How to fix the endless 'busyness' cycle in the modern workplace
It appears to be the challenge of our times – how to stop spinning in circles, how to find more time, how to feel as though we are achieving more without having to work extra hours.
I read far too much about burnout, unhappiness, resentment, and complaints. Much of this tracks back to the fact that everywhere I go I hear: “I have no time.” This isn’t sustainable – and it’s certainly not good for business.
What this all boils down to is being able to identify the right things to do and doing them.
Everyone will have their own perspective, but let’s look at some of the causes of this crazy ‘busyness’ issue through the lens of online meetings.
Do any of these resonate with you?
Busyness trap 1: timekeeping
In some workplaces, it’s rare for meetings to start on time – or even five minutes early, as used to be the norm. Too many online meetings begin late.
Some might say this doesn’t matter, but put your mathematical head on and add up all the minutes spent waiting for people to join then multiply their combined hourly salary and you will start to see that it does matter. And, money aside, it’s just not respectful or professional.
- How would your employees and directors define ‘on time’? Have standards and expectations changed?
It’s also common for people to join meetings not having had time to eat or go to the bathroom meaning that they are probably not in the right frame of mind to focus!
- Ensure diaries are properly managed to allow time for rest breaks and time to switch from one meeting to another.
- Is one of our challenges the fact that others keep booking meetings into our diaries without any thought for how we can manage that? Too much focus on task and not enough thinking about ‘the person’.
Busyness trap 2: personal life intruding
Thinking about online training, it’s a rare session where the number of delegates we have at the start of the session is the same as the end. It seems that the closer to the end we are, interruptions like doctor, vet, dentist, or plumber appointments, child care issues, other business meetings, or travel arrangements tend to arise, and participants leave one by one.
- While there are endless calls for better work/life balance, I do sometimes feel as though things have swung too much in the wrong direction with work coming second place to people’s ‘other’ lives. If we’re to have balance, perhaps part of that is about ensuring day-to-day personal ‘stuff’ is not brought into work, just as much as work doesn’t intrude on personal time. If we genuinely want work/life balance, it has to work both ways.
- Also, is one of the issues here that too many managers aren’t confident enough to be assertive about what professional behaviour is? We need some sensible and fair standards setting – and maintained.
Busyness trap 3: failing to prepare
It can be frustrating when people have been sent agendas and/or information, but have failed to read it all.
- Many employees face genuine communication overload, with thousands of unread emails piling up each year. At what point does an organisation declare a “state of emergency”? Addressing this problem is critical, and perhaps banning unnecessary emails – like replying to say “thank you” to another “thank you” email – could be a good starting point.
- Aside from overload, every team has those in the team who rely on others to let them know what is going on as they aren’t accountable for reading their own emails/messages. Managers can at times shy away from holding others to account for fear of creating upset or conflict.
Busyness trap 4: multitasking
Online it’s truly embarrassing to see people continue to take calls, text, send emails, hold conversations with passing colleagues, all while pretending to be ‘in the room’ with you. Doing two jobs at once isn’t ever going to be effective?
- When there’s just two of you on a call and someone continues to text, what can you say when the person texting is the senior person?
- Are there genuine expectations from senior teams that their employees will multitask whilst attending meetings or online training? Perhaps a statement needs to be made or role models looked at to ensure that the right messages are being communicated about professionalism and respect.
Busyness trap 5: limiting beliefs
It’s disappointing when someone blames their lack of focus on the length of the meeting. They don’t complain about a 60 minute face to face meeting but suggest that 60 mins online is too much. Do we need to call out some of these lazy behaviours with people talking themselves into an ever diminishing/decreasing ability to concentrate – are we all in danger of becoming that which we wish for – or tell ourselves we are? We do not all have the attention span of a gnat – despite what social media might tell us.
- We might suggest it’s the content and style of a meeting that can determine if someone loses focus. Does anyone spend time looking at the quality of online meetings thinking about tone of voice, presentation of issues, engagement with others etc to address this problem. Do some need training to better understand how to present or hold meetings online?
- Turning cameras on so you can see each other, just as you would if you were in a room together, is a prerequisite for building relationships which are essential for effective discussions. Those who say they don’t like the camera need encouragement and support as fear of the camera is another very frequent limiting belief, but one that can be addressed and managed.
Busyness trap 6: respect
Some of us will operate in organisations where meetings go into and out of our diaries at the speed of light. Sometimes meetings arranged weeks in advance will simply vanish from our calendars with little or non explanation. We might find we have 3 meetings booked in at noon with no regard for the effort to now reschedule those that clash. Some meetings go in after being sent by people we don’t even know on the off chance we will accept it.
- Is this down to a lack of respect, some people playing power games, a lack of initial communication about why a meeting is needed, too many ‘regular’ meetings resulting in reduced value of all meetings, inter departmental power plays, diaries that are so full up you simply can’t just talk to someone for 5 minutes about an issue leaving no option but to schedule a meeting, or sales people taking the mickey.
- We can’t shy away from discussions of respect in today’s workplace. This is key to most of our cultures however the reality is that definitions of respect can vary hugely from one person to another. Being aware of what respect looks and feels like is to each other as well as our organisational definition of respect is the starting point to ensure standards are understood and maintained.
Busyness trap 7: disappearing tricks
Another issue we come across is that people simply fail to materialise at arranged meetings or training sessions. This wastes time, energy, and creates a world of frustration.
- Having been guilty of this myself on a couple of occasions, I recognise what catches me out is when meetings go into my diary and are set up without a reminder, as this can result in some meetings not being visible, ‘hidden’ behind other events already in my calendar. The technology at times can create a lack of visibility. But if we recognise what catches us out, we need to put strategies in place to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
- Other people will be juggling multiple calendars, some meetings in outlook (or equivalent) other meetings in Teams or similar and nothing is joined up. Too many calendars with gaps in some organisations to ensure it all joins up.
- Of course there will be some people who simply fail to attend because they choose to fail to attend. Who knows why, but it all causes a world of wasted time.
Busyness trap 8: lack of relevance
Finally, the last issue I wanted to highlight is that of relevance. Anyone who’s attended a meeting but has struggled to understand why the discussion was needed, why you were the person asked to attend, why it needed to be more than 5 mins long, etc., will understand how disengaging it is when our time is seemingly wasted with irrelevant ‘stuff’. By the way, I don’t consider relationship building through talking to each other ‘wasted time’.
- Be on the look out for recurring meetings that have lost their purpose, meetings that really should be only a 5 min phone call, being invited to a call to ‘support’ a colleague who is perfectly capable of handling the meeting on their own, being invited to meetings as a way of someone else covering their back and not wanting to take the time to keep you in the loop after the meeting.
So where do we go from here?
We could apply the same scrutiny to work planning, goal setting, face-to-face meetings, office attendance, performance management, project management – the list goes on. The key is to identify and eliminate the elements that waste our time and perpetuate the cycle of busyness. Because, let’s be honest, this “crazy busy” culture isn’t about necessity.
Crazy busy stems from:
- Duplications
- Errors
- Time-wasting
- Internal politics
- Lack of clear focus
- Low respect
- Lack of accountability
- Poorly defined professional standards
- Failure to engage critical thinking
- Laziness
Crazy busy is, in my opinion, a solvable issue as long as you have the desire and the will to solve it, rather than congratulate yourself that the whole world knows you are a busy person! Busyness should not be a badge of honour. Ever.
An offer
But first a few questions:
- Do you suffer from crazy busy yourself?
- Do you like working in ‘crazy busy’?
- Do you see crazy busy amongst your team members?
- Does crazy business damage morale and cause increased absence and unnecessary turnover?
- Does crazy business result in wasted money, customer complaints through dropped balls and/or wasted time?
- Is crazy busy sustainable in your organisation?
I so strongly believe that we can solve this issue of crazy busy that I have an offer to make:
Bring your senior team together for a full day full-on session facilitated by me to identify a 12 month plan, including tier 1, 2 and 3 actions for your organisation to begin to solve this issue. We will work together to find the way to free everyone up for what matters and giving many of us back our sanity. Some straight talking will be needed so put your hard hat on!
I will deliver this free of charge initially (other than travel costs etc), but you will then need to pay me what you decide the session has been worth after attending it. Somewhere from £0 to £10,000 is the value I place on the full day.
The small print of this offer: This will never work if the senior team is not joined up, professional, respectful, prepared to be courageous and prioritise the time to join the session. Even one director who absents themselves will undermine the whole process and the day cannot go ahead. Accountability starts here. Every team and every department has to be led by a committed director/senior manager/trustee for this to work and all those attending will need to have already taken the time to understand and accept that this issue of crazy busy is holding their own organisation back in a myriad of ways.
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About us: Hampshire based Jaluch is a team of HR experts and training specialists who are committed to providing pragmatic, commercial solutions for organisations of all shapes and sizes. We’d love to hear from you, so call us on 01425 479888 or send us a message to find out how we can help.
Disclaimer: The information contained within this article is for general guidance only and represents our understanding of employment and associated law and employee relations issues as at the date of publication. Jaluch Limited, or any of its directors or employees, cannot be held responsible for any action or inaction taken in reliance upon the contents. Specific advice should be sought on all individual matters.
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