The Advisor’s Corner – How Do I Deal with a Calendar Full of Meetings?

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How Do I Deal with a Calendar Full of Meetings?Question:

How do I deal with a calendar full of meetings that are wasting my time?

StrategyDriven Response: (by Roxi Hewertson, StrategyDriven Principal Contributor)

I love meetings… when and only when they produce something useful. When they don’t, I stop going. Seriously, I gave up useless meetings just like I gave up greasy food, cold turkey, so to speak!

Dave Barry once said, “If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings’.” Well, lousy meetings anyway.

Indeed, there are great meetings and important ones I’d never want to miss. People need to congregate and exchanges things. We need to network, learn, collaborate, decide, discuss, chew on ideas, mind-meld, team-build, brainstorm and have fun together. There are plenty of fabulous reasons why people should have meetings, gatherings, and get togethers.

Yet, we have a serious meeting epidemic in this country. This is not my opinion; it’s a fact. Smart people study this stuff, and the reality is, we have been meeting for more hours each and every year since they started keeping track back in the 1950’s. It’s a bit like global warming – it creeps up on you and before you know it, your life is one big meeting desert or tsunami or both, at the same time, in the same meeting!

Email didn’t fix it. Whiz-bang meeting software didn’t fix it. Today, you can just throw on a t-shirt, sit at your computer, and be in a meeting with virtually anyone, anywhere, anytime. Yes, it’s a short commute, and convenient, but now instead of commuting, you are simply in another meeting. How’s that working for you?

There is a whole planet full of people suffering from bad meetings. You’d think it was contagious. Well, you’d be right. The way meetings are run in your organization IS a result of your internal culture, meeting protocols, and the meeting skills of the person running them. Every new person coming into the system generally conforms to those norms. So… ask yourself, “How healthy and productive is the meeting virus I am passing around?”

For those meetings you attend but don’t run, remember, it’s YOUR calendar. So take control of it. The next time you are about to agree to a meeting, try asking yourself these 5 questions:

  1. WHY are we having this meeting; what is the goal; what are the deliverables?
  2. WHOSE meeting is it?
  3. WHAT kind of a meeting do we need to have? In person, on the phone, virtual, standing up, off-site, formal, informal, etcetera.
  4. WHO should be there? Why?
  5. WHAT are our meeting ‘norms,’ and do I like them? If not, why am I going to this meeting and/or what am I going to do about it?

Once you decide, yes, you need a meeting, you need a purpose and an agenda. Every item on your agenda should have one of three purposes or a combination of them or it shouldn’t be there at all.

Information – Discussion -­ Decision

Information: no more than 20% of any meeting should be spent on information sharing – there are plenty of other and cheaper ways to share information other than meeting time.

Discussion: means getting input and ideas, hearing from the people in the group. Make sure you have a method to do that well.

Decision-making: use best practices and ask all the important questions when a decision needs to be made

Take control of your life and work by taking control of the time you spend in meetings that don’t matter, and making the time you do spend in meetings an investment that DOES matter.

About the Author

Leadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to [email protected].

The Advisor’s Corner – Does working smarter, not harder apply to leadership positions?

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Does working smarter, not harder apply to leadership positions?Question:

Can “working smarter, not harder” really be applied to leadership positions?

StrategyDriven Response: (by Roxi Hewertson, StrategyDriven Principal Contributor)

Of course! Leaders already work hard if they are successful with their teams and organizations. The heart of the question is not: “how hard to squeeze the orange,” but rather, “how, with less effort and time, one can get as much healthy juice from the same orange – and perhaps even have time left to plant a new tree.”

Time: Your use of time is first on the list because it is a significant choice point. You make many choices about how you spend yours and others’ time. Once you lose your time or theirs, you will never get it back. So pay close attention to choices around time, and make good ones.

We waste a LOT of time in lousy meetings. Make sure you are running effective meetings that actually matter. Have a goal, ensure that 20 percent or less is devoted to information sharing, have a good agenda, get the right people in the room, and plan to have the meeting facilitated well. Get people engaged and working on meaningful things. You know you’ve done well when people ask when they can get together again like this!

Conflicts: Deal quickly and well with issues that arise because unresolved conflicts drain huge quantities of energy out of the system and from you and your team. When people ‘workaround’ each other, they travel a much greater distance and these problems don’t go away, they grow tentacles and spread everywhere.

Build Your Team: Build a strong team and support them in doing what they do best. It is FAR smarter, cheaper, faster to take time upfront to build strength and skills within your teams – where people feel safe to contribute, know their roles and expectations, trust each other to do their jobs well, and utilize the power of group synergy to create a result greater than the sum of their parts. This is often misnamed the “touchy-feely” work. Wrong! The leader who ignores this reality, ignores it at their own peril. The fact is, and always has been – jumping to task is just not smart. It takes much more time to clean up the messes that arise, and there is far less engagement from the people meant to do the task.

Delegate Well: You can’t do it all yourself, so don’t even try. Get smarter about how and who should be doing what, when. Delegation is about developing your people through giving them NEW work that grows them and liberates you at the same time. You can then apply your time and skill sets more effectively.

Work-Life Integration: Some leaders believe working hard equals putting in long hours and making the job the biggest priority in their lives. Usually one or more of these situations/needs are in play:

  • They don’t want to go home for any number of reasons.
  • They think/assume/know the culture and the boss expects them to be a workaholic and/or think they will impress someone(s) by doing so and that impression will lead to some kind of reward.
  • They waste a good amount of time during normal working hours and have to get the work done after hours.

A truly effective leader knows how to get the job done in a reasonable amount of time AND keep her/his personal life and overall health well integrated. Of course there are special situations we all need to double-down for, but reasonable is the norm.

Founders are an exception. They often live in, through, and with their business; there is little distinction between who they are and what they do at play, work, or home. Life, for them, is ALL about their business and they chose that life consciously.

The rest of us need to take a much closer look at how we can get more good juice out of the same orange, by being smarter, by thinking in new ways, and without killing ourselves or our people.

About the Author

Leadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to [email protected].

The Advisor’s Corner – When Should I Remain Quiet?

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Remaining quietQuestion:

As a leader, are there times when I should hold back my opinions?

StrategyDriven Response: (by Roxi Hewertson, StrategyDriven Principal Contributor)

It is a balancing act for leaders to know just how much to talk and how much to listen. Extroverted leaders have a particular challenge because they talk to think as an important part of processing information and ideas. They risk grabbing too much airtime and shutting others down. Conversely, Introverted leaders think to talk and can be challenged to communicate enough information at the right to meet their followers’ needs. Leaders make fewer wrong decisions when they ask more than they tell. Our focus today is on the more verbal leader. You should consider staying quiet when…

  1. It’s emotional – people need to believe they are being heard. Ask how you can help rather than assume you know.
  2. You come in during the middle of a story – no need to embarrass yourself!
  3. You are wondering if what you’ll say is offensive – if you have to wonder, and then it probably is.
  4. You are tempted to ‘fix’ the person’s problem and about to give advice no one asked you to give.
  5. Someone asks you a question that you should not or cannot answer fully or accurately.
  6. You think your idea is the best thing since shelled walnuts.
  7. When you ask a question, it is a good idea to wait and listen for the answer.
  8. You feel yourself jumping to conclusions without much information – not a good way to get your exercise!
  9. You’ve been drinking, partying, etc. and someone from work calls you – it’s far better to stay off the phone.
  10. You are angry or upset. First, take time to figure out why you feel the way you do, and then determine the best course of action to resolve the problem.

Consider a leader I worked with who was unable to say he did not know. He would give anyone an answer on any question asked of him. Yet, it would have been so easy, and correct, to say, “I don’t know the answer to that, but I’ll find out and get back to you.” He isn’t stupid, just misguided about what is expected of a good leader, including telling the truth. Of course, his credibility was negatively impacted.

I know another leader who routinely asks questions and listens intently to the answers. People tell her the truth because she honors them by deeply listening and with her thoughtful responses. She observes a great deal, is rarely fooled, and does not claim to have all the answers. Her credibility and reputation were beyond reproach.

It is true that quiet and contained leaders need to speak up when they have something meaningful to say. People need to understand and hear about their opinions, vision, values, decisions, and expectations. Staying quiet when you need to be heard can be just as problematic as talking too much.

Leaders need to engage others, share their ideas, and make decisions. It’s the balance of listening and talking that makes all the difference. It’s not an accident that the ratio of ‘listening’ body parts to ‘speaking’ body parts is 4:1 (ears and eyes: mouth).

For a quick indicator, try this: next time you are in a meeting, make a tic mark every time you open your mouth to say something. Keep track of whether you are telling or asking. Keep score for a day or two and you’ll have a good indication of whether you are talking too much, sharing too little, or have a healthy balance.

About the Author

Leadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to [email protected].

The Advisor’s Corner – Am I an At-Risk Leader?

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At-risk leaderQuestion:

Is there a way to tell if I’m an ‘at-risk’ leader?

StrategyDriven Response: (by Roxi Hewertson, StrategyDriven Principal Contributor)

Sure. You can ask yourself the questions below to get a good start and then you can and should regularly ask for direct or anonymous constructive feedback from your direct reports, peers, leader and others. You attitudes and behaviors are the biggest differentiators for leadership success. The four well researched core emotional intelligence metrics of: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness and Relationship Management are directly correlated with successful or failing leadership.

Here are some key attitudes and behaviors to pay attention to because just being proficient in your technical area of expertise ignores the fact that a leader’s success is highly dependent on others’ contributions.

Ask yourself, do I…?

Read/understand emotions and recognize the impact of them on self and others. By developing an accurate view of, and aptly managing, one’s own emotional responses to situations, the rest of you skills and talents are magnified and leveraged. You regularly seek feedback and acknowledge when your impact and intent are out of synch. ?

Know your strengths and limitations. The best leaders understand they can never know and do everything… and don’t pretend to. Instead, they recognize what they are good at and leverage those skills. You surround themselves with people who are smarter and more experienced in areas where you have gaps, and you listen to them.

Know and have a good sense of your own self-worth and capability. There is a big divide between confidence and arrogance. Confidence comes from a strong sense of self-worth and self-awareness. Arrogance comes from fear in many cases, and a sense of entitlement in others. You are confident based on an objective, not assumed point of view.

Think and act with optimism – see the ‘upside.’ There are two kinds of world view attitudes people project in the world—those who think and act through the lens of abundance, and those who think and act through a lens of scarcity. You go for solutions, new ideas, and silver linings, even in the worst of times. You may change course, but you never give up. You thoughtfully navigate your staffers to a better place – often to places they didn’t know or believe possible.

See and seize opportunities for contributing to the greater good. Despite conventional thinking, great leaders have low ego needs precisely because of their solid confidence and self-worth. You don’t waste time and energy shining up your image. Your integrity is without question. You are willing to partner with others and you listen with an objective and compassionate for the greater good of the organization.

Or Do I…?

Discount others’ emotions and perspective. Failing leaders don’t pick up on other people’s signals. Or, if they do, they don’t care, demonstrating a fundamental lack of empathy and social awareness. You cannot be a good leader without empathy, period.

Miss key organizational clues, norms, decision networks and politics. ?These ‘leaders’ have very little emotional intelligence in terms of self-awareness and organizational awareness. You are missing clues, haven’t developed a wide network, and operate more like individual contributor than a leader.

Blame others for outcomes. Failing leaders don’t ask; they tell. You need to make someone wrong to be right. The difference between accountability and blame is the way the issue or problem is approached. You go for blame not solution.

Avoid dealing with and resolving conflicts. ?Failing leaders avoid dealing with conflicts and don’t provide constructive feedback to others. They duck key relationship issues. You often think, “If I ignore it, it will go away.”

Isolate myself and/or my team from others in the organization. You think you and/or your immediate team are better/smarter/righter than everyone else. These leaders are happiest in their ‘silo,’ rarely sharing resources or knowledge. You believe no one understands you or your work.

About the Author

Leadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to [email protected].

The Advisor’s Corner – How can I build relationships with key stakeholders?

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Stakeholder relationshipsQuestion:

How can I build relationships with key stakeholders?

StrategyDriven Response: (by Roxi Hewertson, StrategyDriven Principal Contributor)

Competition for our time has never, in the history of human kind, been so intense. Yet, if we fail to make time to connect in authentic and meaningful ways with other people, we cannot lead well and our business results will suffer dramatically.

By connecting well, we can discover where we have opportunities for synergy with others. Synergy can be defined as two or more people (or things) functioning together to produce a result NOT independently obtainable. Synergies are important both within and outside our primary workplace. There’s even a new word to describe this when we connect well with our competitors – ‘coopitition’ or ‘coopertition,’ meaning two or more competitors working together to achieve a common goal.

Here are three things you can do to connect and look for opportunities for synergy:

1. Ask don’t tell. Too often people are ‘telling’ others what they think, want, know and feel. Stephen Covey reminds us to “Seek first to understand, then seek to be understood.” This wisdom comes from the native peoples throughout the world and is found in every scripture known to human kind. Yet, we are often too busy or too focused on our own ‘stuff’ to remember this.

2. Find common ground. When two or more people choose to take the time to look more deeply, they can and will find common ground where they can build a powerful foundation for trust and collaboration. Try this:

  • Seek out things you have in common with others – values, family, books, artwork, background, education, passions, experiences… you’ll find them.
  • When you’ve made a connection, build upon it. Allow yourself to share some vulnerability. This gives others more safety to do the same. The more authentic you are, the more authentic others can risk being with you.
  • Sometimes the best place to grow connection and common ground is with people with whom you disagree. When people have a common goal, a common enemy, or a common dream they can overcome differences in other areas. So next time someone disagrees with you consider saying: “Help me understand why you feel/think the way you do. I would like to learn more about your point of view.”

3. Get out of your chair. This is not a brilliant new idea, but more than ever we get stuck on our computers, notebooks, and phones. When you walk around, notice what people have placed in their workspace that matters to them, pictures, sayings, colors, etc. You will hear conversations you’d never hear otherwise, and you’ll be present. If you go with the intention to observe, connect, and catch people doing something right, and if you are listening, people will begin to look forward to the opportunity to see and interact with you. No time? Think again.

  • Randomly book 30 minutes once or twice a week to wander- with no agenda, no plan, and no goal. Come back to your workspace and write down what you observed and learned. Do not to jump to hasty conclusions – just note your observations and check them out the next week you wander around.
  • Randomly schedule 15-30 minute no agenda ‘chats’ with your employees, peers, others. Meet in their space, for lunch, for a walk around the work site.
  • Call up a few external people every month, to reconnect and keep your network fresh and alive.

Everything we do and how well we do it, in any enterprise, is impacted daily by the quality of our relationships. Building and strengthening our relationship, and finding win/win synergies with all our stakeholders, must be an integral part of every leader’s strategy for success.

About the Author

Leadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to [email protected].