Another day, another work meeting scheduled on your calendar. Except what if we told you this one would only last 15 minutes, guaranteed? You might be more interested now, right? Such meetings do exist. For instance, there’s the 15-minute stand-up meeting. What is that?

A 15-minute stand-up meeting is a work gathering in which you stand up the whole time to keep the meeting at its prescribed limit. These meetings have the following goals:

– Increasing short-term productivity

– Setting ground rules for task completion

– Sharing day-to-day or week-to-week agendas

– Addressing obstacles and challenges

– Task delegation and confirmation

In this article, we will fill you in on everything you want to know about the 15-minute stand-up meeting. From what goes into these meetings to which topics to avoid, how often to host a meeting, and the benefits, you don’t want to miss it. We’ll even tell you how to begin implementing 15-minute stand-up meetings at your own office.

What Is a 15-Minute Stand-up Meeting?

As the name suggests, a 15-minute stand-up meeting is a work assembly that lasts 15 minutes. You stand up the entire time. Doing that might not sound very comfortable, but that’s the whole point.

We all get into meetings where our boss or manager says it’s going to take 10 minutes and then it meanders on for another 15, 20, sometimes even 30 or 40 minutes beyond that proposed time. If you’re truly brainstorming, planning, or getting other productive things done, then that’s okay. It’s when the meeting gets off-task with questions and catchups that you feel like you’re wasting your time.

By remaining on your feet during a 15-minute stand-up meeting, you’ll begin to feel fatigued. Your feet will hurt, your legs will ache, and you’ll want to sit down. This keeps it in everyone’s mind to curtail the meeting to only the 15 minutes.

These meetings also go by names like tag-ups, huddles, and scrums. As the bullet points above hinted at, you’re supposed to talk about very specific topics during a 15-minute stand-up meeting. You should also limit how many participants engage in the gathering. If you have more than 10 people, then that’s too many.

What Should You Talk about During the Meeting?

Without careful planning, a 15-minute stand-up meeting can easily become a 30 or 45-minute meeting that ends with some very sore feet and bad moods all around. That’s why you’re only supposed to broach certain topics during these gatherings. We touched on these during the intro, but let’s elaborate on them more now.

– Increasing Short-Term Productivity

The keyword here really is short-term.

How productive are the workers who are involved in the meeting? What can you or others do to increase that productivity in the days and week ahead? Long-term productivity planning often involves more drawn-out conversations, so it’s not a topic to discuss during a 15-minute stand-up meeting.

Sometimes short-term productivity changes can affect the long term. If that’s not happening, then you may want to hold a much longer meeting to brainstorm what you can do for a more productive office.

– Setting Ground Rules for Task Completion

If employees by chance have questions about assignments due within the next few days, now’s a good time to discuss them. You want to make sure all parties present have ground rules to follow so they can successfully complete their tasks.

– Sharing Day-to-Day or Week-to-Week Agendas

These agendas should remain largely the same from one meeting to another or again, you risk making the meeting far longer than anyone would prefer. You can talk about agendas on a day-to-day basis or even a week-to-week basis if they’re uncomplicated and you can keep it brief.

– Addressing Current Obstacles and Challenges

What kinds of issues make it harder for employees to do their jobs well? Why have these obstacles become such a big deal? While it’s important to bring up these challenges, unless you have a quick solution, then save it for another meeting.  

– Delegating Tasks

This has to be quick. In fact, it’s better if everyone already knows what they’re supposed to do and you use this part of the meeting to confirm those duties.

What Should You Not Talk about?

By sticking to the above talking points, you should have a successful first 15-minute stand-up meeting. At the very least, you’re proud you stuck within the recommended 15 minutes.

To continue on that good path you forged, make sure you don’t veer off-task and discuss the following points.

– Long-Term Anything

As we said in the prior section, talking about long-term planning can become drawn out and lengthy fast. That’s not to say you should never discuss your company’s long-term goals, plans, and projects. Obviously, it’s very important that you do. You just need more than 15 minutes for such a conversation, so please don’t make everyone stand up. They’ll get cranky quick.

– All Orders on the Table

If you want to confirm tasks or even assign a few to 10 employees or fewer, you can typically get that done in less than 15 minutes. Covering every single task that every single employee in the office has to do will take a while depending on the size of your company. Realistically, you’re talking about a meeting that’s at least an hour, maybe more.

– New Projects Coming down the Pipeline

So, you’ve got some exciting new projects up your sleeve. Congratulations! As hard as it is to refrain, now’s really not the time to talk about these. You have to explain way too much background, and that will chew up all your time. Before you know it, those 15 minutes will have come and gone, and you barely got into the crux of the project. Hold a longer meeting dedicated to just the new project(s). That will give you a chance to explain the project in the detail it deserves.

– Prospective or New Clients

The same goes for if your company has decided to take on a new client or soon may. This is a time to be celebrated for sure. You also want to give your employees a lot of background on who this client is and how they may play a role in the company going forward. If that’s something you think you can do thoroughly in 15 minutes, then you’re deceiving yourself. Just like with a new project, a topic of this nature warrants a much lengthier meeting than one where everyone’s on their feet for only 15 minutes.

– Major Changes to How Work Gets Done

Perhaps you bought a new software or set of tools that simplify or otherwise alter the way your employees do their jobs. If you only talk about this for a minute or two during your huddle, you’re going to cause confusion and even panic among your employees. They’re not going to have a clear understanding of the new system and demand information from you.

You’d need to introduce the changes, explain the software/tools, maybe even do a live demo, and then share a timeline for software deployment. That sort of thing should take several hours, maybe even an afternoon. It’s not the time nor the place for a 15-minute meeting.  

– Code of Conduct Updates

That’s also true if you’re making changes to your company’s code of conduct. Whether you upgrade the dress code or alter the smartphone policy, it’s unfair to spend a minute or two tops on this and then move on to other pressing matters. Your employees will undoubtedly have questions, and that alone can take an hour or two to answer them all. There’s no way to have a meeting of this nature in 15 minutes. It’s better not to try.

What Are the Benefits of 15-Minute Stand-up Meetings?

After reading the above two sections, 15-minute stand-up meetings sound stressful to you. Do they really have any benefit? Indeed, they do. Here’s an overview of the myriad of perks your company could enjoy.

– Reinforcing Shared Goals

When everyone in the meeting knows what work they’re doing, when it’s due, and what it will do for the company, they develop shared goals. These goals make the company a more cohesive unit since everyone is working towards one thing rather than a slew of smaller, singular goals.

– Curtails Issues Before They Become Too Big

You know the old saying about nipping something in the bud, right? With 15-minute stand-up meetings, you can do just that. These meetings let you see what’s potentially wrong with the company or becoming wrong. You can then address and then tackle this problem head-on before it festers and grows (although preferably not in 15 minutes, as we said).

– More Knowledge Among Employees

The quick exchange of information increases each participant’s knowledge of what’s going on in their company and the duties required to keep a business running successfully.

– Increased Collaboration and Teamwork

If your company feels like a handful of individuals rather than a whole, then begin hosting 15-minute stand-up meetings. These quickfire brainstorm sessions naturally call for more teamwork than other types of meetings. Your employees will work together, eventually collaborating seamlessly.

How Frequently Do You Plan These Meetings?

If your company did begin having 15-minute stand-up meetings, what’s the norm? Should you host one every day? Once a month? Somewhere in between?

Actually, lots of companies aim to have these meetings two times every week. You might start and end the week with a stand-up meeting. This way, the time in between is the employees’ to achieve the goals laid out. If they by chance don’t do that, you can address it at the week-end meeting and work harder for the following week.

Tips for Implementing 15-Minute Stand-up Meetings in Your Office

Okay, so you’ve decided you want to host your first 15-minute stand-up meeting for your employees. You’re just not sure how it’s going to work, at least not yet.

Make sure you keep these tips in mind as you prepare for the meeting:

1. Create a meeting format that you will generally stick to each time. You may begin with a pertinent topic, then move on to performance reviews, success stories, challenges for the day/week, and project delegation. It’s up to you to come up with a format that’s agreeable to your employees but try to stay close to it with each meeting.

2. Choose the same days and times for the stand-up meeting every week. This way, it becomes burned in employees’ brains that they have this commitment at X time.

3. Send out recurring meeting invites anyway.

4. Don’t start late, as that puts a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

5. Keep everyone standing, as that’s the point of the meeting.

6. While it’s best if employees leave their electronics behind for 15 minutes, you do need some means of timing yourself, at least at first. Whether that’s the timer on your smartphone or even a traditional kitchen timer, get into the habit of timing yourself for a while. When you’re in the middle of a meeting, you can really lose track of 15 minutes. The timer will remind you it’s time to wrap up.

7. End the meeting on time. The benefits of these 15-minute meetings start to degrade the longer you make people wait around.

8. Know that mistakes happen and plan for them. For instance, maybe you covered a topic that’s too involved and you didn’t get all the way through your agenda because of it. You could then plan a bonus meeting to cover the topics you missed. Like anything, there will be some kinks to work out at first, but these will disappear with time.

Related Questions

Can you do stand-up meetings that are shorter than 15 minutes?  Sure, you can. Some companies prefer their scrum meetings to last between five and 10 minutes. You can follow this if you prefer but do know that time is even tighter here. If you’re having a hard time staying on-task during 15-minute meetings, you’ll find 10 minutes or even five minutes passes by in like a second.

Are stand-up meetings a waste of time?  If you go into your stand-up meeting disorganized, planning to talk about way too much, and not having an agenda, then yes, it is a waste of time. You need to be willing to put the work into these meetings to make them productive affairs.

Even if you try and fail at stand-up meetings, you’re wasting 15 minutes of employee time compared to hours. Make sure you read the tips above though to improve your chances at success!

Have you noticed a lack of productivity amongst the workers in your office or company? Is it something that has made an impact on each worker or just a select few? You might be surprised to discover that there are a number of everyday things in an office setting that can severely diminish productivity. In order to boost productivity to the desired level – and possibly beyond – consider the following 25 factors that might be affecting workers’ productivity.

25 Factors Affecting Workers’ Productivity In Your Organization

What Impact Does Productivity Have on the Work Day?

Most people have the occasional day where absolutely nothing gets done. For a lot of us, that is something that happens while we are home – instead of doing all of the planned household chores, you get sucked into a new Netflix series. However, it can happen at work too! Maybe you get to work ready to go, but sit down to a slow computer and lose your motivation. No matter the cause, having a lack of productivity will severely impact a worker’s day. 

Imagine paying an employee for 8 hours in a day, but only getting 3 or 4 solid hours of productive work from them. Not only is that hard on the company’s finances, but it changes how much work is actually being accomplished. If an employee could get a full day of productive work in their 8 hours, the accomplishments for the individual and the company as a whole would be so much greater.

1. Inflexible Workplace

Numerous recent studies have proven a flexible workplace is a more productive workplace. There are a variety of ways to create a more flexible workplace, from allowing employees to choose their own schedules to offering work from home options. Offering flexibility for workers affects productivity in a few different ways. 

One of the biggest hits to a worker’s productivity level is the standard work schedule. A 9-5 or similar structure is fine for many people, but not all. Individuals will work best at different times of the day. By allowing employees to work when they are feeling their most productive, employers can get more from their workers. 

Additionally, an employee that is able to work from home is one that saves time on the commute to and from the office. Rather than driving to and from the office, a worker can spend that time getting things accomplished. A home office also typically has fewer distractions than a work office filled with dozens of coworkers. (Read our related article – Importance of Workplace Adaptability and Flexibility)

2. Long Hours

Although it might seem as though long hours are necessary to accomplish all of the tasks at hand, it actually diminishes productivity. Working long hours increases fatigue and welcomes distractions. Rather than working 12 hour days, it would be more effective for employees to work during their most productive hours and limit the working hours so that unproductive hours are not being paid for. 

Imagine a long workday. How many breaks do you take? While standards change from state to state, most states require that employees offer 15 minutes every 4 hours or half an hour if consecutive working hours reach 5 hours. That means if you’re working an 11 hour day, you’ve spent an hour of that on a break. Not to mention how tired you would be in the later hours of the day – how much work would you really accomplish? Working shorter hours is a great way to be more productive.

3. Lighting

It comes as a surprise to many that lighting affects the efficiency and overall productivity of workers. Many people know that natural lighting is a mood-booster and stress-reducer. While those same effects make workers more productive, there are additional reasons why proper lighting can make your office a better and more productive space.

One of the reasons that lighting affects your ability to work is because sunlight tells the human body that it is time to work. Harsh lighting is often used when the sun goes down, so the body is often less prepared to work when it is not natural. By putting some focus on the quality of lighting in the office, you have the ability to improve productivity across the board.  (Read our related article – Light in the Workplace)

4. Illness

There are so many people in the workforce that get ill and still go to work because they are unable to afford a missed day of work. Unfortunately, they come to work and get far less done than usual and spread their illness to their coworkers. In order to prevent this from happening, it is important that companies have a good sick day policy in place.

Although it can be costly to offer paid sick days to a large number of employees, it is important to offer enough sick days to be realistic. For example, many employers do not offer sick days until after a full year of service. On average, people catch a cold 2 to 4 times per year. If someone were to catch a bad cold twice a year and it took 2 days for them to start feeling better, they would need at least 4 sick days. While it is a good idea to increase sick days as years of service increases, it is also smart to start employees out with some sick days as well.

5. Room Temperature

A cold employee is one that spends too much time adjusting their own personal space heater, getting a jacket from their vehicle, or walking around to keep their body temperature at the perfect level. This means that a cold employee is one that is not getting much work done as they could. 

A hot employee, however, tends to get sleepy and fatigued much faster than someone at a comfortable temperature. For most individuals, the best room temperature is set at 71 degrees. By setting your office thermostat to this or a similar temperature, you will likely see an improvement in productivity. 

6. Music

Music has a way of making many people focus. Some music is far too distracting to improve efficiency. Other music, though, has proven to improve mood and boost overall productivity in employees. So, which music should you play in your office?

America’s Top 40 is not a station that would improve your office’s productivity levels. In fact, this music has a way of catching the attention of employees and dragging it away from the task at hand. The best option for productive work is to play music without lyrics – instrumental music, classical, and jazz are just a few options that might work for you and your employees. (My recommendation is Brain.fm)

7. Work Stress

Working while too stressed can have a negative effect on productivity. Although stress to a certain extent has the ability to motivate and inspire efficiency in an office, too much is stifling. Stress in the office can stem from strict deadlines, too much noise, and as previously mentioned, bad lighting. Giving employees the ability to rid themselves of some stress is a great way to cut down on the aspects that you have no control over.

Some ways to help employees cut down on stress is by offering them a wellness room, an onsite gym, or allowing extra coffee breaks during busy times. Some companies even install a slide inside the office building as a way for employees to have a few seconds of fun to brighten up their day. Whether your office makes stress reduction a top priority or just a suggestion, it will likely show positive results in office productivity.  (Read our related article – Reduce Stress and Anxiety at Work)

8. Job Satisfaction

Having satisfied employees is crucial to running a productive business. An unhappy employee is one that often shows up to work to do the bare minimum to take home a regular paycheck. That employee is also commonly one that is looking for another job. A satisfied worker, on the other hand, will not only show up to work, but they will show up to work to the best of their ability.

In order to have happy workers, a company should develop a positive culture and focus on the employee. Benefits and pay should be competitive and worthwhile. The company should also help to develop relationships within the office – coworkers that get along are far more likely to stick around long term. Doing these factors among others will ensure job satisfaction and increase productivity. 

9. Ergonomics

The standard of ergonomics is something that doesn’t truly exist – any company can claim their product to be ergonomic without it having passed any tests or requirements. However, there is proof that desk chairs, keyboards, mice, and other ergonomic features have a positive impact on office life.

Furniture designed to keep employees comfortable and healthy is something that will increase productivity because those employees have to worry less about finding a comfortable position. They also don’t have to stop working every hour to take a walk or stretch out their back. Offering quality seating and desks are just a couple of ways to help employees help the company.  (Read our related article – Why is Ergonomics Important in the Workplace?)

10. Exercise

Regular exercise is known to boost energy levels and overall health and decrease stress. Although it can be difficult for employers to get their employees to exercise, there are ways to encourage the activity and ultimately increase productivity. For example, supervisors might organize a lunchtime walk to a nearby restaurant. A few blocks to the restaurant and a few blocks back may not be a lot of exercise but it is more than walking to the break room and back to a desk. 

Another way a business might encourage more physical activity among its workers is to participate in a charity walk or marathon. The company not only does some good for the world, but it gets employees involved in the exercise portion as well. By doing this, the team can work together to prepare for the event and simultaneously bond with one another. 

11. Messy Environment

Clutter can be a huge productivity killer. With a variety of items carelessly lying around, the brain finds it harder to focus on the current task. There are so many things to look at and take in. Clutter can also pull focus away from the task because the worker will have to sift through a pile of papers or move items around to get to find a pen or particular data. 

By using desk organizers, filing cabinets, and other organizing tools, employees have the ability to put items away that are not presently needed. Doing so will allow their focus to be on one thing at a time, thus boosting productivity. 

12. Desk Neighbor

Sometimes we have no choice in who we sit next to. It might be a best friend or your arch-nemesis. Both of which can make an impact on productivity. Sitting with friends can be either an efficiency booster or a killer, depending on the personalities involved. For example, best friends that are unable to work together because they have to trade the latest gossip constantly would not make good desk neighbors. Best friends that can put the chit chat away for another time might make great neighbors. 

Sitting near an arch-nemesis would likely inspire employees to work harder so that they can do more than their neighbor. It could also be a distraction if one employee focused more on what their desk neighbor was up to instead of accomplishing their own work. This is where an office seating chart might come in handy. Employees could sit near others based on personality and work ethic. 

13. Meetings

To the surprise of many, meetings often make a negative impact on worker productivity. Although short, concise meetings might be a productive way to start the day, middle of the day meetings can cause more harm than good. The easiest way to keep meetings short is to keep the guest list equally short. More people typically mean more interruptions and more opinions. That causes meetings to drag on much longer than intended.

If meetings are needed to keep everyone in the loop, try splitting up the meeting sessions into small groups. You might even have people start their workday in 30-minute increments – group 1 comes in at 7:30, group 2 at 8, and group 3 at 8:30. Doing this will allow each group the time in the morning to have a short meeting prior to starting their work. It will cut down on distractions and keep everyone informed. 

14. Manager or Supervisor

Productivity is often heavily influenced by the person in charge. If you are in charge of choosing management or supervisors (or if you are a manager or supervisor), be sure that they understand the effects of micromanaging. It is well known that a manager that keeps a close eye on his or her employee is one that causes stress and decreases productivity. This is because the employee feels under pressure and makes more mistakes.

By extending trust to employees and allowing them the freedom to accomplish the necessary tasks, supervisors give workers the ability to excel. Rather than micromanaging, step back and see what employees can achieve on their own. 

15. Training

Look closely into your training program. Poor productivity is often instilled in these programs and by trainers. If the training program for new employees is not structured and relies solely on the words or actions of another employee, some bad habits can be shared. If the training officer takes a smoke break every hour, the trainee will be under the impression that taking a break every hour is standard procedure.

In order to develop a program that encourages high productivity, companies must ensure that trainers are properly trained in the ways of bringing in new people. There should be a structure and specific goals outlined for each section of training, whether that means weekly accomplishments or something more frequent. 

16. Annual Review

While an annual review is a good idea in theory, it can ruin productivity. It is good to get progress reports – it tells employees what they are doing great at and what might need some improvement. However, having the review once a year does little to encourage change. After the review, an employee might focus on the factors mentioned, but a few months in might see the worker reverting to old habits. 

Instead of an annual review, try quarterly or monthly progress reports. With less time between reviews, employees have a better chance of remembering to focus on the improvements needed. Doing so will encourage productivity. 

17. Proper Tools and Equipment

There is nothing worse than coming into work on Monday morning ready to work but your computer is not quite as ready. When you are feeling ready to go and the equipment you have is slow or uncooperative, it will likely drag you down. This is why a company should ensure that employees have the proper tools and equipment necessary to do their jobs.  (Read our related article – 28 Workplace Software Tools You Need to Know)

Although the purchase of new computers for an entire office might cost more than anyone would like to spend, waiting on a slow computer has the ability to diminish productivity and lose the company a lot of money over time. Imagine waiting a total of 30 minutes over the course of a day for your computer to catch up. For a single employee, that is two and a half hours a week. If that is true for 16 employees in a company, they have paid the salary of an entire full-time worker for no work. 

18. Integrated Team

An office full of strangers is an office lacking in productivity. There is so much potential in a team, but they cannot be their best unless the employees know one another and know how to best work together. By encouraging team bonding and learning things about coworkers, a company can develop a team that is integrated and works well together.

Many companies will take their employees out quarterly to a fun event that allows everyone to relax and get to know one another better. There are also more regular options like ice breakers and weekly pot lucks in the office. Not only allowing, but encouraging, employees to become friends is a great way to boost productivity.

19. Confusing Expectations

Every employee that is not 100% clear on what they are supposed to be doing is causing the company a lag in efficiency. For every minute that an employee has to ask a coworker what they are supposed to be doing, the company is losing productive time. So, how does a business ensure that its employees understand what is expected of them?

Employees should have easy access to their job description. It might be printed out and posted in their office or saved in an email. Any confusion should be addressed immediately. It is also important that the company adhere to the job description provided and if changes are necessary, the employee is involved in a discussion regarding the change. 

20. Prioritizing

Making a list of priorities is crucial to being your most productive. While it might seem easy to simply put your priorities in order of their deadline, there should be more thought that goes into the process. Choosing when to do specific tasks should involve a thought process of not only when, but also in order of difficulty and the total time it will take to accomplish the task. 

For instance, you might have a hugely important task that has to be done in 3 days, but there is another task due in 4 days that will take just a few minutes of your time. Focusing all of your energy on the big task might burn you out, causing the smaller task to be harder than it should. Getting the smaller job done can help to boost your motivation levels and finish off the big one.

21. Multi-tasking

Despite what many people think, multi-tasking is detrimental to productivity levels. It might feel as though you are accomplishing more while you are multi-tasking, but studies show that splitting the brain’s focus between multiple activities at once only results in slower response times. There are a variety of online tests that prove this by having you read the names of colors while the actual color of the font is in a different color. It is highly difficult for the brain to separate the two. 

Instead of multi-tasking, employees should completely stop one task prior to moving on to another. If possible, the first task should be totally finished so that the brain is no longer thinking about it. It is easiest to do this if large tasks are broken up into smaller chunks. 

22. Breaks

Taking breaks while at work are both necessary and anti-productive. They are necessary because an entire workday with no breaks will lead to a highly unproductive day. An employee that works in this manner will likely have a good few hours at the start of the day, but will quickly lose steam. 

Breaks should be limited, but not completely restricted. It might be best for management to allow a total allowance of breaks instead of offering two 15 minute breaks. For example, two 15 minute breaks add up to 30 minutes a day. Instead of breaking those into two, allow the employee to choose if he or she wants to take the suggested two or if three 10 minute breaks would be better for them. 

23. To-do Lists

Although to-do lists are similar to prioritizing, they differ by informing employees exactly what needs to get done and not necessarily the things that have to be done this week. To-do lists also will include the less important tasks that sometimes get left behind. A to-do list can also help to create a clear list of priorities.

To-do lists can also be created by management or supervisors. Prioritizing the items on the list can be left to the employees themselves. This allows for some guidance and freedom to choose simultaneously. 

24. Time-Consuming Activities

So many employers feel the need to give their employees work that will take their time so that they can justify a salary. However, many tasks asked of workers are just busywork. These kinds of activities are often put aside until the employee gets around to it. Unfortunately, this means that what was once a quick activity has turned into a day of completing backed up busywork. 

By scheduling a specific time each day, or even weekly, employees have time to do simple things. It can even be used as a break of sorts – something different from everyday tasks. Doing this will increase productivity and allow employees to do an easy job to take the stress of complicated stuff. 

25. No Incentive

In order to get the best work out of your employees, it is important to have a little extra incentive. While good pay is often an incentive for quality work, a bonus is always a great way to push employees just a little farther. Other ideas for extra incentive might include a competition, an additional paid day off, or casual clothes day. (Read our related article – Difference Between Employee Engagement And Job Satisfaction)

While the level of incentive is related to the task in question, adding something to an employee’s salary will also increase job satisfaction. Since job satisfaction is also a way to boost productivity, doing both is sure to make productivity a priority for the employee. 

Making a Productive Change

It can be difficult to introduce change. Making a change so that productivity can thrive is a worthwhile effort. When workers become more efficient, fewer hours are needed for the same work. Or, on the other side of it, the same hours are needed for more work. This costs the company less money to produce more. It is a positive impact on the bottom line. 

Take productivity seriously: make a change.

Related Questions

What are some of the biggest time wasters in business? There are a number of things happening in your office that waste time. Two of the biggest items are procrastination and social media. Finding a way to get rid of these distractions is key to maximizing productivity.

How much money is lost to business meetings? It is estimated that business meetings that serve little to no purpose cost a total of $37 billion annually. This total comes from both a loss of productivity and the cost of meeting space and materials.

Productivity and motivation are some of the significant aspects of business success. Whether you are a business leader, entrepreneur, or manager, it is essential to find motivational quotes that make you and your employees productive at work. Below are the 50 workplace productive quotes that can help you to stay productive at the workplace. 

Let’s have a look at them: 

1. If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. – Bruce Lee

2. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. -Steve Jobs

3. Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort. – Paul J. Meyer

4. Stressing output is the key to improving productivity while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite. – Andrew Grove

Are standing desks actually bad for you?

5. Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.- Franz Kafka

6. If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress. – Barack Obama

7. Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own. – Bruce Lee

8. Do the hard jobs first. Easy jobs will take care of themselves. – Dale Carnegie

9. Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can’t miss. – Lee Iacocca

10. The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. – Walt Disney

11. He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. – Muhammad Ali

12. Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people. – John D. Rockefeller

13. The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager. – Peter Drucker

14. Understanding your employee’s perspective can go a long way towards increasing productivity and happiness – Kathryn Minshew

15. Productivity doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be easily boosted through a manageable combination of the right tools, resources, and habits to make the most of your time. – Caroline Ghosn

16. Productivity depends on many factors, including our workforce’s knowledge and skills and the quantity and quality of the capital, technology, and infrastructure that they have to work with. – Janet Yellen

17. Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all. – Peter Drucker

18. The productivity of a workgroup seems to depend on how the group members see their own goals in relation to the goals of the organization. – Ken Blanchard

19. Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends, there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing. – Thomas A. Edison

20. Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work. – Stephen King

21. Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The Sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. – Alexander Graham Bell 

22. Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. – Francis Of Assisi

23. All things will be produced in superior quantity and quality, and with  greater ease, when each man works at a single occupation, in accordance with his natural gifts, and at the right moment, without meddling with anything else. – Plato

24. It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less. – Nathan W. Morris

25. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it.” – Stephen Hawking

26. Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” – David Allen

27. The more you eliminate the inefficient use of information, the better it is for productivity.” – Mitch Kapor

28. The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. – Stephen Covey

29. A worker without genius is better than a genius who won’t work. – Leopold Auer

30. Passion is a fuel to run your engine in order to give more productivity. – Myra Yadav

31. Stop measuring days by degree of productivity and start experiencing them by degree of presence. – Alan Watts

32. When we simplify, we are attending to our minds. Clear minds lead to creativity, vision, health, and productivity. – Angela Lynne Craig

33. If you want to double your productively, shorten the timeline to by 50%. – Richie Norton

34. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard. – Caterina Fake

35. If you have time to whine, then you have time to find solutions. – Dee Dee Artner

36. There is no substitute for hard work. – Thomas A. Edison

37. No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant. – Warren Buffett

38. You can’t get much done in life if you only work on days when you feel good. – Jerry West

39. Sometimes the biggest gain in productive energy will come from cleaning the cobwebs, dealing with old business, and clearing the desks—cutting loose debris that’s impeding forward motion. – David Allen

40. It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about? – Henry David Thoreau

41. The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings. Thomas Sowell

42. What looks like multitasking is really switching back and forth between multiple tasks, which reduces productivity and increases mistakes by up to 50%. – Susan Cain

43. Gentleness doesn’t get work done unless you happen to be a hen laying eggs. – Coco Chanel

44. Always deliver more than expected. – Larry Page

45. Lost time is never found again. – Benjamin Franklin

46. My goal is no longer to get more done, but rather to have less to do. – Francine Jay

47. Make each day your masterpiece. – John Wooden

48. Either you run the day or the day runs you. – Alice Glyn

49. If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude. – Charles R. Swindoll

50. The secret of joy in work is contained in one word – excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it. – Pearl Buck

Hopefully, these workplace productivity quotes can make you and your staff more productive at work. Now that you’ve read these fabulous quotes spread them among your employees and motivate them to get back to their desks with energy and enthusiasm.