Ensuring the workplace is running productively is of great importance to any manager, no matter the type of business, as high productivity comes hand in hand with a successful operation.
Many managers are naturally placing productivity at the top of the agenda, but with 34% of office employees stating that their employers weren’t doing enough to help their productivity, there is clearly more work to be done.
Employers need to be using more innovative techniques to improve their employees productivity, rather than leaving it to the old techniques of incentives and less disruptive workplaces, which may cause more harm than good. In some cases, incentives can lead to greater workplace rivalry and low morale, and ‘distraction less’ workplaces can result in employees feel sluggish in an unstimulating environment; both of which work against the ultimate goal of improving productivity. One area which is often overlooked, is how organisations can help employees to improve themselves through memory enhancing techniques and training.
The importance of memory
Employees are constantly trying to absorb, process, retain and recall the information they learn, as most will naturally be aiming to do their job to the best of their ability. However, this process is not as easy as it seems, especially when you consider that the average adult forgets 3 key facts a day. In roles where recollection of information is essential to daily operations, it is clear that problems with memory can be directly related to how productive an individual, team or department will be at any given moment.
Memory is the foundation of our thought patterns, and without it, every task would have to be learned afresh every time it is carried out. Imagine the simplest of tasks such as typing; to do it with any speed or confidence your brain has to have noted where every key is placed in order for you to be typing without looking at the keyboard, as many do. Now imagine this without memory of the task; every time you go to type you’d be looking for every letter, quadrupling the time it takes you to type. This applies to all actions employees carry out, from forgetting a step in a procedure, to a key regulation, to the details of an important client. Whilst these may seem small, insignificant tasks, such stumbling blocks lengthen the process of completing tasks, leaving the employee falling far short of their true potential.
Put simply, if an employer makes the extra effort to improve their employees’ memory, they’d have a workforce that can not only work without distraction caused by a lack of knowledge on simple tasks, but employees would also retain more information in general, increasing their capabilities within their roles. Once employees see the benefits of focusing on their memory, they will naturally be willing to undertake more work in this area, as it will provide benefits to them personally as well as to the organisation.
Improving memory in 6 steps
Memory can be effectively improved by a variety of methods, but the most important factors to focus on centre on the word A.D.V.I.C.E.
- Association – memories will be retained better if there’s a relationship between things that might be otherwise unrelated.
- Determination – people are more likely to gather memories on information if they actually want to, so it’s important they have a positive attitude to work.
- Visualisation – if information can be presented in a visual format, employees will process it far better than if they are told it, or read it, leading to better recollection of that information in the future.
- Improvement – this can cover a wide variety of topics and includes lifestyle changes such as exercising more and drinking less alcohol, which can promoted through workplace health and wellbeing initiatives.
- Context – when given context to information it’s easier to imagine it (similar to visualisations), they’ll then be able to obtain that memory within that context.
- Emotions – psychologically it’s known that memory and emotions have strong links in the brain and that memories that have emotion attached to them are often remembered much better than those which don’t.
For employees to truly reach their memory capacity, the A.D.V.I.C.E process should be incorporated in the way the workplace teaches and shares information with its employees. As a further step, memory trainers could be employed or employees could be sent to memory seminars, so they can further understand how to maximise their potential both within the workplace and in their daily lives.
About the Author
Giulia Remondino is an experienced Trainer and Mentor and has been the MD of Genius in 21 days UK since 2010. She specialises in bringing out the best in people by teaching advanced learning techniques. Becoming a Genius in 21 days means to learn not only how to double your speed at reading, organising and memorising, but also how to make sure you know what your ‘why’ is. Her goal is that more and more people learn how to master their time instead of being mastered by it and therefore fulfill their dreams with new abilities they thought impossible before.
Running one of the branches of Genius in 21 days, Giulia teaches techniques about speed reading, fast memorisation, long term memorisation, mind mapping, relaxation and concentration, creativity and motivation. She also mentors people after the course.
For more information visit www.geniusin21days.co.uk
