Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to handle situations when people
Speaker 1: do not value your time. I was thinking about this
Speaker 1: after receiving a note from a listener who was a
Speaker 1: frequent volunteer. Some of the organizations she serves are well run,
Speaker 1: others are less, so she described the frustration of showing
Speaker 1: up at a board meeting at six thirty pm and
Speaker 1: not achieving a quorum until seven. She noted that this
Speaker 1: was especially galling since the group had originally planned to
Speaker 1: meet at seven, but had changed the start time to
Speaker 1: six thirty pm to accommodate people's requests. Then they started
Speaker 1: late anyway, This is incredibly frustrating, but she wasn't sure
Speaker 1: what to do. After all, she truly supports the organization's mission,
Speaker 1: but having your time wasted like this is disrespectful. In
Speaker 1: her case, this happened in a volunteer context. She mused
Speaker 1: that she didn't think it would happen in a workplace.
Speaker 1: But I've gotten enough notes about this topic to know
Speaker 1: that getting paid doesn't necessarily solve the problem. A disorganized
Speaker 1: supervisor might have people waiting around needlessly, but figure he's
Speaker 1: paying for their time, so it's all good, But really
Speaker 1: it isn't. Time is precious, and ultimately, when people feel
Speaker 1: their time is not respected, they look for other opportunities,
Speaker 1: or they stay but they don't perform at their best.
Speaker 1: I'd also add that if a business is not respecting
Speaker 1: customer time, the customers will go elsewhere, maybe not immediately,
Speaker 1: but eventually, and they'll warn their friends too. There are
Speaker 1: a few things you can do in situations where your
Speaker 1: time might not be respected. I tried to be careful
Speaker 1: about the volunteer opportunities I seek out and agree to.
Speaker 1: In general, I look for ones where I know that
Speaker 1: I will be able to spend time with people I
Speaker 1: care about, So with my kids schools, I like to
Speaker 1: do things where I know I'll be able to spend
Speaker 1: time with my kids or my kids teachers. That way,
Speaker 1: even if things don't necessarily happen efficiently, I know my
Speaker 1: time is being well spent nurturing relationships. For projects where
Speaker 1: this won't be an opportunity, I try to see if
Speaker 1: there's a way I could donate instead. I'd also suggest
Speaker 1: seeking out volunteer opportunities where you can actually be in charge.
Speaker 1: In our listeners case, it sounds like the board she
Speaker 1: served on had some serious issues, she could quit. This
Speaker 1: is always an option. There are infinite problems in the
Speaker 1: world and you cannot solve all of them, So even
Speaker 1: if you do support an organization's mission, you might be
Speaker 1: best off targeting your time differently. But our listener wouldn't
Speaker 1: have to quit. Another option is that she could work
Speaker 1: over the next year or so to become the president
Speaker 1: of the board. Then she could rework policies and schedules
Speaker 1: to introduce more accountability. If nothing else, she could bring
Speaker 1: on more reliable people, and regardless of whether she was
Speaker 1: in charge, she could solve the immediate problem by offering
Speaker 1: to drive three volunteers to each meeting so there would
Speaker 1: automatically be a quorum. As for a work situation, it
Speaker 1: might help to track your time and have an honest
Speaker 1: conversation with a supervisor about this. You could show the
Speaker 1: downtime and ask for suggestions of what you could work
Speaker 1: on during these windows. This isn't complaining, it's actually helpful,
Speaker 1: no doubt. There are all kinds of work that does
Speaker 1: need to get done, even if it's not your official
Speaker 1: job description, or if you're high up enough in an
Speaker 1: organization to know the finances, you might point out the
Speaker 1: waste organizing time better might mean you wouldn't have to
Speaker 1: hire new people. Most people do take bottom line arguments seriously.
Speaker 1: If you're wasting a lot of time and meetings, take
Speaker 1: it upon yourself to become the person pushing for an
Speaker 1: agenda in all meetings. Offer to be the timekeeper. If
Speaker 1: the person organizing the meeting seems unfamiliar with this concept,
Speaker 1: you can point them to the vast literature online about
Speaker 1: better meetings. In other situations, play offense to keep people
Speaker 1: from wasting your time. I get particularly frustrated with healthcare
Speaker 1: providers who don't view their patient's time as valuable. I
Speaker 1: will definitely switch to other providers, and you should too,
Speaker 1: But if that's not immediately an option, I'll ask for
Speaker 1: the first appointment of the day or talk to the
Speaker 1: scheduler about when the delays tend to be lowest. I
Speaker 1: also bring something to do While waiting is annoying and frustrating,
Speaker 1: It is less so with a good podcast or book
Speaker 1: to fill the time. If you're waiting with kids, feel
Speaker 1: free to make use of screens during this time. It
Speaker 1: will give you a few minutes to relax. Even if
Speaker 1: the city suation isn't ideal, being able to zone out
Speaker 1: and take some deep breaths in the middle of the
Speaker 1: day can feel pretty good. How do you keep people
Speaker 1: from wasting your time? You can let me know at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b E
Speaker 1: the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can
Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
Speaker 1: iHeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.