In the midst of the biggest power outage ever to darken the Northeast, three days in at our house, I received a call, presumably from no more than 100 miles away, but obviously in the lit half of the state. My alma mater wanted money. I wanted lights, running water, heat, a hot shower, and a refrigerator with the power to stay cold. Had he been calling from California, it would have been more understandable. But he wasn’t. And here he was consuming the battery of my only form of communication. My only means of calling for help, should it come to that. Why do you suppose I wasn’t feeling patient, friendly, and generous? It is too easy to plow through our daily routines oblivious to the possibility of death, famine, pestilence, and other hardships until it walks into our own lives. “How are you today?” roles off the tongue with ease, though many people barely pause for a response.
Growth can wreak havoc on employees and company performance. As companies grow, employees are stretched, morphed, overwhelmed, and trapped. Meanwhile, fundamental company needs are often ignored. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Growing into Unhappiness Growing into unhappiness is totally common. What happens is a long-term, trusted employee grows up with the company, takes on new responsibilities as needed, and does reasonably well in many different roles. Unfortunately, after several iterations, the assigned responsibilities are often far removed from the passion and interests of the individual. This long-term employee could be a founder, who winds up as CEO, but would really prefer to be immersed in the technology and innovation that made the company succeed in the first place. Or it could be a salesman who now finds himself behind a desk, managing others when he would rather be out talking to customers. There are countless scenarios that can end in unhappiness regardless of individual characteristics. Growing into Failure Not only might these employees grow into positions that make them miserable, they may also find themselves failing. The most important differences among jobs have nothing to do with the things that capture attention: title, salary, status, and office location.
You call it your inbox. A more accurate name might be your “Indecision box.” How many times do you look at the same email message? Should I respond or not? How do I handle this? Should I sign up? If I ignore it, will it go away? Do I need to save this somewhere? You know the questions. If you return to the same message multiple times, pondering those same questions, you are wasting time and energy. There are only four efficient responses to any email: Act immediately (read or respond) Save it for later (flagged by date or filed with relevant project) Archive it (an overused option, but not ineffective) Delete it To increase your success rate in making these choices, don’t check email unless you have time to complete this process. If awaiting a particular message, check quickly and leave. Come back later when you have time to handle each appropriately in sequence. If your inbox isn’t emptied a couple of times each day, you definitely have an Indecision box instead! Worse than that, you have an E-mess! Do a spot check on employee inboxes and you’ll know immediately whether they need help too.
We have a weird bathroom. When we first moved in, we couldn’t imagine why the previous owner had not installed any towel racks. It took one trip to the local plumbing fixture store to learn why. None of the standard rods are the right length for any of the spaces in our bathroom. Nonetheless, we picked out a style we wanted, one which was not on display, and inquired about the outer dimensions of various options. No one seemed able to tell us whether the length listed in the catalog was the measurement of the rod available for hanging, the distance between the centers of the wall mounts, or the outer dimension of the entire assembly. Guesses were easy to come by; definitive answers were not. So we did without. A year later we returned, repeated the exercise exactly, and left with the same decision: to do without. This past summer, we returned once more. I was determined to have towel racks.
I am tickled pink by the incredibly green mileage of my new blue Prius, but red with anger over the yellow highlighted “Excellent” ratings on the sample customer satisfaction survey handed to me by the salesman as I drove off. “If I get less then 90%, Toyota will throw me under the bus,” he said. Toyota wants feedback that the salesman fears and, as a result, the customer suffers.
Many of my clients, large and small, share a tendency to keep employees in positions for which they are ill suited far too long. The result is 360 degrees of pain and the solution seems unthinkable. It is time for new thinking. When an employee is not a good match for the job position, those above, below, and on all sides of the employee in question suffer. The supervisor’s expenditure of time, frustration, and anxiety may exceed the total positive contribution made by the mismatched employee. Colleagues of the mismatch may be picking up slack and/or enduring abusive or unpleasant working conditions. Direct reports could be receiving anything from no support to abusive micromanagement. At the very least, they are missing out on a good role model. If you add up the total cost in time, mistakes, missed opportunities, bad precedents, the erosion of energy, the contradiction of company values, and the blow to your own credibility as a leader and manager, the cost of keeping a mismatched employee is huge. Once you realize the full burden of the mismatch, keeping and firing are often seen as the only two choices, and the latter so reeks of surprise and cruelty that it becomes unthinkable.
Welcome to the Clarity Quiz! Which of the following is most essential to an effective meeting? An agenda On time start and finish Assigned roles (e.g., time keeper) Ground rules (e.g., cell phones off) Assigned action items None of the above Make your selection and then click “more” for the answer.
When there is too much to do, things fall through the cracks, delays become epidemic, and stress spirals out of control. If others are involved, discord brews and respect erodes. The result is rarely pretty. But it doesn’t have to be that way. When there is too much to do, there are only six possibilities. The good news is that five of them are effective. The bad news is that most people choose the sixth. Here are the five effective ways of dealing with overload: Accomplish more Delegate/outsource Cut corners Postpone Abandon What is #6? Choosing none of the above. The sixth choice is the only ineffective option. It’s called wishful thinking.
Uncommon Meetings – 7 Quick Tips for Better Results in Half the Time by Ann Latham is now available in print and ebook editions on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and Uncommon Clarity Store. Uncommon Meetings is short and powerful, just as every meeting should be. People who follow these seven tips will definitely get better results in half the time.How many total hours are you and your employees spending in meetings each month? What would it be worth to you if you could cut that time in half, dramatically improve the results, and reduce the number of attendees? Start saving that time and money now! Read this book today! “‘Uncommon Meetings’ is a must read for everyone in any organization, not just top management.” Al Kasper, President & COO, Savage Sports Corporation “To achieve your desired outcomes in less time and with fewer people, read this book! It has great tips and memorable examples for improving meetings and is concise and clear as well. All and all, a huge value for anyone who spends a lot of time in meetings as I do.” Simon Lingard, Director of R&D, Aspen Technology, Inc.
If you burn 500 calories more than you consume each day, you will lose a pound a week. This fact surfaced while I was out running today. Curious, I visited a website upon return where I could plug in the time and distance to see how many calories I’d burned. The website essentially screamed back, “That’s Not Running!” I consoled myself with thoughts of the three giant uphills, oodles of orange spotted lizards flushed out by three inches of rain, and my habitual gander into the woods where moose have crossed my path in the past. Humiliation aside, the reality is, it’s NOT running! If I am “running” to take a break, get the blood flowing, get outside, or get 30 minutes of exercise, and I note my accomplishment accordingly, it doesn’t matter that I am not exactly “running.”