Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to honor people's time. If you are in
Speaker 1: charge of how other people spend their time, being a
Speaker 1: good steward of this resource means spending your time making
Speaker 1: sure that others don't waste theirs. I read a story
Speaker 1: in the Wall Street Journal recently about how some companies
Speaker 1: are responding to the labor shortage by really thinking through
Speaker 1: how employees spend their time. If you have got a
Speaker 1: five person team on a project, and you just can't
Speaker 1: hire a sixth person, making sure that the existing five
Speaker 1: people aren't wasting two hours a day on meaningless work
Speaker 1: is there's one way to open up the equivalent space.
Speaker 1: One company simply deleted thousands of meetings from people's calendars.
Speaker 1: Others streamlined apps for submitting expenses, some made it easier
Speaker 1: to log in. I am glad these companies are thinking
Speaker 1: about these things, but I shudder to think how long
Speaker 1: those thousands of easily canceled meetings were showing up on
Speaker 1: people's calendars. The companies said it freed up over three
Speaker 1: hundred thousand hours by doing that, but imagine what would
Speaker 1: have happened if they hadn't been wasting that time in
Speaker 1: the first place. Wasting employees' time is a terrible idea.
Speaker 1: Even if people do have to be there eight hours
Speaker 1: a day, they can get eight hours of real work done,
Speaker 1: or they can get decidedly less work done. The former
Speaker 1: sounds a lot better now. Of course, I understand that
Speaker 1: from a managerial perspective, this is hard. Deciding what other
Speaker 1: people will do with their time is work, and it
Speaker 1: often feels like thankless, unnoticed work. And yet, while you
Speaker 1: want to empower people to make their own decisions, you
Speaker 1: do need to give some guidance because otherwise, since people
Speaker 1: want you to believe that they are working hard, they
Speaker 1: will show up in meetings even if they are not
Speaker 1: absolutely necessary. People want you to believe they are thorough,
Speaker 1: so they do extra research on topics that you didn't
Speaker 1: really care about, but you didn't communicate that fact. People
Speaker 1: want you to think they are dedicated to their jobs,
Speaker 1: so they respond quickly to your emails, even if you
Speaker 1: would have been fine with them batching tasks so they
Speaker 1: could get more done. It is challenging, but it's also
Speaker 1: just a matter of spending time on this just like
Speaker 1: anything else, so make time for it. If you plan
Speaker 1: your own weeks on Fridays, why not take a little
Speaker 1: bit of time to check in with others about their
Speaker 1: goals and your expectations too. These check ins don't have
Speaker 1: to be formal thirty minute meetings with calendar invites. Just
Speaker 1: call or pop by the person's desk and have a
Speaker 1: quick chat. Be clear about what you care about and
Speaker 1: what you don't so people don't waste time on the latter.
Speaker 1: Give clear instructions so people don't waste time. Figuring out
Speaker 1: what you meant to the best of your ability. Help
Speaker 1: people establish what a good day or a good week
Speaker 1: looks like so everyone can have the satisfaction of a
Speaker 1: job well done. Ask people to tell you about inefficiencies
Speaker 1: or anything that seems pointless. Sometimes these things have a
Speaker 1: point that you can explain, but if they don't, then
Speaker 1: maybe that is something to take care of. All of
Speaker 1: this goes for our personal lives too. Those of us
Speaker 1: who have kids are often in charge of their time,
Speaker 1: and they have even less ability to seek out other
Speaker 1: places where their time is better honored than employees do.
Speaker 1: Kids time is precious, so it is good to pay
Speaker 1: attention to what interests them, which friends they truly like seeing,
Speaker 1: and when they need space to explore. I think it
Speaker 1: is also wise to avoid wasting their time when it
Speaker 1: is possible not to. One of the reasons my family
Speaker 1: has gotten extra driving help sometimes on weekends and afternoons
Speaker 1: is so younger kids don't have to spend a beautiful
Speaker 1: day stuck in the car driving bigger kids to activities.
Speaker 1: It is a big responsibility to have authority over someone
Speaker 1: else's time. Time is the ultimate non renewable resource, even
Speaker 1: if you are paying someone for their time. Good stewardship
Speaker 1: of a precious resource means not wasting time when you
Speaker 1: can avoid it. So if you are in charge of
Speaker 1: someone else, make sure they can feel efficient, effective, and
Speaker 1: happy with their time too. It will likely help you
Speaker 1: get more done, but I bet it will make life
Speaker 1: more pleasant too. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: That's b E. The number four. Then Breakfast pod. You
Speaker 1: can also shoot me an e at Before Breakfast Podcasts
Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. That before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters, thanks so much. Should I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
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