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?
The Surprising Similarity Between Sports And Productivity
Here is one of my favorite comics:
Forget about the sports for a second.Have you ever heard this kind of talk in your work?Let me try to translate a bit into “office-speak.””Well, Bill, we want to make more sales but we keep calling and no one is getting back to us.”(The symptom is presented but there is no effort applied to figuring out if the problem is rooted in the quality of the leads, the script of the cold call, or how well the product solves the need of the customer.)Or how about . . .”Franks report says we need to execute more proposals this week. I guess we’d better keep calling and sending our emails.”(Here, the goal is vaguely defined--“more” isn’t a good goal, and working more hours is not a sustainable solution.)
There are two main mindset problems that led to these examples:
1. There is no investigation or identification of impediments (the things that might be slowing you down or preventing results).2. There is no analysis of things that are working or not working about the current approach.The fix is simple: get specific about what needs to be achieved and work backwards to how you’ll get there within the constraints of your team.
Simple but not easy.
Stop trying to make gears turn faster in a gearbox. It burns people out and doesn’t improve results.Set clear, reasonable goals to get small wins.
2 Minute Action:
Look over your “to-do” list for today.How many of the items are written in a way where you can definitely say “yes, this is done?”Is the task to make a call or is the task really to get the person on the phone to sign up?Is the task really to send a contract or is the task really to close the deal?Measure the end result.Be specific.You’re all set.Lets have a productive day.
Use This Difficult Constraint To Your Advantage
I was reminded, yesterday, of the life changing effect of urgency.You know the feeling, it’s FOMO.
- Buy now, only 43 left!
- Limited Edition only available for the next 24 hours!
- Order in the next 15 minutes and we’ll throw in the Chop Chopper and the Double Chop Chopper free!
You’ve seen all of these before.But why?It’s not because there was an error at the factory and only 50 units were made.And it’s not because the limited edition models will expire and be in some violation of FDA regulation.They can make more units. They can expand the sale.
The punchline?
When things are important AND urgent, we take action.When things are important and NOT urgent, we mere humans are pretty inconsistent and bad at taking action.I’m not just talking about buying behavior.
I’m talking about just about every other aspect of life.
Its important to exercise, sure, we can agree on that. But since our bodies aren’t falling apart, it’s not urgent enough for us to have the motivation to go to the gym.It’s easier to just go tomorrow, when you’ll be more motivated.It's important to take your car in for a checkup, but if nothing is broken, why bother spending the money to bring it in?It’s important to us to learn that new language, but since we’re not going to travel for another 9 months, we can start practicing next week when we’re less busy.You can see where I’m going with this.Action often requires both importance and urgency, but especially urgency.Understand that you have a lot of control over the urgency part. It’s a seriously useful tool.You have the choice to use it to your advantage!
2 Minute Action:
What’s something you’ve been meaning to do?How can you add urgency?Here are some examples:Schedule a 5k run with a friend. Put a simple, weekly training schedule together and tell them not to let you off the hook.Place a “reverse bet.” Write a check to a trustworthy friend for $1,000. If you bail on your goal/deadline, tell them they are allowed to cash the check.Carve out a block of time on your calendar for that project you want to finish. Let it be sacred and schedule other things around it.