WEBVTT - Hold office hours

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip comes from Lindsay Pollock, who's an expert on

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<v Speaker 1>generations in the workplace. Her new book The Remix looks

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<v Speaker 1>at how smart managers work with diverse teams. One productivity strategy,

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<v Speaker 1>she suggests hold office hours. You might remember this idea

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<v Speaker 1>from college. Many universities require professors to hold office hours.

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<v Speaker 1>The professor hangs out in his or her office, ideally

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<v Speaker 1>with the door open. Students can come to ask questions

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<v Speaker 1>or discuss topics during this time. Sometimes professors grumble about this,

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<v Speaker 1>but there's an upside, even for people who would prefer

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<v Speaker 1>to spend all their time in the books or in

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<v Speaker 1>the lab. When students know there's a time they're completely

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<v Speaker 1>free to come visit, they may be less likely to

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<v Speaker 1>stop by at times when the professor would prefer they

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<v Speaker 1>not visit. Scheduled availability allows for other periods of focus.

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<v Speaker 1>Polic suggests bringing the same practice into the corporate world.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, it's probably even a better idea in the

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<v Speaker 1>corporate world than at universities. Wise managers realize that everyone

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<v Speaker 1>craves feedback and often just attention in general from their bosses. Ideally,

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<v Speaker 1>you'd be able to give feedback and attention every day

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<v Speaker 1>to everyone who works for you. Unfortunately, in the real world,

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<v Speaker 1>people sometimes find themselves in charge of groups that are

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<v Speaker 1>large enough that daily individual feedback would leave zero time

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<v Speaker 1>for anything else. So here's what Polic suggests. If you

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<v Speaker 1>lead too large a team for ongoing individual feedback to

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<v Speaker 1>be realistic, she writes, then consider offering regular office hours

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<v Speaker 1>during which anyone can schedule an appointment or just pop

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<v Speaker 1>into talk in person or via phone, Skype, text, instant messenger,

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<v Speaker 1>or any other medium. She notes that one of my clients,

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<v Speaker 1>a millennial I t R, offers office hours to his

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<v Speaker 1>intergenerational team from eight am to nine am every weekday morning.

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<v Speaker 1>If no one shows up, he uses the time to

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<v Speaker 1>catch up on his own work, and if any of

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<v Speaker 1>his direct reports want to talk about a non urgent

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<v Speaker 1>business issue at any other time of the day, he

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<v Speaker 1>feels no guilt reminding them exactly when he is available

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<v Speaker 1>for feedback and career related conversations. I think this is

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<v Speaker 1>a great idea. One of the most common questions I'm

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<v Speaker 1>asked is about how to handle distractions in the office.

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<v Speaker 1>I ask follow up questions to figure out what those

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<v Speaker 1>distractions entail, and people often mentioned colleagues stopping by to chat.

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<v Speaker 1>I recognize this can be annoying if your colleague wants

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<v Speaker 1>to come talk about that crazy thing that happened with

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<v Speaker 1>his house renovation and you're on deadline. But here's the thing.

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<v Speaker 1>Once you're in management, interruptions from the people who report

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<v Speaker 1>to you aren't exactly distractions. In many cases, they are

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<v Speaker 1>the core of your job. You want people to trust

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<v Speaker 1>you so they take critical feedback and follow in the

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<v Speaker 1>direction you lead. You want them to want to do

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<v Speaker 1>their best work for you, and people only want to

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<v Speaker 1>do their best work for people who seem genuinely interested

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<v Speaker 1>in them. While a professor could get away with having

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<v Speaker 1>office hours on just Thursday afternoons, if you make people

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<v Speaker 1>wait a week to see their managers, they're not going

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<v Speaker 1>to be happy about it. So the hour a day

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<v Speaker 1>idea that Pollock suggests works, well, maybe it's eight to

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<v Speaker 1>nine am, like the I t leaders she spoke with,

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<v Speaker 1>or maybe it's one to two after lunch or four

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<v Speaker 1>to five at the end of the day. Figure out

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<v Speaker 1>what feels right for you and even if you're not

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<v Speaker 1>in management, you might figure out ways to indicate that

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<v Speaker 1>now is a good time for drop by chats and

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<v Speaker 1>other times are not so good. Some people do this,

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<v Speaker 1>whether intentionally or not, by putting headphones in. Blocking your

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<v Speaker 1>ears raises the bar for interruptions. Though to make this work,

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<v Speaker 1>you need times when your headphones aren't in two Otherwise

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<v Speaker 1>people won't honor the signal and they'll be annoyed as well.

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<v Speaker 1>Some teams decide to create quiet hours and then also

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<v Speaker 1>collaborative hours so everyone can get both kinds of work done.

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<v Speaker 1>Some offices create the equivalent of the quiet car on

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<v Speaker 1>the train, a conference room with a library like atmosphere.

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<v Speaker 1>If someone's in there, you don't bother them except in

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<v Speaker 1>an emergency if they come out fair game, or you

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<v Speaker 1>could think creatively. Productivity pro Laura Stack once suggested that

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<v Speaker 1>open plan offices that pride themselves on their whimsy could

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<v Speaker 1>use thinking caps, some sort of wacky hat. When you

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<v Speaker 1>wear it, you don't want to be interrupted. When you're

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<v Speaker 1>not wearing the thinking cap, all is good. In any case,

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<v Speaker 1>Creating time when visits are welcome helps create time when

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<v Speaker 1>people might be more likely to give you space being

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<v Speaker 1>productive requires a bit of both. How do you balance

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<v Speaker 1>interaction with focused work. I'd love to hear about it.

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<v Speaker 1>You can email me at Before Breakfast podcast at i

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<v Speaker 1>heeart media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of

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<v Speaker 1>our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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<v Speaker 1>You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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<v Speaker 1>Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>p o D. You can also shoot me an email

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<v Speaker 1>at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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