Episode Details

Jennifer Deal: Center for Creative Leadership

Author, Always On, Never Done: Don’t Blame The Smartphone

• Center for Creative Leadership works to help improve leadership.
• Many people said that staying so connected really started when they received their smartphone.
• On average, people in the survey were connected to the workplace 72 hours a week, or 13.5 hours a day.
  • Personal tasks done during the workday were accounted for in the research (even people that don’t work these kind of hours still do personal tasks at work)

• One of the biggest complaints was the number of meetings required in organizations.
  • A major issue is being invited to meetings and then people realizing that they weren’t really needed.
  • Setting clear agendas is key.
  • Be explicit why each person is needed.

• Another major complaint was too many people making decisions.
  • Be explicit about who has decision-making authority and who needs to be checked with.

• The intentional use of ambiguity as a management tool is also a challenge.
  • Sometimes people don’t make a decision so they don’t have responsibility for it, so they leave it in ambiguity.
  • Clear agendas and outcomes help prevent this.
  • This leads to crisis mode later on.

• What Jennifer does differently because of this research
  • She still answers emails early in the morning and late at night.
  • Setting better boundaries about having done enough work today.
  • Being very specific on agendas for meetings.
  • She turns down a lot of meetings that aren’t as high value as the other things she needs to be doing.
  • Check out the Center for Creative Leadership for more resources
  • Also see episode #128, Four Practices For Leading An Effective Meeting

  What have you seen a leader do to encourage quality connections to the workplace?

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