Right now I feel like my life is a complete balancing act-I am balancing running a business, taking care of my family (two of my children can’t drive yet have active lives!), active on some Boards and helping parents with driving and doctor appointments on a regular basis. If one thing gets out of order the cards could tumble. Yet at the same time I am able to get out golfing, spend time with my family and literally not work past 5 pm at night and remain low stress.
So how does it all work? Is there a secret to creating balance?
The short answer is yes. I can’t tell you how many leaders we have worked with who put in a ton of hours at work and swear up and down that they can’t reduce them. They will tell us their company expects you to be on 24/7 and that you can’t change it.
And yet I could share story after story of leaders where we have freed up 25% of more of their time by making some simple but profound changes in how they do things, when they do things, and how they create teams high in trust and accountability. One executive went from working 6:30 am to 6 pm and then back working 8 pm –11 pm and no vacations to working 7:30 am to 5:30 pm and took a 3 week vacation without any phone or email.
One of the things I am diligent is about protecting my time. If I am to operate at optimal level for my clients and family I need to make sure I am at optimal brain level. This means meetings are very focused, time is taken off to regenerate and stay creative, systems are put in place that are scalable and repeatable by all, and work is projected out to stop crisis from happening. It is a balancing act but it doesn’t need to be a teeter totter or a yo-yo that constantly goes up and down. Consistency is key.
As a leader your life is hectic. Managing priorities and expectations is a vital part of your job. Today’s ezine addresses one small part of that—how to manage email flow. Remember as a leader your best tool is your brain. It is up to you to protect and utilize it best so you remain on optimal firing levels at all times. If you do that you can actually do a lot in a short amount of time.
Read the ezine to see how to do it with emails and stay tuned as we address other issues that absorb a leader’s time and derail your brain’s effectiveness. Make it a goal this year to reduce your hours and increase your effectiveness. If you want help, call us to see if you would be a candidate for our Executive Coaching program!
PS If you want to find out how to think and speak holistically and strategically join us for our upcoming Managing Your Strategic Message Session for Leaders.
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Outcome Thinking® Solution
How to Get Out From Under Email Overload
by Anne Warfield
SITUATION: I find that I am overwhelmed with the amount of email I get. I find that I get so many I can’t even get to responding to them in one day without having to put in a 12 hour day. I am feeling overwhelmed and as a leader much of my day is spent in meetings so that eliminates even more time for email.
I tend to be known as a knowledge expert in our organization so I believe that is why I do get a lot of these emails. I don’t mind telling people the information but really don’t like having to type up all the steps of what to do and how and I get tired of sharing the same information over and over. What can I do?
OTHER PERSON’S PERSPECTIVE:
People want the fastest way to an answer. They believe it will probably only take you two seconds to form an answer and that by doing it through email it will be easiest for you. Most important to them is getting the information.
So if it is possible to get a great answer with little input on our own part our brain would prefer to do that. This means that the job of managing your knowledge and people’s access to it is something you need to be more conscious about.
THINKING IT THROUGH WITH OUTCOME THINKING®:
There are really two problems to solve here:
1. How can you get people the information they need without having to retype things especially since you prefer sharing verbally
2. What may you be doing that is getting people to feel they can constantly access you via email
For the first one we will tackle how to share the information once and then have it in a format that you can easily share with others. This will reduce a task from being 15 minutes every time to being just 30 seconds to hit “send” when people want the same information.
HOW TO BEST HANDLE/PHRASE USING OUTCOME THINKING®:
For the first one:
When others ask for information tell them you will gladly share it with them PROVIDED they are willing to type up what you shared and then send it to you so you can ensure they got the accurate information. This will then give you a written description that you can then forward or send to others who run in to the similar problem.
So you say it once, the other person types it up and then you have it so you can put it up on Sharepoint or keep a file of “how to’s” that you can send out.
For the second one:
Most likely in meetings you are letting yourself get roped in to having to respond to a lot of emails by saying things like “yes I can get you that information.” Or “reach out to me and I will get that to you.” Best way to keep that off your plate is:
1. Loop back to the above procedure with the person so at least if you are going to do it you end up with something that is good for you to send to others
2. Loop someone from your team in so they become the experts
3. Briefly answer in the meeting the person’s question and don’t offer for them to email you to get it (thus throwing the responsibility back on to you and off of them)
The general rule of thumb is if you can answer it in 5 minutes or less do it in the moment. If you delay it by having someone email and ask you for it, you generally increase the amount of time spent by 3-10 fold. So a 5 minute project now consumes 15-50 of your minutes! As a leader you don’t have that kind of time to spare!
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Quoteable Quotes
“Generally in life, we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously. If we can make others smile, it’s worth it making a fool out of ourselves sometimes.” – Richard Branson
Strategic Leadership Tips with Anne Warfield
Would you like to get your emails opened and read?
Watch Now… as Anne shares 6 steps that will make it easy for the reader that receives your emails to open and want to read them.
“I feel more comfortable presenting a professional agenda and I feel like I can communicate …
…and appear less aggressive now that I’ve attended Managing Your Message. Before learning about Outcome Thinking® I played more off of interaction than leading them down the Roadmap and providing the solutions up front. I would highly recommend bringing Outcome Thinking® into your company. I think it packages the messages we try so hard to prepare and deliver much more eloquently and allows each individual to be themselves.” ”
Lindsay Fleck, Regional Sales Manager, Jostens
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