The Power Code by Katty Kay

Author:Katty Kay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-04-21T00:00:00+00:00

YOUR POWER CODE

It’s what you do, not what you say. You can tell your employees a thousand times that you run a family-friendly culture, but if you fire off emails on Saturday, Slack at 11 p.m., or schedule meetings for early evening, you’re sending a very different message. Your employees will feel compelled to respond right then and there, and soon they’ll feel compelled to model your behavior.

So ask yourself: Is that Sunday morning email really essential or can it wait until Monday? If you can’t resist the urge to get the question off your chest, write the email but select the delay option so it doesn’t reach your employees until Monday morning. If you really, really can’t resist—at least give your message the subject heading “not urgent” or “only address on Monday.”

Create creativity. The serendipitous watercooler encounter that sparks the next brilliant innovation strikes us as a remarkably inefficient (not to mention exclusive) way to generate creativity. That’s a lot of time hanging around the company corridors on the off chance of having the one conversation that produces a breakthrough. In a world where not everyone is in the office at the same time, let alone in the kitchen waiting for lightning to strike, you will need to create occasions for creative, in-person encounters. We’ve heard of various different approaches. When everyone is together, make time for informal gatherings; have lunch brought in and keep the conversation informal. It doesn’t mean you can’t get input on a challenge your organization is dealing with, but it’s also a good time to chat about families, hobbies, and vacations. For more focused time together, bring your core team together for an in-person mini-retreat. The agenda can be a mix of work challenges but with some time reserved for informal conversation.

Stop the meeting madness. Here’s an exercise. Make a list for one week of every single meeting you attend. Then go through each one and determine how productive it was on a scale of 1 to 5. Anything 2 or below is not worth the time and should be cut. A meeting that scores 3 needs, at the very least, reimagining to make it more productive. Here are a few of the tips we’ve heard for cutting back.

Take a hard look at recurring meetings. They can be the easiest to cut.

Ask whether the issue could be better addressed with an email, Slack, or a quick call instead.

Cut the length of meetings. Most of the time, thirty minutes is sufficient—the same goes for conference calls. Don’t default to thirty-minute increments when twenty minutes might be just as effective.

Block out chunks of time that are meeting-free and reserved for deep work. It might be possible only one or two days a week, but don’t let other people’s priorities drive your day.

Meeting manners. It’s not just the number of meetings we hate; it’s the nature of them. It’s the way the same group of people dominate the debate, making it hard, or at least exhausting, for people who are in the minority in the room to be heard.

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