Is politeness getting in the way of productivity – how to say ‘No’ to time wasters

Everyone keeps telling us they are really busy. Whenever we interact with managers on workshops they are snowed under. They really value the time away from the office taking stock, but that’s a different story. When we meet with clients, or try to arrange meetings with prospective clients, finding time to meet is getting more and more difficult. I had two meetings this week which make me question this though...

The other day, we had a meeting arranged with a prospective client. We’d met with them before, got along really well and had a really open, exploratory discussion. This meeting was a bit of a follow-up, but was intended to get into more specifics. After 40 minutes of pulling teeth I was exposed to my own interviewer’s trick I use when I’ve had enough of the interviewee. It goes something like this - “So any more questions you’d like to ask me?!”. What the  body language and intonation really mean is “No. Good. Then bugger off!”. The person I was meeting with clearly didn’t want to share anything, learn from what we had to say or explore options. Waste of time and train fare.

Today, I’ve literally just got back from a meeting we had arranged with another prospective client. An hour’s drive away. Nice place, sat down to play with the iPad (which is all you can do with an iPad no matter what anyone tells you!), ordered a coffee. Lady approaches, here we go. “Are you Paul?” I’m so and so”. Great, and? “The person you were going to meet is.....on holiday”. Great. Thanks. She’ll call us when she’s back? Great, I’ll hold my breath then shall I?

Got me thinking, as I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently about this issue of people being too busy. I’m convinced it’s not that people are too busy, but they are choosing to work on too much stuff at once. These two situations  also make me wonder if we are just too polite, or lack the courage to decline meetings we don’t see the value in. If we are that busy, why commit to meetings we have no intention of getting any value out of! If the two people I’ve mentioned above had just declined the meeting invite it would have saved everyone a load of time to get on with all of the million and one things we supposedly have on! Including the lady who was so busy she was on holiday. And I ask you, which is ruder, saying no in the first place, or making someone else waste their time in addition to yours?

So, easy tips on how to say ‘no’:

1. Just say it. Go on, practice. “I’m sorry, no”. However, do also....
2. Provide reasons - this shows we have thought about our response and people will find it easier to accept if they can see a rational reason
3. Empathise - state that you acknowledge their position and recognise its importance to them. This signals that our ‘no’ is considered so we are refusing the request not rejecting the person
4. Provide alternatives - this demonstrates we do want to help, we’re just not able to at the moment. It generates actions which may still be helpful

Here’s an example:
‘I’m sorry, I’m going to say no to a meeting rather than waste your time. Things are really busy at the moment, I’m being tasked with other stuff and not able to treat development as a priority. I’d be happy to learn more about what you do if you want to send us some information and I anticipate things freeing up in 3 months’ time so you could make contact again then’.

A pragmatic approach to developing L&D strategy

I had the opportunity recently to talk to a client about their Management Development strategy. It got me thinking. In my experience many HR/L&D (HRD from now on) people find it a real challenge to (succinctly) define their people development  strategy. This might seem harsh, but if you are an HRD type person then I challenge you to verbalise it. Go on, try it. In 30 words or less.  

This is partly because we HRD types hold the intuitive belief that developing people is inherently important and (probably) has an impact on the business. Of course we’ve never been able to prove it, despite all the work on training evaluation and human capital measurement. I also have a strong feeling that we suspect deep down that ‘training’ doesn’t really work. However, in the current climate I reckon that the ability to make a straightforward, succinct business case for continuing to invest in management development is not only in our interest as a business, but our fellow HRD professionals’ too. If not, then how can we demonstrate that we really do add value to the organisation?!

So, in simple terms this is our take on defining management development strategy.

Defining people strategy should really be no different to defining business strategy so we’ll start there first. Business strategy is really about understanding the environment in which the organisation operates, in order to find ways to develop a competitive advantage, or simply continue making money. We know there is tons of research on strategy, but in essence the kinds of things we would consider when developing strategy are:

§  competitors - who they are, what they’re good at compared to us

§  the economic situation - what’s happening now and what might happen in the future that will impact us

§  customers  - who they are and what they want

§  the market – where do we intend to sell our stuff

§  our offering – what are we selling and why is it better than everyone else’s offering

§  and other stuff such as legal or environmental issues and how they might impact on the market place we operate in

Of course, when talking about management development strategy, not all of this applies, at least in the same way. What does apply though is the following:

Business environment.

In this I include the economic situation and the market. Even though HRD is an internal function we still need a firm grasp on what is happening in the outside world. HRD professionals need to talk to their senior managers and understand as much as they can about what’s happening in the market in which the company operates – what are the constraints, challenges, opportunities? This provides our context for how we add value to the business. Even though we cannot shape the external environment we can play a major role in shaping how the business positions itself and how capable it is to compete in the external environment through its people.

Competitors

Many businesses would kill to have no competition, yet this situation is exactly what almost all HRD functions enjoy. Internally we are the experts and there is no other competition for delivering our service. Even the use of external consultants and specialists tends to be policed by the function! If this was a business it could become complacent. I wonder if this is why HRD functions tend to be criticised so much by line managers?!

Customers

Some big businesses (think Tesco) spend millions on understanding their customers - who they are, what they want, and how they behave. HRD has a great opportunity to do the same. The people in your business are your customers, but, as with external customers, your managers and employees all want different things. If you were a business, you would segment customers by demographic, how old they are, where they live, where they work, how many kids they have, what they purchase and why etc. The challenge for HRD functions, therefore, is to first identify who the different employee ‘segments’ are. Then find out what those different groups of employees want from you and the company as a whole. For some it may be more money, for others more holiday or flexible working. Our own research on the reasons people give for leaving companies actually reveals that the number one reason is to do with lack of career progression and development. Eureka! If that’s true of your company then all of a sudden you have a proper piece of strategic information – your people desire development from the company, if they don’t get it they will leave. This costs money and loses intellectual capital, which means we need to invest in developing and retaining people in order for the business to compete and thrive….

So what does this prove? Well business strategy is driven by information. Without a thorough understanding of the kinds of things we have talked about, your the business will not be able to make informed decisions about how to compete and grow. It’s the same with people decisions – without good info you will not able to make informed decisions about where to spend your (limited) development budget. Or influence those who do decide where it gets spent! HRD professionals need to think about how to gather sensible people information and then use it to make the case for being specific about where to invest in people development – because it will complement the business strategy, rather than simply being a good thing to do.

However, as HRD pros we struggle with people metrics. This is partly because it is difficult to measure behaviour -  no-one has yet made the absolute empirical linkage between people satisfaction and performance - but it is also because HRD professionals tend to view defining metrics as the end point - I used to spend hours, days, discussing HR metrics with colleagues when I had a proper job. We never got much beyond absence and turnover. Metrics are not the end point, they are the means to the end - which is helping the business align its people processes to help it compete.

I believe in keeping it simple, maybe all we do need to do (as a starting point) is look at absence and turnover, maybe performance ratings, employee satisfaction ratings, exit interview data. We could then look at the numbers by age group, grade, gender. The point is we need to start somewhere to provide us with some clarity over where the business needs are.

We’ve started to develop a ‘Learning Strategy Review’ process based on some of the things we’ve talked about above. It’s still a collection of ideas, but if you’re interested then get in touch – we’d love to pilot it with you. And we won’t even charge you. Now there’s a strategy for winning new customers…..

5-a-side leadership

I’ve been playing football now for many years. Despite deciding to retire as I approached 39, next week still might be my last game, as I approach 41. We only play 5,6,7 a-side and I do it for the exercise. To paraphrase The Full Monty I ‘might not be right good, but I’m ‘ere’ and I always put in 100%. Clothed. The reason I still do it is mainly because I enjoy it. At least I did until I started playing for a local group of ‘dads’ a few months ago. Tonight was going to be my last game for a number of reasons, but the main one is why I’m sat writing this, whilst still cooling down – in all senses of the word.

I’m currently running a series of workshops called “Coaching for Performance” for a client and one of the main pieces of learning is that positive reinforcement is much more powerful than negative in encouraging the behaviour you want. I refer to experiments on pigeons during the workshop where you can quickly make them turn in continuous circles simply by giving them food every time they turn in a certain direction. Those of you with kids do the same thing with the ‘star chart’. (I think it’s funny when our kids walk round in circles, but we do keep having to explain the reason why to the teachers). What we do is define the piece of behaviour we want to reinforce and give the kids a star on the chart every time they do it. It works. Of course there is also a place for a good telling off (good for stress relief) when unacceptable behaviour occurs, but praise will always generate longer lasting effects. I had an example of how criticism can sap the life out of you during a recent Coaching for Performance workshop. I put up a statement – ‘as a manager you get the people you deserve’. The intention was to provoke a bit of thought and I hope you kind of see where I am coming from. However, we spent several minutes ‘discussion’ when one of the workshop attendees asked “how do you define ‘deserve’?”. OMG. Imagine working for this person? Imagine trying to discuss a new idea? Imagine querying the way things are done? Imagine presenting a piece of work where you had not defined ‘deserve’!

And that’s what makes the difference for me at football. I enjoy it on a Wednesday as our main aim is to have a good game, but a good game is defined by everyone contributing equally and there being a bit of banter. If someone makes a mistake then they get awarded ‘taxi of the match’ and there is as much kudos attached to that as ‘man of the match’.  Most weeks, every one gets something of the match, I usually get ‘crunch of the match’. The other week we even invented a new category, although it escapes me for now. Ironically it’s the Mondy ‘dads’ (as most of the players on Wednesday are too young for kids!) who need to revisit their ‘star chart’ thinking as tonight was a classic example of how it is possible to win, but not enjoy the game. Some examples. A lot of these are subtle, but are unbelievably annoying and, of more relevance, don’t get the best out of me, and that’s where, as an average performing team player I’m heading with this.

1.     the ‘do as I say’ routine

Another thing I espouse on our Coaching for Performance workshop is that ‘no-one likes being told what to do’.  Maybe it’s just me (I hate being told what to do), but when you are running, or working your behind off the last thing you want is people stood there giving orders. Especially when you set out on a course of action and you receive an instruction to the contrary. It generally makes me want to stand still. Made more annoying when combined with….

2.     the ‘lead from the back’ routine

This is a subtly different approach to the do as I say. It still involves a bit of giving orders, but is made worse by the perpetrator standing still and not putting the effort in they are criticising others for – “come on (insert name), make sure you get the ball!”.

3.     the ‘exhale of breath’ routine

Again another subtle one, but usually deployed when someone misses a chance or makes a mistake. Subtly communicates that the person who made the mistake is useless and, of course, the breath exhaler would have succeeded.  If only they weren’t bringing up the rear issuing instructions…..

4.     the ‘out and out criticism’ routine

Eventually they get frustrated and exhaling turns into blatant criticism. “Come on (insert name), you’re better than that!” springs to mind. Of course if the individual was putting as much effort in as everyone else then they wouldn’t have as much breath to exhale or waste on criticism and they might actually understand that it’s a lot easier to gripe when just being an onlooker.

5.     the all out row

This is normally the last resort and usually happens after all of the above have not had ‘the desired effect’.  It can be initiated by either the one doing the criticising or the one on the receiving end (criticisee?). At this point the team falls apart completely, the irony being that whilst the row is going on the rest of the team lose focus and the whole team suffers. The other team just laugh.

So, what can we learn? I reckon there’s stuff for teams to reflect on in addition to individual leaders. Teams work as one and support each other. Criticism breaks down the team, simple as that. Every member of a high performing team can display leadership, regardless of title. So, whether you are part of a team or lead a team….

1.     Hold every team member as equal to all the rest. If you don’t then either get out of the team yourself or remove the team members you can’t hold as equal. If you don’t then your lack of respect will manifest itself in one of the ways I’ve already outlined.

2.     Assuming you have the right team, let them get on with it. Don’t tell them what to do all the time. As soon as you start issuing instructions for every small task the team will quickly learn to wait for you to tell them what to do. This will frustrate you – if you find yourself saying “I wish my team would display more initiative!” then you are guilty of this.

3.     Encourage, don’t criticise. People respond to praise. It makes them feel that a) you’ve noticed their efforts and b) they’re contributing to the team. Even if you have team members who perform less well than others, praise every small thing they do. Like the pigeon they will do more of what they get rewarded for and it will build their confidence. Criticise though and you will breed resentment. Criticise whilst not putting the effort in and you will lose respect quicker than an Egyptian politician.

This might all sound simplistic and idealistic, but I have one last football example. A few weeks ago I was part of a team who were by far the weaker team on paper. What we did have was strong team spirit and we went for it. The other team of ‘superstars’ didn’t put the effort in, they got complacent. We scored the first goal, and then another. They got frustrated. We encouraged each other every single time someone did something positive.

We won. 

I’ve changed my mind about change

I used to relish change. So much so that every two to five years I would make sweeping changes in life. 2000 was a great year – I changed jobs, crashed my car, split up with a long term girlfriend, moved house, twice, and met Mrs Everitt (wife not mum).  10 years and a 40^th birthday later I now find the new Coronation Street music and credits really disturbing. It’s just not the same and, worryingly, I find myself uttering what has been my Dad’s catch phrase all of my life – ‘leave it as it is’.  Also annoying is the incidental sound effects they’ve started adding to the Street. Listen and you’ll now hear distant police car sirens, cats meowing and all sorts. Which got me thinking. Am I becoming more change averse? Is it an age thing? Or does there come a point where change becomes a distraction?

Our daughter lost ‘Bunny’ yesterday. Bunny has been a family member for the last four years which, when you put it into perspective, is the whole of our daughter’s life. She loves bunny. When I shout, or she falls over, Bunny provides reassurance. We tried to retrace our steps today to find Bun, but he was nowhere to be found. Now, on the way back to the car our daughter started to be a bit whingy. She didn’t want to walk, she was cold, too hot, hungry, thirsty and wanted me to carry her. Typical four year old stuff. But it was only when she was in the car crying and repeating ‘Buuuuuunnnnnyyyyy’ that it occurred to me. The behaviour wasn’t just naughtiness, it was because the fact that she had lost Bun was sinking in and she was starting to feel the loss! Now I took the management approach – ‘well that’s what happens if you’re careless, you should learn to look after your things’. On reflection I doubt that will have sunk in. Maybe I should create a policy around looking after personal property?

What can we learn? We often include stuff on change management in our leadership workshops and the fundamental facts are that a) people take a bit of time to get used to change and b) as a manager the behaviour you see is not always what you might think. You will have spent countless hours thinking through your brilliant idea for change, but the first time your people hear about it, it will come as a major shock. They will need time to think it through in just the same way as you have and also to consider what it means for them. I doubt my daughter was actively resisting change this morning, but the loss of Bun will have a major impact on her emotionally.

It’s just lucky that ‘Uncle Mick’ has already bought her a new Disney Princess for her birthday. So, if you are thinking of implementing changes in your business then send your HR Manager to buy some Disney Princesses. Or Ben10s. 

Get in touch with your emotions

Following on from my last, rather reflective, blog it’s now time to look forwards to this year. OMG! (to appear to be all down with the kids). How on earth are we going to match what we did last year?!?!? Exactly what I thought this time last year! Regular viewers will remember that one of our earlier lessons was ‘something always turns up’. But that doesn’t always help when you’re sat there BEFORE it turns up!

Anyway, it made me think about how emotions impact how we perform. As some of you may know I’m a Formula 1 geek. I watch the practice sessions just to see if a team have changed the end plates on their front wing. Exactly. However, last year it went down to the wire – four of ‘em could win the championship at the last race. Against all odds Sebastien Vettel won it. 23 years old, Formula 1 World Champion. Talk about commitment, potential and performance. Arguably Mark Webber should have won it as he was leading the championship with a couple of races to go, but he faded. The whole thing made me think about the unbelievable pressure that these guys must have been under. Forget the ‘I don’t feel any pressure’ statements for the benefit of the press. I don’t know about you, but if it was me, I’d have been awake for 6 weeks non-stop worrying about ‘what if’! Which, apart from being about 3 stone too fat, and not being able to qualify for a superlicence solely on the basis of owning an S-Max, probably explains why I’m not, and never will be Formula 1 World Champion. I worry too much about what might or might not happen. It’s called a lack of ‘reality testing’.

We don’t know the ins and outs, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that how these guys handled the pressure impacted their performance. Webber made a crucial mistake at one of the final races which cost him dearly. Was it because it was raining, or did he just tighten up too much under the pressure? This is not to be critical of Webber. Earlier in the season he crashed into the back of another car which made his car flip backwards at around 200mph. Check the crash out here and see how you would react if you were him..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOBKA9q_DWU. After the crash it showed him walking back to the pits. His reaction? He looked at the camera and shrugged. A bit. Vettel, on the other hand, had a clear objective – win the final race and let the rest sort themselves out. He won. Faultlessly. Ferrari blew it for Fernando Alonso as they chose to cover Mark Webber’s strategy in the race, assuming Vettel was not the trheat. Under race pressure they backed the wrong horse. And Ferrari have since announced an ‘engineering reshuffle’. So, imagine it. You’re in a position where this is it, you’re required to deliver the performance of your life. Heart rate is normally around 190bpm in a race anyway, but one mistake and that’s it, a lifetime’s ambition missed. Do you play defensive, or go for it?

As a leader, what can we learn?

Resilience is an important trait for leaders. Being able to handle the pressure is critical when big things are demanded from you under difficult circumstances. Fortune favours the brave...

But this on its own is not enough. You might be able to handle the pressure, but those around you are looking to you for guidance, support and reassurance. The people you manage/lead take their lead (literally) from you. How you behave impacts how they behave. What you do becomes normal for them to do. Like kids, your people will learn what’s acceptable, and what’s not, from you. The best leaders are able to manage their emotions. They recognise that how we feel impacts how we behave towards others and they manage this appropriately. We know of many (surprisingly senior) people who regularly fly off the handle with their people. The result being that people feel insecure as they can’t always predict how the ‘leader’ will behave that day, depending on their mood. No surprise they are also often left feeling demotivated - “what’s the point putting any effort in when they behave like that!”.

Bad news impacts how we feel. The best leaders don’t shoot the messenger, but seek to learn from it. They involve others in finding the solution and turn it around so that people see solving the problem as their mission, rather than moaning about the manager behind their back. We had a client last year where we did a piece of work which meant presenting some bad news.  The bad news? Senior managers tended to blame people when things went wrong, didn’t communicate effectively, were perceived as being unfair to people etc. etc. I got shot. Which meant I spent ages worrying about what I could have done differently and what it would mean for the future.....

That was the year that was

It might not be published in time, but as I sit here it’s new year’s eve and, therefore, time to reflect. Traditionally I really dislike new year’s eve. And I mean REALLY dislike it. To me the passing of another year is one less year left in the bank of life and one year less to achieve everything you want to achieve. I also tend to look forwards and don’t like looking backwards too much. The last 6 years have been a bit like climbing a very high mountain in that respect – look down and you’ll petrify yourself with fear!

However, in the spirit of good leadership new year is the one time of year when I do look back and celebrate success. So, no cutting sarcasm or irreverence from me today.

And I have to say 2010 wasn’t that bad! Just like 2009 in fact. At the start of this year I was brushing up the CV. 2009, I thought was a fluke. We had a great year, but if it wasn’t for X and Y we could have been in trouble. 2010 started quietly and I thought that it was a delay from the recession – in 2009 people were still spending as they had a budget from 2008, but in 2010 their 2009 budget would have been slashed. However, it picked up and guess what? In 2010 we grew by almost 20% over 2009 which means we’ve grown every single year since being in business.

More importantly we’ve added more clients this year than ever before, in addition to continuing to work with most of our existing clients. We had more referrals than ever, more enquiries coming in through the website and we even won a tender for a public sector client!! Though most of our clients are now in London we did work in Switzerland and even a little bit for an organisation in Dubai.

One of the biggest differences was the addition of Ruth to the team. Ruth actually enjoys the stuff that us consultants hate – cold calling! And she’s brilliant at it! Mind you she does a lot more than that, she understands the business and is able to engage with potential clients in an intelligent way and it’s this that leads to new business. So this year we added clients from retail, scientific services, public sector, construction, professional services and media. We also did more work with a client from 3 years ago – they needed help and gave us a call.

We also did a bit of personal succession planning and added twins to the family.

So, we end up positive. I feel the business has real momentum now. We no longer talk to clients about what we could do, we talk about what we have done and have good testimonials and case studies to rely on. It’s this that’s generating referrals and I also reckon that we approach clients differently now – more assured and confident.

I hope 2011 continues in the same vein. We’ve got work in the diary up to and including July which is pretty good, but no matter how much I try to uncover the secret to growing a successful business there is only one constant I come back to – keep pushing. However, we really value working with our clients – I see them as our work colleagues so we aim to have a bit of banter in addition to delivering.

Which means all I have left to say is a heartfelt thank you to our existing clients and welcome to our newest clients we hope we can keep delivering for all of you.  Also thank you to the team who helped us deliver this year – Dave, Emma, Anna, Steve, Jo, Leszek and Ruth.

Happy New Year!

Are you ahead of the curve?

I have a friend, actually a few friends, who are ALWAYS late for things. So late you can set your watch by them. Meet you at 8.30pm? Aim to be there for 9. And you’ll still be there first. It got me thinking.

I was early for a client meeting this morning (which gave me time to draft this blog). On the way every single traffic light was on green, the M25 was clear, even in the roadworks, the sun was shining etc. etc. You know the type of day? Have them often? There are, of course, times when we’re late and everything seems to conspire against us – usually old people leaving the house at 9.30am. I call it shuffle hour and it just crosses over with the end of rush hour. Anyway, have you ever been in a rush and repeatedly dropped your car keys? Got in the car to realise you have forgotten  something so you have to go back in the house? Twice. Switched the engine on and the petrol light comes on? We all have. Stressful and annoying, especially if it means you leave at the beginning of shuffle hour….

But today I was early. I was up early, left early, everything went well and I arrived early. No stress! The fact is a bit of forward planning not only makes us feel more prepared it is significantly less stressful and this makes us more likely to be in ‘flow’ when we get to where we need to be and, therefore, more likely to perform at our best. This is what I call being ahead of the curve. If you find yourself consistently being late and unprepared for things then you are behind the curve. I firmly believe that a bit of personal organisation makes us significantly more productive. At least I hope so as we’ve just pitched for a piece of work with a major potential client to run a series of workshops around personal effectiveness!

So what’s the secret? Well getting ahead of the curve can be really difficult to do, especially in organisations. One argument that many of you by now will be shouting at the screen is “that’s easy for you to say, consultancy boy, what with your working from home easy life..! What about the rest of us who are mega busy and in meetings all the time?”. Two things to say on that. Firstly, mega busy? Does everything that you do add value to your business and/or move you towards your key goals? Is your busy-ness just a load of random activity? Can you be clear on the outcomes you produce? What about your personal goals? How many of you wish you could give up the day-to-day corporate grind and do something you are passionate about?

Secondly, meetings. Again the same challenge. Does every meeting help you achieve your goals (work and personal) or are you just attending because it makes you feel a) important or b) busy? If you’re attending for either of these reasons then you are putting yourself behind the curve. We have several clients where the day consists entirely of meetings and I’m sure many of you have the same problem.  I’ve seen some outrageous meetings in some of our clients, but our old friend the NHS is a fantastic example of how to waste time. Everyone arrives late, either because they were already in a meeting that started late and then overran, or they hadn’t been informed which room the meeting would be in, or they just assumed they knew which room it was in. No-one is clear on the purpose of the meeting, no-one has prepared or read the briefing information that was sent out in advance. There’s lots of innocuous pleasantries at the start of the meeting. Just as it is about to start someone’s mobile rings because they are double booked for another meeting and they are wondering where the person is. At this point other people leave to go and get a coffee or print out the stuff they now realise they should have brought with them. When the meeting finally starts no-one is really tuned in and by now they are realising they are going to be late for the next meeting. The outcome of the meeting? To have another meeting! Absolute true story.

So where to go from here? First you need to be focussed on your purpose and goals in life. Sounds a bit hippy, but I challenge you to take a few minutes and think it through. What does good look like for you in life/work? What are you trying to achieve? Where do you want to get to? Then evaluate everything you do against these goals. Is all your activity absolutely necessary or is it just noise?

Secondly, prioritise (strictly) the things that are urgent and important – work on the important/urgent stuff when it becomes critical, but make sure your day is focussed on that alone and don’t get dragged into the noise. If it is that critical then everything else can wait. Having done that aim to spend more and more of your time on the important/non-urgent stuff. This is where the value is and it will move you towards your goals. For those of you who manage others delegate more them – both tasks AND responsibility.

Thirdly, evaluate the meetings you go to. Are all of them absolutely necessary? If you call the meetings what is their purpose? Meetings should be to discuss ideas or make decisions only. I bet you spend a significant amount of time in meetings where people go round the table and ‘update’ each other on activity. This is activity about activity! And I bet you won’t be able to repeat a single piece of what someone else has updated you on within one hour of leaving the meeting! So, question every meeting you have and the need for meetings at all.

Fourthly, eliminate all the extraneous stuff that gets in the way of your performance and means you arrive at things feeling stressed and harrassed. Pack your stuff the night before, plan the journey the day before, have backup plans – what if the trains aren’t running properly?, Aim to catch the train before the one you need. Schedule travelling time between meetings – if it takes five minutes to walk from one end of the building to the other then you WILL be late if you schedule a meeting to start immediately after then end of another one. Plan your time to enable you to read essential material before each meeting.

If you do all that then you’ll have time to enjoy the blog!

Paul Everitt

http://www.rworld.co.uk/