Most of us have probably done it before: Put off a call or important task, or stalwart a conversation, under the onus of “busy.” In other cases, you’ll see or hear groups huddled around their devices and productivity applications trying to carve out time for a call … only to proudly announce how they have several meetings. In no time, they’re looking weeks out in order to schedule a five-minute call.
Calls to plan for calls, meetings to plan for meetings, and frantic people scurrying around offices: What nobody is discussing is, “What does all of this busyness mean?” Does it actually equate to any bottom line improvement?
Quit Glorifying Busy
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard responses like, “So sorry I didn’t <<fill in the blank>>! I was so busy.” While perhaps a solid knee-jerk response, the idea that you were busy merely indicates that other things were more important.
In some cases, that may be the truth … but using that as an excuse does little to comfort those on the other end of the conversation. Carrying “busy” around like a badge of honor is a great way to appear productive, but it may appear as disorganized or unfocused to the watchful eye.
Instead of just being busy, your target should be on productivity. Prioritizing activities and communicating well about tasks that won’t be completed are strategies that many time management experts recommend in order to curb the “busy” gene.
Revenue, customer satisfaction, and strategy aren’t a byproduct of being busy, but being effective. Which leads me to our next question …
Do We Really Need To Meet?
If there’s one thing that drives productive people crazy, it is sitting in meetings that don’t need to happen.
While managers often need time to assess the current landscape, the question of whether a meeting needs to take place should be asked more frequently. Ask yourself how many meetings you have each week, and whether they are all productive.
In the past decade, through unified communications, mobility, and social media, we have become almost endlessly connected with one another. Yet many sales managers still want to spend an hour each week on a call reviewing a forecast. This is a good time to think about your CRM solutions, the way data is being entered, and how much time is really spent discussing the sales pipeline.
This practice isn’t just for sales, either. Executive meetings, planning meetings, project meetings … I have witnessed meetings that occur to plan office supply purchases. How many people does it take to pick out a light bulb?
Meetings can be important, but there is often far too much distraction – and never enough produced – to justify putting so many people together for such a long time. If you’re going to spend time meeting, make sure to keep a strict agenda and be considerate of everyone’s time. If a meeting can be done in five minutes, then take five minutes; no need to extend it just to fill the spot in your Outlook calendar.
As organizations grow, meetings can be more and more burdensome because they take up more people’s time. If you have 100 employees who can gain even 30 minutes of time back each month, then you’ll be giving them 50 hours of productivity that may have been lost in meetings that weren’t even necessary. -Daniel Newman, BroadSuite Consulting
What are your ideas, tips, and tricks for being less busy and more effective? Let us know!