FOCUS

Are you inundated with communication? Emails, IMs, meetings, and if it still exists, phone calls. On any given day, I receive 30 emails an hour, averaging 1 every two minutes, a meeting every hour, sometimes every half hour and lately every 15 minutes, lastly a constant flow of IMs. I’m exhausted just writing about it. Maybe your day is not as bad, but I bet it can still be filled with over communication.

This blog post compliments my tagline, "People plus Process plus Technology." All three elements must blend to be successful at anything, manager, project management, educator, builder, everything. We must learn to balance them. I put the elements in order of importance, so don’t let today’s communication technology override the most important element - People.

Here are few of my communication rules:

• Emails – all cc’s do not require my response and may not even get read
• IMs – you really need a response now or used for multi-tasking (listening in a meeting, but not participating)
• I may, or may not, answer based on my role above
• Meetings (Skype or live) – require an agenda to determine priority and/or attendance
• Phone – if someone calls me, it is definitely a priority (and a preference)

Roll all these communication rules into one theme – FOCUS

Only a Super Human can satisfy every communication received, during the day.

Now, a message to management – consolidate information.

• Plan to send out your communication once a day, at a regular time would be best,  every morning or end of day even better to cover routine items, like process
• Advise your reports to prioritize their communications
• Assign specific areas of expertise to qualified associate(s) to reduce irrelevant communications to everyone (focus your team)

In the long term, productivity will increase. I promise.

It's All About People

The title of my website displays the convergence of People, Process and Technology, but nothing can occur without people.

Process and technology cannot function separate from people. People write and follow the process. People write and execute code. People communicate with people to achieve a goal. Teams cannot exist without people. Customers are comprised of people, whether internal or external of the organization. People are the key to any successful project. 

People skills should be the highest valued acumen, in any successful organization.

Communication and Empowerment

When you speak with someone, can you look them in the eye? Are you a "crackberry" head? Are you addicted to power? Can you leave your job for more than two seconds, without being connected?

I love technology and guilty of being a geek (but a creative one) myself, so don't get me wrong about communication tools. The point is iPhones, and the like, are just that, tools.

While eating at a Waffle House, I noticed a nearby young couple sitting across from each other. For those not familiar with this restaurant chain, the place and tables are small. Each person, at this table, was on their respective devices. No verbal or visual communication. You see this scenario at the theater, in church, meetings, in the grocery store, everywhere. What was the point of being together?

Next, can work survive without you for an hour? A day? God forbid, a week? Think about this, a week's vacation. If the answer is no, you haven't done a good job of preparing and empowering your people or you're a candidate for a heart attack, because you're addicted to the power. Or both.

My management philosophy has proved to be valid and I share it with you.

    I do not get upset if a manager makes the wrong decision, as much as if they don't make a decision at all.

Mr. Whitacre, the General Motors' CEO, became upset when highly compensated executives came to him for a decision. I read, he sent them out of his office and told them they were paid to make those decisions. I applaud him. If managers can't make appropriate decisions, in their area of expertise or responsibility,  the wrong people are in these positions.

When I'm not connected via technology, I find myself creatively thinking. When your mind is at rest, great things come to the surface. This is a psychological truth, too deep to cover in a blog. Here's a simple example. When you lay down to sleep (assuming you do sleep), have you noticed your mind remembers things or new ideas pop into your head? If you haven't experienced this feeling, seek help.

Morals to this blog:

• Talk with people. Practice with someone nearby, right now. Look them in the eye. This is called respect.
• Review your management team, empower them as a subject matter expert. This is called respect. If you're a manager, seek empowerment.
• Finally, turn off your device. First for 5 minutes, then 10; work up to a whole day and beyond.

Then, enjoy a nice conversation with someone at the Waffle House.