Productivity Possible
Until Roger Bannister ran a mile in four minutes in 1954 ’s, no one believed running a mile in four minutes was possible. In much the same way, many organizations considered having staff work from home permanently, or even on a part time basis impossible. But with the pandemic forcing lockdowns and work from home orders across the globe, many executives would now be hard pressed to remember how skeptical they were. Productivity working from home IS possible! As we start to move out of the pandemic and move into what will be a new way of working, like the …
Are you attached??
For many, the pandemic and connectivity meant a sense of being more attached to our workplaces given our home life and work life became so intertwined. We adjusted as best we could to the situation we found ourselves in, but for many it created expectations that may not be in our best interests moving forward. Great to see this article from ABC News Australia about disconnecting from workday technology. When expectations aren’t clear, people make assumptions. It’s important moving forward that organisations and teams are clear about workplace boundaries. What are the expectations in your workplace? When working with an …
Is your organization process focused or next step focused?
The manic nature of today’s workplace often impacts on our ability to effectively forward plan. With pinging email and instant messaging, physical and on-line meetings, our attention is often fragmented. Whilst projects and tasks are moved forward, there is often little time left for “real” work to be done leaving workers feeling stressed and overloaded. The challenge in setting up workplaces is to successfully achieve tangible goals rather than working amongst the “busyness” or “noise” of electronic paper shuffling. Often when working with clients, their default position is to focus on dealing with what seems, in the moment, the most …
Make presenting online easier
Video conferencing has become more prevalent in these strange times to connect and collaborate in teams and interact with clients, although it is popular and saves time and money, according to a recent CIO.com article not everyone enjoys it. It’s a timely article and a good reminder that not everyone in your team is likely to enjoy videoconferencing. Here are my three tips to help minimise discomfort. Encourage your team to do it more Like anything new or uncomfortable, the more you do video conferencing the more comfortable and easier it will get. If you, or your team members feel …
Why don’t we….
Binge watching means watching multiple programs, usually TV or a streaming service, in rapid succession. Something many might do if you are home sick, staying indoors in the winter or more recently when in lockdown as a result of COVID-19. Find the right show and you can whittle away hours of time in the story arc of the various characters. When it comes to professional development, we do not tend to do a lot of binge watching or learning, other than the traditional two- or three-day style conference with multiple keynote speakers and breakout rooms. However, things could change as …
It was not until I’d had a few virtual meetings that I realised I needed help!
The world changed in March 2020 when COVID-19 meant may organisations sent their teams home to work remotely. To stay connected virtually they relied on platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Go To Meeting or one of the myriad of applications available for video meetings. I had everything ready in my home office and was presenting live when the unthinkable happened…..the doorbell rang….and it rang, and it rang again. Whilst I was mortified, thankfully due to my audio technology, my audience were none the wiser! What it DID teach me was that there were so many little things …
Perspective
Human nature is to measure ourselves against others we perceive as having better knowledge, or more skill in areas we may feel with are lacking. We often judge ourselves for not being at the same skill or knowledge level or label ourselves as not being good at ‘that sort of thing’. Nobody is generally good at something the first time they do it. That’s why we practice. It’s why we work on building skills. In much the same way as an athlete builds their skill, muscles and mental state to be able to return a serve in tennis, or the …
Abdicate Responsibility
I wonder if technology has made us abdicate responsibility for things? When I’m on client’s sites, I regularly hear staff say, “I’ve sent an email about that and I never heard back.” It’s not about abdicating responsibility. Too often in today’s hectic world of information and data, we expect the technology to do the heavy lifting for us. We need to drive it rather than letting it drive us and our time and moderate it like a curator of content. It’s easy to send a quick email to asking a question or requesting information. Instead we should take time to …
Time Out
I often get my best ideas when I am out walking, exercising or just relaxing. Sometimes this irritates me, because I often want the idea when I need it and get frustrated when it doesn’t come to me straight away. I know that when I take time to step away from what I am doing to do something else, then come back, I often see it with fresh eyes. In 2012, Jason Fried, Co-Founder of what was then 37signals, but is now known as Basecamp Project Management & Team Communication software in an INC article, shared the idea of giving …
There is no magic solution!
Balancing work and life is an ongoing challenge. It’s not something that is miraculously achieved and permanently stays that way. It is about balance; it’s about finding what’s right for YOU. The technology we use needs to be partnered with human interaction. In many instances, we don’t take into account human involvement required to determine how to leverage technology to improve our efficiency. We tend to rely on the technology to do the job for us and then feel frustrated when we struggle to cope, but reality is we just aren’t geared to cope with the volume of data we …
