Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) tells the story about a man discovering someone trying to chop down a large tree with a very blunt axe.

Because the axe is blunt it's obvious to the man they're getting nowhere trying fell the tree.

"Your axe is blunt" he points out, "Why don't you sharpen it? he asks.

"I can't" they reply.  

"I'm too busy trying to chop down this tree" .

This is the problem facing many professionals these days.  They 're too busy to "sharpen their saw" and hone their productivity skills.

If they did, they'd make more efficient and more effective progress towards achieving their objectives.

Struggling With The Huge Volume Of E Mail Traffic That Ends Up Being A Complete And Utter Time Such

Unable To Progress Their Own Work Because Of Endless Rounds Of Unproductive Real & Virtual Meetings

Difficulty Focusing On Their Priorities Because Of A Constant Stream Of Trivial And Unnecessary Distractions

Constant Procrastination Whilst Faced With An Overwhelming Choice Of Things To Do So Precious Time Is Wasted

Huge Inefficiencies By Trying To Multi-Task and Juggle Too Many Projects So They Appear Busy But Little Gets Done

Forever Firefighting And Reacting To The Symptoms Of Problems And Challenges (Often Of Other People's Making)

Routinely Under The Intense Pressure Of Last Minute Efforts To Meet Crucial Deadlines

Regularly Working Late Into The Evening, Unable To Switch Off Because Of Working From Home

Difficulty Saying No To The Majority Of The Conflicting Demands So They Can't Focus On What's Important

When these build up, productivity is dramatically and negatively affected.

But more important, there's a huge cost to people's mental health and well being when they start to struggle under intense workloads.

Whilst the pressure of the workload is intense, and sometimes unbearable, it only takes a few tiny tweaks in what they're doing to make a significant improvement in their productivity.

"I was very impressed by his ability to gain and hold the attention of such a demanding audience."

Mekitapen Learning & Development

"I was so impressed with the format of this that I told our HR department all training should be done this way."

Project Manager, NATO HQ

"This productivity training was engaging, at times entertaining and a valuable use of my time."

Engineer

• STEP 1 - Complete an online survey about their productivity and what they'd like to achieve from the session so it can be tailored to the unique needs of the audience.
  
  
• STEP 2 - [OPTIONAL] - Participants do (very simple) pre-work in readiness for the live workshop.  This will provide extremely valuable data points to allow them to target the workshop to their real-time, real-world challenges.
  
  
• STEP 3 - Participants attend the interactive and engaging live 3 hour  workshop with Michael (can be delivered live or online).  No Powerpoint At All!
  
  
• STEP 4 - [OPTIONAL] - Participants are provided a 7 day email training that walks them through applying the Productivity Improvement Operating System (P.I.O.S.) to their top development behaviour.
  

"I have applied your strategies for dealing with e mail and am already seeing efficiencies that are saving me a considerable amount of time."

Business Coach

"This seminar was professionally delivered and contained many useful and practical strategies that will help me become more productive."

Station Commander, Scottish Fire & Rescue

"I was both stimulated and challenged by the content and am already seeing the results of changing my behaviours."

EMEA Business Manager, MFS Investment

These recordings are taken from an online version of the workshop and shows interaction with participants as well as key sections of the content..  The content delivered is exactly the same when delivered face to face.

Step 1 - Review the testimonials from previous clients who've booked this workshop to understand how easy it is to work with me. 

Step 2 - Review the testimonials from previous participants who've attended the workshop to understand the quality of delivery and the impact it has.

Step 3 - Book a call with me so we can discuss your needs and see whether we can work together to support your people by delivering this productivity training.

"Michael came and delivered his excellent Power of Focus Seminar to a select group of my clients in Paris recently.  I was very impressed by his energy, enthusiasm and passion for his subject but also with his ability to gain and hold the attention of such a demanding audience.  

It is extremely rare to see a subject matter expert deliver such a practical, valuable and engaging live seminar without the use of powerpoint.  I was just as impressed with his ability to engage an audience and deliver valuable content in the follow up webinars.  

His advice was backed up by research and experiential activities  but more importantly, it was practical.  

Already I have booked Michael to come back and work with more of my clients later this year."

"Michael, what a delight it was to host your outstanding workshop to our audience of Members and guests in Edinburgh, yesterday.

The feedback was exceptional. The attendees loved not just the powerful and readily applicable learning points, but your energy, wholly appropriate humour and your encouraging and welcoming challenge and interaction.

From a logistic perspective, your pre event communication could not be bettered. I knew from your call to me, the passion you were going to have for delivering a quality work event to our demanding audience.

I cannot emphasise how much we enjoyed working with you and hope there are many opportunities to do so in the future. Thank you."

"I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of days with Michael Tipper recently when he delivered his productivity workshop to clients in Brussels and Amsterdam.  

Comments from both groups were extremely positive with excellent feedback on the quality of Michael’s delivery and the value and relevance of his content.  

As well as being very engaging, it is clear Michael walks his talk (as can be seen on his podcast) and clearly understands how to share his experiences and help others practically apply and benefit from his advice.  

It was most refreshing to see just how engaging a presentation delivered just using colourful and well drawn flip charts can be."

PROJECT MANAGER, NATO HQ

“My name is Maria L’Episcopo and I attended Michael Tipper’s Workshop when he came to Brussels recently. I work at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

I decided to attend because I always found myself staying at work longer than I'd intended to. This was causing pressure for me at home, especially as I have a young baby and so it was important for me to make some changes in how I work.

I loved the format of the Workshop. Half a day of live, face to face contact with Michael meant I could fit it into my busy schedule. 

I was so impressed with the format that I told our HR department all training should be done this way.

I am pleased to say I now feel much more focused and in control of my workload and am now regularly going home on time and still managing to stay on top of things.”

STATION COMMANDER
SCOTTISH FIRE AND RESCUE

"I attended your workshop in Edinburgh recently and was really impressed by how you tied together relevant strands from conventional “time management”, performance psychology, neuroscience in a way that made complete sense to me. 

I really liked your Productivity Improvement Operating System and that will allow me to take the behaviour shifts you recommend and implement them into my own working practices.  

Perhaps the biggest penny dropping moment for me from what you shared was helping me gain clarity on what my Main Thing is. 

Overall I thought the Workshop was professionally delivered and contained many useful and practical strategies that will help me become more productive."

CERTIFIED PERSONAL & BUSINESS COACH

"I attended Michael's excellent Workshop in Brussels recently. There were two main things that stood out for me.

The first was the power of how Michael framed productive behaviours so they could be developed as long term habits. 

The second was the three powerful strategies Michael gave to reduce the massive number of things on my to do list down to just the important ones so I can stay focused and productive.

I have also applied Michael's strategies for dealing with email and I'm already seeing efficiencies that are saving me a considerable amount of time. 

Overall I have enjoyed the workshop but more importantly I have benefitted from what I have applied."

BUSINESS MANAGER, EMEA REGION, MFS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

"After recently returning to work after having my second child, I felt the need to improve my productivity and so was delighted to attend Michael's recent Workshop in London.  I found the seminar extremely enlightening.  In particular the seminar helped me realise how much time I've been wasting by multi-tasking when I had previously always thought it was a useful way to approach work.

I was particularly impressed with Michael's tips on taming the e mail beast.  My company has an extremely high volume of e mail traffic and a culture of quick response and  I have implemented many of the strategies Michael recommended and they’ve been very helpful.  After listening to him talk about the importance of the Main Thing, I realised I was not clear on what mine was and so I could see a huge impact of that on my productivity.  I have been able to block out more of my time on important tasks and have educated my team on keeping me accountable for sticking with those blocks.

Overall I enjoyed the workshop, was both stimulated and challenged by the content and am already seeing the results of changing my behaviours thanks to Michael."

ENGINEER

"Attending your workshop in Amsterdam recently was a huge eye opener for me.    After listening to you I went back and applied just a handful of the many things you shared and already, I am much more focused and have created far more effective plans for the achievement of my goals. 

Even after getting back to work, your suggestions made me aware of just how distracted and inefficient I had been despite putting tons of effort in.  I can remember saying “Oh My God! This is Terrible” once I realised just how bad things were. 

But having attended your workshop, I now have your Productivity Improvement Operating System (which I think is great by the way) to continually make small and manageable changes to ramp up  my efficiency and effectiveness on a daily basis.  And already I am seeing tangible improvements. 

Overall I thought the workshop was engaging, at times entertaining and a valuable use of my time."