You may be thinking, what the __ are you talking about? I always practice integrity in the workplace, and I would never lie to my colleagues. Well, I happen to think the same! But if you're like me, and you look back at a week's worth of work (facts) compared to everything you communicated (words), are you sure you haven't lied? Do the facts really reflect your words?
Okay, okay. Maybe saying "we" is too much. Let's step back for a second, and let me explain how I lie.
Within the past week, I've frequently said to a colleague working on a project with me, "This project is a high priority." Yet, when I sat down with the same colleague for our weekly check-in yesterday, I was forced to admit how little time I had actually devoted to the project. And because I contributed very little to the "high priority", I questioned myself on whether it really was a high priority. I would expect anyone else to ask me the same question. And the sad truth is: No, the project was apparently not a high priority to me.
When I looked back at my week, it turns out my real priorities were the following, in roughly this order: addressing real emergencies, addressing perceived emergencies, meeting to discuss non-priorities, reading and sending emails about non-priorities, talking to people about non-priorities. Oh, and I almost forgot this one: Telling people what my priorities and the organization's priorities are.
Does this sound familiar at all to you? Regardless, the lying has to stop. And for that, I'd like to share three ways to do this, which I will implement today for myself.
Write down your priorities and post them where you can see them. If you care to listen, our director of IT will tell you about the list of personal goals on his refrigerator at home for him and his wife. "Every day, we'd come home and ask each other, 'What did you do to advance one of your goals?'" The question is asked with the best of intentions, to gently help each other remember what is truly important. As the late Stephen R. Covey observed, "Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important."
Block time on your calendar to work on your priorities. Blocking time off is easy: Create an appointment on your calendar, and mark it as busy time. Almost like magic, most non-priority meetings requests will be automatically deflected.
Work on your priorities in a place where distractions are minimized. How can you be productive when you're being distracted every 5 minutes? Shut the door to your office. Or go setup a workspace in a remote corner of the office where only the cleaners visit. Or work from a conference room (that you can reserve), from home or from a coffee shop. And no matter what, always remember to turn off your office phone and close Outlook, Gmail or whatever email client you use.
What do you think? What are your tips for getting the right work done?
