How to #meetless/Asynchronous Work/Workplace HR Trends/Watch for meeting hogs/Going for good enough

The best work resolution to make …

If you’re going to make a resolution about work this year, let it be this:

Resolve to reduce your work meetings this year. 

Meet less. Way less. 

Tally up last year’s meetings if you need to work out what ‘less’ would mean. And make sure it’s less by a lot. 

Being at the request of so many meeting invites weighs heavily on our time, attention and energy. 

And the drain is exaggerated when the things we want and need to do remain undone and incomplete. Exhaustion quickly returns after a day of back-to-back meetings with barely a break. And they are mostly dull, disengaging experiences that don’t facilitate active participation and contribution. 

Yes, many meetings could have been an email. Or not held at all. Or for this resolution … not attended at all. 

It could have been a chat message or a shared document or a first draft shared for comments. 

💥Resolve, vow and promise to decline invites more than you ever have before. 

💥Resolve to hold your nerve if you feel guilty about it or are shamed in to attending because a colleague wants you there … pleeeeese. 

💥And see this instead, as progressing towards more modern work. 

It is modern work that uses less dated and wasteful tools for control and communication, and uses more open tools for collaboration and contribution. 

Delete the time and energy drain that is the ‘have you got a moment’ or ‘it will only take a few mins’ or ‘can you just come to this meeting’. 

I’ll share more in the coming weeks on how to bring this resolution to practical reality. 

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Meet = sync  Meet less = async 

Here’s how to start achieving a #meetless resolution this year:

⬇️ DECREASE the amount of SYNCHRONOUS work you do with others : these are the meetings, quick chats, interviews, conversations where you all have to be there at the same time 

and … 

⬆️ INCREASE the amount of ASYNCHRONOUS work you do with others : this is work you do at times and in ways that suit you, like contribute to shared documents and files, have uninterrupted work time, use chat and messaging, email and video. 

Asynchronous ways of working provide HUGE flexibility, allowing people to contribute and work in ways and times that suit them. 

Asynchronous work can become more inclusive, more considerate and allow people more time to think and contribute … rather than the control, theatre and waste of an ‘everybody-now-meeting’. 

Save synchronous meetings for the times that really, truly matter and that absolutely need to be done with others, all at the same time. 

Yes, you still have meetings but stop meeting as the default action to progress work. 

It’s vital to learn and understand more about how to work asynchronously. 

It’s the best way to reduce pressure, stress and overwhelm and increase progress, wellbeing and engagement. 

Want to learn more…?

Get ‘Sync Async : Making progress easier in the changing world of work’ — for the tools, techniques and ways to help you #meetless and achieve the outcomes and results you’re aiming for. 

It’s available as an ebook and paperback wherever you get your books. 

Make #meetless something you’ll do this year - as a leader, manager, colleague and friend. 

Sync Async : Making progress easier in the changing world of work

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Workplace HR Trends 

It’s a great time to read about foresight and what we think might evolve or occur in workplaces and spaces. 

Review and consider how you’ll approach the year, what priorities and plans could be impacted and how you’ll evolve strategies, styles and your approach to work. 

The insights for Human Resources trends include things like: 

. Wellbeing

. Skills-based hiring

. Flexibility 

. Hybrid working and hybrid learning

. Reporting 

. Office redesign 

. Blended workforce

. Burnout 

Read more here.

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SNORT : Meeting hogs are on notice

There’s a perfect environment that meeting hogs love to create, and you need to be alert to it. 

Here are 4 signs a meeting hog is in the area :

🐽They call lots of meetings 

🐽They invite lots of people 

🐽They drone on for too long

🐽They don’t let many people speak, participate or contribute. 

The meeting hog’s work life revolves around all talk and no work. 

Meeting hogs love taking people away from their work activities and holding and controlling them like an audience at a performance. But the ‘show’ is a bad one. Stay alert! Keep an eye out for the meeting hog. 

They’ll be: 

🐽getting ready with committees and working groups

🐽suggesting regular status updates

🐽scheduling weekly check-ins

🐽setting up fortnightly rhythms and meeting cycles

and 

🐽sending out recurring appointments. 

But stay strong. 

This year aim to #meetless - for your own well-being, productivity, impact and motivation. 

I’ll share techniques to make this strong and positive change in your work life. Tackling and responding to the meeting hog is one of the key strategies you’ll need. 

Meetings are becoming old ways of working. Sure, not all meetings, but many … most of them. And meeting hogs love to argue for the importance of their meetings. 

Hold an intention to #meetless - First, stay alert to meeting hogs. 

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The good/bad trait to shift this year

If there’s a mindset you’d like to shift in 2023 … consider understanding and finding a replacement for perfectionism. 

This good/bad trait that’s often shared in job interviews when we’re asked about our weaknesses, isn’t worth the effort it drains from us. 

There’s no connection between perfectionism and high performance. *gulp*

And perfectionism can actually be behind anxiety, depression, overwork, rework, stress, and other issues we suffer from. 

The antidote, solution or alternative is going for good enough. But how do you do that? 

‘ish:The problem with our pursuit for perfection and the life-changing practice of good enough’ shares the research, stories, stats, steps and insight on how to think and work in ways that don’t require perfect anything. 

There are other, better ways to think and work. 

This award-winning book is available in paperback, audio and e-book - wherever you get your books. Have you read it yet ... or listened to it? 

It’s been recommended by many people who have experienced the significant shift it presents. If you’re up for it, it’s an easy read and listen. 

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All the remote things Podcast

It was a pleasure to join a recent podcast episode of ‘All the Remote Things’ with Tony Ponton. 

We talked through different concepts, ideas and thinking, plus a little about my background in communications and agile ways of working. I shared some tips on better ways of working!

Watch or listen to the full episode here.

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Unleashing Brilliance Podcast

And more podcastness right here with Janine Garner's Unleashing Brilliance. It was so great to have a conversation about imperfection, new ways of thinking and working, creativity and collaboration. Thanks Janine!

Listen here.

The foolish economy of not taking a break

“We don’t need a morning tea break, let’s keep working.”
“We will have a working lunch.“ 
“This is really important, so let’s keep going.”

There they are. The statements of overload and worry that ‘we won’t get through this’ so ‘we have to push on’. 

As a participant and team member I’ve experienced leaders who won’t take a break. 

And as a speaker and facilitator, I’ve had clients not want their team to take a break. I often have to fight for, advocate for or at worst, implore leaders to give people a break. 

The science is well documented: We need breaks. 

Not just to recover physically, but mentally ... to synthesise information, consolidate information and even ... go to the bathroom! 

A lot of good stuff happens in the break from the talking, thinking, listening and pushing of information. 

Connections, reflections and important thought processes are being executed. Brain actions that may not be possible during the intensity of the never-ending workshop or meeting need to happen, and a break is when it occurs. 

To think we ‘can’t afford’ to take a break is foolish. 

What are you worried will happen? 
Disengagement? Loss of momentum? Slower progress? It’s already happened because there wasn’t a break. 

At the least, break so people can empty their ‘cognitive load’ - the information they’re holding in their brain, and just like a truck we can’t carry more when it’s full. We must empty and ‘unload’ before we expect people to ‘reload’. 

Breaks are mandated in fields like aviation, healthcare, transportation, building and construction ... even retail. 

The consequences are disastrous when breaks are ignored or deemed less important than pushing on through. 

🌕 Break during a meeting or workshop 
🌕 Break between meetings and workshops
🌕 Break during intense and heavy work
🌕 And break for longer than you think. 

You don’t need a complicated well-being program. Just take more breaks.

The complex culture of the meeting

They’re groaned at, suffered through and widely reported to be up to as much as 50% a waste of our time. 

Meetings. 

Every meeting you’re in is a complex construction and reflection of the culture in which it exists. 

Online or not, there are elements and behaviours in meetings that 
- include and exclude people
- accelerate and slow the pace of progress
- make the workplace more or less safe
- generate and ideate ... or stagnate and eliminate. 

This article from the World Economic Forum asks us a series of questions about what we do and how we lead in meetings. 

Do we any just accept the toll that poorly led meetings inflict on people and culture? Even when better is possible?

For your own meeting effectiveness and for those you meet with, check through the questions here and take a cultural look at what’s going on when we meet. 

To draw out from others

How are you at the skill of elicitation? Can you draw information and contributions out of people? 

Why elicit : because they’ve got something to contribute or expertise we need to tap into. 

Elicitation isn’t just asking one question and then waiting for the answer. It’s more often about an ongoing conversation, back and forth. It’s getting to the point, finding the key information, uncovering the challenge or problem or insight. 

We can’t wait until people speak up or ‘lean in’.

To elicit is to actively collaborate with someone to help them contribute and give. 

It’s asking, encouraging, clarifying, listening, hearing, repeating back, wondering, probing, asking, listening...

The problem is, we often don’t allow the time even though it’s a key component of engaging others and uncovering important insights.

Don’t wait for people to eventually feel safe enough to speak up. 

Take the time and plan for how and when you will engage, ask and elicit from others. 

Hybrid Work - Masterclass

Hybrid Work: some people are here, some are there, some people are alone, some are together. Onsite or offsite, work better with everyone

The new realities of work mean you’ll more likely be having a mix of where people are located, for every meeting, workshop, team and project. 

The world of work continues to change. Not everyone is working from home, OR working from an office. 

Be prepared and know what tools, techniques, processes and methods to use to lead in this unique experience of a hybrid workshop or meeting. 

You can't just 'wing it.'

I've been leading a 2-hour masterclass to answer:
- how to achieve and maintain engagement across all of these different spaces
- how to know people are engaged and participating
- how to get people involved
- how to you use breakout rooms if not everyone is on their own device
- what do we need to do differently than if everyone is in the one place (all online or all in the one location).

People said: 
“Best facilitated online session during COVID”
“The most engaging facilitator I’ve seen”
“Lots of good stuff & fun at the same time”.

Get in contact to find out more...