7/28/18 7/28/18

Your Meeting Is Starting . . .

Apparently, meetings take up about 15% of a typical organization’s time (citation)Also, iturns out that 91% of meeting-goers day-dream, 39% of people fall asleep in meetings, 73% of people do other work while in meetings, 41% of people complain that meetings are a waste of time, and 96% of people skip meetings altogether.In total, the current estimate is about $37 Billion (with a “B”) of salary expenses are wasted on meetings in the U.S.

2 Minute Action:

The next time you have a meeting and aren’t sure if it wilL be useful, run through these questions real quick. This is your litmus test for productive meetings:What would happen if you didn’t have the meeting? Would it impede progress?Could the meeting really be an email or a Skype meeting instead?If you have to have a meeting, can you do it in a room with no chairs?What’s the purpose of the meeting?Pick one of the following, and you can only pick one. If it’s more than one, skip the meeting.• Inform people about the project• Learn opinions or facts that will help you achieve a success• Discuss the project and gain input from interested parties• Pitch or approve the idea for the projectAfter the meeting, how will you know it was a success?

7/8/18 7/8/18

The Interruption That Could Cost You $5,500

I once was working with a software client.

Here's what I was seeing:

The codebase was incredibly complex, in fact, there were only 4 people in the world who could do the math to put all of it together--and 2 of them were in the room.In order to answer questions and solve problems, the development team was having long meetings every week to sync up. They were also interrupting each other any time they had a question about the code. After all, they needed that question answered before they could move on.

Here's what I told the CEO:

Every time you have a meeting, the conversation moves its way into a discussion about implementation of a very specific feature. This usually requires only 2 or 3 people to work through and everyone else just needs to be updated.Every time a developer is interrupted, it can take a half-hour to an hour to get back into the flow of what they were doing. By using a messaging tool, questions can be posted and developers can answer in their own time without interruption. Rarely does anything need to be answered within the hour. Usually, it can wait 2 or 3 hours.The CEO didn't like this and mentioned that they needed the long meetings to stay, and the interruptions were just part of the workflow.

Here's how I reframed it:

On your team, every meeting burns through about 5 man/hrs of wasted time.Every interruption burns about 2 man/hrs of wasted time.The meeting is once/week and there are roughly 25 interruptions/week.You're paying your developers $100/hr.That means you're wasting $5,500 per week.

Why did this work?

Because it was reframed in a language that CEOs speak: dollars.When you are measuring results by the same axis, you can begin to actually collaborate on solutions.

2 Minute Action

What's something you've been trying to communicate with someone else?At the end of the day, on what are they being graded?Do they have to look good to their boss?Are they motivated by money?Would they rather have social status or rank?Find out how they are measuring success and translate your agenda to their language.

6/17/18 6/17/18

If You Want Respect, Do This

We can all agree that we should respect others.Respect their opinions, respect their time, respect their space, blah blah blah.Yet, I've found that few people can name discrete actions that are respectful.Let's take a typical office meeting as a quick scenario.

Try this:

Before every meeting, ask if anyone has an obligation immediately afterward. Let them speak first so they don't risk missing anything if the meeting runs late.
When answering a question, use an appropriate amount of detail to stay relevant to the people in the room. It'll also help prevent people from falling asleep.
Instead of waiting for the speaker to stop talking so you can make your point, try responding to what they've said and roll it into your point. It'll make conflicts easier and it'll help others actually begin to listen to what you've said, too.

This is respecting others' points of view and respecting others' time.

2 Minute Action

Who is someone in your life you respect?Can you text/call/tell them right now?Chances are, the more you treat others with respect, the more you'll also be respected.It's hard work to do this consistently, but it's worth the effort.