Links:

Helen's business book: The Future of Time: how 're-working' time can help you boost productivity, diversity and wellbeing

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My January  blog: 'Advice from a recovering time-addict'

My ‘Healthy Brains: Positive habits’ talk

Transcript:

Hello! I’m recording this on Friday 10^th February and to mark the halfway point in the series instead of interviewing a guest I’m sharing 5 interesting trends and developments in our world of work that I’ve been researching lately and I’ll be recommending 5 business books that I’ve read recently and sharing a few quotes with you to whet your reading appetite. So grab a cuppa or the dog lead and I hope you enjoy this episode.

But first a little story about what prompted the topic for this episode, ‘Cultivating patience’. If you listened to the podcast last week, you’ll know Mr B and I escaped to a winery in East Sussex for 2 days earlier this week as a very indulgent winter treat. I’d like to say we learnt loads about the winemaking process but that wouldd be a lie! We chilled out, read, walked, dozed and enjoyed an excellent dinner and breakfast there. It was called Tillingham winery outside Rye and I highly recommend a visit.

It's very rural, tucked down the far end of a long tiny lane, with wonderful views across the fields to Rye citadel and the coast. There was no TV in the room, only a radio. My husband and I were joking that we were bravely heading off grid, but it turned out to be a lot more off grid that I’d planned because I discovered on arrival that I had accidentally left my mobile phone at home. And I’m very ashamed to say I had a minor meltdown at this discovery, worrying about being completely uncontactable for 36 hours. Then sanity returned, I realised our childcare provider could still contact my husband in case of emergency and I figured out I’d just go with the flow.

And for the first few hours I found I kept twitching to check my phone and I had to keep reminding myself that I’d just have to wait until I got home. But by the next morning, those impatient twitches had subsided and I was unexpectedly relishing being phone-free. It brought back vividly to me that pre-mobile phone era, for anyone listening who’s old enough to remember that, when leaving the office or going away meant properly switching off. I’d completely forgotten what that felt like.

Of course, no disasters arose simply because someone couldn’t get hold of me for 36 hours. The sky didn’t fall in and the world carried on regardless. It was a really useful reminder to me of how impatient we are – or certainly I am - most of the time to get information immediately, or to look something up now or respond straight away simply because we can. So this week’s theme is all about cultivating patience, with or without our phones stuffed in our back pockets.

Winery retreat aside, to me it has felt like a mixed kind of week. The sunshine and the sight of daffodils coming into bloom has been a very welcome early reminder that spring isn’t so far away, but the tragic news of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria and the urgent search for survivors has been on my mind every day. It has felt surreal and simply wrong to be going about life here as normal knowing that people remain trapped under buildings. If you’ve been feeling the same way I’d be really interested to hear how you are processing those thoughts.

One thing that did put a spring in my step this week work-wise was sitting in the guest seat in the D&I Spy podcast recording studio. This brilliant podcast launched late last autumn and is co-hosted by Dr Julie Humphreys who is  Group Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Reach plc, the media group, and Natasha Whitehurst who is Global Diversity & Inclusion Leader at Rolls Royce. And they talk with a fascinating range of guests about different aspects of diversity and inclusion, including the things we really find hard to talk about at work. 

And we dug into the way we typically think about and value time at work and how this damages diversity and inclusion. For example, how there are ‘winners and losers’ as a result of our cult of urgency and busyness, how we end up focusing too much on tasks at the expense of relationships and how by growing our ‘time intelligence’ we can encourage more inclusive behaviours like enquiry, listening and empathy. The episode will air later in the spring/early summer, but do check out their other great episodes that air every week.

If you’re feeling a bit too wired and tired lately, then a talk I gave to corporate client this week on ‘Healthy Brains: Positive habits’ might shed some light on this problem and how to feel less cognitively depleted. I explained a few facts and findings from neuroscience about how our brains function and what they like and dislike plus some simple habits to help our brains work efficiently, to conserve our mental energy and reduce our stress hormones. If you’re looking for a fresh angle on mental health and wellbeing for Mental Health Awareness Week that is coming up in May, then get in touch to find out more about this talk and other talks I give.

Procrastination is a topic that people often raise with me, and if you read my January blog you’ll know that I’m no stranger to this habit either. I confess I’ve been putting off sending my end of year data to my accountant so they can prepare my company accounts simply because it just didn’t feel the most appetising task to me and I was worried it might take me hours. I very bravely admitted this to a sympathetic CFO this week, who confessed they procrastinated over writing reports and proposals for the same reasons, and they happily dived into spreadsheets as a welcome distraction! But I didn’t want that nagging guilt to follow me to our midweek minibreak, so I finally got the task done and am now feeling actually a bit shamefaced at how much less time-consuming and yes, actually how satisfying it turned out to be to do this task. What about you? Tell me something you’re avoiding doing and why.

If you don’t love admin, you’re not alone. Coming up now are my 5 insights into our world of work, and first on the list is some recent research about ‘badmin’.

On average, employees are spending just over 3 hours per week on unnecessary admin tasks which equates to one whole month per year, according to research by the HR Software company Personnio. 44% of employees in the research sample reported that their business is being slowed down by inefficient processes, admin and too many repetitive tasks and 42% said too much of their time is taken up by workplace tasks that have nothing to do with their job.  And one trend that I’m seeing emerge is louder demands from employees for more time to be freed up during normal working hours to get on with the day job.  If this is something you’re talking about where you work, I’d love to hear from you.

A second trend is being ruthless about axing unnecessary meetings from the diary. Shopify hit the headlines last month for deleting recurring meetings for 3+ ees and instigating  meeting free Wednesdays. They estimate they will free up 10k meetings and  over76,500 hours. Anecdotally I’m hearing more people say they are reviewing all their meetings and some are saying no to at last 25% of meeting requests. This sounds reasonable to be honest when you learn that the tech company Cisco ran some research and found that a whopping 52% of online meeting attendees in August last year - and this is out of a total of 650 million attendees, so it’s a huge sample - that 52% of people didn't say a single word.That’s a bit mindblowing.

My third trend is about downsizing and layoffs. Downsizing measures by tech firms and investment banks have been continuing and spreading into other sectors, with Yahoo and now online food company Deliveroo being the latest to announce layoffs today. But in parallel, I’m seeing more discussion of the downsides to firing sprees; the Financial Times had a great article recently by Anjli Raval about the mistrust, survivor syndrome and quiet quitting that flourishes after mass layoffs and she quoted some US research that found that downsizing a workforce by 1% leads to a huge 31% increase in voluntary turnover the next year. It also reduces work quality, productivity, employee morale and job satisfaction. In contrast, as I wrote in a recent Linked In post, employers who strive to retain employees during difficult times will see that commitment rewarded with higher levels of loyalty and motivation.

A fourth trend that has been well documented recently is the fact that many people are working longer hours at home, a downside of new hybrid-working arrangements. The HR and recruitment group Hays found that 52% of UK employees are working longer hours at home than before the pandemic, which isn’t great news for individuals already groaning under heavy workloads or for employers who aren’t likely to see, frankly, any increased productivity as a result, since research shows that productivity peaks at around 45 hours per week and then drops off a cliff.

Finally for my 5^th trend: the dust has definitely not settled yet on the number of days employees are expected to be in the office versus from home. In a survey by global consulting firm PwC of US executives, 64% agreed their company needs as many people back on-site as possible and 42% said that employees were expected to be on-site between four and five days per week. Now for some that is definitely the case in reality, but I’m also hearing that many employers are settling for 3 days a week in the office, usually Tues-Weds-Thurs. There seems to be consensus that fixed days work far better than floating days so that people can be certain of catching up with colleagues and enjoy sociable interactions while they’re in the office. As the recession continues to bite and job security rises up the priority list, I think people will be keener to stay visible and get more facetime with their manager and senior leaders. But let me know if you’re seeing something different or have a different take on this.

Right those are my 5 trends, I hope they’ve shed some interesting perspectives on our world of work for you and I’ll put links to all the studies and articles in the show notes if you want to read those.

Let’s move on to my 5 business book recommendations and following the theme of patience, I’ve picked out a few quotes from each book that have really resonated for me.

The first book I’m going to recommend is not a new one, it was published in 1987, it is very well-known, and it’s called ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’ by Susan Jeffers.

And she writes about how we need to get outside our comfort zones, take responsibility for our own lives and let go of the things that may be holding us back from living life fully. This is Susan on why it takes us a lifetime to master positive thinking, fearless decision making and rich relationships: ‘The biggest pitfall as you make your way through life is impatience ... it creates stress, dissatisfaction and fear. Our impulse is to grab it all quick. The more we grab, the more it seems to elude us. There is no quick’. 

There is always more to learn, as Susan reminds us with these words ‘Sometimes when you think you’ve finally got it, the universe will step in to show you haven’t’. 

I think the one thing that resonated most for me from her book, that I have ended up adopting, is her positive mantra ‘I can handle it’. It’s surprisingly effective and at the very least, it does help open my mind up to the possibility that I might actually get through a difficult or frustrating experience and emerge a tiny bit wiser or stronger on the other side.

My second book recommendation is Atomic Habits by James Clear and it’s about the tiny changes we can make to our daily routines that over time, accumulate and deliver a big impact over the longer term. Now this is not something that comes easily or naturally to us because as James explains, our brains have evolved to favour instant gratification over delayed payoffs.

But I found these words of his very encouraging: ‘It doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path towards success. You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results’. It’s a different way of looking at what we’re doing and whether we’re making progress. James talks about things like the Valley of Disappointment which is the early and middle stages of something we’re working towards and how we have to persist until we cross a critical threshold after which we will start to see greater results. He uses the metaphor of an ice cube melting to illustrate this saying ‘complaining about now achieving success despite working hard is like complaining about an ice cube not melting when you heated it from 21 to 31 degrees. Your work is not wasted, it is just being stored. All the action happens at 32 degrees’. 

It is so easy to look at other people’s success and think they have achieved that overnight or far quicker than you, but actually all mastery and success requires patience and we hardly ever see the setbacks and rabbit holes that other people have also had to find their way out of en route to success.

James Clear also differentiates between motion and action, where motion makes us feel like we are getting stuff done but actually we’re just preparing, which in itself can be a form of procrastination because it avoids us confronting failure. In contrast, action is what really gets us results and we need to keep practising it.

Choosing Courage by Jim Detert and the subtitle is ‘the everyday guide to being brave at work’. Jim is Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, a leading expert on workplace courage, and he joined me on my podcast last month to explain how we can become more competently courageous at work.

Jim’s research has shown that courage isn’t the preserve of a few superheros who were born with an extra courage gene but that we all have the potential to be courageous and it is a skill we can consciously learn and practise. In fact, he says, it’s our responsibility because when we don’t step up or speak up, we’re contributing to organisational failings so we are all ‘on the hook’. I love this sentence that he quotes: ‘the only way I know to the other side of your fears is straight through them’.

But he doesn’t advocate blindly leaping into action but to slowly build our courage ladder, starting with small steps and creating the right conditions for a courageous act, from knowing when it’s right to take a stand vs letting it pass to framing our message carefully and following up after a courageous act.  The patience bit comes in when he says ‘If you’re not willing to view initial failures as a chance to learn rather than the indicator of your ability to build something new, you probably shouldn’t head down that route in the first place’. Getting more comfortable with discomfort is important, he says and helps build our resilience.

One of the best books I’ve read recently is Quit: the power of knowing when to walk away, by former professional poker player Annie Duke. It is simply briliant in my humble opinion and has made me look at quitting in a completely different light to before.

Patience and grit are often interpreted as sticking to hard things but Annie makes the important distinction between sticking to something hard that is worthwhile and sticking to hard things that are no longer worthwhile. And she says that ‘contrary to popular belief, quitting will get you to where you want to go faster’.

She argues compellingly for developing our quitting skills and for making better decisions about when to walk away from something we’ve been investing time, effort and money in. She cites some really shocking examples of long-distance runners who continue to run with race-induced injuries including broken legs – that bit really had me wincing! - because they’ve invested so much in getting to that race that they can’t contemplate not crossing the finish line. She says ‘we don’t see ourselves as being in the gains even though we’ve gone further than where we started because we’re not measuring ourselves by how far we are past the starting line, we’re measuring ourselves by whether we are short of the finish line’. I found this really illuminating, how we can reframe our definition of progress much more constructively than an all-or-nothing ‘I’ve won or lost’.

As well as explaining the neuroscience about why we are naturally bad at making quitting decisions, Annie offers some simple but relevatory tools for quitting more successfully, such as defining some quitting criteria from the outset before we’re faced with that decision; calculating the positive expected value from continuing with plan A vs switching to plan B; and being more like ants who never stop exploring the landscape whilst simultaneously making the most of their current food sources.

My 5^th and final book recommendation is Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed, in which he looks at what can help us to come up with more innovative thinking and to problem-solve better. Patience definitely plays into this, as he explains the first step that we tend to omit is to take a step back and look for the gaps in our understanding, or our team’s understanding. The most effective teams have what he calls ‘coverage’ which is diversity of experience and perspective, which helps to fill blind spots in our thinking.

He cites Jeff Bezos who advocates time for mental ‘wandering’ that is required in order to generate non-linear discoveries or to make great leaps in thinking. This reminds me of organisational psychologist and Wharton Business School Professor Adam Grant’s words ‘I need time for my own confusion’ in his book ‘Think Again’.

And instead of speeding ahead with the limited information we have to hand and the immediate network of contacts we are familiar with, we need conceptual depth and distance and time to socialise informally with others outside of our immediate networks because it’s only that way that truly innovative breakthroughs are far more likely to emerge and spread. And finally I learnt from this book that ‘it is better to be social than smart’ if we want to transmit ideas successfully, so that’s a great incentive to keep growing our social and professional networks!

if you’ve already read any of these 5 recommendations, I’d love to hear how you found them and what you took from them, or if the sound of one of these – or more - particularly appeals to you, then do let me know.

Right, that’s it for this week’s episode. Next week I’m welcoming another guest to the show, Jonathan Bond, global Director of HR and Learning at the law firm Pinsent Masons. Do tune in to hear what’s kept him in the role for 17 years and what patterns and changes he is seeing in our world of work today.