Posts tagged collaboration

Time to Attack Another Distraction – Meetings

Jul28
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

MeetingsI feel that I have done a pretty good job of reducing my email overload and improved my communications within and outside my team. Currently, I feel that meetings are the largest distractor to a person’s productivity (especially mine). As I wrote before, the place of my employment are very meeting centric. We have meetings to prep for meetings. Is that insane or what?

Here is what I have done the last two weeks. I logged every meeting. I took a note during and after the meeting to highlight my level of participation, value of the meeting to me, and graded the meeting – with yes or no (yes – meaning I was multi-tasking and from time to time not paying attention and no – I was fully engaged).  The results were as expected. I have way too many useless, non-value added meetings that I get nothing out of. Did someone else get something from the meeting – I certainly hope so. But, for me – I could have easily used that time for something else.  Some real key moments after the two weeks that I observed:

  • Very few meetings are less than one hour. Must be a standard item – need a meeting, has to be an hour!
  • Agenda’s and purpose of the meeting are definitely a rarity. We have an effective meetings training class that everyone needs to attend, but don’t follow one of the key steps.
  • Meetings usually start 5 minutes late. This could be due to be booked back to back, technical issues with some of the collaboration tools and just plain wasted time.
  • Meeting minutes were rarely published or posted. No minutes, then most meetings were a waste. If there is nothing to report back from the meeting – did the meeting happen?

What to do about this?

There are a series of questions that first popped into my head.

  • It is my calendar, I should control it?  Who is controlling whom?
  • What are all those meetings for? Why? Who is scheduling?

I have started my personal campaign to reduce my meetings.

  •  I have already started to push back on organizers to get a better hold on frequency and length of the meeting.  Especially those meetings that could be on a cadence.
  • I have declined many meetings – flat out – as in the past, I have gotten nothing from the session. I let the organizer know that I am not going to attend any longer – due to the lack of my participation in the meeting.
  • I have marked meetings tentative – with a reply back that there is no agenda or purpose of this meeting – and I will not accept the meeting without it. Right now – I have marked this meeting tentative – to hold your spot. If no agenda or purpose is listed shortly or another meeting with an agenda or purpose comes in – I will have to decline this meeting.
  • On many meetings, I am asking do we need an hour? And those that are 2 or 2+ hours… I just laugh and wonder if I can sit that long. Sometimes, it is not worth pushing back.. But, I know going in, that this meeting is going to be tough.
  • I am trying to limit the number of meetings that I schedule. I can control that.. And need to make sure that I am following my rules.
  • Move much of the work related meetings to a more async approach. Use my team space as a working repository for working collaboratively.

This should be an interesting journey…  I have to give myself at least a month or so of trying, before I try something else.

Do you have any ideas on how to fix this?

Posted in Observations - Tagged , , ,

Power of Conversation

Jul27
2009 1 Comment Written by Steve

My work team has had a number of issues come up and we all are working hard to address what is happening. What I am amazed about is that when we all get together and talk – stuff happens. Simply put the power of conversation.

Here are a few of the experiences with conversations:

  • I continue to be amazed how a many wonderful ideas that we come up with during informal conversations. The other day – a few of us – sat down and were talking about some of the issues that our group is facing. We were sitting and drawing on a napkin some of our thoughts – we were able to really get to a very solid solution. Many of these informal conversations have provided very rich sources of creativity, learning and innovation – especially for me.
  • Conversations give me energy, for some on my team it generates energy, often I find just the conversation to be the catalyst for action.
  • Conversations help me think, shape new concepts and ideas.

All this has me wondering, “how I can get more.”

  • How can we nourish conversations (in work, personal lives and in communities)?
  • When these moments come – when the conversation leads to creativity and innovation – we need to be taking them seriously. How many times do we think back and go – I remember that, somewhere? Lost opportunities.
  • As managers and leaders – should we not become more deliberate in managing and nurturing those conversations?
  • What about folks in different timezones and geo’s – how do we attempt to capture those conversations and share?
  • Are we losing the art of conversation?

My team is spread across the globe. Email does not cut it, much is lost… When I go off on the white board – and start drawing that wonderful masterpiece that solved everything – well, there is no way to share that wisdom with the complete team. Same is happening with the small pockets of my team in the other locations. We have to have ways to foster conversations, share out that output (when it makes sense) and truly make location and time meaningless.

Maybe I was just  thinking about this more recently because I think I have spent more time in meetings and conversations within work and my personal life. Some of that – hum – ‘what if’ moments.

Posted in Leadership, Observations - Tagged , , ,

Three Techniques to Communicate More Effectively

Jul17
2009 2 Comments Written by Steve

 

We spend a lot of time in our jobs communicating with other people, whether it’s sending someone an e-mail or zapping them an instant message. Just because we have multiple channels of communication available to us, however, doesn’t mean we’re using them in the most efficient manner.

Take me, for example. For the longest time, I was a prisoner to my inbox. I was checking and responding to e-mails all the time. When I wasn’t in the office, I was glued to a smartphone. It seemed like I was spending more time reading and sending messages than getting actual work done.

Earlier this year, I decided to streamline the way I communicate with others. This meant learning to use old tools in new ways and familiarizing myself with some new methods of communicating. Here are three techniques that helped me get my weekends and evenings back and communicate in a more timely and efficient manner. Perhaps they can work for you!

Prioritize your methods

Constant instant messages (IMs) flashing at the bottom of our screens, voice mails to answer, e-mails in our inbox—how do we manage it all? One of the things many of us are looking for is not just another way to communicate, but a better way to use the means we already have and ultimately cut down on the amount of time we spend communicating.

The first thing I did was prioritize how I use each channel of communication:

  • Instant Messaging and Telephone Calls: These are for emergencies only. If I need to get a hold of someone immediately and convey time-sensitive information, I use IM and the phone.
  • E-mail: Our primary channel of communication should be used to convey information that, while important, does not require an immediate response.

The above represent our traditional channels, but I encourage you to consider alternative means of communication, specifically blogs and wikis. I use these two channels for sharing information that isn’t time sensitive, thus sparing coworkers the hassle of responding to an IM or responding to an e-mail.

Since I manage a team – our Monthly report is always an email mess. I decided to use our companies internal social computing tool to form my team site. We know have a discussion section for our monthly bullets for each member to add. This has reduced email by at least 10 per person. 

Overcome redundancy

One obstacle we face in our communications is what I call a “redundancy mindset.” How many times have you sent someone an e-mail and then sent them an IM to let them know you just sent them an e-mail? This wastes your time and theirs.

Similarly, sending an e-mail that repeats information you’ve posted on a blog or a wiki also wastes time. In order to streamline the way you and your team communicate, you’ll need to change set behavior patterns and start looking for information in new places.

I require all members of my team to check the team’s group blog or discussions on a regular basis for important information. Instead of relying on e-mail notifications, I require members of my team to install a Real Simple Syndication (RSS) reader to help them monitor updates to the team’s group. Tame the inbox

E-mail is what I call the “King Distraction.” If you open your inbox the moment you sit down at your desk, you can waste an hour working on e-mail without tackling the more important tasks you need to get to. Here are steps I’ve taken to tame my inbox and reclaim a lot of my time:

  • Three times a day: I open and check my e-mail at 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m. Before I adopted this schedule, I was checking my e-mails during meetings and wasn’t paying attention. I was getting work done but letting potentially more important tasks fall by the wayside.
  • Keep it brief: When I send e-mails, I keep them short and crisp; you’re never going to get a dissertation from me in your inbox. If there’s a lot of information I need to share, I’ll use a blog or a wiki.
  • Think before you send: Remember, for every e-mail you send out, you’ll likely get a response. If you CC 15 people on an e-mail, there’s a good chance 15 extra e-mails will end up in your inbox. Only copy other people if it’s completely necessary. If you find you’re e-mailing back and forth a lot on a certain subject, arrange a meeting or post information on a blog.

I only respond to e-mail when I have something worthwhile to say and have offloaded much of my e-mail production to blogs and phone calls. I also don’t bother with “Thank you” e-mails. If someone asks me to send them something, I don’t need an e-mail saying “Thanks” zapped back to me. It takes up inbox space and doesn’t serve any important purpose.

I’m sending less e-mail and receiving less. It’s funny how that works. I began my new approach to e-mail in February. Here’s how things panned out after 90 days:

  • E-mails received: Before, I averaged 150 e-mails a day; I now average 86.
  • E-mails sent: Before, I sent 95 e-mails a day. Now, I send 40.
Posted in Leadership - Tagged , , ,

Working Together

May12
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

I have been thinking about my leadership series a bit lately and found that I really have not spent much time on the “leader” to” subordinate” relationship. I think there are many was that this relationship can fail, while the way to succeed is somewhat consistent.

Success to me is fairly easy to describe: two people in an open, trust-based, adult-to-adult discussion of whatever they have a stake in together. They work together to decide how to address both technical and people issues.

  • They make agreements or promises – and follow-up on them.
  • They understand that some things are negotiable and some are not. Just call them out.
  • They have very little that they can not discuss. Especially, if they are sharing feedback on one another’s performance and style. In one on one’s the “boss” shares – why can’t the “subordinate” share back?

I think it is easy to describe this; could be hard in the real world. It is a partnership where we all strive to have at work.. Working together, effective outcomes and a sense of accomplishment. What do we see more of? Failure?

Examples of failure that I have seen are:

  • A leader who is too non-directive. They maybe great at asking questions and encouraging others to think for themselves, but if overdone, employees fell they are simply not getting any help.
  • The too directiver leaders really sticks their nose in. This is great for promoting folks to not think for themselves. I overheard the other day, “Shoot the boss knows, we will be told soon…
  • A leader who holds on to too many tasks maybe reserving his or her power to make all the key decisions. Leader feels like – why are the others not picking up on this stuff? The employee’s look at the leader and wonder when are he/she going to let go and let us do our jobs.
  • A leader that delegates everything away. They definitely lost the chance to engage with any level of guidance and problem-solving (if needed).

Somewhere in the middle we get that leader who is versatile, flexible and drives a partnership with their team.

 

Posted in Leadership - Tagged , , ,

True Team Collaboration – Not There Yet?

Apr26
2009 2 Comments Written by Steve

One of the most challenging problems I face when leading work teams is how to get the team to collaborate better together. To set the stage, my work team has members in Arizona, Oregon, California and England. The folks that we interface closely are in the same sites but we can add Hong Kong, Israel and Malaysia. Getting teams to work together when you team is spread across the globe is a very difficult task. Leaders are always looking for different ways to make this work. This is not a new problem, but when I talk to others in the same situation as I, they comment that it is still a big concern and issue.

There are the traditional methods:

  • Email
  • Voice Communications (phone and audio conference)
  • Workspace or team sites (Microsoft Sharepoint or home grown web sites)
  • Instant Messaging
  • Data sharing sessions

For me, I look am open to just about anything in order to make this work.  My employer has very strict intellectual property guidelines which may or may not add to the difficulty of team collaboration. Being aware of them is important to understand when you are trying new tools or processes for collaboration.

New tools that we are trying to add to the mix are:

  • Social Computing software – forming groups, blogging or micro-blogging, discussion forums, polling and wiki’s. I see these tools as ways for folks to share a thought, bounce or poke on it and then develop into an action. A place where information can be stored for all to see. Something that can be done on your timezone without having to meet to get work done. There are only so many overlapping hours on a global time.
  • New Video capabilities – with the introduction of HD, now we can really see each other.  I know that some folks are really excited about this. I am open to it, but if this is only going to be a talking head item – then I am not convinced this is necessary. Sharing video of troubleshooting a piece of equipment, process or CAD drawing – now video can be huge. It is really that doctor working on a patient in a totally different city and helping out.
  • RSS – Having the ability to have information that I care about pushed to me, before I asked for it. Another items is when it is my turn in the workflow to do something – and I am alerted to that – well, enough said.
  • Podcasting – Messages out to the masses. Verbal communication is better than written, verbal with expression is better yet.

Add these new things to the mix and they can only enhance the experience of team collaboration, in theory. There are many issues that need to be addressed in this space.

  • Adoption of these tools – Interesting stuff, tools change and now a days this happens rather quickly; but people do not. Getting folks to see the real value in the tools is somewhat difficult. For me, I am asking that my team – just do it! I see value, I know it is there, I accept it! Many on the team are open and willing, but others are not – I have to mandate it. Once we get everyone using and adopting in our normal workflow – all will see the value.
  • Rewards systems – Here is one that for some folks, is a no brainer. You get what your pay for. If you reward folks for sharing, collaborating and working as a team for the common goals of the team – everything should work out find. Problem is, do your reward systems match the behaviors you are truly rewarding?
  • Management Support – I don’t mean the immediate manager of the team. I am talking about the upper management structure. A true commitment to trying some new scary stuff. Letting loose of some of the old management habits of command and control, trusting employee’s to do what is best and transparency.

My team has embarked on some of the journeys into the new tools. Are we there yet? Nope, we are early in experimental ways. Figuring out how to use all of what we have – is a task. Getting those integrated into our normal workflow – still a work in process. Do I or my team have any real timelines to follow? Yes and No… We know that we have to do something different and quickly, just that some are more willing that others.

Thoughts?

Posted in Leadership - Tagged , , , ,
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