1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: Have you ever found yourself drowning in a sea of tasks, 2 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:08,680 Speaker 1: feeling like there's never enough time to think deeply about 3 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: the things that truly matter. Mel Silver, who heads up 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 1: Google's Australian and New Zealand business, has been there and 5 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: she's found a powerful solution, thinking days. And in today's 6 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: quick Win episode, you'll learn how to create your own. 7 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 1: My name is doctor Amanthe Immer. I'm an organizational psychologist 8 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: and the founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium, and this 9 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: is how I work a show about how to help 10 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: you do your best work. On today's quick Win episode, 11 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: we go back to an interview from the past and 12 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: I pick out a quick win that you can apply today. 13 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: In today's show, I speak with Mel Silver about thinking days. 14 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 2: So a thinking day is one day every six weeks, 15 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:05,759 Speaker 2: very much enabled by the wonderful powers of my executive assistant, 16 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 2: where I just take myself out of the game, get 17 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 2: off the dance floor, get onto the balcony, whatever the 18 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 2: sort of leadership be term you want to use, and 19 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 2: I carve it up into sort of three sections so 20 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:20,680 Speaker 2: that I can get into serious flow. Like the origin 21 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 2: story of the thinking day for me was I went 22 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 2: to this course, and it was probably about a year, 23 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 2: less than a year into taking the job back in Australia, 24 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 2: and I just realized I was like a slave to 25 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 2: my diary, like people were putting stuff in, people were 26 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 2: telling me what I should be thinking about. And I 27 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 2: knew that there was so much I wanted to think about, 28 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 2: but I just couldn't find the time. And I went 29 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 2: to this course that was all about sustaining high performance 30 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 2: for females within Google, and we got a kind of 31 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 2: deep dive into this concept of flow, like getting yourself 32 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 2: putting the phone down, turning it around, and giving yourself 33 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 2: no distractions and giving yourself time to think about it. 34 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 2: And I just thought, if I don't create some sort 35 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 2: of intervention here, it's never going to happen. I'm never 36 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 2: going to get an hour and a half free just 37 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 2: by chance. And so I first started out by carving 38 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 2: out time in the morning two days a week, and 39 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:20,799 Speaker 2: it just wasn't working for me. Why Why is that 40 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 2: I'm a working mom and like by the time I 41 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 2: get to the office some days, like I've run a marathon, 42 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:27,639 Speaker 2: you know, like I've dropped two kids off at school. 43 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 2: I've forgotten to order lunch orders. I've got phone call, 44 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 2: you know. So it's just you're not in good flow state. 45 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 2: And so I sat down with my assistant and I said, 46 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 2: how do you think we can make this work? And 47 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 2: she said, We're just going to give you a date 48 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 2: every six weeks. And so it's just there, it's a block. 49 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 2: It's unbookable. But the key to it is the prep, right. 50 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 2: The key to it is getting the three topics that 51 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 2: I want to think deeply about, at least a straw 52 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 2: man of those, and some questions, because if I need 53 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 2: data or inputs, I want it beforehand. And usually the 54 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 2: output of them is a incredible mind map about thirty 55 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,799 Speaker 2: five new questions to go and talk to different people about, 56 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 2: or in the really great cases, a scoping doc of 57 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 2: some stuff that we need to do, and some deliberables 58 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 2: that we should probably be putting out into the world. 59 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 2: So I don't know what I do without them now, 60 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:21,520 Speaker 2: to be honest, they are a game changer for me. 61 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: What's an example of a challenge that you bring to 62 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: a thinking day? 63 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 2: So really good topical one most recently was, you know, 64 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 2: I think the world is going through, especially working people, 65 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 2: a huge shift right now Google's always had this wonderful culture, 66 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 2: and it's known for great food and great officers, and 67 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 2: you know, there's a whole bunch of people who've been 68 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 2: through three and a half years of you know, just 69 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 2: NonStop kind of stress and resilience, and you know there's 70 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 2: macro uncertainty out there, and I just kind of think, 71 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:03,839 Speaker 2: I thought to myself, do we have programs right now 72 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 2: that are fit for purpose in terms of what kind 73 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 2: of culture and capability that we are trying to build 74 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 2: in our organization? Is it still fit for purpose? Do 75 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 2: we need a bit of a course correction? And I 76 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:20,239 Speaker 2: knew we had a leadership off site coming out up, 77 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:23,600 Speaker 2: and so I just wanted us to be really intentional 78 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 2: about the questions that we were going to ask of 79 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 2: each other and the strategic imperatives that we wanted to 80 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:33,919 Speaker 2: deliver on. So I ended up creating a bit of 81 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:36,679 Speaker 2: a table which was like, what was it like before, 82 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 2: what is it like now? How do we think Googlers 83 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 2: feel about it? And what's the strategic imperative that comes 84 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:44,719 Speaker 2: off the back of that? And it just ended up 85 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 2: being a wonderful discussion guide for our offsite. So things 86 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 2: like that, which again you never really carve out time 87 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 2: to think about if you just go through the motions 88 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,599 Speaker 2: of rocking up to the meetings that people want to. 89 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: Have, then do you prepare for your thinking days? What 90 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: does that process look like? 91 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:08,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's generally three really high level questions and they 92 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 2: will come up over the course of six weeks. So 93 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:12,039 Speaker 2: there's usually like a page at the back of the 94 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 2: notebook where it's like thinking day kind of ideas, and 95 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 2: then the week before I'll distill it down and kind 96 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:21,159 Speaker 2: of think about the stuff that I really want to 97 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 2: focus on, choose the three and then do the kind 98 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 2: of gathering that I need for that. Sometimes on a 99 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 2: thinking day as well, I'll carve out some of that 100 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 2: time to have a session with my coach, and that's 101 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 2: also great because I come out of those really energized. 102 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:37,279 Speaker 2: It's great prep for a mind map. 103 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: If you're looking for more tips to improve the way 104 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: that you work, I write a short fortnightly newsletter that 105 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: contains three cool things that I've discovered that helped me 106 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,599 Speaker 1: work better, ranging from software and gadgets that I'm loving 107 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 1: through to interesting research findings. You can sign up for 108 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:59,359 Speaker 1: that at Howiwork dot code. That's how I work dot Co. 109 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing part of your day with me 110 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: by listening to How I Work. If you're keen for 111 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,359 Speaker 1: more tips on how to work better, connect with me 112 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:12,479 Speaker 1: via LinkedIn or Instagram. I'm very easy to find. Just 113 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: search for Amantha Imba. How I Work was recorded on 114 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: the traditional land of the Warrangeri people part of the 115 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 1: kool And Nation. I am so grateful for being able 116 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: to work and live on this beautiful land and I 117 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:30,039 Speaker 1: want to pay my respects to elders, past, present and emerging. 118 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: How I Work is produced by Inventium with production support 119 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:36,599 Speaker 1: from Dead Set Studios, and thank you to Martin Nimba 120 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,279 Speaker 1: who did the audio mix and makes everything sound better 121 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: than it would have otherwise.