A constant tussle

-

At work, I like to take time to think, reflect, and then respond to an issue. In urgent situations, my focus just gets sharper but I still manage to carve time for reflection. I have always believed quick hasty responses impact efficiency as they  lead to communication overheads either now or later. However, these days I have been wondering if this strategy is dated. 

I find that while I am trying to articulate different aspects of an impending project issue, another colleague will sometimes race ahead with a quick (often half-baked) response (mostly including a senior to the communication). Sometimes, reporting managers expect one-minute responses. In my current project, I often receive comments, feedback, and suggestions from the Wikipedia volunteers. I find 60 minutes too long a response time for these interactions. By that time, the discussion sometimes gets more complex because of incorrect assumptions and misinformation shared by others on a public forum.  

In social, crowd sourcing models, since people expect quicker responses, it is probably smart to respond fast as well. When you respond quickly, you have better control and influence on the discussion (and hence your project). If certain facts are incorrectly understood by the group, you are able to immediately step in with accurate/up-to-date information.  

This is how I currently cut my response time: 
1. Control the scope of the response. I ask myself if the recipients really care about a detailed response. 
2. Respond with high level project scope/design messages. I find this information suffices most queries.
3. If I know I need more time, I send out a  "I am working on it"/"I will get back to you" message. Yes, I still value reflection. A response ought to be worth everyone's time.
4. Follow up on #3. I need to be trusted so that my projects succeed.

Obviously the above strategy is function of the workplace culture. But now I know how to cut out my response time to 5 minutes for most of my project communications.
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Best Practices: Using Webex for Online Collaboration

-
Find out if all members of the audience know how to use Webex. If not, train them on the basics and the specific features they would need to use to collaborate in your session. For example, if they need to use the whiteboard, show them how prior to the session. Send the URL and log in steps prior to the meeting. Teleconference details (if required) should be sent along with the log in information. This ensures that all relevant information pertaining to the session is provided in a single email. Keep the password for the session short, easy to remember and easy to spell out over phone. Advise the clients that installation of Webex software would take about 2-3 minutes before they are initiated into the session. Be well-prepared to conduct the session in the absence of the Webex tool: Plan for technical snags (which occur occasionally in online collaboration tools) by sending the presentation and supporting material to the audience ahead of the meeting. Be sure to have contact numbers
Read more

Job Aid for Coaching and Feedback

-
I created the job aid as part of my job application with one of the Fortune 10 companies. Check it out here .  This was one of the steps in the selection process. I moved to the next level. I must say, I am quite proud of this job aid because I think it creatively blends various management and leadership theories to create a useful tool for the managers. This is four days of stimulating work. I loved it! I even worked through my birthday for this document.  I did not get the job though. I lost my nerve during my interview with the hiring manager's manager. The sixth and the final round of selection. I guess I tried too hard and balanced too many things that day for a 15 minute call. I honestly believe the decision was unfair, but then who's listening?
Read more

Competency Development Plan-At a glance

-
Objective Provide comprehensive competence management with an account focus where training function is an active partner to the business objective. Process Step 1: Analysis Step 2: Design Step 3: Develop Step 4: Implement Step 5: Evaluate Determine the measurement matrices Define critical success factors The forthcoming postings will cover the above aspects in greater depth.
Read more

Seat Time for an Elearning Course

-
This post is in response to a request from elearningtyro. I hope you find it useful. What is seat time? Seat time is variously described as: * Amount to time a learner spends to read through each page within the course (Does that include all the related tools and supplementary document? Does the learner need to read every glossary term? What if the learner already knows the terms?) * Amount of time taken by a learner to click every link within the course (What if the learner clicks the link but does not read it? ) * Amount of time a learner takes to complete the course How is it calculated? One of the ways I know (If you know any other, please feel free to leave a comment): A sample from the target audience is selected to complete the course. The time taken by each is recorded. Seat time is the percentile time that approximately 80 percent of the learners take to complete the course. When was it used? In early elearning days, seat time was taken as a metric to charge the cl
Read more

Learning Retention

-
It is well known that active learners learn better. More the number of sense organs employed in learning, better the retention. People generally remember: 10 percent of what they read 20 percent of what they hear 30 percent of what they see 50 percent of what they hear and see 70 percent of what they say and write 90 percent of what they do and talk about This thought is exemplified by the unique learning style of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. He had very little formal schooling and was mostly self-taught. Abraham Lincoln read aloud the newspaper everyday (see, speak, hear). This habit enabled him to remember what he read, improve his language skills and overcome his speech disorder to become one of the best orators of all times.
Read more

Competency Development Plan-Design

-
Step 2: Design Create a skill-rating scale (1-5) against each identified competency (Learning Consultant (LC)) Benchmark rating on desirable competency performance Indicate where the star performer currently is at Indicate acceptable competency performance Create weighted competency-rating scale (1-5) (LC) Prioritize competencies in the competency dictionary using weighted scale (Account leadership) Determine conditional competencies (LC and account leadership) Outcome Skill-rating scale Weighted competency-rating scale Li st of role-based competencies in order of their importance to the account Teams involved LC Senior account leaders
Read more