Quality Time
When was the last time you put those two words together to describe working?
It seems like life has been speeding up recently. There’s so much to do. Everything is urgent, so nothing is urgent.
Much of our attitude to time can be summed up as ‘it is what it is’. But that’s not going to take you to where you want to be.
Meetings aren’t meetings and that’s that. Meetings are work in progress, literally and figuratively. They are where collaboration and progress happen.
They can adapt and flex to create the best conditions for collaboration (more on that next week) and progress to thrive.
While busyness might give the illusion of productivity, the reality is often the opposite.
The constant rush can lead to burnout, decreased creativity, and missed opportunities for meaningful progress.
As leaders, it's our responsibility to challenge this culture and foster an environment where quality time is prioritised over sheer busyness.
Beware the myth of busyness
"Beware the barrenness of a busy life." — Socrates
Many of us fall into the trap of equating busyness with success. We measure our productivity by the number of meetings attended, emails sent, or hours worked. However, research shows that this approach is not only unsustainable but also counterproductive.
Cal Newport, in his book "Deep Work," emphasises the importance of focused, uninterrupted work. He argues that true productivity and creativity come from deep work — that is, activities that require full concentration and push our cognitive capabilities to their limits.
Conversely, shallow work — tasks that are logistical in nature and can be performed while distracted — often fills up our days without contributing significantly to our goals.
Strategies for quality time
To reclaim our time and enhance productivity, we need to adopt strategies that enable deep work and reduce the dominance of shallow tasks. Here are some useful methods:
Time Boxing and Blocking: Allocate specific blocks of time for deep work. This technique involves scheduling uninterrupted time periods to focus on high-priority tasks. By setting boundaries, you create a protective bubble against distractions.
Slow-motion multi-tasking: Unlike traditional multitasking, which fragments attention, slow motion multitasking allows you to work on multiple projects over a long period. This method encourages switching between tasks strategically, fostering creativity and reducing burnout.
Grouping shallow work: Bundle low-value tasks like responding to emails, scheduling meetings, and other admin or logistics into specific time slots. This approach prevents these tasks from intruding on your deep work periods.
Creating collaborative conditions: Facilitate workshops and meetings that are designed for collaboration, clarity, and creativity. By ensuring that meetings are purposeful and focused, you can reduce their frequency and duration, allowing more time for individual deep work
Empowering your team: Encourage your colleagues to adopt these strategies as well. Provide training and resources to help them understand the benefits of deep work and how to implement these techniques in their daily routines. Most of all, be the role model, go first and also recognise their efforts to
Leading for time
As leaders, setting the right example is crucial. Here are some steps you can take to foster a culture that values quality time:
Lead by example: Show your commitment to deep work by visibly practicing time boxing and blocking. Share your experiences and the benefits you've noticed. And enable your team to benefit from the approach too.
Prioritise outcomes over outputs: Shift the focus from the number of hours worked or meetings attended to the actual outcomes achieved. Celebrate quality work and meaningful progress.
Reduce meeting overload: Assess the need of each meeting. Can the objectives be met through other means, such as collaborative documents or quick check-ins? If a meeting is essential, ensure it is well-structured and time-efficient.
Promote wellbeing: Encourage a healthy work/life balance. Recognise that overworking leads to diminishing returns and that rest and relaxation are essential for sustained productivity and creativity.
Slow down to go faster
The fetishisation of busyness is a real issue that is hurting true productivity and well-being. By adopting strategies like time boxing, slow-motion multi-tasking, and grouping shallow work, we can reclaim our time for deep, meaningful work.
As leaders, it's our duty to challenge the status quo and create an environment that values quality time, ultimately driving real progress and innovation.
Let's move beyond the superficial metrics of busyness and focus on what truly matters: achieving our goals with intention and creativity. The journey towards a more productive and fulfilling work life starts with making quality time a priority.
I’ll leave the last word to Cal Newport – "The key to achieving more is not to work harder, but to work smarter. Deep work allows us to tap into our full potential."
Next week we’re switching focus to collaboration and how we can tap in to the collective power of our teams to produce meaningful outcomes that feel like more than the sum of their parts.
We’ll also explore how to make participation more democratic, and how to make gathering as a team more meaningful as well as productive.
Until then, I hope there have been some nuggets of good advice in these articles and I hope you get to enjoy some quality time…at work.
