All posts by : Myles Doran

Much of an executive’s workday is spent asking others for information—requesting status updates from a team leader, for example, or questioning a counterpart in a tense negotiation. Yet unlike professionals such as solicitors, journalists, and doctors, who are taught how to ask questions as an essential part of their training, few executives think of questioning as a skill that can be honed—or consider how their own answers to questions could make conversations more productive.

Asking questions is a uniquely powerful tool for unlocking value in organisations: It spurs learning and the exchange of ideas, it fuels innovation and performance improvement, it builds rapport and trust among team members. And it can mitigate business risk by uncovering unforeseen pitfalls and hazards. But few executives think of questioning as a skill that can be honed—or consider how their own answers to questions could make conversations more productive. That’s a missed opportunity.

The good news is that by asking questions, we naturally improve our emotional intelligence, which in turn makes us better questioners—a virtuous cycle. Insights from behavioural science research explore how the way we frame questions and choose to answer our counterparts can influence the outcome of conversations.

They offer guidance for choosing the best type, tone, sequence, and framing of questions and for deciding what and how much information to share to reap the most benefit from our interactions, not just for ourselves but for our organisations.

Take a moment and think about your salary and wages. Your bonuses. Your share options.

What explains how much (or how little) you make?

Is it your education?

Your experience or seniority?

Your organisation’s performance, the cost of living in your area, your occupation, or your own individual performance?

When asked about the rationale for the size of their pay-check, both workers and executives overwhelmingly point to one factor: Individual performance.

Yet research shows that this belief is false and largely based on three myths people have about their pay: that you can separate it from the performance of others; that your job has an objective, agreed-upon definition of performance; and that paying for individual performance improves organisational outcomes.

Instead, your pay is defined by four organisational forces: power, inertia, mimicry, and equity.

The bad news is that these dynamics have reshaped the economy to benefit the few at the expense of the many.

The good news is that, if pay isn’t some predetermined, rigid reflection of performance, then we can imagine a different world in terms of who is paid what, and how.

Leaders are always seeking to improve employee productivity (including their own).

All too often, that quest goes no further than time management training provided by the HR department. Those classes cover the pros and cons of Inbox Zero, the Pomodoro technique, the Eisenhower Matrix, Getting Things Done, and countless other approaches that tantalise us with promises of peak productivity.

Given that people are still overwhelmed by work, buried in email, and unable to focus on critical priorities, it’s safe to say that these productivity hacks just don’t hack it.

The pursuit of individual productivity is healthy and worthwhile. However, unless you work independently outside of an organisation, the benefits of most “tricks” will be limited.

To make a real impact on performance, you have to work at the system level. I recommend four ways to improve productivity and efficiency by making changes at the organisational level.

Create a system of tiered huddles that allow issues to be escalated to the next level of responsibility in a timely manner.

Use systems that visually represent where work is so that collaborators have visibility into where a project stands.

Make it clear how people should communicate depending on the complexity and urgency of the issue. And make sure that people responsible for getting tasks done also have the authority to make necessary decisions.

Walking is one of the simplest and most strategic things you can do for yourself.

It takes little preparation, minimal effort, no special equipment, and it can contract or expand to fit the exact amount of time you have available.

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, a single bout of moderate-to vigorous activity (including walking) can improve our sleep, thinking, and learning, while reducing symptoms of anxiety.

When we go for a walk, we perform better on tests of memory and attention; our brain cells build new connections, staving off the usual withering of brain tissue that comes with age; we can actively change the pace of our thoughts by deliberately walking more briskly or by slowing down; and our attention is left to meander and observe, helping us generate new ideas and to have strokes of insight.

Who knew?

Major companies are using Clubhouse to hold court with ordinary investors.

Why it matters: Executives are using the invite-only audio app to allow the type of access that was historically only offered up to Wall Street on stodgy, suited-up quarterly earnings calls.

Driving the news: Car accessory website Carparts.com hosted a Clubhouse chat Monday night with more than 2,000 participants — the first time it specifically targeted retail investors.

The big picture: Retail trading has been super-charged since the pandemic hit, so it’s no coincidence that the company wants their attention.

• Retail traders account for nearly as much stock trading volume as mutual funds and hedge funds combined, the FT reports — a milestone helped by the Reddit-fuelled trading frenzy earlier this year.

Between the lines: Companies are also trying to capitalise on the buzz of Clubhouse. Its main allure has been the ability to drop-in on conversations with influential people (including CEOs).

What’s different now is using the platform for post-financial results conversations on a platform that’s no doubt teeming with ordinary or would-be investors.

• “We never found the perfect forum,” Carparts.com CFO David Meniane explaining why it hadn’t done a specific event for retail investors before.
• “Clubhouse is a fast-growing channel and the stars really aligned.”

Another example: Restaurant Brands International — which owns Burger King and Tim Hortons — put its CEO on Clubhouse last month, one day after it released financial results to Wall Street.

• The invite read: “Companies have calls with investors and business media every 3 months … Why not give our customers/guests the same access to our leaders”.

Worth noting: For years, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has famously taken questions from retail investors that submit queries via third-party platform Say.

What to watch: “There is no enterprise use case riper for disruption by Clubhouse than the earnings call. Can’t wait till @elonmusk goes first on this,” Aaron Levie, CEO of cloud company Box, tweeted last week.

The bottom line: This could be a major shakeup in how companies try to target regular people — that is, if Clubhouse continues to take off.

These are trying times for optimists.

Covid remains prime time on news bulletins.

Job growth seems a distant memory and potential redundancies are looming.

So many of our colleagues and kids are feeling stressed, exhausted, angry — “Hitting the pandemic wall.”

These are challenging times to stay energised and upbeat…

Below are four pieces of advice and more importantly support to help make you and your colleagues more optimistic:

1) Insist on crisp execution but make room for “organisational foolishness”

2) Invite everyone to become a problem-solver, then give them room to fix things

3) Don’t just champion new ideas; strengthen personal relationships

4) To counter so much bad news, share every piece of good news.

We got this.

Believing these 3 myths about multitasking maybe ruining your productivity

Understanding how and when to multitask can help you get more effective work done.

During a time when the boundaries between our work and our personal lives feel tenuous at best, multitasking feels like a natural solution.

Working from home means juggling Zoom calls and co-worker Slacks and deadlines—not to mention interruptions from your kids or spouse or roommates. Sometimes it’s impossible to focus on just one task at a time. It can feel great to half-listen in a meeting while also messaging a teammate to get an update on that project. Look at you, getting twice as much done! But there are lots of times where multitasking can actually set you back at work.

More than just powerwalking while chatting to a friend, or preparing dinner and listening to an audiobook, multitasking at work often involves attempting to complete two cognitively demanding activities simultaneously.

The ability to switch between tasks often makes you feel like you’re getting a lot done, but several studies have shown that this constant routine of switching gears isn’t an effective way to make progress and can take a toll on our brains. Not only can this habit sap your energy, but constant multitasking can make it seem more appealing, creating an addictive cycle.

In fact, some experts say if you’re unable to sit down and do deep work, it may be time to consider if you’re in the right job. Feeling fulfilled in a role is one thing, but if you can’t even concentrate, that may not be a good sign for long-term professional progress.

Obviously, there are times during this pandemic where we all have to multitask, especially if you’re a parent. But there also may be times where you’re opting to do multiple tasks simultaneously when it’s actually the less efficient choice. Understanding these three common multitasking myths can help you manage your time more productively:

1. YOU FEEL A SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT, SO YOU MUST BE GETTING A LOT DONE.

Hate to break it to you, multitaskers: This feeling of accomplishment is a false sensation.

Multitaskers often get addicted to this cycle of small-scale accomplishment (and usually executed at a suboptimal level) without realising they are spending more time completing their work than if they had chosen to stick to one task.

The singular approach is called monotasking—which means cutting out the jumping around and focusing deeply on just one project.

2. YOU SAVE ENERGY BY SWITCHING BETWEEN TASKS.

The truth is that when you force yourself to shift from one mentally taxing job to another, you are not only wasting time but also draining your energy reserves.

Moreover, when you quickly pivot to the next “to-do” item, you leave the phantom-like presence of the last task in your thoughts. This is called “attention residue” which is as unappealing as it sounds. Basically, it’s the idea that although you have moved on to your next task, your brain is left contemplating the previous one.

Here’s an unsettling fact: Even a quick glance between an article you’re reading to your inbox can “drastically reduce your cognitive function,” Cal Newport, a computer science professor at Georgetown University.

3. YOU GET BETTER AT MULTITASKING THE MORE YOU DO IT.

We can only successfully perform simple, rote tasks when multitasking. As Fast Company contributor Art Markman points out, nonchallenging, intellectually simpler tasks are usually ok to juggle at once; these are often habitual activities that don’t overly tax the working memory.

But for more demanding, complex tasks, it’s important to direct your best self toward these efforts or suffer the consequences of poor performance.

If you are attempting to complete two tasks at once, it’s a far-fetched idea to think both will result in fantastic work. Says Markman, “You’ll likely get worse at both of them.”

According to research from Stanford, the more people multitask, the more they are training their brains to be scattered, and the less they are able to be creative or develop emotional intelligence. In some cases, it can even drop your IQ by multiple points, so that your brain becomes as well-performing as an 8-year-old.

When things feel unstable for long periods of time, we need different coping techniques.

The human brain is a prediction engine. A lot of the knowledge that you gain from experience is used to figure out what is likely to happen next. When you walk into a conference room before the start of a meeting and see other people in attendance, you feel comfortable that the meeting is going to start soon. When you see a colleague walking up the hall who works in marketing, you predict that you’ll soon be talking about a new campaign.

When things go as you predict, you feel comfortable. At the start of that meeting in the conference room with your colleagues filing in, you can sit down relaxed and talk with the person sitting next to you. If, however, you walked into that same room and found it empty—or filled with people you didn’t recognise or expect to see—you would probably feel uneasy. You might pull out your calendar to see if the time or location of the meeting had been changed. You would pay a lot of attention to what was going on.

Of course, a little uncertainty makes life interesting. If every day were identical to the one before and if every colleague said what you expected them to say, then there wouldn’t be anything left to learn, and it would be hard to pay attention to anything going on around you.

But too much uncertainty can create anxiety. That is a big reason why the past year has been so difficult. The pandemic has made it hard to engage in activities that were normal in the past, and the rules around what we are and are not allowed to do change with the severity of the pandemic. The pandemic has also influenced the economy, which has led many people to be uncertain about their future job prospects so it’s no wonder we’re all feeling stressed.

The big problem is that uncertainty leads you to want to pay attention to make the world more predictable. That is why you check your calendar again when you are suddenly not sure you’re in the right conference room for a meeting. But when everything around is uncertain and that uncertainty won’t be resolved quickly, this kind of response doesn’t help. Instead, it keeps you glued to TV coverage, doom scrolling on social media, and having long speculative conversations with friends. And because these activities don’t reduce the actual uncertainty around, they have no long-term impact on your anxiety, and you find it hard to be productive.

Instead, there are three things you should do:

REDUCE YOUR MEDIA CONSUMPTION

Much of the uncertainty may not be in your immediate environment, but rather in the state of the world overall. Oddly, your home life is probably quite predictable right now, because many of us are working from home and/or searching for employment. So, unless your job necessitates it, wean yourself off of a steady diet of mainstream and social media. Give yourself permission not to track every update. You might pick a time once or twice a day to catch up on headlines. That will allow you to focus on the relatively predictable life you’re living.

THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL

Focus your work activities on things that are within your sphere of control. Make a good to-do list of tasks at work and devote your efforts to knocking things off that list. Keep track of what you have accomplished so that you can see the results of the work you have put in. At the end of each workday, celebrate your accomplishments.

INCREASE YOUR RESILIENCE

Upping your resilience can take many forms. Reach out to a friend. Eat good food. Get some regular exercise. Don’t check your phone for an hour before going to bed so you can establish a regular sleep routine. Feeling well physically will help you handle the emotional load of the world around you.

With a protracted easing of lockdown measures going well into the summer we need to remain resilient to the day to day challenge and uncertain future but also keep our mind “Fit” so striking a balance between consumption and output will be critical for our state of mind and wellbeing.

Business leaders are being forced to rethink how their companies will work in a post-pandemic world. One of the biggest questions they will face? Where – and when – employees can work.

By the time it’s safe to return to the office, many workers will have spent a year or more working from home. And many are enjoying the extra time and flexibility. Companies may let employees work from home two or more days per week, with some opting for three days in office, two days remote and then two days off – a 3-2-2 work week, if you will – according to Ashley Willians, a professor at Harvard Business School. Some employers may even cut down to a four-day work week altogether.

“Employees will demand greater flexibility and organisations will require it,” Whillans said. “What this flexibility will look like will vary depending on the sector and geographic location. But, hopefully, if we do this right, gridlock morning commutes will be a thing of the past.”

Cloud computing giant Salesforce has unveiled a new work policy for its 54,000 global employees, giving them three options: flex, fully remote, and office based. The company believes that “in our ever-connected world,” employees no longer need to adhere to a strict 8-hour schedule.

Salesforce expects more than 65% of its workforce to come into the office only one to three days a week in the future, up from 40% before the pandemic. Salesforce is pathfinding the way for talent to be their best; at times and locations when and where they can be most productive. 

The future of work is a mix of work hours and workdays; #WFH remote work, digital nomadism and the occasional day in the office. It is not one size fits all into a traditional 40-hour work week.

If indeed this does play out, then the question on how a business holds onto culture and at the same time nurtures talent from a distance whilst ensuring productivity expectations are being achieved will be a real challenge for the people teams to get their minds around as there is only so much online learning you can achieve without interaction in a meaningful way.

Here’s an essential element of the pandemic workplace: a best friend.

Why it matters: Studies have shown that having friendships at work can boost happiness and productivity. And cultivating these close relationships is even more important now as lockdowns and isolation worsen workplace burnout.

“The research is extremely clear that having friends at work has benefits,” says Marissa King of the Yale School of Management. “We get our sense of purpose and our intrinsic sense of motivation through relationships.”

• Having one or two close friends at work makes people engage more with their tasks and the broader mission of their companies. And it makes them less likely to quit, King says.
• According to a study by author and researcher Tom Rath, people with close work friends were 96% more likely to say they felt “extremely satisfied with life.”
• And during the pandemic, when people have so little choice over how they work or where they work, being able to control who our work friends and confidants are can be a big source of comfort, says King.

There can be different perks of work friendships. 

• For example, befriending someone in a different department could boost creativity by exposing you to new ideas. 
• Making friends with a peer on your team could be a healthy way to vent or solve work problems.

But, but, but: Despite their benefits, work friendships are still relatively uncommon in corporate America.

• The average American has five friends at work, but the majority of these relationships are surface level. Only 15% say they have a “real friend” in the office, King writes in her book, “Social chemistry.”
• And women and people of colour often find it even harder to cultivate work friendships, notes King. Women are more likely to miss out on after-work drinks or lunches because they’ve got other responsibilities like childcare. And people of colour are more likely to simply be excluded from such gatherings.

Worth noting: There are of course downsides to work friendships. Any sort of personal relationship at work can get complicated when issues like performance evaluations or promotions come up.

• Says King, “When boundaries get blurred, you feel forced to make a choice of, ‘Am I loyal to a person or am I loyal to my work?'”

In my own career i can evaluate my performance in a number of businesses and my more successful ventures were always ones where i had a strong connection to my peers with the result being an improved working environment with a stronger level of output from myself and my team which ultimately enhanced the overall business performance.

In all the team feedback and surveys over the years, the really important question that i always look to understand more from is “Do i feel i have a friend at work” as it informs on how the team is being managed, for example; is there a “buddy system” in play, regular “121” sessions, evidence of manpower planning, personal development goals, health & wellbeing coaching, benefits and engagement outside of working shifts or an obvious mentor programme.

If you then apply a balanced scorecard with the business key performance indicators such as; team turnover, absenteeism, customer feedback, service levels and sales performance you quickly start to build a picture of where the issues lie.

It is more important than ever while we are all under lockdown to reach out and identify with a peer on a regular basis who you feel you may like to build a connection with and catch up on a shared passion or topic that everyone is chatting about on social to break the never ending cycle of zooming as while it is convenient there is no question there are many of us that are craving human interaction again.

We also have to face facts, every job out there is not going to be fun to do, period, however if you do have a “Bestie” it becomes so much more manageable and over time will improve your outlook and personal contribution whilst ultimately making you a valuable asset.