Become a Power User
Many people today spend an incredible amount of time using a variety of collaborative technologies. It seems that for many employees today, the core of their job is really communicating and collaborating with both internal and external partners. Whether that means email, Slack, Google Docs, Sharepoint, Zoom, Skype or some other tool, we all seem to spend a lot of time in the middle of technology-mediated collaboration.
Given how much of our working lives are spent tied up in using these technology tools, I think most people don’t spend enough time learning to be power users of their core technology tools. Learning to get most out of the tools that you may spend the majority of your day using can pay enormous dividends for you in terms of effectiveness.
I was really reminded of this recently when I got an invitation to try Superhuman, the email client that promises huge productivity gains. I’ll be honest that I was somewhat skeptical about the concept right from the beginning, but given the number of smart people who are totally sold on it I decided to give it an honest try — including really learning the power user features. Superhuman makes this easy by requiring a 30-minute video-conference onboarding experience before you start using the client.
The on-boarding was quite useful and really got me to understand the tool well. And while there were some enhancements from my normal email routine, the vast majority of the value really came from learning how to use power features already available in Gmail. I honestly think there is a good business just setting up hour-long sessions teaching people how to use Gmail and other core collaboration technologies to their full potential — most users could be much more productive without getting new tools.
After this realization, I suggested to our company that we put together Lunch ‘n Learn on getting the most out of our tech tools. We pulled that together in about 3 weeks, covering Gmail, Google Drive/Docs/Sheets/Slides, Slack, and Zoom — and it was incredibly popular! We will be turning that into smaller snippets so it’s easier to digest for employees who need a refresher or people new the company.
So, please take the time to get to know your tools. You don’t need to be a technical person to become a power user of tools like Gmail or Slack — and learning to use them well will make you more productive every single day. It is honestly one of the best investments you can make in your future success.
Originally published at https://jeffkeltner.com on May 21, 2020.
