1
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,200
Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:12,799
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

3
00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,720
Speaker 1: Today's tip comes from Lindsay Pollock, who's an expert on

4
00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:21,160
Speaker 1: generations in the workplace. Her new book The Remix looks

5
00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,560
Speaker 1: at how smart managers work with diverse teams. One productivity strategy,

6
00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:31,040
Speaker 1: she suggests hold office hours. You might remember this idea

7
00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:35,559
Speaker 1: from college. Many universities require professors to hold office hours.

8
00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,919
Speaker 1: The professor hangs out in his or her office, ideally

9
00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:41,960
Speaker 1: with the door open. Students can come to ask questions

10
00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:46,800
Speaker 1: or discuss topics during this time. Sometimes professors grumble about this,

11
00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,240
Speaker 1: but there's an upside, even for people who would prefer

12
00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:52,040
Speaker 1: to spend all their time in the books or in

13
00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:55,840
Speaker 1: the lab. When students know there's a time they're completely

14
00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,760
Speaker 1: free to come visit, they may be less likely to

15
00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,080
Speaker 1: stop by at times when the professor would prefer they

16
00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:07,000
Speaker 1: not visit. Scheduled availability allows for other periods of focus.

17
00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,080
Speaker 1: Polic suggests bringing the same practice into the corporate world.

18
00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:13,480
Speaker 1: In fact, it's probably even a better idea in the

19
00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,880
Speaker 1: corporate world than at universities. Wise managers realize that everyone

20
00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:23,280
Speaker 1: craves feedback and often just attention in general from their bosses. Ideally,

21
00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:25,959
Speaker 1: you'd be able to give feedback and attention every day

22
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,720
Speaker 1: to everyone who works for you. Unfortunately, in the real world,

23
00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,360
Speaker 1: people sometimes find themselves in charge of groups that are

24
00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,880
Speaker 1: large enough that daily individual feedback would leave zero time

25
00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:40,080
Speaker 1: for anything else. So here's what Polic suggests. If you

26
00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:43,240
Speaker 1: lead too large a team for ongoing individual feedback to

27
00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:47,600
Speaker 1: be realistic, she writes, then consider offering regular office hours

28
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,120
Speaker 1: during which anyone can schedule an appointment or just pop

29
00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:55,120
Speaker 1: into talk in person or via phone, Skype, text, instant messenger,

30
00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,600
Speaker 1: or any other medium. She notes that one of my clients,

31
00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:02,240
Speaker 1: a millennial I t R, offers office hours to his

32
00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:06,480
Speaker 1: intergenerational team from eight am to nine am every weekday morning.

33
00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,080
Speaker 1: If no one shows up, he uses the time to

34
00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:11,520
Speaker 1: catch up on his own work, and if any of

35
00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:13,880
Speaker 1: his direct reports want to talk about a non urgent

36
00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:16,560
Speaker 1: business issue at any other time of the day, he

37
00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:19,400
Speaker 1: feels no guilt reminding them exactly when he is available

38
00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:23,400
Speaker 1: for feedback and career related conversations. I think this is

39
00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:26,520
Speaker 1: a great idea. One of the most common questions I'm

40
00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,400
Speaker 1: asked is about how to handle distractions in the office.

41
00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,239
Speaker 1: I ask follow up questions to figure out what those

42
00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:36,400
Speaker 1: distractions entail, and people often mentioned colleagues stopping by to chat.

43
00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,000
Speaker 1: I recognize this can be annoying if your colleague wants

44
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,120
Speaker 1: to come talk about that crazy thing that happened with

45
00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,960
Speaker 1: his house renovation and you're on deadline. But here's the thing.

46
00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:50,280
Speaker 1: Once you're in management, interruptions from the people who report

47
00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:55,399
Speaker 1: to you aren't exactly distractions. In many cases, they are

48
00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:59,080
Speaker 1: the core of your job. You want people to trust

49
00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,440
Speaker 1: you so they take critical feedback and follow in the

50
00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:06,200
Speaker 1: direction you lead. You want them to want to do

51
00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,520
Speaker 1: their best work for you, and people only want to

52
00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:13,280
Speaker 1: do their best work for people who seem genuinely interested

53
00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,360
Speaker 1: in them. While a professor could get away with having

54
00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,760
Speaker 1: office hours on just Thursday afternoons, if you make people

55
00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,680
Speaker 1: wait a week to see their managers, they're not going

56
00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,119
Speaker 1: to be happy about it. So the hour a day

57
00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,240
Speaker 1: idea that Pollock suggests works, well, maybe it's eight to

58
00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,600
Speaker 1: nine am, like the I t leaders she spoke with,

59
00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,239
Speaker 1: or maybe it's one to two after lunch or four

60
00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:34,960
Speaker 1: to five at the end of the day. Figure out

61
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,040
Speaker 1: what feels right for you and even if you're not

62
00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:40,880
Speaker 1: in management, you might figure out ways to indicate that

63
00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,400
Speaker 1: now is a good time for drop by chats and

64
00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:46,400
Speaker 1: other times are not so good. Some people do this,

65
00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:51,200
Speaker 1: whether intentionally or not, by putting headphones in. Blocking your

66
00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,600
Speaker 1: ears raises the bar for interruptions. Though to make this work,

67
00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,440
Speaker 1: you need times when your headphones aren't in two Otherwise

68
00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,520
Speaker 1: people won't honor the signal and they'll be annoyed as well.

69
00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,160
Speaker 1: Some teams decide to create quiet hours and then also

70
00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,520
Speaker 1: collaborative hours so everyone can get both kinds of work done.

71
00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,480
Speaker 1: Some offices create the equivalent of the quiet car on

72
00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:16,120
Speaker 1: the train, a conference room with a library like atmosphere.

73
00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:19,719
Speaker 1: If someone's in there, you don't bother them except in

74
00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:24,359
Speaker 1: an emergency if they come out fair game, or you

75
00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:28,719
Speaker 1: could think creatively. Productivity pro Laura Stack once suggested that

76
00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,800
Speaker 1: open plan offices that pride themselves on their whimsy could

77
00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:37,240
Speaker 1: use thinking caps, some sort of wacky hat. When you

78
00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:40,480
Speaker 1: wear it, you don't want to be interrupted. When you're

79
00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,760
Speaker 1: not wearing the thinking cap, all is good. In any case,

80
00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,640
Speaker 1: Creating time when visits are welcome helps create time when

81
00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,760
Speaker 1: people might be more likely to give you space being

82
00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,720
Speaker 1: productive requires a bit of both. How do you balance

83
00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,600
Speaker 1: interaction with focused work. I'd love to hear about it.

84
00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,440
Speaker 1: You can email me at Before Breakfast podcast at i

85
00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,400
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

86
00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,320
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of

87
00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:18,960
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

88
00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,880
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

89
00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,200
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

90
00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:31,760
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast

91
00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:34,920
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email

92
00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:38,799
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com.

93
00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:41,320
Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

94
00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,039
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

95
00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:52,960
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For

96
00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,080
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart

97
00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,480
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

98
00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:00,160
Speaker 1: favorite shows.