1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: used by the world's most successful people to get so 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: much out of their day. 4 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:13,120 Speaker 2: I'm your host, doctor Amantha. 5 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:18,239 Speaker 1: I'm an organizational psychologist, the founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium, 6 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 1: and I'm obsessed with finding ways to optimize my work day. 7 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 2: On today's show, I am. 8 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: Going to be answering a listener question, and if you're 9 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: a regular listener of How I Work, you'll know that 10 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: I've been doing a shout out for listener questions because 11 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:36,199 Speaker 1: I am super curious as to what is on your mind. 12 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:38,560 Speaker 1: What are the things that you're struggling with right now 13 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: at work, What are the questions that you have around 14 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: improving your own productivity? And I'm really keen to answer those, 15 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: So if you've got a question, send it through to 16 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,480 Speaker 1: Amantha at Inventium dot com dot au and my email 17 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: address is also in the show notes. I can't get 18 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:56,960 Speaker 1: around to every question. I have received a lot of them, 19 00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,639 Speaker 1: but I will be picking the ones that I think 20 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: could fit the most amount of listeners. So today's question 21 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: is I've gotten finally into a groove working from home, 22 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 1: and now I'm worried we're all going to be called 23 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: back into the office. It's open plan, freezing cold. Has 24 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: just never been a comfortable place to be. Most of 25 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,399 Speaker 1: my key colleagues are interstate anyway, so I'll be mostly 26 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: on MS teams anyway, and can't imagine taking video calls 27 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: in an open planned space. How would you recommend I 28 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,959 Speaker 1: approach my boss about working from home long term? That's 29 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: such a great question, And I feel like any kind 30 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: of conversation with your boss around changing the way that 31 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: you work can be a little bit tricky. So the 32 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 1: first thing that I recommend here is understanding your boss's 33 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,280 Speaker 1: point of view and trying to put yourself in their shoes, Like, 34 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: what do you think is presumably going to be driving 35 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,559 Speaker 1: his or her resistance? And I'm assuming by your question 36 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: that you're assuming that you will be met with resistance. 37 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: So what's drive your boss's views. Do they just have 38 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 1: a kind of old school mentality? Do they not like change? 39 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,639 Speaker 1: Do they think that you will perform better in the office. 40 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: Do they need to see you to believe that you 41 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: are working. I'm not sure, but have a think about 42 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: what's driving their point of view or what's motivating them, 43 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: because you'll be a better placed to think about, how 44 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: do you therefore frame the conversation and I guess, for 45 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: want of a better phrase. 46 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 2: Argue your point. 47 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,399 Speaker 1: I think the other thing that is important when going 48 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: into these conversations is that people like to feel like 49 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,839 Speaker 1: they have a choice. So rather than just saying, hey, 50 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: can I continue working from home? I would recommend giving 51 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: your boss a choice and painting that picture. So, for example, boss, 52 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: would you like me to continue working from home where 53 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: I will perform better and here's the evidence and I'll 54 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: be happier, and here's the evidence, and why or do 55 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: you want me to come back into the office. But 56 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 1: what I think is reasonable to expect is that it 57 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: will impact my performance this way or that way, And 58 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,639 Speaker 1: certainly with taking video calls, I'm actually going to feel 59 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: really self conscious doing that in an open plan space. 60 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: So really painting the picture of these two different options 61 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: for your boss in a way that is hopefully compelling 62 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: and speaks to their motivations. 63 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:21,799 Speaker 2: I think that this as a general. 64 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: Rule is helpful to use for all conversations with bosses. 65 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: A question that I do get asked when we work 66 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: with our clients at inventing them around, teaching them about 67 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: deep work and shallow work. And the difference is that 68 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: people will often say, yeah, but my boss expects me 69 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: to be responsive to email. If I don't respond to email, 70 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: you know, within thirty minutes, I'll think that I'm not working. 71 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: And so in that sense, I think it's also a 72 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: really valuable conversation to have with your boss around deep 73 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: work and shallow work. And the advice that I give 74 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,279 Speaker 1: is to say, look, I'm happy to keep being responsive, 75 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: but what it means is that I'm never really going 76 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: to be able to get into the flow and do deep, 77 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: sort of focused, undistracted kind of work if you also 78 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: expect me to be checking my emails constantly throughout the day. 79 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: So what is it that you pay me to do? Essentially, 80 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: where is the most value that I can add? Is 81 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:17,719 Speaker 1: it in doing significant uninterrupted blocks of deep work, which 82 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: means I will be less responsive to email, particularly during 83 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:22,279 Speaker 1: the time allocated that. 84 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 2: I'm doing deep work. 85 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: Or would you prefer me to spend less time in 86 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: deep work and have less chunks of uninterrupted focused time 87 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: so that I can be more responsive to your email? 88 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: And generally, when you frame it like that, it will 89 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,160 Speaker 1: hopefully open up your boss's eyes to kind of going. Actually, 90 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 1: I've probably overestimated how important it is for you to 91 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 1: respond to emails quickly and obviously try to have these 92 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:51,159 Speaker 1: conversations in as unfacetious a way as you can, so 93 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,479 Speaker 1: hopefully that helps in terms of having these kinds of 94 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: conversations about how you work with your manager. 95 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 2: So that is it for today's show. 96 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 1: If you know someone else that you know is maybe 97 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: struggling with the same challenge, why not share this episode 98 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: with them and hopefully they will benefit too. And if 99 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,039 Speaker 1: you're enjoying how I work, I'd love you to leave 100 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: a review an Apple podcast. It might be a star 101 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:16,919 Speaker 1: rating or a few words, and thank you to the 102 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: hundreds of people that have done that. 103 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 2: It's greatly appreciated. 104 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: So that is it for today's show, and I will 105 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:24,720 Speaker 1: see you next time.