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 to not reward looking busy. If you
Speaker 1: are managing other people, what you say and what you
Speaker 1: do can determine whether people focus on impact or on
Speaker 1: things that just don't really matter. I am sure we
Speaker 1: have all had moments in life when we have felt
Speaker 1: pressure to look busy, and so if you are over
Speaker 1: the age of ten or so, you have probably figured
Speaker 1: out your tricks pretending to look at something in your
Speaker 1: notebook so the teacher thinks you're working on up to
Speaker 1: the adult habits of keeping lots of things open on
Speaker 1: a laptop or desktop, making sure not to leave until
Speaker 1: your manager leaves, or the remote work technique of sending
Speaker 1: emails very early in the morning and very late at night,
Speaker 1: you know, so your boss knows you're working more hours
Speaker 1: than your colleagues. In some cases, we can completely see
Speaker 1: the game. Workers in high rise buildings may have seen
Speaker 1: someone lingering on the roof of another building for a while,
Speaker 1: smoking a cigarette, hanging out. They were sent up on
Speaker 1: the roof for something. And then if you're on the roof,
Speaker 1: you're obviously working, so maybe just stay there a little while.
Speaker 1: You certainly look busy to anyone on the ground, if
Speaker 1: not to the folks who can see you from their
Speaker 1: office windows. So it goes for a nice day on
Speaker 1: the roof. But there are downsides to an organizational culture
Speaker 1: where looking busy is rewarded. For instance, some people send
Speaker 1: slack messages whose major purpose is to show that they
Speaker 1: are working, But then those messages can interrupt people who
Speaker 1: are in fact working, or who are trying to relax
Speaker 1: so they can work effectively during regular business hours. When
Speaker 1: everyone is so busy, there is a tendency not to
Speaker 1: ask for help because who has the time. You might
Speaker 1: miss opportunities because everyone is just too busy to seek
Speaker 1: them out and execute on those that appear promising and
Speaker 1: more fundamentally, being busy is a pretty meaningless metric. If
Speaker 1: you sold a million dollar proposal in two minutes on
Speaker 1: Monday morning, you'd be doing more for your organization that
Speaker 1: week than if you spent fifty hours re editing the
Speaker 1: employee newsletter by continuously changing the font. What matters is
Speaker 1: what you get done. The good news is that if
Speaker 1: you are in management, you have the ability to help
Speaker 1: create a culture that focuses on what people get done
Speaker 1: that in turn helps people have balanced lives while accomplishing
Speaker 1: meaningful things. No one really likes keeping a spreadsheet up
Speaker 1: on their laptop until seven p m. Just so it
Speaker 1: looks like they're doing something when they're actually scrolling on
Speaker 1: their phone. They'd prefer to be doing something challenging, or
Speaker 1: at least something where they can see the purpose, and
Speaker 1: they'd like to be doing it in the company of
Speaker 1: supportive people, and they'd like to do it efficiently and
Speaker 1: then get back any extra time. The first step is
Speaker 1: to regularly talk with people about the expectations for their roles,
Speaker 1: set doable goals together. Weekly might be a good rhythm
Speaker 1: for many people, though some new or very young hires
Speaker 1: might even need a daily conversation. At first, talk about
Speaker 1: how long various tasks should take. Talk about deadlines and
Speaker 1: what to do if you get stuck. Then check in
Speaker 1: regularly with people about how the tasks are going and
Speaker 1: if the timeline seem appropriate, See how people are filling
Speaker 1: their days. If stuff is taking too long or too
Speaker 1: little time, that's not good or bad per se. It's
Speaker 1: just information, and so you can figure out how best
Speaker 1: to allocate resources. You can also have a conversation with
Speaker 1: people about what to do if they have finished their
Speaker 1: primary work, What other work should they do, or what
Speaker 1: professional development or collegial relationship building is appropriate. Maybe that's
Speaker 1: thinking about ways you can enhance your organization services, watching
Speaker 1: a webinar to build skills, or even going out for
Speaker 1: coffee to get to know a colleague better. These are
Speaker 1: all much better uses of time than looking at their
Speaker 1: calendar for the next week. In multiple views, some people
Speaker 1: will naturally take the initiative to do these things, but
Speaker 1: some just won't, so talk with them about it. And again,
Speaker 1: if people have done the requirements of their job to
Speaker 1: the high standards that you expect, then they don't have
Speaker 1: to stick around just to do so. You can work
Speaker 1: together to figure out work that will take approximately forty
Speaker 1: hours per week or whatever of the general expectation is.
Speaker 1: Then how people work these hours can be at least
Speaker 1: partly up to them, and crucially, watch what you say
Speaker 1: and what you do. Don't praise people for getting in
Speaker 1: early and staying late, or sending emails at all hours
Speaker 1: of the day, or boasting about how busy they are.
Speaker 1: If someone signs off at four PM leaves the office,
Speaker 1: then you don't need to say heading out early today, huh.
Speaker 1: If someone else says that, you can remind people that
Speaker 1: you aren't working in a factory where you punch in
Speaker 1: and punch out. I mean, unless you truly are working
Speaker 1: in such a place. You can praise people primarily for
Speaker 1: what they produce. That might sound obvious, but it is
Speaker 1: challenging in practice because thanking a team for their long
Speaker 1: hours can just roll off the tongue. Thanks for all
Speaker 1: those long hours you put in. Well, instead, you can
Speaker 1: thank them for their hard work and they're insightful solutions.
Speaker 1: Even more important, you can model that it is okay
Speaker 1: to work reasonable hours and not be available. Sometimes try
Speaker 1: not to send emails outside of business hours because your
Speaker 1: employees will likely respond as quickly as they can. That's
Speaker 1: just human nature to want to show your boss that
Speaker 1: you are responsive. Tell people if you are leaving for
Speaker 1: something family related. You don't have to say it's a
Speaker 1: doctor's appointment. I have never quite understood why that is okay.
Speaker 1: But not going to an event at a kid's school.
Speaker 1: Show that you have a life outside work, and then
Speaker 1: also talk about what your organization's big goals are people
Speaker 1: like to know why their work matters and how they
Speaker 1: are contributing to the whole. Making sure everyone is clear
Speaker 1: on that keeps people focused on results. You don't want
Speaker 1: your staff doing the knowledge worker equivalent of standing around
Speaker 1: on the roof. You want them to get their work
Speaker 1: done and then intentionally and openly use the available time
Speaker 1: for other valuable pursuits. And that's what they want to
Speaker 1: It feels good to do efficient and meaningful work 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 letter us. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. YEA