging your staff? In his book, Pozen says that if you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, you could be a micromanager: 
<ul>
<li>
If there is a problem with a project, do you take it over and issue detailed orders?
</li>
<li>
Do you tend to object if your team takes an unorthodox approach to a project?
</li>
<li>
Do your subordinates always seem to follow your “suggestions” to the letter?
</li>
<li>
When you’re looking at a finished project, do you search for every small mistake? 
</li>
</ul>
Instead of micromanaging, you can go over the status of a project by having meetings at midway points and making suggestions. However, you need to keep in mind that your team should still be “free to achieve the revised goals in the way they think is best,” Pozen says. In other words, make sure they know you’re only making suggestions and not delegating orders.
5. Tolerate mistakes. If you want your employees to take chances, you need to be forgiving when they make mistakes. Pozen says you shouldn’t accept mistakes that are caused by laziness or sloppiness, but you do need to tolerate “a well-intentioned mistake.”
If a project fails, you can make it a “teachable mistake” by giving your subordinates feedback on what led to that mistake, but don’t attack the person. 
“You can ask employees to change specific actions and behaviors, not to alter their personalities. To obtain this balance, talk about what went right before you discuss what went wrong,” Pozen writes. And whatever you do, don’t humiliate them in front of others or you’ll witness an “intentional” decrease in productivity in response to your actions.
When you’re successful at making your employees feel like they have ownership in the company, they will begin to “make choices as if they’re spending their own money.” They’ll also be able to adapt quickly in case anything changes along the way. Pozen says that this state of mind will also increase motivation and help you to achieve better results.
SEE MORE ON OPEN FORUM:
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<a href="http://www.openforum.com/articles/harvard-lecturer-explains-how-to-get-employees-to-think-like-entrepreneurs/">Harvard Lecturer explains how to get employees to think like entrepreneurs&gt;</a>
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<a href="http://www.openforum.com/articles/what-industry-leaders-know-about-knocking-down-the-competition/">3 keys to destroying the competition &gt;</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-super-seven-is-key-to-coming-up-with-big-ideas-2013-3">The "Super Seven" is key to coming up with big ideas &gt;</a>
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Harvard Lecturer Explains How To Get Employees To Think Like Entrepreneurs

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="m01229/flickr" title_caption="Don't undermine your efforts to improve yourself." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/548771e06bb3f7825f7bcb7d-960/blue-light-smartphone-bed-3.jpg"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/39908901@N06/8355672587/in/photolist-dJn1mt-5xuJuw-8vGnwi-CchJS-CqJyt-9a88PX-9NgKmj-7C47zm-7oiwxu-6QFri-75Riw3-7HfSiA-aK5ew-5mJzBi-81VLnb-81SBTD-7zLAV7-6azsD3-whdTX-8BMQbq-7oeEf4-fwJWW8-9NdZb2-81VLvy-7oeCka-81SBZk-81VLqA-7HfRUY-81VLt5-7oixto-9NgKxq-7HfRLU-7HbXY4-mDYR3v-81SBWt-7oeBLp-7HbXgT-7oiwSQ-81SBUv-7HbXmg-7oiv2j-7oiyAQ-9NdZKt-bANkgT-ecSiNW-ecLHxT-5Xfvaa-6BDX1g-7HfRR7-7HbXv6">m01229/flickr</a>Don't undermine your efforts to improve yourself.</div></div></div>Being productive isn't easy, regardless of how badly you'd like to be and how hard you think you're willing to work. But increasing your output at work and in life is a much more attainable goal if you're not sabotaging yourself with bad habits.
Here are 10 things you should stop doing right now:
1. Impulsive web browsing: Since most of us work with access to the internet, it's easy to get side-tracked looking up the answer to a random question that just popped into your head.
That's why Quora user Suresh Rathinam recommends <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/10-minute-strategy-to-stop-procrastination-2014-9">writing down these thoughts or questions</a> on a notepad. This way, you can look up the information you want later, when you're not trying to get work done.
2. Moral licensing: Whether it's a new diet, workout routine, or work schedule, one of the most difficult things about forming a new habit is the urge to cheat <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/moral-licensing-ruins-diets-savings-goals-2014-7">as a reward</a> for sticking to a routine for a while. This idea that we "deserve" to splurge on fancy meal after being thrifty for a week is called "moral licensing," and it undermines a lot of people's plans for self-improvement
Instead, try making your goal part of your identity, such that you think of yourself as the kind of person who saves money or works out regularly, rather than as someone who is working against their own will to do something new.
3. Putting off your most important work until later in the day: People often start off their day by completing easy tasks to get themselves rolling and leave their more difficult work for later. This is a bad idea, and one that frequently leads to the important work not getting done at all.
As researchers have found, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/easily-increase-your-willpower-2014-7">people have a limited amount of willpower</a> that decreases throughout the day. That being the case, it's best to get your hardest, most important tasks done at the beginning of the day.
4. Taking many meetings: Nothing disrupts the flow of productivity like an unnecessary meeting. And with tools like email, instant messenger, and video chat at your fingertips, it's best to only use meetings for introductions and serious discussions that can only be held in person.
BlueGrace Logistics founder Bobby Harris <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/entrepreneurs-best-productivity-hacks-2014-3#bobby-harris-founder-and-president-of-bluegrace-logistics-keeps-meetings-as-short-as-possible-9">recommends that people don't accept a meeting</a> unless the person who requested it has put forth a clear agenda and stated exactly how much time they will need. And even then, Harris recommends giving the person half of the time they initially requested.
5. Multi-tasking: While many people believe they are great at doing two things at once, scientific research has found that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/multitasker-test-tells-you-if-you-are-one-of-the-2-2014-5">just 2% of the population</a> is capable of effectively multi-tasking.
For the rest of us, multi-tasking is a bad habit that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/multitasking-changes-your-brain-2014-9">decreases our attention spans</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-multi-tasking-doesnt-work-for-your-productivity-2012-1">makes us less productive</a> in the long run.
6. Hitting the snooze button: It might feel like pressing the snooze button in the morning gives you a little bit of extra rest to start your day, but the truth is that it <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3020816/leadership-now/why-your-snooze-button-is-a-deceitful-bastard">does more harm than good</a>.
That's because when you first wake up, your endocrine system begins to release alertness hormones to get you ready for the day. By going back to sleep, you're slowing down this process. Plus, nine minutes doesn't give your body time to get the restorative, deep sleep it needs.
7. Failing to prioritize: It's only natural for people to hedge against failure by keeping their options open and trying to pursue a bunch of different goals simultaneously. Take, for instance, the person who is five years into a career in marketing, but preparing themself for law school just in case. Unfortunately, this sort of wavering can be extremely unproductive.
Warren Buffett <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-productivity-trick-2014-9">has the perfect antidote</a>. Seeing that his personal pilot was not accomplishing his life goals, Buffett asked him to make a list of 25 things he wanted to get done before he died. But rather than taking little steps toward completing every one of them, Buffett advised the pilot to pick five things he thought were most important and ignore the rest.
8. Over-planning: Many ambitious and organized people try to maximize their productivity by meticulously planning out every hour of their day. Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned, and a sick child or unexpected assignment can throw a wrench into their entire day.
Instead, you might want to try <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/time-management-and-productivity-hacks-2013-4#-3">planning just four or five hours of real work each day</a>, that way you're able to be flexible later on.
9. Under-planning: With that being said, you should take time to strategize before attempting to achieve any long-term goal. Trying to come up with the endgame of a project you're doing midway through the process can be extremely frustrating and waste a huge amount of time.
Harvard lecturer Dr. Robert Pozen <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-be-more-productive-2014-11#know-what-results-youre-looking-for-and-make-a-beeline-for-them-2">recommends that you first determine what you want your final outcome to be</a>, then lay out a series of steps for yourself. Once you're halfway through, you can review your work to make sure you're on track and adjust accordingly.
10. Keeping your phone next to your bed: The LED screens of our smartphones, tablets, and laptops give off what is called blue light, which studies have shown can <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/smartphones-effect-on-vision-and-health-2014-9">damage vision and suppress production of melatonin</a>, a hormone that helps regulate the sleep cycle.
Research also suggests that people with lower melatonin levels <a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/what-causes-depression-2.htm">are more prone to depression</a>.
Want your business advice featured in Instant MBA? Submit your tips to tipoftheday@businessinsider.com. Be sure to include your name, your job title, and a photo of yourself in your email.

10 Bad Habits That Are Killing Your Productivity

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/francisco_osorio/11979685575/">Flickr / Francisco Osorio</a>Getting more done in less time is an attainable goal if you're not working against yourself with bad habits.</div></div></div>Being more productive is about working smarter, not harder, and making the most of each day.While this is no easy feat, getting more done in less time is a much more attainable goal if you're not sabotaging yourself with bad habits.Following are 17 things you should stop doing right now to become more productive.<h2>1. Hitting the snooze button</h2>It might feel like pressing the snooze button in the morning gives you a little bit of extra rest to start your day, but the truth is that it <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3020816/leadership-now/why-your-snooze-button-is-a-deceitful-bastard">does more harm than good</a>.That's because when you first wake up, your endocrine system begins to release alertness hormones to get you ready for the day. By going back to sleep, you're slowing down this process. Plus, nine minutes doesn't give your body time to get the restorative, deep sleep it needs.<h2>2. Prioritizing work over sleep</h2>This isn't to say you should cut back on sleep.As Arianna Huffington discusses in her sleep manifesto, <a href="http://amzn.to/1opb6yC">"The Sleep Revolution,"</a> a good night's sleep has the power to increase productivity, happiness, smarter decision-making, and unlock bigger ideas.As <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arianna-huffington-answers-all-your-questions-about-sleep-2016-4">she explains to Business Insider</a>, a recent <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-organizational-cost-of-insufficient-sleep">McKinsey study</a> shows the direct correlation between getting less sleep and workplace inefficiency. The prefrontal cortex, where the problem-solving functions of the brain are housed, is degraded if we don't get enough sleep. Working 24/7 "we now know is the cognitive equivalent of coming to work drunk," she says.The trick for getting enough sleep is planning ahead and powering down at a reasonable time.<h2>3. Keeping your phone next to your bed</h2>Another key to getting better sleep is not letting outside influencers impair your sleep.The LED screens of our smartphones, tablets, and laptops, for example, give off what is called blue light, which studies have shown can <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/smartphones-effect-on-vision-and-health-2014-9">damage vision and suppress production of melatonin</a>, a hormone that helps regulate the sleep cycle.Research also suggests that people with lower melatonin levels <a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/what-causes-depression-2.htm">are more prone to depression</a>.<h2>4. Skipping breakfast</h2>Our minds and our bodies are connected in a number of important ways, and getting the fuel we needs doesn't just mean resting up.As Lisa De Fazio, a <a href="http://www.lisadefazio.com/">healthy-lifestyle expert</a> and registered dietitian, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/best-breakfasts-to-eat-at-work-for-productivity-2015-10">tells Business Insider</a>, breakfast is the most important meal of the dayBy the time you wake up you likely haven't eaten for 10 or 12 hours, which is where breakfast got its name - it means "breaking the fast," De Fazio says.Your first meal of the day is what kick-starts your metabolism and replenishes blood-sugar levels so you can focus and be productive throughout the day. When blood-sugar levels are low, she explains, it's much harder to focus and you're more likely to feel tired, irritable, and impatient.Starting your day off on the right foot is all about balancing high-fiber carbohydrates with lean protein, De Fazio says. While all carbohydrates raise your blood-sugar levels, high-fiber carbs like fruits and whole-grain products do so at a steadier pace than sugar and low-fiber carbs like processed grain.<h2>5. Eating junk food for lunch</h2>Similarly, maintaining energy levels also requires <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/best-lunches-to-eat-at-work-for-productivity-2015-10">eating a balanced lunch</a>.High-fat, high-sugar lunches make us sleepy and have low energy by 3 p.m., De Fazio says, so it's important to go heavy on the protein and healthy fats and easy on the carbs when choosing what you eat for lunch.Luckily, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/best-fast-food-lunches-to-eat-at-work-for-productivity-2015-11">plenty of fast-food chains</a> offer healthy meal options that won't make you pass out at your desk.<h2>6. Impulsive web browsing</h2>Since most of us have access to the internet at work, it's easy to get sidetracked looking up the answer to a random question that just popped into your head.That's why Quora user Suresh Rathinam recommends <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/10-minute-strategy-to-stop-procrastination-2014-9">writing down these thoughts or questions</a> on a notepad. This way, you can look up the information you want later, when you're not trying to get work done.<h2>7. Multitasking</h2>While many people believe they're great at doing two things at once, scientific research has found that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/multitasker-test-tells-you-if-you-are-one-of-the-2-2014-5">just 2% of the population</a> is capable of effectively multitasking.For the rest of us, multitasking is a bad habit that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/multitasking-changes-your-brain-2014-9">decreases our attention spans</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-multi-tasking-doesnt-work-for-your-productivity-2012-1">makes us less productive</a> in the long run.<h2>8. Checking email throughout the day</h2>Constant internet access can also lead people to check email throughout the day. Sadly, each time you do this, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/you-lose-up-to-25-minutes-every-time-you-respond-to-an-email-2014-12">you lose up to 25 minutes</a> of work time. What's more, the constant checking of email <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-checking-email-all-the-time-does-to-your-brain-2014-7">makes you dumber</a>.Instead, strategy consultant <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-checking-email-all-the-time-does-to-your-brain-2014-7">Ron Friedman suggests</a> quitting Outlook, closing email tabs, and turning off your phone for 30-minute chunks of deep-diving work.<h2>9. Moral licensing</h2>Whether it's a new diet, workout routine, or work schedule, one of the most difficult things about forming a new habit is the urge to cheat <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/moral-licensing-ruins-diets-savings-goals-2014-7">as a reward</a> for sticking to a routine for a while.This idea that we "deserve" to splurge on fancy meal after being thrifty for a week is called "moral licensing," and it undermines a lot of people's plans for self-improvement.Instead, try making your goal part of your identity, such that you think of yourself as the kind of person who saves money or works out regularly, rather than as someone who is working against their own will to do something new.<h2>10. Putting off your most important work until later in the day</h2>People often start off their day by completing easy tasks to get themselves rolling and leave their more difficult work for later. This is a bad idea, and one that frequently leads to the important work not getting done at all.As researchers have found, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/easily-increase-your-willpower-2014-7">people have a limited amount of willpower</a> that decreases throughout the day. That being the case, it's best to get your hardest, most important tasks done at the beginning of the day.<h2>11. Taking too many meetings</h2>Nothing disrupts the flow of productivity like an unnecessary meeting. And with tools like email, instant messenger, and video chat at your fingertips, it's best to use meetings for introductions and serious discussions that should only be held in person.BlueGrace Logistics founder Bobby Harris <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/entrepreneurs-best-productivity-hacks-2014-3#bobby-harris-founder-and-president-of-bluegrace-logistics-keeps-meetings-as-short-as-possible-9">recommends that people don't accept a meeting</a> unless the person who requested it has put forth a clear agenda and stated exactly how much time they will need. And even then, Harris recommends giving the person half of the time they initially requested.<h2>12. Sitting all day</h2>Nilofer Merchant, a business consultant and the author of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-New-How-Paperback-Collaborative/dp/1491903430">The New How: Creating Business Solutions Through Collaborative Strategy Paperback</a>," shares <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjimOv_y_DJAhWMlx4KHbOIBZgQyCkIHjAA&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ted.com%2Ftalks%2Fnilofer_merchant_got_a_meeting_take_a_walk%3Flanguage%3Den&amp;usg=AFQjCNE1QNCmUb6AgTgbx5d09QV99g6amQ">with TED audiences</a> how she's helped several major companies develop successful new ideas: walking meetings.She recommends forgoing coffee or fluorescent-lighted conference-room meetings in favor of walking and talking 20 to 30 miles a week."You'll be surprised at how fresh air drives fresh thinking, and in the way that you do, you'll bring into your life an entirely new set of ideas," she says.<h2>13. Skipping your workout</h2><a href="https://sleep.org/articles/exercise-time-of-day/">Studies have shown</a> that morning and afternoon workouts can increase a person's quality and amount of sleep at night - one study found that exercise adds around 45 minutes of extra sleep - and better sleep leads to a more productive day.In <a href="https://hbr.org/2014/10/regular-exercise-is-part-of-your-job">an article for Harvard Business Review</a>, Friedman argues that adding exercise to your regimen can directly contribute to your work productivity.<a href="https://hbr.org/2014/10/regular-exercise-is-part-of-your-job">He points to</a> certain cognitive benefits you can expect after incorporating regular exercise into your routine including improved concentration, sharper memory, prolonged mental stamina, and lower stress, and says exercise has also been show to elevate mood, all of which has "serious implications for workplace performance."<h2>14. Failing to prioritize</h2>Some people think having lots of goals is the best way to ensure success - if one idea fails, at least there are plenty more in reserve to turn to. Unfortunately, this sort of wavering can be extremely unproductive.Warren Buffett <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-productivity-trick-2014-9">has the perfect antidote</a>. Seeing that his personal pilot was not accomplishing his life goals, Buffett asked him to make a list of 25 things he wanted to get done before he died. But rather than taking little steps toward completing every one of them, Buffett advised the pilot to pick five things he thought were most important and ignore the rest.<h2>15. Over-planning</h2>Many ambitious and organized people try to maximize their productivity by meticulously planning out every hour of their day. Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned, and a sick child or unexpected assignment can throw a wrench into their entire day.Instead, you might want to try <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/time-management-and-productivity-hacks-2013-4#-3">planning just four or five hours of real work each day</a>, that way you're able to be flexible later on.<h2>16. Under-planning</h2>With that being said, you should take time to strategize before attempting to achieve any long-term goals. Trying to come up with the endgame of a project you're doing midway through the process can be extremely frustrating and waste a huge amount of time.Harvard lecturer Robert Pozen <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-be-more-productive-2014-11#know-what-results-youre-looking-for-and-make-a-beeline-for-them-2">recommends that you first determine what you want your final outcome to be</a>, then lay out a series of steps for yourself. Once you're halfway through, you can review your work to make sure you're on track and adjust accordingly.<h2>17. Perfectionism</h2>More often than laziness the root of procrastination is the fear of not doing a good job, says British philosopher and author Alain de Botton <a href="http://www.thebookoflife.org/on-procrastination/">on his website, The Book of Life</a>."We begin to work only when the fear of doing nothing at all exceeds the fear of not doing it very well … And that can take time," <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/alain-de-botton-explains-the-root-of-procrastination-2015-11">he writes</a>.The only way to overcome procrastination is to abandon perfectionism and not fuss over details as you move forward. Pretending the task doesn't matter and that it's OK to mess up could help you get started faster.Aaron Taube contributed to an earlier version of this article. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ceo-strauss-zelnick-career-strategy-have-what-takes-leader-2016-10">How to know if you have what it takes to be a CEO</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="NobXc5NjE6W8yA1eD1N1mQYTRKWyEvZn" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

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