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Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics

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Speaker 1: used by the world's most successful people to get so

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Speaker 1: much out of their day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imba.

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Speaker 1: I'm an organizational psychologist, the founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium,

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Speaker 1: and I'm obsessed with finding ways to optimize my work day. Now,

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Speaker 1: today's episode is a slightly unusual one because it features

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Speaker 1: me as the guest. So a few weeks ago, Inventium,

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Speaker 1: my behavioral science consultancy, decided to put on and Ask

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Speaker 1: Me Anything webinar all on the topic of working at

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Speaker 1: home and really thriving at home. So in this episode

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Speaker 1: you'll hear one of my teammates, Charlotte Rush, who is

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Speaker 1: a fellow organizational psychologist, essentially interview me about my tips

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Speaker 1: and advice for working from home and being super productive

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Speaker 1: and also super happy. So all the questions that we

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Speaker 1: answered were sent in by the gosh, it was almost

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Speaker 1: eight hundred people that registered for the webinar, so we

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Speaker 1: received a ton of questions and we picked about thirty

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Speaker 1: of them or so to answer. So we cover all

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Speaker 1: sorts of topics from how do you balance working and homeschooling,

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Speaker 1: what's the ideal home office set up, How do you

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Speaker 1: stretch your day most effectively all sorts of things? How

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Speaker 1: do you remain connected with coworkers? So I hope you

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Speaker 1: like this episode. The sound quality is might not be

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Speaker 1: as good as you normally expect on this show, but

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Speaker 1: my dad, who does all the sound engineering for How

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Speaker 1: I Work, has certainly fixed things up so it should

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Speaker 1: be sounding not too bad. So I hope you enjoy

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Speaker 1: this episode and get some useful tips to help your

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Speaker 1: work better at home. And on that note, over to

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Speaker 1: me about how I work from home via the Ask

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Speaker 1: Me Anything webinar.

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Speaker 2: Good morning everyone, Welcome to today's Ask Me Anything webinar,

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Speaker 2: which is dedicated solely to the topic of working from home,

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Speaker 2: which hopefully you guys are all currently doing. So for

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Speaker 2: those of you who don't know me, my name is

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Speaker 2: Charlotte and I am Inventium's head of Learning, and I'm

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Speaker 2: dialing in from my office in Sydney. And we've also

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Speaker 2: got Amantha dialing in from Melbourne and Carrie as well,

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Speaker 2: who should maybe be a familiar name for all of

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Speaker 2: you guys as well. So we've had over seven hundred

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Speaker 2: people register for this webinar, which is an amazing result.

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Speaker 2: So to all of you, thank you and welcome along.

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Speaker 2: So if any of you are not familiar with Amantha's work,

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Speaker 2: she is, of course the founder of Inventium. She's also

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Speaker 2: the creator of the number one ranking business podcast How

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Speaker 2: I Work, where she interviews some of the world's leading

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Speaker 2: innovators about their habits, rituals, and strategies for structuring their day.

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Speaker 2: She's also an organizational psychologist and from my experience working

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Speaker 2: with her over the last four years, she's one of

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Speaker 2: the most productive people I have ever met. So she's

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Speaker 2: not only obsessed with learning about the latest research in

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Speaker 2: the area of productivity, habits, and motivation, she's also really

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Speaker 2: obsessed with actually putting that research into action and testing

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Speaker 2: it out for herself. So we're going to get the

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Speaker 2: value and the benefit of that in.

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Speaker 3: This next hour.

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Speaker 2: So I'm really happy today to be the voice of

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Speaker 2: you guys, the people who have submitted lots and lots

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Speaker 2: of questions for us. We've had lots of questions and

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Speaker 2: some of them were overlapping, and so what we've done

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Speaker 2: is we've created seven themes that we will be covering

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Speaker 2: over the next hour, and we'll answer about three or

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Speaker 2: four questions for each theme. So the themes are structure

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Speaker 2: and rituals, energy and mental health, focus and distractions, Social connections,

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Speaker 2: managing others and virtual meetings, and finally digital tools. So

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Speaker 2: for those of you who like structure, hopefully that helps,

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Speaker 2: and for those of you who don't like structure, then

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Speaker 2: just ignore evens at that. So Kerry is here to

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Speaker 2: help us if there are any technical difficulties, So if

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Speaker 2: there are, just message her in the chat box and

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Speaker 2: she'll hopefully be able to help you out. And if

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Speaker 2: you also have any other questions that pop up throughout

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Speaker 2: the webinar jot them down, feel free to shoot an

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Speaker 2: email to Amantha or I Afterwards. We won't actually be

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Speaker 2: having a Q and A section at the end of

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Speaker 2: this given that the whole webinar is dedicated to answering

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Speaker 2: your questions. So let's get started before I get into

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Speaker 2: the listener questions. Amantha or A as I call you,

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Speaker 2: it seems Amantha. So most of us are now at

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Speaker 2: around six weeks working from home full time. So how

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Speaker 2: have you found it?

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Speaker 3: I've loved it. That was so bizarre getting introduced by Utah,

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Speaker 3: that was so formal. Anyway, I'm love like as an

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Speaker 3: introverted kind of bookworm, this is my heaven. So I'm

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Speaker 3: really loving it. And interestingly, I was reading some research

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Speaker 3: this morning about how to improve connection in the virtual environment,

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Speaker 3: and one of the things that you can do is

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Speaker 3: you can bring in more of yourself, like more personal

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Speaker 3: stuff into the interaction, and that helps to humanize you

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Speaker 3: and therefore improve your relationships with the people that you're

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Speaker 3: speaking to. So I had been before I read that research.

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Speaker 3: I was fully intending to have a very professional setup,

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Speaker 3: you know, like green screen in the background, fancy you know,

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Speaker 3: image on that. But I'm like, nat stuff it. I'm

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Speaker 3: doing it from my kitchen and here I am in

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Speaker 3: my kitchen with some dirty dishes in the background. So

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Speaker 3: hopefully that completely humanizes me.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and the whiteboard in the background also really humanizes

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Speaker 2: you as well.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And you know what, that's not even a

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Speaker 3: work whiteboard. It's for my daughter Frankie school schedule when

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Speaker 3: I have her fifty percent of the time. So there

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Speaker 3: we go.

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Speaker 2: And so obviously you've been kind of thriving this sort

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Speaker 2: of environment. What was your experience just for those who

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Speaker 2: might not know, what was your kind of experience pre

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Speaker 2: COVID in terms of how much you worked from home

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Speaker 2: or how much you worked remotely.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so I would work from home, I reckon a

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Speaker 3: couple of days a week. I used to travel intensively

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Speaker 3: pre COVID, so I'd typically be on a plane once

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Speaker 3: a week, once a fortnight. I'm loving not doing any travel.

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Speaker 3: That feels like a real luxury to me. And then

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Speaker 3: I'd be in the office one or two days a

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Speaker 3: week to connect with all of all of you guys,

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Speaker 3: all of the team.

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Speaker 2: Yeah great, all right, so let's get into our first

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Speaker 2: listeners question. And I also will call out if any

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Speaker 2: of the listeners have listed their name with their question

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Speaker 2: or call that out as well, but most of them

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Speaker 2: are anonymous. So the first one is high man, I'm

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Speaker 2: keen to hear your advice on how to best structure

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Speaker 2: your day when working from home and what elements make

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Speaker 2: for an ideal physical working space.

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Speaker 3: Cool, So let's tackle the Haber structure your day first.

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Speaker 3: The best thing that you can do is understand what

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Speaker 3: is your chronotype. So, if you haven't heard of the

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Speaker 3: term chronotype, chronotype is basically a whole area of research

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Speaker 3: around circadian rhythms and basically in Layman's terms, it's over

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Speaker 3: a twenty four hour sleep wake cycle. Where are your

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Speaker 3: peaks of energy and also where are the dips in

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Speaker 3: terms of low energy. So there are three basic categories

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Speaker 3: of chronotypes. There are people that are larks, which are

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Speaker 3: about somewhere between sort of fifteen to seventeen percent of

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Speaker 3: the population. These are people that like bounce out of

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Speaker 3: bed at five point thirty in the morning, five in

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Speaker 3: the morning without an alarm. They are deeply irritating to

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Speaker 3: owls who are at the other end of the spectrum.

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Speaker 3: That's about twenty percent of the population, people who come

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Speaker 3: to life at night. Then the rest of us are middlebirds,

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Speaker 3: and so typically we have the lights and middlebirds we

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Speaker 3: have best like sort of peak brain power a couple

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Speaker 3: of hours after we're fully awake, so you know, the

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Speaker 3: majority of the working population that's between about nine to

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Speaker 3: twelve hours of the opposite. We then dip after lunch

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Speaker 3: and then we have a rebound in the late afternoon

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Speaker 3: and then just reverse that for hours. So what I

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Speaker 3: would say is understand what your chronotype is if you

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Speaker 3: google morning, this evening, this questionnaire. That's one of the

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Speaker 3: scientifically validated tests that's free online to understand what you

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Speaker 3: are and structure your day accordingly, so you're doing the

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Speaker 3: heavy duty lifting when is the right time for your chronotype,

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Speaker 3: and doing sort of more easier work when you're having

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Speaker 3: that dip. In terms of the elements of a physical

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Speaker 3: working space, look a couple of things here. Firstly, if

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Speaker 3: you're not lucky enough to be able to see some

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Speaker 3: grass or trees or some kind of greenery from maybe

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Speaker 3: a window that exists from wherever your home office is

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Speaker 3: located or set up is located, bring in a plot.

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Speaker 3: So there's been interesting research that has found when people

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Speaker 3: have greenery in their working space, productivity increases by about

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Speaker 3: fifteen percent. So that's a really easy hack. Like, you know,

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Speaker 3: I think coals sell pot plants. I'm sure they do.

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Speaker 3: So you know, Bunnings are they still open? Yeah, I

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Speaker 3: think they are, So you know, grab a plant and

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Speaker 3: something else that I've certainly been doing that. There's certainly

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Speaker 3: affirmative evidence behind is anchoring certain parts of your home

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Speaker 3: to certain types of work. So where I am at

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Speaker 3: the moment in my home, which is kind of like

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Speaker 3: in the kitchen, living area, the sort of dining table,

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Speaker 3: this is where I spend my morning's doing deep work,

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Speaker 3: it's kind of really nice. The sun's coming in on

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Speaker 3: sunny days and it's nice and light and bright, and

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Speaker 3: I just kind of get stuck into deep work. Then

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Speaker 3: I find that if I'm doing creative work, for example,

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Speaker 3: I'll generally move to the couch and I'll do creative

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Speaker 3: work on the couch sort of like just you know,

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Speaker 3: to me, it signals, oh, okay, it's time for some

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Speaker 3: looser thinking. And then for phone meetings, for example, I

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Speaker 3: generally like do mini laps of the house just so

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Speaker 3: I'm actually getting up out of my chair and you know,

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Speaker 3: if I don't need to be taking notes, then that

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Speaker 3: there's sort of some of the rhythms that I've gotten into.

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Speaker 3: So anchoring certain types of locations for certain work is

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Speaker 3: really helpable thing today, and.

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Speaker 2: I find that it's really a great way to set

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Speaker 2: up those kind of cues and habits to guide you

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Speaker 2: in terms of putting some structure on your day. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I definitely do the same thing in the sense that

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Speaker 2: when I'm reading research or reviewing the literature, I like

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Speaker 2: to sit out on the couch. But absolutely when I'm

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Speaker 2: kind of doing most of my other work, I'm sitting

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Speaker 2: at my desk.

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Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, all.

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Speaker 2: Right, let's move into the next question, which is still

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Speaker 2: within the category of structure and rituals. So this listener

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Speaker 2: or followers she or he has asked my diary has

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Speaker 2: gone nuts all of a sudden, My overflowing calendar has

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Speaker 2: blown out in the new working from home environment. In addition,

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Speaker 2: I'm trying to remotely manage an existing team and onboard

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Speaker 2: new team members. Virtually. I like to think I'm a

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Speaker 2: pretty organ as person and experienced lead up, and I'm

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Speaker 2: finding with all that I don't get clearer. I think

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Speaker 2: and plan and seem to be in constant reactive mode.

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Speaker 2: Your tips on how to better get the balance would

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Speaker 2: be hugely helpful.

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Speaker 3: Sure, so I think on this, like, firstly, you just

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Speaker 3: have to reset your expectations. Like I think this is

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Speaker 3: a time where if you're expecting to get the same

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Speaker 3: amount of work done as you did pre COVID, that's

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Speaker 3: quite flawed. I feel like psychological issues aside, because I

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Speaker 3: think that mental wellbeing is a huge contributor to productivity

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Speaker 3: or lack thereof. And you know, I think people are

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Speaker 3: you know, sort of different ends of the spectrum there.

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Speaker 3: You know, whether you are homeschooling or not has a

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Speaker 3: really big impact as well in terms of your time

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Speaker 3: and what you can expect to do. So I think, firstly,

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Speaker 3: just reset your expectations, check in with yourself, and go

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Speaker 3: what's actually realistic. I also think, you know, for those

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Speaker 3: that are saying, look, I'm working longer hours and so forth,

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Speaker 3: at the moment I would ask, are you working one

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Speaker 3: hundred percent efficiency efficiently one hundred percent of the time,

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Speaker 3: I think for most people the answer is absolutely not.

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Speaker 3: And you know, I definitely find when I'm in a

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Speaker 3: more reactive mode of work, I work nowhere near as

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Speaker 3: productively compared to when I'm feeling proactive and in control

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Speaker 3: of my day and time. And I think, look, I

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Speaker 3: do plug my podcast whenever I get the chance, so

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Speaker 3: I will plug it out. An interview that's going live

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Speaker 3: on Thursdays with Andrew Barnes, who is one of the

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Speaker 3: co founders of Perpetual Guardian, who's the firm that's famous

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Speaker 3: for creating the four day working week, and so we

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Speaker 3: have a chat about this idea that you know, where

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Speaker 3: that came from for him is that research has shown

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Speaker 3: that we're actually only productive for two point five hours

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Speaker 3: a day and what the implications are, and you know

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Speaker 3: how he's curtailed the five day week into four days,

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Speaker 3: which I think is a really interesting interview for people

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Speaker 3: that are on this webinar thinking I just don't have

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Speaker 3: time to get everything done. I actually think that you do.

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Speaker 3: I think that it's about thinking about time and using

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Speaker 3: your time differently.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Okay, So the next question is from David

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Speaker 2: and he says six weeks working from home now feels

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Speaker 2: like one incredibly long day, where each day is now

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Speaker 2: blending into each other. Working hours are longer, as the

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Speaker 2: time I drive to work or home has now turned

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Speaker 2: into worktime. My hour breaks I usually take an ow

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Speaker 2: fifteen minute breaks of grabbing food whilst checking emails. Any

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Speaker 2: suggestions on breaking up the day.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I think, you know, I do think that

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Speaker 3: nine to five is very helpful for most people right now. Again,

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Speaker 3: I think that we have to challenge a lot of

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Speaker 3: these in built assumptions that we previously had pre COVID.

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Speaker 3: For me, if I talk about my schedule, I've got

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Speaker 3: my daughter Frankie fifty percent of the time, and I

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Speaker 3: know that when I've got Frankie, my productivity is going

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Speaker 3: to be very different to when I don't have her.

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Speaker 3: She's currently doing year one. I'm very fortunate in then

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Speaker 3: I've got the support of a nanny to help with

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Speaker 3: homeschooling most of the time. But I know that if

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Speaker 3: I'm in charge of homeschooling, I just need to completely

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Speaker 3: give up any expectation that work will get done during

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Speaker 3: those hours. So then, by the same token, like I

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Speaker 3: used to try to avoid working on weekends because I

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Speaker 3: found out that was an unhelpful habit, but now I

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Speaker 3: actually find look, on every second weekend where I don't

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Speaker 3: have Frankie, that's actually a really helpful habit. I can

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Speaker 3: knock out two or three hours of deep work and

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Speaker 3: make some really good progress that makes me feel good

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Speaker 3: about how I'm using my time, when previously I haven't

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Speaker 3: done that. So I don't think that rules like nine

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Speaker 3: to five are particularly helpful right now, and certainly they

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Speaker 3: would not be serving me. I've broken a lot of

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Speaker 3: rules that I previously had.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And I guess one of the questions that I

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Speaker 2: noticed in a few of the questions that came through

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Speaker 2: were people talking about working in professional services where you're

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Speaker 2: needing to record billable hours and this still being an

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Speaker 2: important metric, and it's obviously highly scrutinized at the moment,

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Speaker 2: especially with virtual teams and managers and leaders feeling like

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Speaker 2: they need to see some sort of productivity from their

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Speaker 2: team if they can't physically see them. So what would

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Speaker 2: you recommend to organizations that are thinking about how to

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Speaker 2: really validly measure productivity.

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Speaker 3: I think that it's really challenging and that organizations really

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Speaker 3: need to have different expectations around what is feasible now,

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Speaker 3: particularly for working parents. Like, for example, we do a

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Speaker 3: lot of work with law firms, so you know, we've

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Speaker 3: worked with literally hundreds of different lawyers who are you know,

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Speaker 3: struggling with this kind of thing. I've spoken to a

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Speaker 3: lot of them personally that are parents, and you know,

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Speaker 3: it's a juggling act, and I just think it's yes,

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Speaker 3: firms have to operate and ideally be profitable, but it's

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Speaker 3: incredibly unhelpful to have the same expectations that you had previously.

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Speaker 3: If you've got say two working parents, and let's say

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Speaker 3: they're both in professional services and they're juggling kids between them,

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Speaker 3: I just think expectations need to change. Just treat people

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Speaker 3: like humans rather than machines that need to log you know,

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Speaker 3: seven and a half eight hours available time a day.

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Speaker 3: I just think that's very unfair.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay. And the approach that we've always taken and

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Speaker 2: invent him is thinking about because we've worked remotely and

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Speaker 2: flexibly forever, has really been focused on the output and

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Speaker 2: thinking about you know what, if I get all the

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Speaker 2: things that I need to get done for my clients,

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Speaker 2: if I'm achieving my goals, then it doesn't matter if

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Speaker 2: I take an afternoon walk, it doesn't matter if I

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Speaker 2: go out and have lunch with my mom, as long

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Speaker 2: as I'm kind of achieving those outcomes exactly.

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Speaker 3: And that's very normal for inventing. Like if you know,

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Speaker 3: if people could see our diaries, it's quite normal for

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Speaker 3: someone to have go for a run or Pilaratei's or

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Speaker 3: something like that actually booked as a meeting in the diary,

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Speaker 3: you know, which I personally love because it's like, oh,

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Speaker 3: that's good. I know that they're kind of, you know,

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Speaker 3: looking after their physical health and mental health during the day.

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Speaker 3: I also know that, you know, some of theks in

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Speaker 3: the team start work ridiculously early, like at five or

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Speaker 3: six in the morning, So please go for a round

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Speaker 3: at lunch time, you know, otherwise you'll burn out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, well on that point, let's move into our

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Speaker 2: second category for this session, which is all about energy,

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Speaker 2: motivation and also also mental health. So this is a

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Speaker 2: question that asks references a man called Darren Hill from

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Speaker 2: an organization called Pragmatic Thinking. They're a behavior and motivation

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Speaker 2: strategy company, and apparently he mentioned that Tuesday, fourteenth April

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Speaker 2: is the beginning of a motivational arm Again, so what

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Speaker 2: strategies do you have to keep people motivated and productive

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Speaker 2: when everyone is working remotely?

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Speaker 3: I just think, first and foremost, like, just be a

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Speaker 3: human about it and expect other people to respond as

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Speaker 3: humans as well. People are not machines. Productivity will wane

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Speaker 3: during this time. People are coping in really really different ways.

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Speaker 3: Like some people, you know, like me, I feel like,

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Speaker 3: oh man, if I never see an office again or

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Speaker 3: a plane, I'll be quite happy that I feel now.

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Speaker 3: But you know, other people, like particularly more extroverted people,

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Speaker 3: just you know, it's really hard mentally. So I just think,

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Speaker 3: you know, people are different. You have to see people

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Speaker 3: as individuals and the humans that they are, check in

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Speaker 3: with them, adjust your expectations and look some advice I

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Speaker 3: got from Scott Anthony, who's the former managing partner of

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Speaker 3: Ino Sight, which is our strategic partner in the world

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Speaker 3: of innovation. I was talking about a particular project with

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Speaker 3: him and we're just sort of talking about leadership, and

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Speaker 3: he said, you know, now is the time to lead

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Speaker 3: with I think the phrase of something like realistic optimism.

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Speaker 3: So you know, I think like, as a leader, I

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Speaker 3: think that's really important. There is no point leading with.

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Speaker 2: Doom and gloom.

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Speaker 3: But there's also no point in being completely unrealistic because

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Speaker 3: that doesn't serve anyone either. So I think for me,

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Speaker 3: like when I think about how I'm trying to, you know,

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Speaker 3: be a leader, not that I'm an official manager or

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Speaker 3: anything like that, I just think about realistic optimism is

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Speaker 3: very helpful right now.

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Speaker 2: Okay, And another question is I've never experienced a lack

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Speaker 2: of motivation like I am now. I've tried to shake

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Speaker 2: it off, but I'm finding it really difficult. Do you

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Speaker 2: have any tips And what about readjusting post lockdown. I

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Speaker 2: can imagine some employees might find it dawting getting back

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Speaker 2: to the real world.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So I think firstly, now is a really good

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Speaker 3: time to refocus on your goals and why they matter

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Speaker 3: to you. Like, if you're just kind of like almost

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Speaker 3: like stuck on the hamster wheel and not actually taking

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Speaker 3: time to reflect about what matters to you and why

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Speaker 3: you do what you do, then I think it's really

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Speaker 3: easy for motivation to wane. So I think, like, do

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Speaker 3: a deliberate check in with yourself and go, what are

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Speaker 3: my goals? What matters to me right now? Hopefully that

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Speaker 3: aligns with your job right now that you're in and

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Speaker 3: kind of going like, you know, is this what I

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Speaker 3: actually want to be doing, and you know, really sort

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Speaker 3: of checking in on the why and if there is

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Speaker 3: a mismatch, I mean, that's possibly a helpful conversation to

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Speaker 3: have with your manager. Although you know, given the economic situation,

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Speaker 3: there might not be that myroom to move, but maybe

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Speaker 3: there is. And I also just wanted to cite some

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Speaker 3: research from the Mayo Clinic that found that doctors who

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Speaker 3: spend just twenty percent of their time doing work that

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Speaker 3: they love, like just twenty percent, that's one day a

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Speaker 3: week doing work that they love, have a far lower

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Speaker 3: risk of burnout than you know, doctors that drop below

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Speaker 3: that twenty percent mark. So I think also just having

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Speaker 3: those realistic expectations that yeah, like a lot of the time,

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Speaker 3: you might not love what you do, but it doesn't

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Speaker 3: actually matter unless it drops below that twenty percent. Like

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Speaker 3: the benefits of going you know, above that twenty percent

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Speaker 3: are fairly sort of negligible. The second part of that question,

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Speaker 3: you know, in terms of transitioning back, Yeah, it's going

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Speaker 3: to be weird, and my advice is make it gradual

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Speaker 3: and make it largely voluntary in terms of how people

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Speaker 3: choose to transition back.

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Speaker 2: And I think coming back to that that piece around

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Speaker 2: doing work that you love, I think it's also useful

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Speaker 2: to think about what you're doing outside out of work

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Speaker 2: in terms of thinking about what you do at the

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Speaker 2: end of the workday and how that impacts your engagement,

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Speaker 2: your motivation the next day, and doing something that gives

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Speaker 2: you a sense of mastery is really important for helping

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Speaker 2: with recovery the next day at work. So whether that

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Speaker 2: is you know, learning a language or learning to salsa

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Speaker 2: like I literally did like a salsa class in my

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Speaker 2: bedroom on Friday night, felt really engaged with it. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: thinking about what can you do to you know, after

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Speaker 2: work to create that separation and make sure that you're

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Speaker 2: coming back to work the next day with the right

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Speaker 2: kind of mindset. All right, So let's move into our

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Speaker 2: next category, which is which was a very popular character category.

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Speaker 2: It was talking all about focus and distractions, and obviously

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Speaker 2: a big distraction that many people have is the challenge

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Speaker 2: of parenting at the moment. So there are a few

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Speaker 2: questions about that. But the first question is from a

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Speaker 2: person that asked, how do you let people know that

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Speaker 2: you are doing deep work so that they don't jabber

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Speaker 2: or call you, especially your manager jobba.

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Speaker 3: I haven't heard that word in a word, Thank you

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Speaker 3: for whoever sent that in. So firstly, look, the easiest

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Speaker 3: thing to do is just set an email auto responder.

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Speaker 3: I actually used to have a permanent email auto responder

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Speaker 3: just saying you're not going to hear from me before

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Speaker 3: lunch because I'm deep working. I've since deleted that because

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Speaker 3: I figure people that email me frequently that's probably a

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Speaker 3: little bit irritating. And the reality is some mornings I'm

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Speaker 3: not deep working. I'm you know, doing shallow work, but

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Speaker 3: where it's you know, a high priority to what I

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Speaker 3: need to be working on at the moment. But I

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Speaker 3: think an email auto responder is the easiest thing, or

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Speaker 3: you know, go old school, like just like send people

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Speaker 3: a text message going, hey, just let you know I'm

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Speaker 3: offline for the next hour or two. So I don't

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Speaker 3: think we need like a complex solution there. Just keep

435
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:54,119
Speaker 3: it simple, just communicate.

436
00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 2: And I is also putting it in your diary if

437
00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,080
Speaker 2: people do have that view of your diary.

438
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:01,600
Speaker 3: Definitely all right.

439
00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:04,960
Speaker 2: Next question, I have young kids, a five year old

440
00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:06,840
Speaker 2: and a one and a half year old at home,

441
00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:08,920
Speaker 2: and they can get super excited when I bring out

442
00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:11,800
Speaker 2: the laptop for work. I can barely focus on my

443
00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,959
Speaker 2: task with them. There any suggestion on how you manage

444
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:16,920
Speaker 2: your working from home days with your little girl?

445
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:19,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I kind of I alluded to that before.

446
00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:23,600
Speaker 3: I think, firstly, you have to adjust your expectations, like

447
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:28,680
Speaker 3: I remember my first experience with homeschooling during this whole period,

448
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,920
Speaker 3: and I just felt completely demoralized at the end of it.

449
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,520
Speaker 3: Like I'm a close friend of mine has four kids,

450
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,560
Speaker 3: four school aged kids, all under twelve, and my first

451
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,919
Speaker 3: thought was, how is she not like crawled up in

452
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:47,040
Speaker 3: the fetal position on the four bawling her eyes out

453
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,480
Speaker 3: twenty four or seven. I've just got one six year

454
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:53,040
Speaker 3: old and I'm not coping. So I think, like adjust

455
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,520
Speaker 3: your expectations. That has to be the first thing. If

456
00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:58,879
Speaker 3: you are homeschooling, and let's just say you're taking the

457
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,040
Speaker 3: morning shift, like you know, if you've got a partner

458
00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:03,280
Speaker 3: that's helping you and you're a morning shift, it's like

459
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:06,920
Speaker 3: you're not getting work done then, So just set really

460
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:09,960
Speaker 3: clear expectations for yourself in that way, you know you're

461
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,400
Speaker 3: not going to like feel like a failure. But also

462
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:14,840
Speaker 3: change your hours. Like I said, you know, I feel

463
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 3: quite comfortable doing work on the weekends where I don't

464
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 3: have Frankie because you know, I get like a huge

465
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:23,399
Speaker 3: sense of satisfaction from the progress I can make and

466
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:25,760
Speaker 3: just you know, I'm just realistic about what I can

467
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,040
Speaker 3: achieve and when I can achieve it. And look, just

468
00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,640
Speaker 3: one other thing for parents, particularly where you can tag

469
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,200
Speaker 3: team with your partner, it's got to be about working

470
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:35,600
Speaker 3: in sprints. So if you can work in sixty to

471
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,720
Speaker 3: ninety minute sprints, that's the natural kind of energy rhythm

472
00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:42,399
Speaker 3: of the brain. Work in sprints, you know, have sixty

473
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:44,719
Speaker 3: minutes where you can focus and your partner's in charge.

474
00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 3: You know, assuming that you're not a single parent, you know,

475
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:50,480
Speaker 3: then solp it over. Okay.

476
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:53,320
Speaker 2: And another question related to having a family at home.

477
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:55,560
Speaker 2: I have a young family stuck at home in a

478
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 2: small house. Interruptions and distractions are constant. How can I

479
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,240
Speaker 2: tune out the background noise and concentrate on the task

480
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:05,359
Speaker 2: at hand When I do get interrupted, how can I

481
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:07,719
Speaker 2: quickly get back into a flow state.

482
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, so again I'd say work in sprints. That's very helpful.

483
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,639
Speaker 3: Noise canceling headphones, but like the really big ones that

484
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:20,199
Speaker 3: signal don't like mess with me now, I think can

485
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:22,600
Speaker 3: be very helpful as well, just as a visual symbol

486
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:26,640
Speaker 3: for kids who might not get the fact that, you know,

487
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 3: it's not ideal when they interrupt mum or dad working,

488
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,159
Speaker 3: So just kind of, you know, having a conversation with

489
00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:37,480
Speaker 3: them about that. And I think, look wherever possible. Something

490
00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:39,920
Speaker 3: I try to do, particularly with my writing work, where

491
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,360
Speaker 3: if I'm interrupted from writing, I find it very hard

492
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,280
Speaker 3: to get back into the zone is to do what

493
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:49,440
Speaker 3: I've heard people refer to as park on a downhill slope.

494
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:51,760
Speaker 3: So actually, don't try to get to the end of

495
00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:54,480
Speaker 3: Like let's use writing as an analogy. Don't try to

496
00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:56,359
Speaker 3: get to the end of the paragraph that you're writing

497
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,000
Speaker 3: or the end of the article, actually stop midway through

498
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:01,960
Speaker 3: a sentence. So then it becomes really easy to pick

499
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:05,280
Speaker 3: back up and get back into flow. It feels very

500
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 3: unnatural to do, but it's very very helpful.

501
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:08,280
Speaker 2: Yeah.

502
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,080
Speaker 3: It actually reminds me of a tip that I heard

503
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:13,680
Speaker 3: recently from a guest on the podcast, Oliver Berkman, who's

504
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,480
Speaker 3: a columnist for The Guardian and a writer, and something

505
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:18,639
Speaker 3: that he does to get himself into flow is that

506
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:20,679
Speaker 3: he will, and again this is writing, but you know

507
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 3: you can apply it to your own situation. He will

508
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:25,960
Speaker 3: type out a first draft of an article and then

509
00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:29,399
Speaker 3: to get into flow and basically to improve on the

510
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:33,159
Speaker 3: first version, he will re type that article into his

511
00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:36,760
Speaker 3: computer and just the act of like typing where you're

512
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,080
Speaker 3: kind of you know, not like struggling with writer's block

513
00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 3: or second guessing yourself or anything like that. He said,

514
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:43,440
Speaker 3: it's a great way to just get back into flow

515
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,720
Speaker 3: really easily. So, you know, folks that are listening, you've

516
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,120
Speaker 3: all got different jobs, you know, I guess, like, think

517
00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:51,199
Speaker 3: about what's your version of that for the task that

518
00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:51,560
Speaker 3: you do.

519
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:53,960
Speaker 2: I like that that's a really neat idea. I'm going

520
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 2: to try that. And I think one thing that I've

521
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,399
Speaker 2: used is applying the five minute rule, where it's just like, okay,

522
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,439
Speaker 2: you distract, need to get back into something, kind of

523
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:03,840
Speaker 2: just saying to yourself, I'm just going to work on

524
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 2: it for five minutes, and then you're kind of free

525
00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:08,680
Speaker 2: to give up after five minutes. But most of the time,

526
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:10,800
Speaker 2: once you get into it, you're all good and you're

527
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 2: on your way.

528
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,720
Speaker 3: Love that strategy, all right.

529
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:18,000
Speaker 2: So let's move into the next category, which is all

530
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,719
Speaker 2: about social connections and in particular thinking about how you

531
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 2: maintain connections with your team. This is a question from Divina,

532
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:28,119
Speaker 2: and she says, at work, I walk the floors and

533
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,080
Speaker 2: regularly catch up with people. However, now I'm working from home,

534
00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:33,200
Speaker 2: I speak to no one outside of my immediate team,

535
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:35,320
Speaker 2: as I don't think I have enough of a reason

536
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,280
Speaker 2: to call them or make other contact. How do we

537
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:41,040
Speaker 2: keep our networks alive during this time of working from

538
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 2: home when we don't just see each other like we

539
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,199
Speaker 2: used to at the photocopier, in the lunchroom and so on.

540
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:52,080
Speaker 3: So look, I think what's really important, Like I am

541
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:54,480
Speaker 3: not a fan of small talk or social chit chat

542
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:55,920
Speaker 3: at the beginning of readers. I just want to get

543
00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:59,840
Speaker 3: straight into it. That is my official personality. Not helpful

544
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:04,120
Speaker 3: the moment, so really important that we do just do

545
00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:06,400
Speaker 3: that kind of check in at the beginning of meetings.

546
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:08,840
Speaker 3: But and again, like I was doing some research, Sooshah

547
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:11,879
Speaker 3: and I are hosting a masterclass in a few weeks

548
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:16,919
Speaker 3: time all about virtual meetings. Virtual yeah, virtual meetings, zoom meetings,

549
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:18,480
Speaker 3: all that kind of thing. So I was sort of

550
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,520
Speaker 3: getting stuck into the research this morning, and I was

551
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,640
Speaker 3: reading some research from a psyche professor at the University

552
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:28,000
Speaker 3: of Michigan who is saying, the most unhelpful question that

553
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,879
Speaker 3: you can ask to like, you know, ignite that social

554
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:34,160
Speaker 3: chit chat is how are you doing? Which is how

555
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:36,639
Speaker 3: everyone is starting their meetings right now. Like that's a

556
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:38,959
Speaker 3: really useless question when you think about it. It's not

557
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 3: really sort of tapping into anything specific. How do your answer? Oh, yeah,

558
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:45,840
Speaker 3: it's going all right, you know, how you doing? Yeah? Okay,

559
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:48,880
Speaker 3: And then we get stuck into it. So instead like

560
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,320
Speaker 3: pick something that is going to at least a more

561
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:55,240
Speaker 3: interesting response, So like you know, what's like what's been

562
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 3: in like an unexpected upside of your week or you know,

563
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:02,320
Speaker 3: what if you been enjoying most about working from home

564
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:04,960
Speaker 3: this week or something like that, So you know, maybe

565
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,080
Speaker 3: like think about something better that you could ask when

566
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,160
Speaker 3: you're making that social connection. I think that's a far

567
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:15,440
Speaker 3: better way to start these meetings and also just to form,

568
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,280
Speaker 3: you know, connections with people feel connected.

569
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I guess that more pointed specific question as

570
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 2: opposed to just an umbrella question where it's kind of rhetorical.

571
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:30,080
Speaker 3: That's right, How you doing, yeah, friends, isn't it?

572
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 2: Joey? That's Joey?

573
00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:33,120
Speaker 1: All right?

574
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:37,200
Speaker 2: Next question is from Jason, and he says, I'm beginning

575
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:39,719
Speaker 2: to struggle with being disconnected from my wider team and

576
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:42,800
Speaker 2: even wonder how to maintain healthy culture across our teams

577
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,560
Speaker 2: with some essential frontline roles still working from the office

578
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 2: whilst most are working from home. My small leadership group

579
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 2: is spread across a large geographic area, and I'm feeling

580
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:56,280
Speaker 2: disconnected from our people and our teams being led by

581
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,200
Speaker 2: those in my leadership group. So one of he's got

582
00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:01,920
Speaker 2: two questions, first is how do you maintain connection with

583
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:03,840
Speaker 2: everyone in your team when the physical walk around the

584
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:06,520
Speaker 2: office is no longer possible? And the second one is

585
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 2: culture is key? In developing and maintaining a healthy working environment.

586
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 2: What tips can you offer in developing and maintaining culture remotely.

587
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:18,080
Speaker 3: So to tackle the first part of that question around

588
00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 3: maintaining connection, I think, yeah, we've spoken like a little

589
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,480
Speaker 3: bit about this, but I did. I found this quote

590
00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:27,280
Speaker 3: from this guy called Jason Free who's the co founder

591
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,280
Speaker 3: of base Camp, who I'm a massive fan of, and

592
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,560
Speaker 3: he said, I would like to see work give up

593
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:36,320
Speaker 3: a little bit of time to life. To me, that's

594
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:38,840
Speaker 3: more in the spirit of what we need right now. So,

595
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:41,720
Speaker 3: you know, I think it's just really important for leaders

596
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:44,960
Speaker 3: and managers to you know, really focus on the personal

597
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:48,000
Speaker 3: rather than just work, which I think is the instinct

598
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 3: of a lot of managers. So kind of going against

599
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,720
Speaker 3: your instinct, I think this is it's super important right now.

600
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:57,200
Speaker 3: The second thing in terms of culture. So another quote

601
00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 3: when I was just sort of reflecting on this, so

602
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:02,840
Speaker 3: ours tottl said, we are what we repeatedly do. And

603
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 3: so I think if we apply this to culture, then

604
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 3: think about, like what are the new norms and rituals

605
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 3: that you are deliberately crafting, you know, like I think

606
00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:13,640
Speaker 3: about what we're doing at inventing too, you know, I

607
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:19,520
Speaker 3: guess like like reinvent or kind of transfer our really

608
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,920
Speaker 3: great culture into the remote environment. And so, for example,

609
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,719
Speaker 3: something that we do, you know, we've been experimenting with

610
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 3: what's our new weekly rhythm and what feels right for everyone,

611
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,440
Speaker 3: and so you know, at the moment, how things stand

612
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 3: is that we'll check in as a whole team three

613
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:37,880
Speaker 3: times a week Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and then there'll

614
00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:41,040
Speaker 3: be other internal sort of smaller group chats in between.

615
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 3: But you know, Friday is purely for you know, really playtime.

616
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 3: You know, like the last couple of Fridays, Like we

617
00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 3: played charades last Friday, and I got to admit, like,

618
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:55,240
Speaker 3: going into that Friday afternoon meeting, I was like, I

619
00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:57,120
Speaker 3: don't want to be in a team meeting right now.

620
00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,280
Speaker 3: I've had a really stressful day and I just want

621
00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:01,880
Speaker 3: to be working. After like ten minutes of playing charades,

622
00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:04,720
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, this is awesome. All the stresses of

623
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,200
Speaker 3: my day are floating away. And you know, and I

624
00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 3: think that those sorts of rhythms that we've developed and

625
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,080
Speaker 3: inventing and were really helping to kind of transfer our

626
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:15,520
Speaker 3: culture into the remote environment, you know, I think is

627
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 3: how people are generally feeling, and.

628
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:19,959
Speaker 2: It probably just because it appealed to one of your

629
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 2: biggest strengths day of competitiveness.

630
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:24,480
Speaker 1: Right.

631
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 3: Yes, we did a strengths find a thing a few

632
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,920
Speaker 3: months ago, and my number one strengths was competitiveness, which

633
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:33,720
Speaker 3: I found bizarre because I didn't think. I thought, that's

634
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,960
Speaker 3: just that doesn't sound like a strength. That sounds like

635
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 3: a kind of magial wore. Apparently it's a strength. I'm

636
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:44,680
Speaker 3: very competitive, particularly in board games. You don't want to

637
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:48,080
Speaker 3: play me in a board gamehr awesome.

638
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,160
Speaker 2: So the next question, the last question that we'll be

639
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,160
Speaker 2: covering in relation to social connections, is from a woman

640
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:56,320
Speaker 2: named Jenny, and she says working from home has meant

641
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,280
Speaker 2: the boundaries between work and personal life are much less clear,

642
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 2: and recently I've noticed my professional communication has become less formal. So,

643
00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 2: for example, this morning, I found myself telling an internal

644
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:08,960
Speaker 2: client who I had never spoken to before, than I'm

645
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:11,080
Speaker 2: wearing ugg boots at the moment, not something that I

646
00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:14,160
Speaker 2: would normally share when working remotely. Is a less formal

647
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,640
Speaker 2: style a problem or can it be a great way

648
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:19,800
Speaker 2: to build community in the isolated environments we are operating

649
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 2: in at the moment?

650
00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:23,800
Speaker 3: I look. In short, I just think this is great.

651
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:26,840
Speaker 3: As I said, I cited some research earlier on that

652
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:31,360
Speaker 3: when we can form more personal connections, this is really

653
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:35,440
Speaker 3: fantastic for building stronger relationships. So yes, bring it on,

654
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:37,080
Speaker 3: talk about your ug boots.

655
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:41,480
Speaker 2: That's awesome, right, Great, So let's move into the next category,

656
00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:44,959
Speaker 2: which is all about managing and influencing others. So this

657
00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:47,720
Speaker 2: is applicable to you if you are a manager or

658
00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:49,560
Speaker 2: a leader, or even if you're in a role where

659
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,280
Speaker 2: you're responsible for influencing other people, whether that be external

660
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:56,440
Speaker 2: clients or internal clients, so basically everyone, I hope. So

661
00:33:56,520 --> 00:34:00,520
Speaker 2: the question is how can I keep my team upbeat, motivated,

662
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:03,280
Speaker 2: and on track during this time remotely.

663
00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:06,360
Speaker 1: So I'd come back to my comment about lead with

664
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:10,680
Speaker 1: realistic optimism. If you're thinking about just tonally how to

665
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,279
Speaker 1: deliver messages, I think that that is quite helpful to

666
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:14,000
Speaker 1: keep in mind.

667
00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:17,400
Speaker 3: I think reminding people of why the work matters. I

668
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:21,200
Speaker 3: think it is very easy to kind of become sort

669
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:25,160
Speaker 3: of a reactive and driven by a fear response, which

670
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:29,520
Speaker 3: is kind of almost the opposite of being driven by purpose.

671
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 3: So I think it's very important to remind people of

672
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:35,839
Speaker 3: that and keep that in mind just individually, and you know,

673
00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:40,200
Speaker 3: like coming back to something you said like around mastery.

674
00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,040
Speaker 3: So if I think about self determination theory, which I

675
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,080
Speaker 3: find is quite a helpful theory of motivation and keeping

676
00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:49,120
Speaker 3: teams motivated, that theory would say that the three things

677
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,240
Speaker 3: that we need as humans we need autonomy, we need mastery,

678
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,719
Speaker 3: and we need connection. So hopefully people have autonomy. For

679
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 3: any managers that are listening that have a suspicion they

680
00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:02,720
Speaker 3: might be micromanaging, stop that right now. That is killing motivation. Secondly,

681
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:04,799
Speaker 3: think about, you know, what are the opportunities that we

682
00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,600
Speaker 3: have for mastery, and you know, with that, just making

683
00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:09,880
Speaker 3: sure that people feel challenged by the work that they're

684
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:12,320
Speaker 3: doing at least for you know, part of the time.

685
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,840
Speaker 3: And the connection which we've kind of been talking about

686
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:16,560
Speaker 3: a bit as well.

687
00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:21,120
Speaker 2: And the next question is from Melissa and references the

688
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:25,319
Speaker 2: differences between introverts and extroverts and so how should we

689
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:28,760
Speaker 2: be communicating with introverts versus extroverts in the team.

690
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:32,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I think it's you know, just helpful to

691
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:36,000
Speaker 3: define what introverts and extroverts are. You know, introverts are

692
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:39,320
Speaker 3: not people that are shy and wallflowers and extroverts a

693
00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:42,440
Speaker 3: people that are like partying, although there are correlations. You know,

694
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:46,879
Speaker 3: what introverts are is they prefer minimally stimulating environments and

695
00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:51,280
Speaker 3: they need to be alone to recharge, whereas extroverts recharge

696
00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:53,759
Speaker 3: I guess like in the company of others. That is

697
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,399
Speaker 3: how they refuel. And so I think if you keep

698
00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,800
Speaker 3: that in mind, like what are the things that introverts

699
00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 3: for extroverts need in order to feel energized and you know,

700
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:08,759
Speaker 3: feel like refueled. I guess apply that to how you're

701
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,560
Speaker 3: thinking about communicating with them.

702
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:15,279
Speaker 2: And the next question is from a listener who I

703
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 2: won't give the name because they might have colleagues listening

704
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:21,040
Speaker 2: and this might throw them under the boat. But the

705
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,239
Speaker 2: question is I seem to be getting frustrated with my

706
00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:27,000
Speaker 2: colleagues because they are often not contributing to collaborative work

707
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:30,840
Speaker 2: in a timely manner. How should I better manage my expectations?

708
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:36,680
Speaker 3: Look, I think it might be maybe it's about communicating

709
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:40,400
Speaker 3: your expectations and how you're communicating them. So firstly, communicate

710
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,960
Speaker 3: your expectations. That's that's possibly obvious. But when you're communicating

711
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:49,480
Speaker 3: your expectations, always communicate the why behind your expectations. So

712
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:52,080
Speaker 3: there was research there's done quite a few years ago

713
00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,840
Speaker 3: now where people had asked to I think it was

714
00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:58,120
Speaker 3: like jump in line to use the Xerox photocopying machine.

715
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:03,080
Speaker 3: And when people to use the Xerox, they were usd

716
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:05,200
Speaker 3: to jump the queue. They were successful at a certain

717
00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:07,799
Speaker 3: proportion of the time, but when they said, hey, can

718
00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:10,680
Speaker 3: I use it because blah blah blah, and they gave

719
00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:14,400
Speaker 3: the why. The reason, the number of times that request

720
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:17,440
Speaker 3: was accepted jumped by I want to say, like fifty

721
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:21,120
Speaker 3: or sixty percent, something ridiculously high. So I think communicate

722
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,839
Speaker 3: your expectations, but more importantly, communicate the why. Like if

723
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:28,120
Speaker 3: there's a reason for a deadline, communicate that rather than

724
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:31,719
Speaker 3: just saying the deadline. It will make people more likely

725
00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:34,719
Speaker 3: to adhere to what you're asking for.

726
00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:40,520
Speaker 2: Okay, the last question in this category is I've been

727
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:44,160
Speaker 2: struggling with being too available while working from home. When

728
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:46,200
Speaker 2: you're at the office, it's easy if people understand you

729
00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 2: aren't available because you've gone home or you're out to lunch.

730
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:51,560
Speaker 2: Working at home means people are always messaging, and it

731
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:53,520
Speaker 2: feels like you need to respond at all hours. Of

732
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:56,240
Speaker 2: the day. How do you set expectations on your workload

733
00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:58,880
Speaker 2: and availability with your coworkers in this environment.

734
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:01,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, when I was reflecting on this one, I thought,

735
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:06,240
Speaker 3: is this more about your expectations than co workers expectations?

736
00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 3: Because I know, for me, when I open up my

737
00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 3: inbox after being out of it for a while, I

738
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:16,080
Speaker 3: feel this anxiety is overstating it. But I'm like, oh goodness,

739
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:17,880
Speaker 3: all these people are waiting on my response, and I

740
00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:21,040
Speaker 3: better hurry up and respond. But it's like, no, no, no,

741
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:23,600
Speaker 3: that's my stuff, that's not their stuff. Like if it's

742
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:26,120
Speaker 3: completely urgent, they can pick up the phone and call

743
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:28,840
Speaker 3: me or they can email me again, that's fine. So

744
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:31,040
Speaker 3: I think just firstly, you know, just kind of check

745
00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:33,640
Speaker 3: in and goes it's more about your standards, because my

746
00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:36,440
Speaker 3: hypothesis is that it is. And I also find just

747
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:39,120
Speaker 3: a sort of more of a practical note that a

748
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:43,399
Speaker 3: techniquell time boxing can help. So my diary kind of

749
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:45,520
Speaker 3: like it will have various meetings all over it, but

750
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,160
Speaker 3: then the night before I will time box how I

751
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:51,000
Speaker 3: exactly want to use hour by hour or half hour

752
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:54,920
Speaker 3: by half hour of my time, particularly around what deep

753
00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:57,160
Speaker 3: work I want to be doing. Or what tasks I

754
00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:59,200
Speaker 3: want to be working on that don't involve other people,

755
00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,840
Speaker 3: and I will literally block out my diary. Yeah, so

756
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:05,840
Speaker 3: that there's not really much in the way of free

757
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:08,640
Speaker 3: time there on a day to day basis, just so

758
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:12,839
Speaker 3: people know, Okay, well that's what I'm working on, and

759
00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:16,560
Speaker 3: they can see whether I'm free or not. Yeah.

760
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,759
Speaker 2: I think that's really helpful. And I think that's also

761
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,120
Speaker 2: useful if you are putting that detail in there so

762
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,360
Speaker 2: people know, oh, they are working on that thing that

763
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:26,800
Speaker 2: I need them to work on, if it's your immediate

764
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:30,880
Speaker 2: team for example. All right, so let's move into the

765
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:34,560
Speaker 2: next very popular topic, which is all about virtual meetings. Now,

766
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:36,640
Speaker 2: as you mentioned the man that we're going to be

767
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:39,280
Speaker 2: actually discussing this in a lot more detail in our

768
00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:42,960
Speaker 2: webinar in May. But I had to give the people

769
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:45,160
Speaker 2: what they want right now, and so we are addressing

770
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:48,719
Speaker 2: a few of their questions now. So the first question is,

771
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,040
Speaker 2: as an introvert, I thought I would be better equipped

772
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,719
Speaker 2: to handle all of this solitude and remote working, but

773
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:56,600
Speaker 2: I'm finding myself on zoom calls for hours every day,

774
00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:00,160
Speaker 2: and somehow these are a lot more draining than regular meetings.

775
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:03,160
Speaker 2: People also seem to want more video chats for what

776
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:05,879
Speaker 2: used to be resolved via email. How do you set

777
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:09,319
Speaker 2: and encourage expectations and boundaries and avoid feeling dreamed by

778
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:10,520
Speaker 2: all of the video meetings?

779
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:14,920
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I feel like so many people are experiencing this.

780
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:18,000
Speaker 3: It's like it's totally death by zoom at the moment.

781
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:22,080
Speaker 3: So I think a couple of things here. Firstly, I

782
00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:25,400
Speaker 3: think we need to apply Parkinson's law to zoom meetings

783
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:29,000
Speaker 3: meetings in general, particularly zoom meetings, and Parkinson's law suggests

784
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:32,440
Speaker 3: that the time it takes to complete a task, basically

785
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:35,200
Speaker 3: time will expand to the amount of time you have

786
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:38,480
Speaker 3: allocated to that task. So if you have set aside

787
00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,000
Speaker 3: an hour for a zoom meeting to discuss X Y

788
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,640
Speaker 3: and Z issues or make X Y and Z decisions,

789
00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:48,120
Speaker 3: you'll probably take an hour. Chances are, but if you

790
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:49,759
Speaker 3: you know, if you kind of reflect on the thing,

791
00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:53,520
Speaker 3: the purpose for the meeting, and how long really does

792
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:58,080
Speaker 3: that deserve far better way of approaching meetings, where you know,

793
00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:01,160
Speaker 3: I think most meetings can be done in shorter amounts

794
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:04,360
Speaker 3: of time, And if you think about the compound impact

795
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:06,359
Speaker 3: of that, we're going to win back a lot more

796
00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:08,560
Speaker 3: time in the day. So the most important thing to

797
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:10,839
Speaker 3: do is go, okay with this meeting that I need

798
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,399
Speaker 3: to set. Firstly, does it require a meeting or can

799
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:16,239
Speaker 3: I just stand out information for people to read and

800
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:19,919
Speaker 3: ask for feedback via email for example, If you really

801
00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:23,080
Speaker 3: do need a meeting, think about, okay, how much time

802
00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:27,440
Speaker 3: does this issue deserve, and then set it accordingly. You know,

803
00:41:27,640 --> 00:41:31,280
Speaker 3: don't be afraid to set ten minute meetings or eighteen

804
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:33,239
Speaker 3: minute meetings or whatever the case may be. So I

805
00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:35,879
Speaker 3: think that is one of the root causes of why

806
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:38,279
Speaker 3: we're experiencing death by zoom.

807
00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:40,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think a lot of people what I

808
00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:43,680
Speaker 2: was reading about yesterday is talking about zoom fatigue in

809
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:46,840
Speaker 2: terms of the additional stimulus from having to look at

810
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:50,600
Speaker 2: yourself on the screen and the impression management that sits

811
00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:52,840
Speaker 2: within that in terms of you know, being very aware

812
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:54,839
Speaker 2: of how you look, which normally in an normal meeting

813
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:57,440
Speaker 2: you can't even see that. And so one of the

814
00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,680
Speaker 2: techniques that I've heard is literally getting getting like a

815
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:03,520
Speaker 2: postal note and just like covering that on your screen

816
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:04,960
Speaker 2: so that you can't see yourself.

817
00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:09,640
Speaker 3: That's so good, or minimizing yourself as well. So in

818
00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:12,239
Speaker 3: zoom like you can do that. You just get the

819
00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:14,160
Speaker 3: little minimized button and then you can just see the

820
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:16,200
Speaker 3: person that you're talking to and people that you're talking to.

821
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:19,279
Speaker 3: So I love the post it note thing. That's yeah,

822
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:21,840
Speaker 3: that's good. Very analog, very analog.

823
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:27,200
Speaker 2: All right, So the next question is from Kali related

824
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:31,680
Speaker 2: question around it'd be great to tackle the screen time

825
00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:35,960
Speaker 2: aspect and basically how being in lots of video meetings

826
00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:39,279
Speaker 2: is causing fatigue and cabin fever. So what are some

827
00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:41,800
Speaker 2: strategies we can put in place to overcome this fatigue

828
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:43,840
Speaker 2: and help us with our concentration levels.

829
00:42:46,080 --> 00:42:49,479
Speaker 3: I think what's really helpful right now is to try

830
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 3: to revert back to some phone meetings. I know that

831
00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:54,080
Speaker 3: this is very counterintuitive because we all, you know, we

832
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:55,920
Speaker 3: want the face to face connection. You can get the

833
00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:59,040
Speaker 3: body language cues, all of that sort of jazz, but

834
00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 3: do more often like I know, kez who Who's like

835
00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:08,160
Speaker 3: being really awesome and answering all the chat questions and

836
00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:11,480
Speaker 3: stuff that are coming in. Light Sheet largely organizes my

837
00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:14,640
Speaker 3: diary and I love it because like except that, you know,

838
00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:16,560
Speaker 3: if it's an initial meeting where like I kind of

839
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:19,359
Speaker 3: you know, want some zoom action. I want to see

840
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:22,319
Speaker 3: the people and make that initial connection. Like generally most

841
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,320
Speaker 3: of my meetings of phone, which I think is good

842
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:27,160
Speaker 3: because you can get up and move and you can

843
00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:31,920
Speaker 3: do walking meetings with people. So I just think, don't

844
00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:35,160
Speaker 3: feel obliged to do every meeting via zoom because it

845
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:38,520
Speaker 3: like it'll kill you. Plus it's bad for your physical

846
00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:41,719
Speaker 3: health because you have to be sitting down. So well,

847
00:43:41,719 --> 00:43:43,759
Speaker 3: I guess you don't have to be. But no one's

848
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:46,600
Speaker 3: really walking around doing zoom. That's a bit weird. So

849
00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:48,000
Speaker 3: that is what I would say there.

850
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:50,759
Speaker 2: So maybe like a rule of thumb is if you've

851
00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:54,279
Speaker 2: met them before, do a video a phone meeting. If

852
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:56,200
Speaker 2: it's the first time you're meeting them, do a video meeting.

853
00:43:56,560 --> 00:43:58,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like that tends to be my rule of thumb.

854
00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:01,480
Speaker 3: And also even with team meetings, I think for the

855
00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:03,640
Speaker 3: big like adding Bentium, I'm thinking about what we do

856
00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:06,680
Speaker 3: for the bigger meetings where there's like you know, four

857
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:09,640
Speaker 3: or five of us at least, will typically do hangouts.

858
00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:12,640
Speaker 3: And also just technologically that's easier rather than having to

859
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:15,520
Speaker 3: get a phone conference line set up. But if it's

860
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:18,320
Speaker 3: one on one, most of my one on one's a phone,

861
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:20,520
Speaker 3: which I find is easy, and it's.

862
00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:22,440
Speaker 2: Just like you just sort of feel a bit looser.

863
00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:25,000
Speaker 3: I think, like when you're walking around and I feel

864
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:27,879
Speaker 3: like I have more productive chats, particularly like you know,

865
00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:30,640
Speaker 3: one on one with the team when I'm walking around

866
00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:32,360
Speaker 3: and I think a bit better and stuff, and I

867
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:34,320
Speaker 3: don't have to be taking notes. So it's kind of

868
00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:34,920
Speaker 3: how I do it.

869
00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:40,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, okay. Next question is the number of general

870
00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:43,839
Speaker 2: telecons has skyrocketed. I'm finding it hard to dial into

871
00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:47,160
Speaker 2: telecons where I might only have a peripheral stake and

872
00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:49,759
Speaker 2: still get other work done. Any tips on how to

873
00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:53,000
Speaker 2: do other work while keeping half an ear on a telecon?

874
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:55,160
Speaker 2: I love that.

875
00:44:55,160 --> 00:44:58,680
Speaker 3: That's like your flatmate that had a shower during a

876
00:44:58,840 --> 00:44:59,719
Speaker 3: conference call.

877
00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:03,719
Speaker 2: Oh yes, she's listening right now. Maybe she might be

878
00:45:03,719 --> 00:45:04,200
Speaker 2: in the shower.

879
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:10,080
Speaker 4: She's probably in the shower exactly. So look, I would say,

880
00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:12,160
Speaker 4: oh my gosh, like we all need to be opting

881
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:14,440
Speaker 4: out of more meetings. It reminds me of a couple

882
00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:16,960
Speaker 4: of podcast interviews that I did a while ago. One

883
00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:20,200
Speaker 4: was with Scott Anthony that I mentioned where he did

884
00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:24,080
Speaker 4: an experiment where he I think he just removed about

885
00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:26,200
Speaker 4: fifty percent of the meetings in his diary just to

886
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:29,959
Speaker 4: see what would happen, and hey, like, nothing.

887
00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:33,799
Speaker 3: Happened, it was all fine. And then Dom Price, who

888
00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:35,319
Speaker 3: I also had on the show quite a while ago

889
00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:37,160
Speaker 3: now so he's the head of R and D and

890
00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:42,120
Speaker 3: the futuristed at Lassian. He literally deleted every meeting It's

891
00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:44,759
Speaker 3: either every recurring meeting or possibly every meeting from his

892
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:47,560
Speaker 3: diary with the note saying, I'm deleting all my meetings.

893
00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:50,319
Speaker 3: If you want me to attend this meeting, you have

894
00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:53,200
Speaker 3: to be really specific on what's the role that you

895
00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:57,440
Speaker 3: want me to play? If if you maybe you know,

896
00:45:57,480 --> 00:45:59,680
Speaker 3: could someone else attend in my place? He asked that question,

897
00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:01,680
Speaker 3: or or do I just need to be here? So

898
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:03,880
Speaker 3: you know, I think it's very helpful to you know,

899
00:46:03,920 --> 00:46:05,880
Speaker 3: if you're invited to a meeting and go, what's the

900
00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:07,719
Speaker 3: actual role that you want me to play, just to

901
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:10,800
Speaker 3: clarify that, because that will engage you more because you're like, oh, okay,

902
00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:12,640
Speaker 3: that's the role that I'm here to play. I'm here

903
00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:15,400
Speaker 3: to be like Devil's advocate or whatever the case may be,

904
00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:18,640
Speaker 3: or give you know, the voice of the customer to

905
00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:21,920
Speaker 3: the meeting. But also you know, like if your manager

906
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:23,719
Speaker 3: is inviting you to lots of meetings, have a chat

907
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:27,040
Speaker 3: to them about, hey, here's the cost, like the financial

908
00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:30,359
Speaker 3: cost of me actually attending all of these meetings. Is

909
00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:33,560
Speaker 3: this the best use of my time and the company's money?

910
00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:36,200
Speaker 3: Who pay my salary? Or maybe would you prefer me

911
00:46:36,239 --> 00:46:38,560
Speaker 3: to be using my time to do X, Y and Z.

912
00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:41,520
Speaker 3: So I think those strategies are maybe useful to consider that.

913
00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:45,560
Speaker 2: And for those people that aren't in management or senior roles,

914
00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:47,680
Speaker 2: I think that's a really easy thing that they can do,

915
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:50,040
Speaker 2: that simple question of what role would you like me

916
00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:51,920
Speaker 2: to plan this meeting? Because even if you just get

917
00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:54,560
Speaker 2: one person responding and saying, oh, actually, I've just realized

918
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:56,280
Speaker 2: that I don't need you in this meeting, it's like great,

919
00:46:56,320 --> 00:46:58,839
Speaker 2: that's already just one meeting out of your diary and

920
00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:01,719
Speaker 2: it kind of cost is Actually, it's not like you're

921
00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:04,240
Speaker 2: saying I don't want to be in this meeting, that's.

922
00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:06,440
Speaker 3: Right, that's right. Yeah, it's just saying like, I just

923
00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:08,479
Speaker 3: want to be really valuable if I am in a meeting,

924
00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:10,440
Speaker 3: and if I can't be valuable, then maybe I shouldn't

925
00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:10,920
Speaker 3: be in the meeting.

926
00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:15,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, all right, last question around virtual meetings. I

927
00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:18,480
Speaker 2: really rely on facial expression and vibe in a meeting.

928
00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:20,880
Speaker 2: I'm finding that not having the ability to read a

929
00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:23,680
Speaker 2: room is a bit unsettling, and I feel anxious before

930
00:47:23,719 --> 00:47:27,840
Speaker 2: a video conference meeting. Seeing colleagues who have their microphone

931
00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:30,320
Speaker 2: off but I can see they are texting or laughing

932
00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:34,760
Speaker 2: is contributing to this unsettling feeling. Any tips on handling.

933
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:39,560
Speaker 3: This, Yeah, that's awful. That's just like awful. But you know,

934
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:41,400
Speaker 3: I kind of think it comes back down to what

935
00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:43,600
Speaker 3: we spoke about. Do these people actually need to be

936
00:47:43,640 --> 00:47:45,880
Speaker 3: in the meeting? Like if they're you know, texting and

937
00:47:46,400 --> 00:47:50,160
Speaker 3: being you know, rude idiots like let's be frank during

938
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:52,279
Speaker 3: the meeting, then they probably don't need to be there.

939
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:54,719
Speaker 3: They're probably just bored. And when people are bored, they

940
00:47:54,719 --> 00:47:58,520
Speaker 3: do like silly things. So, you know, like, I'm reminded

941
00:47:58,560 --> 00:48:01,720
Speaker 3: of something that Andrew Barnes, who I mentioned before, said

942
00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:04,520
Speaker 3: about how they approach meetings at Perpetual Guardian and they

943
00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:07,640
Speaker 3: actually cap meetings at five people. And when I heard that,

944
00:48:07,719 --> 00:48:09,680
Speaker 3: I was like, I was reflecting on that for inventing

945
00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:11,680
Speaker 3: and I thought, no, no, there's still a role for

946
00:48:11,719 --> 00:48:14,440
Speaker 3: bigger meetings. But you know, maybe there's something useful in

947
00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:17,640
Speaker 3: that for people that are listening to this webinar. Maybe

948
00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:19,640
Speaker 3: you actually think about having a cap on how many

949
00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:22,440
Speaker 3: people are in a meeting, because the more people, the

950
00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:26,719
Speaker 3: more social loafing that essentially goes on, you know, and

951
00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:31,319
Speaker 3: social loafing is where essentially you're not contributing and you're

952
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:35,160
Speaker 3: then doing something kind of productive like texting or having

953
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:35,760
Speaker 3: a shower.

954
00:48:38,560 --> 00:48:43,040
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, all right, So we are going to move

955
00:48:43,080 --> 00:48:46,560
Speaker 2: into our final category, which is just two quick questions

956
00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:51,080
Speaker 2: around digital tools and think about what we do at Inventum.

957
00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:53,920
Speaker 2: So what are some of the software tools that you

958
00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:56,960
Speaker 2: use to manage time and setting daily goals?

959
00:48:58,360 --> 00:49:01,080
Speaker 3: So, yeah, there's a few soware tools that I find

960
00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:04,440
Speaker 3: very useful. I did talk about some on the podcast

961
00:49:05,960 --> 00:49:08,879
Speaker 3: maybe last week or something like that, but I'll mention

962
00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:13,239
Speaker 3: too that I find particularly good for just sort of

963
00:49:13,280 --> 00:49:17,879
Speaker 3: managing time, setting goals and eliminating distractions. So my new

964
00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:22,160
Speaker 3: favorite software at the moment is software called Serene sr

965
00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:26,120
Speaker 3: E n E, which basically it's kind of like software

966
00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:28,600
Speaker 3: that I used to talk about a lot previously called freedom.

967
00:49:28,719 --> 00:49:32,280
Speaker 3: Freedom dot two is where you find that which can

968
00:49:32,719 --> 00:49:35,120
Speaker 3: just really good at just blocking out digital distractions, so

969
00:49:35,239 --> 00:49:38,239
Speaker 3: basically set it to block you out of software or

970
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:41,440
Speaker 3: specific websites during particular times of day where you need

971
00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:45,480
Speaker 3: to be doing like focused deep work. Serene also has

972
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:49,800
Speaker 3: the feature of can forcing you to set your goals

973
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:52,319
Speaker 3: and go, Okay, what's the task that you want to do,

974
00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:56,040
Speaker 3: how long do you think it will take, and when

975
00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:58,280
Speaker 3: do you want to start, and then you start, it

976
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:00,799
Speaker 3: locks you out of everything that's distracted and off you go.

977
00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:03,560
Speaker 3: So I'm finding that really useful. And plus it plays

978
00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:06,160
Speaker 3: some Serene music in the background as well, so that's

979
00:50:06,239 --> 00:50:08,160
Speaker 3: nice an app. Like I mean, look that there's a

980
00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:10,279
Speaker 3: few apps that I find really useful, you know, I do.

981
00:50:10,640 --> 00:50:13,799
Speaker 3: I do often talk about the Pocket app because I think,

982
00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:16,400
Speaker 3: you know, at the moment, like we're probably we're consuming

983
00:50:16,400 --> 00:50:18,680
Speaker 3: more news, we're reading more online articles at the moment,

984
00:50:18,719 --> 00:50:20,920
Speaker 3: that is always a huge source of distraction where we

985
00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:25,239
Speaker 3: can just end up down rabbit holes. So Pocket's really good.

986
00:50:25,239 --> 00:50:27,480
Speaker 3: It's like a plug in for your web browser like

987
00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:30,080
Speaker 3: Chrome or whatever you're using, and you can just save

988
00:50:30,239 --> 00:50:33,080
Speaker 3: articles to Pocket and then you can read them at

989
00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:36,399
Speaker 3: your own time, so that you're just deliberately not going

990
00:50:36,440 --> 00:50:39,840
Speaker 3: down Robert Warrens and losing time to reading interesting articles.

991
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:43,320
Speaker 3: And then the other thing I really love on my phone,

992
00:50:43,400 --> 00:50:45,840
Speaker 3: because you know phones can be a big source of distraction,

993
00:50:46,040 --> 00:50:51,560
Speaker 3: is an app called foresto r Eest basically allows you

994
00:50:51,600 --> 00:50:53,279
Speaker 3: to set an amount of time that you want to

995
00:50:53,280 --> 00:50:55,560
Speaker 3: be focused for and not on your phone. Let's just

996
00:50:55,560 --> 00:50:59,160
Speaker 3: say it's fifty minutes. You then start forest and it

997
00:50:59,200 --> 00:51:02,000
Speaker 3: grows a virtual but if you check your phone during

998
00:51:02,040 --> 00:51:06,920
Speaker 3: that fifty minutes, the tree dies and that is incredibly motivating,

999
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:09,280
Speaker 3: even though it really has no impact for the environment.

1000
00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:11,480
Speaker 3: So there's some things that I like.

1001
00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:16,360
Speaker 2: Okay, and then the final question is what this from Catherine?

1002
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:20,840
Speaker 2: What processes and documents has invented used to make asynchronous

1003
00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:23,799
Speaker 2: work rock over the last few years? Particularly, how have

1004
00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:25,239
Speaker 2: you made decisions as a team.

1005
00:51:26,080 --> 00:51:28,959
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I mean there's nothing revolutionary here. We rely

1006
00:51:29,200 --> 00:51:33,200
Speaker 3: a lot on Google docs and Google sheets in terms

1007
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:37,279
Speaker 3: of collaborating in the written form. I think that's been

1008
00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:40,319
Speaker 3: really helpful, although it has led to a lot of

1009
00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:44,160
Speaker 3: Google sheets that are replicating data from other sources, which

1010
00:51:44,360 --> 00:51:47,680
Speaker 3: some of us don't love. But anyway, it served us

1011
00:51:47,680 --> 00:51:50,279
Speaker 3: all right. And then look, in terms of decisions we

1012
00:51:50,320 --> 00:51:52,759
Speaker 3: would get on the phone. I think, you know, there's

1013
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:55,000
Speaker 3: not too many decisions that would be like making over

1014
00:51:55,080 --> 00:51:57,319
Speaker 3: email or anything like that, unless they're sort of quite

1015
00:51:57,320 --> 00:51:59,239
Speaker 3: small decisions. But generally it would just get on the

1016
00:51:59,239 --> 00:52:01,279
Speaker 3: phone or a Google will hang out, so you know,

1017
00:52:01,400 --> 00:52:05,200
Speaker 3: nothing revolutionary, but like it works, it works for us.

1018
00:52:05,840 --> 00:52:09,480
Speaker 2: And then I think also recognizing when we need to

1019
00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:12,440
Speaker 2: make a decision by consensus as opposed to when it

1020
00:52:12,520 --> 00:52:15,440
Speaker 2: just needs to be someone else's decision, as like, for example,

1021
00:52:16,120 --> 00:52:18,800
Speaker 2: our CEO Mish sometimes she just has to make the decision,

1022
00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:21,239
Speaker 2: and then sometimes it's more appropriate that we all weigh

1023
00:52:21,239 --> 00:52:22,040
Speaker 2: in on that decision.

1024
00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:25,440
Speaker 3: Definitely, definitely all.

1025
00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:28,240
Speaker 2: Right, Well that is the last question for our session.

1026
00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:31,960
Speaker 2: So just to wrap up, I might hand to you

1027
00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:34,640
Speaker 2: a month to chat a little bit about where to

1028
00:52:34,760 --> 00:52:35,240
Speaker 2: from here.

1029
00:52:35,640 --> 00:52:38,239
Speaker 3: Yeah, awesome. So I know something that we're going to

1030
00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:41,239
Speaker 3: do is we're going to put together a summary of

1031
00:52:41,320 --> 00:52:43,920
Speaker 3: like some of the top tips that we've shared today.

1032
00:52:44,239 --> 00:52:47,200
Speaker 3: You'll all be getting access to a recording of this webinar.

1033
00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:49,480
Speaker 3: Feel free to share it broadly if you think it

1034
00:52:49,560 --> 00:52:52,120
Speaker 3: was helpful. If you're just like, oh my god, I've

1035
00:52:52,160 --> 00:52:54,040
Speaker 3: just wasted an hour of my life and you can

1036
00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:58,279
Speaker 3: just delete that email and delete the recording and then look,

1037
00:52:58,320 --> 00:53:01,000
Speaker 3: I know that it's interesting because, like historically, in Venteam

1038
00:53:01,040 --> 00:53:03,000
Speaker 3: does a lot of work in the innovation space. A

1039
00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:05,319
Speaker 3: lot of innovation budgets have been cut. But you know,

1040
00:53:05,360 --> 00:53:07,239
Speaker 3: for the last couple of years we've been doing a

1041
00:53:07,239 --> 00:53:10,400
Speaker 3: lot around productivity and helping people do focused work in

1042
00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:13,200
Speaker 3: the age of digital distraction. And the thing that we

1043
00:53:13,280 --> 00:53:16,400
Speaker 3: have been inundated with by our clients is actually helping

1044
00:53:16,440 --> 00:53:19,600
Speaker 3: them work from home more productively and really thrive at home.

1045
00:53:19,719 --> 00:53:22,480
Speaker 3: So you know, perhaps like you've joined the webinar, you

1046
00:53:22,560 --> 00:53:24,360
Speaker 3: just wanted some quick tips and that's cool, and you

1047
00:53:24,400 --> 00:53:26,279
Speaker 3: feel like you know you've got some value and you

1048
00:53:26,280 --> 00:53:29,400
Speaker 3: can improve the way you work. Awesome if you're like, Okay,

1049
00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:31,440
Speaker 3: that's the tip of the iceberg. I do need some

1050
00:53:31,480 --> 00:53:35,000
Speaker 3: more help, probably like three ways that we can help. Firstly,

1051
00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:38,279
Speaker 3: we do have a five week program that is all

1052
00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:41,640
Speaker 3: about how do you thrive in the home office environment.

1053
00:53:42,239 --> 00:53:44,640
Speaker 3: It's a program that we get amazing results from. We

1054
00:53:44,680 --> 00:53:47,960
Speaker 3: get productivity boosts of generally between twenty to twenty five

1055
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:51,239
Speaker 3: percent in that five to six week period, plus engagement

1056
00:53:51,239 --> 00:53:53,080
Speaker 3: and wellbeing and all those sorts of things go up,

1057
00:53:53,120 --> 00:53:55,520
Speaker 3: so there is that we will send through more info

1058
00:53:55,600 --> 00:53:57,319
Speaker 3: on that. We're also starting to do a lot of

1059
00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:00,120
Speaker 3: work with leadership teams who are trying to drive I

1060
00:54:00,160 --> 00:54:04,000
Speaker 3: have better behaviors with their team and really help support

1061
00:54:04,040 --> 00:54:06,400
Speaker 3: them from home. So we do you know, some workshops

1062
00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:08,080
Speaker 3: with leaders and then we also do a lot of

1063
00:54:08,080 --> 00:54:11,040
Speaker 3: mentoring with teams and one on one with leaders as well,

1064
00:54:11,080 --> 00:54:13,960
Speaker 3: just to help them navigate this time, you know, I mean,

1065
00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:17,160
Speaker 3: like it's not just about productivity, Like, yeah, productivity might

1066
00:54:17,200 --> 00:54:19,759
Speaker 3: be down, but what is the impact of mental well

1067
00:54:19,840 --> 00:54:23,280
Speaker 3: being during this time as well? It is absolutely huge.

1068
00:54:23,719 --> 00:54:26,160
Speaker 3: Like something I like to think about is what is

1069
00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:29,840
Speaker 3: the cost of not helping your teams work better, like

1070
00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:33,799
Speaker 3: both mentally and also just you know physically, like productively

1071
00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:36,560
Speaker 3: during this point of time. You could end up with.

1072
00:54:36,600 --> 00:54:40,440
Speaker 1: Some very disengaged, burntout people if you don't kind of

1073
00:54:40,520 --> 00:54:41,359
Speaker 1: jump on this now.

1074
00:54:41,480 --> 00:54:44,759
Speaker 3: So we're going to send out a feedback survey to everyone.

1075
00:54:44,880 --> 00:54:46,839
Speaker 3: We would love your feedback. We want to know what's

1076
00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:49,760
Speaker 3: been really helpful and also what is not. We're planning

1077
00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:52,520
Speaker 3: on doing more of these webinars. So I think it's

1078
00:54:52,520 --> 00:54:55,759
Speaker 3: been fun, Sha, I've had fun to be out nice, Yeah,

1079
00:54:56,360 --> 00:54:57,680
Speaker 3: and so you know, look, if you do want to

1080
00:54:57,680 --> 00:54:59,480
Speaker 3: book into chat to me and chat you know in

1081
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:01,360
Speaker 3: a little bit more detail, we'll just put that in

1082
00:55:01,400 --> 00:55:04,120
Speaker 3: the survey, or just reach out to cares. I think

1083
00:55:04,160 --> 00:55:08,479
Speaker 3: everyone has cases email address and mine and showers and look,

1084
00:55:08,640 --> 00:55:10,239
Speaker 3: you know, I hope it's helpful. Hope it's been in

1085
00:55:10,320 --> 00:55:15,319
Speaker 3: our well spent everyone. And yeah, on wiki day, back

1086
00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:16,040
Speaker 3: to work.

1087
00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:20,440
Speaker 2: Everyone, now take a coffee break and then get back

1088
00:55:20,440 --> 00:55:24,200
Speaker 2: to your deep focused work. Yeah all right, Well, thank

1089
00:55:24,200 --> 00:55:27,280
Speaker 2: you Kez. Thanks a good to chat with you virtually,

1090
00:55:27,600 --> 00:55:31,280
Speaker 2: and thank you everyone else for joining. And as Amantha mentioned,

1091
00:55:31,560 --> 00:55:33,680
Speaker 2: please feel free to share the webinar link and we'll

1092
00:55:33,719 --> 00:55:37,160
Speaker 2: get you that summary and that feedback so they later today.

1093
00:55:37,600 --> 00:55:39,799
Speaker 2: So thank you and see you later.

1094
00:55:40,840 --> 00:55:41,640
Speaker 3: Hello there.

1095
00:55:41,920 --> 00:55:45,760
Speaker 1: I hope you found this episode useful. I think in future,

1096
00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:47,560
Speaker 1: I'm probably going to do a few more ask Me

1097
00:55:47,640 --> 00:55:51,600
Speaker 1: anything webinars this year, so keep an eye out for them.

1098
00:55:51,800 --> 00:55:57,399
Speaker 1: I will promote those via How I Work. And if

1099
00:55:57,440 --> 00:56:00,480
Speaker 1: you enjoyed today's episode, why not share it with someone

1100
00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:03,800
Speaker 1: who do you think Mike could do with some tips

1101
00:56:03,840 --> 00:56:07,040
Speaker 1: about working from home more effectively? Maybe some of your

1102
00:56:07,080 --> 00:56:10,719
Speaker 1: workmates perhaps, or a friend that maybe is struggling working

1103
00:56:10,719 --> 00:56:13,000
Speaker 1: from home at the moment, so I hope you got

1104
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:16,520
Speaker 1: some useful stuff out of it, and I will see

1105
00:56:16,560 --> 00:56:17,479
Speaker 1: you next time.