1.  "What can I do to help you today?"

This is the first question Rinda Green asks each of her employees and contractors as she walks into work each morning, still laden with her briefcase and tote bag.

When she asks that question, she means it. When I tell her a task I need help with, she does that first – before she checks her own messages. Most of the time, what I need from her is information or a decision. But sometimes it’s to make copies or unlock the doors to greet arriving meeting attendees. She does the tasks I request and then moves to the next person.

You may be thinking, "If I did that with my staff or co-workers, that’s what I’d be doing all day – my work would never get done." Rinda seems to hit that sweet spot of performing quick actions and then moving along, taking 10 minutes or less to cover our whole group.

Since we all see and appreciate what she’s doing (and know how busy she is), we’re very selective about asking. Often we say, "Nothing right now, but you’re thoughtful to ask."

2.   Other times, she’ll casually ask, "What are your priorities today?"

This is a triple-duty question. It can be a way for her to keep informed, a gentle nudge to keep me focused, or to help me feel that my work is important. Any or all of these reasons are good ones, and I like giving her my answer.

3.   During project planning or problem-solving, Rinda’s frequent question is "How do you want to do this?"

Then she shuts up and listens to my ideas. Eighty percent of the time, she agrees with what I suggest and wraps up with the discussion with, "What can I do to help you as you get started?" I take that as a signal that she needs to move on to another task, and I make a quick exit. But I appreciate the gentleness of her signal, which is genuinely an offer to spend more time with me if I need it.

These three methods of managing are a model for me. I find myself going to co-workers or to Rinda to ask, "What can I do to help you today?" It’s contagious.

Disneyland was built in 1955 in Anaheim, California in 366 days, from the first shovel of dirt to the first ticket sold. When Walt Disney was asked, "How did you get all this done in 366 days?" he answered, "We used every one of them."

Ever notice how some people seem to get so much done? Those high-efficiency people have 168 hours in their weeks. You and I have 168 hours in our weeks.

Like Disney’s builders, we can also use every one of those days and every one of those hours as we choose. How? Take control of our time. We may not be able to gain 100% control, but we can certainly claim more of our own time by deciding how much time to donate (yes, donate) to other people when they want to talk, whether we want to hear it or not.

Below are five tips from the late Randy Pausch, a Professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute (School of Engineering): 

1.  Start your phone calls by announcing your goals for the call, "Sarah, I have two quick things to cover with you. One, . . . " This sets you up to bring a quick end to the conversation.

2.  Take charge of your time without guilt, long explanations, or apologies. Say:

       "Gotta go."

       "Oops, I’m on a deadline. See you soon."

3.  When someone requests a meeting with you, ask, "For my planning, what’s the ending time of the meeting?" Wait for an answer before you put it on your schedule.

4.  Place only a folding chair in your office for guests. Keep it closed and leaning against a wall. Open it and offer your visitor a seat only if you choose (shall we call this one "extreme time management"?).

5.  Ask yourself, "What is my time worth? $______ per hour." Keep this dollar figure in your head. When choosing how to spend your time, and how much of your time to donate to another person, ask: "Is this activity (listening to this talk, doing this task, etc.) worth what it’s costing in my finite supply of time?"

As Mike McCarthy says, "If someone asked you to give them money, you would want to know "How much" and "What’s it for?" before you opened your wallet. Ask the same when asked for your time.

When we manage our time like it belongs to us, we can donate it to ourselves. 

by Mean Josephine

1.  Start your meetings exactly on time. Close the door at start time. Become known for it.

Remember Gary Larson’s great cartoon: a jar of mayonnaise in a refrigerator wearing a burglar’s mask and pointing a gun at the other condiments? Its great caption "When mayonnaise goes bad" still makes me chuckle.

I watched a meeting "go bad" as the leader and the participants’ positions on a controversial issue became farther and farther apart with each comment that was offered. When this meeting could have produced a "meeting of the minds," what was making it a sour as mayo "gone bad"?

The leader had opened with an explanation of an unpopular policy which had been announced but not yet implemented.

One by one, attendees succinctly and politely, voiced their respective concerns about the policy.

Every comment was answered with "Here’s all the research we did to decide this," "Every other organization does it this way," and other "You just don’t understand" defenses.

None of the participants felt as if their ideas were being heard, just met with a counter-punch.

Finally, one person stated what he saw happening ("You won’t even consider our ideas. Let’s work it out together rather than you just telling us how life will be). The leader’s answer: "I am listening. I have a note-taker writing down everything all of you say."

No one knew notes were being taken. All appearances signaled: "If I educate you and repeat my position enough times, you’ll agree with me and go back to work."

The gap between leader and participants became wider and wider. Eventually, people began leaving the meeting. Both "sides" left holding their original positions, additionally laden with negative emotions.

The outcome could have been positive and collaborative if the leader had responded to all comments with: "I hear you," "We’ll consider it," "We’re writing this down," or something similar. He didn’t need to indicate that he would use the idea or even that he liked it. Just that he heard it.

The manager of a retail store told employees that their responsibility was to make transactions easy and quick for customers. However, if an item had no price or bar code, the cashier was required to call a manager. 

What’s wrong with this picture?  

Can’t offer more money?

Can’t guarantee job security?

Can’t give promotions now?

What can a boss do during a tough economy to show how she values people?

1.  Ask their opinions. Close mouth and listen. Take notes. You don’t have to use all the ideas. Just save them. This demonstrates to that person that you take his ideas seriously. And who knows? There may be a gem in there somewhere – later if not sooner.

2.  Keep your own complaints about the current situation to yourself. Vent to a trusted friend outside your organization or to a spouse or companion when you need to let off steam – not to your staff.

3.  Listen to your staff’s frustrations but minimize the time you both spend talking about conditions neither of you can control.  Once the problem has been stated, re-direct the conversation to the solution stage with a question like "What do you suggest?" or make a statement that gets the conversation onto today’s priorities. Whatever you listen to, you’ll get more of!

4.  Give frequent informal recognition for work that you value. "Good solution," "You saved our bacon!" and "Great preparation for that meeting" are quick and cheap ways to motivate.

Life at work won’t always be this tough (it might get tougher!), so let’s make it as positive as humanly possible.

Our most powerful messages don’t come from our words.

They come from:

     – our eye movements

     – our facial expressions

     – our posture and gestures

As far back as 1959, anthropologist Edward T. Hall named these behaviors "The Silent Language."

Most telling today, though, is the blackberry or cell phone addict who says "I’m listening," even as she texts away or glances at the phone to see who’s calling, then thinks whether to answer.

Her silent behaviors clearly state the opposite of her words.

As Emory University professor Mark Bauerlein writes in the Wall Street Journal: "The texter doesn’t realize that he is communicating right now, with every glance and movement – - and that we’re reading him all too well."

The person who interrupts a conversation with you to take a cell phone call with sends the immediate and unmistakable message: "Whoever’s on the phone is more important than you."

A reminder to all of us in leaderhip to "watch ourselves,"  . . .  because others surely are.

After five minutes in a meeting, Russell asks the question, “What are we saying here?” and writes down the answer. If the conversation starts wandering, he turns the five-minute timer on.  The purpose of his meetings is not to “yak,” but to:

• Define problems
• Identify causes
• Make decisions
• Plan actions (including reinforcement)

Writing decisions in a meeting includes a bonus, expressed here in a quote by Dr. Masaaki Imai, author of Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success:

          “The weakest ink is better than the strongest memory.”