1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Twenty twenty two is well underway, and yeah, we're still 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,320 Speaker 1: doing a lot of virtual meetings, and despite the fact 3 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:14,320 Speaker 1: that we have all by now participated in literally hundreds, 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 1: if not thousands of them, they are still pretty average. 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: But let's not blame Zoom straightaway. Meetings as a work 6 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: practice have gone unexamined for far longer than they've been online. 7 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 1: At Lassian's head of research and development, Dom Price, saw 8 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:35,520 Speaker 1: this and thought that perhaps there might be a better way. 9 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: He and his team did a deep dive into what 10 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 1: a meeting is for and what's holding it back, and 11 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: maybe not surprisingly, they found that almost nothing about the 12 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,599 Speaker 1: meeting as we know it was worth keeping, so they 13 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: didn't keep it and they replaced some of their regular 14 00:00:53,440 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: meetings with something else entirely. My name is doctor Amantha Imba. 15 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,479 Speaker 1: I'm an organizational psychologist and the founder of behavioral science 16 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,479 Speaker 1: consultancy Inventium. And this is how I work, a show 17 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: about how to help you do your best work. On 18 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:15,679 Speaker 1: today is my Favorite Tip episode. We go back to 19 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 1: an interview from the past and I pick out my 20 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,479 Speaker 1: favorite tip from the interview. In today's show, I speak 21 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: with Dom Price about what led him to do a 22 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:29,080 Speaker 1: ritual reset, and how he specifically focused on meetings. 23 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 2: I found myself in this kind of cycle of insanity 24 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 2: at work where things were getting bigger, longer, more, but 25 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 2: there didn't seem to be a break point. And similar 26 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 2: to you, I was looking for the breakpoint. One of 27 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 2: the things I did for myself and then with my 28 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 2: team was the ritual reset. And it's just been great 29 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 2: to kind of go, like, we have all these interventions 30 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 2: where we kind of think about doing a sprinklean, right, 31 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 2: you think about like seasons and you change your wardrobe 32 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 2: and you do a sprinkling. It's like, what's the spring 33 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 2: clean for my life? And specifically, what's the spring clean 34 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 2: for meetings? You know, because if you think news kills 35 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 2: your mojo, amant nothing kills my vibal mojo like lack 36 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 2: a meeting. And so I'm like, I know they're necessary, evil, 37 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:13,519 Speaker 2: but how can I make them better? So the ritual 38 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 2: reset was like, how do we, like, if you assume 39 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 2: the world's changed, because it has, like my working environment 40 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 2: is completely different than it was, So how do I 41 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:23,359 Speaker 2: reset my rituals? And so what we said was, let's 42 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:25,799 Speaker 2: list all of our rituals, which ones do we want 43 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 2: to keep, but tweak, right, so they stay that. The 44 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 2: purpose is the ritual still makes sense, but the way 45 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 2: we're going to do it's different because we might be 46 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:35,679 Speaker 2: able to do it asynchronous, or might be able to 47 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 2: do it online, or we're going to do it in 48 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 2: a different form because the world has changed. Which ones 49 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 2: do we want to keep? And they stay the same, 50 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 2: I'll be honest, very few fell into that category. And 51 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,519 Speaker 2: then which ones? Which ones do we want to kill? 52 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 2: Which ones just aren't required, we don't need them anymore? Whatever, 53 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:53,959 Speaker 2: and maybe we use to We use the space to 54 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 2: time and the freedom to experiment, then try something else. 55 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 2: And it has been like the most refreshing thing, just 56 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 2: to go. Meetings don't own me anymore. I own them. 57 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: Oh wow, that's cool. 58 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:09,640 Speaker 2: I think it was always true. Humans booked the meetings, 59 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 2: so humans have always owned them, but we just let 60 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 2: them dominators and that reset I've done with myself, but 61 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 2: then with my team, and then what we've done is 62 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,640 Speaker 2: is we're genuinely using the free time it's given us, 63 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 2: either to invest in ourselves, which is crucial, or to go, 64 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 2: how do we experiment with new stuff? Because you know 65 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:28,079 Speaker 2: what the world's changed, and I don't know the answer. 66 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 2: There isn't. I mean, you can google best practice Hybrid 67 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 2: distributed teams and you'll get a hold of and BS articles. 68 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 2: So don't do that. I do. Let's experiment our way 69 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 2: out of it, and that in itself has been quite fun. 70 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: Give me an example of a ritual law to that 71 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: you've killed. Maybe in relation to meetings. 72 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 2: There's a whole swath that got killed. So I status updates. 73 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 2: There's so many where we just gathered in the office 74 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 2: and it was just this an archaic ritual where we 75 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 2: just gathered and in certain days we gathered and never 76 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 2: want to go through the updates. And I'm like, it 77 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 2: was soul destroying in the office. At least we had 78 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 2: tea coffee beer on each other. But when you're doing 79 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 2: that from you, from wherever everyone's doing it from now, 80 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 2: you're like, wow, this is really sold destroying. So we're like, 81 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 2: hang on, Not only is it sold destroying, we're trying 82 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 2: to do this synchronously and we're using people's like live time, 83 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,560 Speaker 2: which should be used for something more spontaneous or higher value. 84 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,280 Speaker 2: So how can we make all our data subdates asynchronous 85 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 2: and how can we make them consumable? All around the world, 86 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:24,160 Speaker 2: so you don't have to physically be in the same 87 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 2: place at the same time, because I have colleagues literally 88 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 2: all over the world. 89 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: So how did you do that? Was what was the solution. 90 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,480 Speaker 2: Well, we actually started doing it first of all using 91 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 2: just some of our existing tools, and then realized that 92 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:39,600 Speaker 2: none of them worked for that purpose. So we built one. 93 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:41,039 Speaker 2: It's what we do it last year and we're like, ah, 94 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 2: SoLIT let's just build one, and a team just kind 95 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 2: of came together and like, let's solve this problem for 96 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:47,039 Speaker 2: the whole of it last yon, how do we get 97 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 2: the network of teams to communicate with each other asynchronously? 98 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,640 Speaker 2: And we're like, oh, this this sounds like a fun experiment. 99 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 2: And so what you get is there two hundred and 100 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 2: forty character limits. So it's like Twitter and you do 101 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 2: your update on a frid and it kind of all 102 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:03,559 Speaker 2: gets flunched together over the weekend, and on Monday morning 103 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 2: you get a digest of all the projects you're following, 104 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 2: and you get the two hundred and forty character update, 105 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 2: and if you want to dig in and find out more, 106 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:11,720 Speaker 2: you click through and you can read more. But what 107 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 2: it means is I now don't have any status meetings, 108 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 2: which I love. Wow. What I really enjoy is on 109 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,680 Speaker 2: that Monday morning when I get that digest, I'm like, ah, 110 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 2: that project's fine, that one's fine, that one's fine. I 111 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 2: am not going to talk to you. I'm going to 112 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:29,159 Speaker 2: leave you alone to just do your work. That is cool. 113 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: Now, is this product available to a Blessian customers or 114 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: just listeners who might not be customers of Alessian. 115 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, we've put it out there as a beta. I 116 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 2: think out there as an Now for a beta, it's 117 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 2: pretty raw because we're still playing with it internally, but 118 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 2: it will make it out there eventually because we're seeing 119 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 2: more and more people talk about this the network of 120 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 2: teams effect and how do this is not about project management, 121 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,400 Speaker 2: it's about project communication. How do like I'm anthor if 122 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:56,839 Speaker 2: me and you're working on discrete pieces of work, but 123 00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:59,359 Speaker 2: they're going to connect together. How can we connect in 124 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 2: a meaningful so that I know what you're doing, you 125 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:03,280 Speaker 2: know what I'm doing, but we don't have to be 126 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 2: in each other's pockets. So you're autonomous and free to 127 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:08,840 Speaker 2: do your work, but you're connected in the areas where 128 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,799 Speaker 2: you need to. And it's so far, it's been fascinating experiment. 129 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 2: That's cool. 130 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: Now, what's the link if people want to go check 131 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: that out? 132 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 2: If they're just Google Team Central, that's the working name 133 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:18,839 Speaker 2: for it right now. 134 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 1: I hope you're feeling all inspired to do a ritual 135 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,359 Speaker 1: reset in your work life, and if meetings are the 136 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: bane of your work life, then perhaps those are a 137 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 1: good place to start. If you're looking for more tips 138 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 1: to improve the way that you work. I write a 139 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: short fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things that I've 140 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: discovered that helped me work better, which range from interesting 141 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 1: research findings three to gadgets and software that I'm loving. 142 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: You can sign up for that at Howiwork dot co. 143 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:49,719 Speaker 1: That's how I Work dot co. How I Work is 144 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: produced by Inventim with production support from dead Set Studios. 145 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:55,040 Speaker 1: And thank you to Martin Nimber who does the audio 146 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: mix for every episode and makes everything sound awesome. See 147 00:06:59,040 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: you next time.