Category Archives: Insights

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”
Theodore Roosevelt

customer focus
Excellent Project Managers need to be technically capable, but being good at setting goals; planning; reacting to unexpected events etc. isn’t the whole story by any manner or means. Hard work on a project counts for little if the customer (or stakeholder) feels neglected, ignored or disrespected. So the ‘secret ingredient’ to project success is customer service excellence, and that’s true irrespective of whether the ‘customer’ is an internal sponsor or an external client.

Tell me about the money

Bain & Company research tells us that a customer is 4 times more likely to defect to a competitor if the problem is service-related, rather than price- or product-related.

Marketing Metrics reports that the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%; while the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%.

And a 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10% (Leading on the Edge of Chaos, Emmet Murphy & Mark Murphy.)

So it’s obvious why companies in general, and Project Managers in particular, need to take this topic seriously.

Furthermore, in many organisations, Project Managers are pivotal in driving a company’s Net Promoter Score (NPS). The NPS, which was created by Fred Reichheld, a Senior Fellow at Bain & Co, consists of just one question.

“On a 0 to 10 scale (10 being the highest) how likely would you be to recommend _______ to a colleague or a friend?”

The single score comes from taking the percentage of 10’s and 9’s (promoters) and subtracting them from the percentage of 6’s and below (detractors). The 7’s and 8’s are considered passives and therefore are not counted. Bain & co suggests that an NPS leader will out grow its competitors by a factor of two.

Thus, the NPS score provides a ‘trigger’ to really focus on the customer and that’s where the skills and techniques of customer focus can start to make a positive contribution to building strong, lasting relationships.

So how can Project Managers deliver great customer focus to go along with good technical ability…

Owning the relationship

Part of the skill of being excellent at Customer Focus is the capacity to be able to anticipate the customer’s needs, and this means taking the time to think through how to deal with their concerns in advance of any meeting. Clearly, if you can accurately identify what ‘wins’ the customer needs (e.g. a quick delivery) then you can shape arguments to take account of those factors. Also, thorough planning is important because any suggestions that are supported by hard evidence are more likely to be accepted by the customer than those that are not backed up with hard data. A number of techniques come into play in this area, but the most fundamental is arguably “Stakeholder Analysis”.

Stakeholder Analysis is about (a) identifying and then (b) influencing the key people involved in any given project, deal or decision. Aubrey L. Mendelow, Kent State University, Ohio 1991, suggested allocating the people involved in making decisions about an ‘issue’ to one of 4 quadrants; based on a graph that plots Power to make decisions against Interest in the topic in question.

So there are four ‘classes’ of people to be identified and influenced…

  1. High Power, High Interest: people that need to be given frequent updates and consulted in advance of any action being taken. Plans may have to be modified, in light of their feedback, in order to gain/keep their support.
  2. High Power, Low Interest: this group need just enough communication to be kept ‘in the loop’, so they’re not ‘surprised’ by how the project is going.
  3. Low Power, High Interest: these people need to be kept adequately informed, and canvassed to ensure that any useful ideas they have are captured and acted upon.
  4. Low Power, Low Interest: monitor these people and provide high level updates, but do not bore them with excessive communication.

Murray-Webster and Simon 2005, suggested adding a third dimension ‘Attitude’ for each person (or group) by adding a tick, cross, coloured dot or emoticon to highlight their views about the issue, project or deal in question. Usually one of three possible attitudes is allocated to each person, they are – Supportive; Neutral; or Obstructive.

Solving Problems & Building Trust

Stakeholders (both internal staff and external customers) understand that issues will arise on projects and that there will be ‘challenges’ that need to be solved. So when technical errors or setbacks occur ‘customers’ want those problems solved and, if they are solved in a timely manner, then (usually) all is well. But where communication is poor they get angry and start to complain e.g. ‘trust’ is lost when calls aren’t returned promptly, action plans aren’t distributed, or Project Managers seem uncertain about what to do etc. So strong relationships are built when you show that you really do care about what the customer is experiencing, and that you’re willing to take prompt action to address their needs.

Research by Dr Janet Curran of Huthwaite Group identified the key factors that lead to a positive experience for customers who have concerns with how a service is being delivered. The research was based on managing relationships with external customers, but the same findings would surely hold true for internal clients. They include:

  1. Positive First Impressions – looking interested and engaged; taking ownership of the ‘problem’ by saying “I” not “We” or “You”
  2. Defusing Emotion – using empathy and a sincere apology to help calm angry customers down
  3. Aiming for a Win/Win outcome – really listening to what their concerns are; getting a solution that makes sense for both sides (not just the customer); making sure that the ‘process’ for getting a solution is agreed by both parties.
  4. Prompt Follow Up – aligning the internal resources needed to deliver the agreed ‘solution’; keeping the customer up to date on the progress being made.

Reciprocity & Frugal Wows

Dr. Robert Caldini in his well known book on Influence explains that “Reciprocity” is: the in-built inclination to feel grateful for favours and to have a powerful psychological urge to “pay them back,” no matter how small they are.

The ‘reciprocity’ effect can be used to develop good client relationships in a number of ways. One application of this effect simply involves making a small gesture that will have a positive impact on how the customer perceives you. (What are sometimes called “frugal wows”). The small gestures should, of course, be meaningful to the customer and appropriate to the situation; they are especially powerful if they are unexpected. Also (and unsurprisingly) the research shows that the more ‘personalised’ or ‘tailored’ the ‘gesture’ to the customer’s situation, the stronger the impression it made on them.

So in a high street shop a ‘frugal wow’ might be as simple as making eye contact and smiling to greet the customer, or offering to help them carry their goods to their car if they’ve made a big purchase. In the corporate setting it can be that the Project Manager takes the time to reserve a car parking space for a client when they make a site visit, or maybe arranging some sightseeing if people have travelled from overseas, or perhaps providing a report in the customer’s mother tongue, or organising for an interpreter to be present at a key meeting, or sending them an article based on a conversation you’ve had etc.

One word of warning here; ‘frugal wows’ work when you do what is expected of you, reliably, and are sincere about wanting to do what’s best for customers. It’s the cherry on top of the cake. They won’t help if you’re getting basic things wrong. By way of a small personal example, I once had someone in reception at a hotel ask me brightly if everything was alright with my stay, just after I had complained to her about something – autopilot service mantra!

Facts tell but stories ‘sell’

If a Project Manager wants to persuade a ‘stakeholder’ to agree to something, one of the most effective strategies they can adopt is to tell a ‘story’. Green, Melanie C.; Brock, Timothy C. (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Nov 2000) found that a good story ‘pulls’ people into the narrative and makes them less aware that they are being influenced, reduces skepticism and counter arguing. So telling an anecdote about the lead up to a problem and the development of a solution is much more effective (from an influencing perspective) than just giving someone the straight facts.

So effective Project Managers will give the ‘history’ of the idea and not just the solution they propose e.g. “we first became aware there was an issue about six weeks ago when we saw (y) happening…so we started by exploring the options…and as a result of that work we recommend that we implement option (x)”

Good stories (according to research by Mazzocco & Green, Ohio State University) are…

  1. Well delivered (good pace and clear voice)
  2. Use imagery (describes the scene in terms of what you’d see, hear, and feel if you were there)
  3. Realistic (content is believable)
  4. Logically structured and ‘concise’
  5. Tailored to the audience’s level of interest and understanding

So what’s next???

Reflect on how you handle your communication with project stakeholders at present. Do you think carefully about what they want and need from you? Do you have a robust methodology for handling meetings and providing updates? What improvements could you make?

Reading

Practical People Engagement: Leading Change Through the Power of Relationships, L Mayfield P (Elbereth Publishing)

Online

Watch this twelve minute YouTube clip giving an overview of 3 aspects of delivering a great story based on analysing the work of US comedian Kevin Hart. Of course the behaviours shown are ‘stronger’ than you’d use in the corporate setting, but the principles are valid and clearly demonstrated.

Courses

Consider sending your Project Managers on our two-day, ‘Customer Focus’ course (which looks in detail at how to build great client relationships and has been run over 50 times, across three continents.)

Coaching

If you are a senior executive maybe a ‘one to one’ Executive Coaching Session would be a useful option for helping you improve your relationship building skills.

And to end, an insightful and often reproduced quote…

“The customer is not someone to argue with or match wits against—he is a person who brings us his wants. If we have sufficient imagination we will endeavor to handle them profitably to him and to ourselves.”
Kenneth B. Elliott (who was the Vice President in Charge of Sales for The Studebaker Corporation, in an article published in 1941)

“Without a standard there is no logical basis for making a decision or taking action.”
– Joseph M. Juran
reports and graphs

Many of the factors that make for success in business, and in life, are seemingly mundane; tedious even, but that apparent blandness can sometimes hide the fact that the routine disciplines are the bedrock of good performance. So the gifted musician practises their scales religiously, the professional athlete works on their flexibility, the talented leader makes sure he/she gets enough sleep so that they have a clear head when making decisions etc. In business one of the most overlooked of these ‘hidden’ success factors is how people formally communicate ideas and information within a business.

Whether reporting overall business performance, ‘pitching ideas’, solving problems, planning a negotiation, or giving project updates, having a systematic approach to transmitting information around the business is an unglamorous but important factor in an organisation’s success. Well-designed standard formats ensure that key points are covered and errors are minimised. It’s easy to learn to write them and the information is easy to grasp (because the format is always the same.) So what are some examples of effective, standardised reporting formats…

The Balanced Scorecard

Developed by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton (1992 Harvard Business Review) the aim of the Balanced Scorecard is to:

  • Identify what you need to measure to be successful
  • Focus people (and business processes) on the priorities
  • Make sure that all people (and systems) are aligned with the same set of priorities

In essence the scorecard aims to add strategic non-financial performance measures to traditional financial metrics, to give managers and executives a more ‘balanced’ view of a company’s performance. The Scorecard has four sections that cover the key elements, which, Kaplin & Norton argue, makes for success in business:

  1. Financial (e.g. ROI; Cash Flow; Profitability)
  2. Customer; internal and/or external (e.g. Customer Satisfaction; Customer Retention; acquisition of new clients; brand image)
  3. Internal Business Processes (e.g. Manage risks; Efficient operations; Continuous Improvement)
  4. Learning & Growth (e.g. Talent Management; Performance Management; Morale; Training)

Of course to work well it has to be actively used as the centerpiece of a management meeting, and its completion must be absolutely mandatory. As with all management information it needs constant review and amendment of metrics to retain its relevance. However, ‘Scorecards’ are a ‘big idea’ in terms of reporting formats, in fact they were selected by the editors of Harvard Business Review as one of the most influential business ideas of the past 75 years, as they gives senior executives a clear, structured way of executing and monitoring business strategy.

Board Reports or bored by reports?

Board Reports are intended to help company directors drive their organisations forward by answering questions like, “What were the significant events last month/Quarter? Are we on target? What is the financial situation? What significant investments are planned?” Etc. However, very often, senior executives find that the Board Papers they receive are too detailed and too poorly structured to be able to absorb all the data – they can be hundreds of pages long! They also (typically) suffer from ‘metric madness’, with a huge range of KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) often using different reporting formats.

The challenge then is to dispense with the myriad of KPI’s, colours, tables and lines, and sheer ‘heft’ that constitute many Board Packs and replace them with a simple, well-organised report that tells a story for each key area of the business. Of course providing the proper level of detail, mostly in the appendixes, is important so that Executive and Non Executive Directors have access to data they need to make informed decisions. But providing that data needs to be done in a clear, concise manner that makes it clear (i) what the purpose of each section of the report is and (ii) what decisions the Board are being asked to make.

One writer on this subject, Jon Moon, suggests that his Words in Tables format (WiT) provides a possible answer. WiT is a method of presenting information in table format…as in this example from his website… jmoon.co.uk

finance-report

 

Toyota’s A3 Method & Nemawashi

Toyota’s production system is highly regarded and has a number of well-known elements amongst its 13 components or ‘pillars’ e.g. ‘fool proofing’ (Poka-Yoke) Pull System (Kanban) etc. However a vital, though lesser-known ‘pillar’, is their addiction to A3 reports and ‘building a consensus’ (i.e. Nemawashi.)

Toyota insists that managers use a tool called “the A3” (named after the paper size – 11” x 17”) as a method for sharing information, solving problems and approving proposals. All proposals, ideas, problem solving exercises etc. have to be summarised on a single A3 page. The A3 page is divided into several sections, with each being a small square or rectangle, and each section tells part of a ‘story’ that builds to support a given conclusion. The key to success is to realise that there is a need to ‘story board’ the proposal, recommended action etc. and to ensure that the key data is presented clearly, and there is a logical ‘flow’ to what’s being suggested.

Nemawashi typically begins when the person who is promoting a particular proposal talks the stakeholders through the initial draft of the A3 form. Usually they start with the most junior stakeholder and then work their way up the chain of command, modifying their proposal, as necessary, in the light of comments received from key people. In the event of strong resistance, the proposal is either abandoned or completely reworked. The idea is that once a proposal is approved (which may take some time) it is fully understood by all the relevant parties and can be implemented quickly and efficiently.

Summary on a Page (SOAP)

The Procter & Gamble One Page Memo format has been in use by P&G since the 70’s. As the name suggests all internal communications have to be condensed into one page, and follow a fixed, five-part, format.

  1. The background
    Set the context
  2. Introduce your idea
    Describe, ideally in one sentence, what you’re proposing
  3. Explain how your idea works
    Explain the key elements of the idea
  4. Reinforce the benefits
    List the three most important benefits of your proposal/idea
  5. Suggest the next step
    State what has to happen to move things forward

This format ensures that ideas are presented succinctly and coherently, because addressing the five steps (should) automatically mean that the important elements of a new idea have been thought through.

Pecha Kucha – the Japanese art of chit chat

The Japanese reporting format of Pecha Kucha (literally ‘chit chat’) is used to keep presentations short and sharp. The discipline is to prepare 20 slides, each of which gets shown for 20 seconds (on auto change) so each presenter has 400 seconds (6 minutes and 40 seconds) to make their point. It is primarily intended to keep people at conferences (internal or external) and networking events (where there are a whole string of talks on the agenda) ‘focused’ and so avoid death by PowerPoint. Here is an example of this 20 x 20 format in action: www.speaker.org/video/pechakucha.html

So what’s next???

Reflect on the nature and quality of the internal written communications that you (a) prepare and (b) receive, and consider if some ‘standardisation’ of formats might be useful.

On-line

Take a look at this short lecture (10 minutes) on how to use the A3 report format

Reading

How to make an IMPACT: Influence, inform and impress with your reports, presentations, business documents, charts and graphs (Financial Times Series) by Jon Moon

Courses

Consider sending your managers on our “Managing the Team” course (which includes discussions of standardising reporting formats)

Coaching

Or maybe a ‘one to one’ executive coaching session would help you to consider the way some aspects of your company’s documentation could be improved e.g. Standardised Sales Pitches, Revised Board Packs etc.

And remember…

“Without standards there can be no improvement”
– Taiichi Ohno

“Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying ‘yes’ too quickly and not saying ‘no’ soon enough.”
JOSH BILLINGS

delicate art of saying no
Most of the time, whether at work or in our social lives, we want to say ‘yes’ to the things that people ask us to do: we want to be helpful and supportive. And typically we want a (well-earned) reputation as someone who can get things done and is easy to work with.

However, if we always say, ‘yes’ to everything that is asked of us it doesn’t take long to become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work we need to do; so deadlines slip, tasks are unfinished, people get disappointed and we get stressed. So saying ‘no’ (or at least saying, “not right now” or “take something away before you add something new”) and proactively negotiating priorities is a key life skill. After all, if you never say ‘no’ what is the value of your ‘yes’?

In fact research conducted at the University of California in San Francisco (quoted in a 2013 Forbes.com article) shows that the more difficulty a person has saying no, the more likely they are to experience stress, burnout, and even depression. So learning to say ‘no’, diplomatically, can improve both your emotional state, as well as your productivity.

Saying ‘No’ to other people

Many people are frightened of the consequences of saying “no” to others. This is especially true where the person making a request has some obvious means of retaliating if they are unhappy with our actions e.g. a boss, a customer or a spouse. Sadly this fear of reprisals is often justified, so part of this skill in saying “no” is to be brave and to have the courage to stand up for ourselves; closely followed by having the skill to say no diplomatically. Of course, being ‘brave’ (as opposed to reckless) involves exercising good judgement. When your income depends on keeping your job, and your family depends on your income, it pays to pick and choose when you stand up for your rights. So it is worth remembering the old adage, ‘discretion is the better part of valour’.

That being said the study of Assertiveness provides some valuable guidance on how to ‘speak up’ and express your views. Assertiveness is the ability to say what you think and feel without being aggressive toward the other person, or simply staying quiet in the face of unfair treatment. In other words, assertive people can stand up for themselves while taking the other party’s needs into account. Andrew Salter, the American Psychologist, is generally credited with having developed Assertiveness Training in the 1960’s as part of his clinical practice, while Manuel Smith, in his 1975 book When I Say No, I Feel Guilty, is generally thought to be the first person to introduce assertive concepts into the world of business. One idea in Smith’s book is the idea that we can have the mental strength to ‘stand up for ourselves’ if we focus on certain ‘assertive rights’ – these include…

  • I have the right to ask for what I want
  • I have the right to determine my own priorities
  • I have the right to say “no” to others without feeling guilty
  • I have the right to take time to slow down and think
  • I have the right to put my needs first from time to time

3 tools for saying “No” assertively

A belief in having certain ‘Assertive Rights’ can help to develop the resolve needed to say “no” to someone, but specific tools and techniques are necessary to turn those rights into words and deeds. There are a number of assertive techniques e.g. Using “I” statements, Fogging, Broken Record etc., but three of the most powerful ideas include…

1. Assertive Enquiry – Asking Questions, and listening to the person’s answers, so we know what’s really important to them, before we comment. (Listening means not only paying attention to the words that they use but also their tone of voice, body language etc., so that we gain a full understanding of what the person is really trying to say to us.)

For example, If they say, “I need the Budget Figures by Friday” We might ask…“So why is it important to have the Budget Figures by Friday?

2. The three-step technique – acknowledging another person’s concerns while politely, but forcefully, stating your own point of view. The three steps should be completed in thirty seconds or less and be executed with a calm even tone of voice, steady eye contact and an upright, relaxed posture. The steps are:

(1) Summarise the other person’s views
(2) Give your view, and
(3) Suggest an Action

For example… (1) “I understand that you want the Budget Figures by Friday so you can present them at the Board Meeting (2) However I am fully committed to collating the Project Updates (3) So I suggest that you ask Jane to do it instead.

3. Workable Compromise – focusing on the common ground and being flexible enough to adapt our position to ensure that everyone gets at least some of what they want.

For example, “OK I’ll complete the Budget Figures by Friday, as long as you agree that the Project Updates can be delayed by a week.

Saying ‘No’ to wasteful activities

Saying no isn’t only about dealing with requests from other people. It’s also about deliberately saying “no” to working cumbersome tasks and ‘broken processes’. So, a useful self-audit question is to ask yourself; “What am I going to stop doing?” or maybe, “What am I no longer willing to put up with?

Peter Drucker, the well known management thinker, famously captured this idea in the form of a question – “If we didn’t already do this, would we start now?

Interestingly, he also suggests that managers get insights from their employees about what to stop doing, by asking them, “What do I do that wastes your time?

Saying ‘No’ to your own bad habits

Lee Newman, in his 2014 HBR article, ‘How to Override Your Default Reactions in Tough Moments’, argues that one thing that many managers need to say ‘no’ to is their instant reaction to difficult situations. His view is that the way people handle their automatic reflexes during meetings, conversations, negotiations, conflicts, etc., is key to having a successful career. For example, if a Project Manager’s automatic reaction to being challenged about the next step that should be taken on a project is just to ‘defend’ their position, they might fail to hear the other person’s side of the story and end up in an emotional dispute. Newman suggest that effective people should identity what triggers their emotional or competitive side. Then make a list of their default behaviours in those situations e.g. interrupting, micromanaging, or judging too quickly. This, he argues, creates an opportunity to anticipate them and thus rehearse a better way of coping with challenging situations. Of course the same logic can be applied to saying “no” to all kinds of bad habits, and not just those related to ‘tough situations’ e.g. poor sleep patterns, lack of work/life balance, not spending enough time networking etc.

7 things to say ‘No’ to…

If they pause for a moment to reflect on it, most people can come up with a list of things they want to say “no” to based on: how they deal with other people, struggle with wasteful work practices, or indulge their own ‘bad habits’, but here are seven suggestions for kick starting the process. Consider saying “No” to…

  1. ‘Energy vampires’. Stop seeing people who constantly generate problems, difficulties and angst. Have a strategy for disconnecting from high maintenance, low value clients. Think about spending more time with individuals who give you a sense of well-being and provide mutual support.
  2. Writing proposals or project plans for assignments that have little hope of going ahead. Take the time to honestly and objectively assess the chances of success before committing to action.
  3. Working through your lunch hour. Take the time to get a sense of perspective and ‘de-stress’ e.g. meet a friend, go for a walk, or get a coffee.
  4. Sitting quietly through long-winded, poorly structured meetings. Think about asking for the agenda in advance of every meeting.
  5. Allowing projects or marketing campaigns that are not achieving the results you wanted to ‘drift along’. Be ready to ‘kill off’ poorly performing initiatives at an early stage. As they like to say in Silicon Valley, “fail fast, fail cheap, move on.”
  6. Doing emails during your daily commute. Take the time on at least one leg of your journey to and from work to do something you enjoy and that will help you recharge your batteries e.g. read a newspaper, listen to a pod cast, text friends.
  7. Taking on a new task (especially one with tight deadlines) without rescheduling existing activities to make space for it. Take a step back and be realistic about the impact that taking on an additional task will have on your ability to deliver on existing targets. Think about how to ‘reshuffle’ and renegotiate your workload before accepting new responsibilities.

So what’s next?

Use these three tips to boost your confidence, impact and chances of landing that job at your next interview.

Reading

Try reading: Assertiveness At Work: A Practical Guide to Handling Awkward Situations, by Ken & Kate Back

Video

Try watching William Ury introduce his new book on negotiation… The Power of a Positive No…

Coaching

Think about hiring an expert Boulden Coach for a ‘one to one’ Executive Coaching assignment: www.boulden-executivecoaching.net/coaching-philosophy.php

Courses

Or commissioning an in-house Impact & Presence programme: www.boulden.net/course-communicating-with-impact.php

Contact

Or give us a call on 0844 394 8877 (UK) or email us at
coaching@boulden.net and we’ll be happy to discuss how we can
work with you.

“Have the courage to say ‘no.’ Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.”
W. Clement Stone
(US Businessman and philanthropist)

“Mens sana in corpore sano
(A healthy mind in a healthy body).”
JUVENAL, (ROMAN POET)

Stress
Time Management is about making conscious choices about how to use your time. Consistently good choices lead to health, wealth and happiness; while too many poor choices (we all make some poor decisions!) leads to frustration, fatigue and unhappiness.

There are many areas of life where making good choices matters e.g. dealing with email, handling projects, managing upwards etc. but our focus here is on Time Management theory and its relevance to our sense of well being.

Six of the best

When it comes to making choices that promote health, happiness and peace of mind, the science clearly highlights that there are six topics that are of primary importance:

  1. Exercise
  2. Sleep
  3. Diet
  4. Friendship
  5. Meditation
  6. Prioritising Positivity

Exercise – the best medicine in the world

According to the UK’s NHS website people who do regular activity have a lower risk of many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and some cancers. Physical activity can also boost self-esteem, sleep quality and energy levels, as well as reducing the risk of stress, depression, and dementia. So exercise is a vital element of living a happy, productive life. Someone who is keen on sports will, no doubt, follow an appropriate training regime to prepare them for their preferred event. However, for those who aren’t sports enthusiasts, what is the minimum amount of activity that needs to be done to get these health benefits? There are two types of activity that can give great returns… NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis – so normal daily movement) and… HiiT (High Intensity Interval Training.)

HiiT involves alternating periods of short intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods. There is no ’standard’ method or protocol, and HiiT sessions vary from 4–30 minutes. If it’s any longer than that it’s not HiiT – the idea is to ‘shock the body’ into a ‘healthy response mode’ and that means short, sharp intense workouts. These short, intense workouts provide improved aerobic capacity and improved glucose metabolism (so they help prevent diabetes.) You can get the same results from 3 HiiT sessions a week as from five, much longer, traditional training sessions. They can use any exercise that will boost heart rate e.g. exercise bikes, rowing machines, running (e.g. sprinting followed by jogging) or just body weight exercise e.g. press ups, burpees etc. There are dozens of routines on-line but two well-known (and scientifically robust) protocols are:

  • Professor Martin Gibala – McMaster University, Canada – 60 seconds intense work + 75 seconds moderate exercise for recovery for 8 sets (18 minutes total), plus warm up and warm down
  • Professor Jamie Timmons – University of Loughborough, UK – 20 seconds intense work (sprinting on a bike) + 2 minutes moderate exercise (gentle pedalling) for recovery, for 3 sets (7 minutes total) plus warm up and warm down

NEAT, is the idea that it takes energy to move even the smallest muscle; about 1.5 calories per minute lying still. Every extra thing you do (e.g. going to the coffee machine, walking the dog, doing the ironing, mowing the lawn etc.) burns more calories. This matters because sitting still for long periods is linked to increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity – so sitting in your chair can kill you. The latest advice is to set an alarm on your phone to remind you to move every hour. Stand up to stretch, or make a phone call, or get a glass of water. Just make a point of moving more e.g. get a pedometer and set a goal for a number of steps (10,000 steps a day is the usual target that people set themselves.) The small movements add up, and this (non exercise activity) can make a significant difference to your wellbeing. So to sum NEAT up in a sound bite: “take the stairs.”

Sleep – Slip into silent slumber

As Shakespeare puts it in Macbeth, ‘Sleep… balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course… chief nourisher in life’s feast.’

In a recent study of sleep patterns in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (Pilcher et al., 2015) Professor Pilcher notes that poor sleep habits, which include inconsistent sleep times and not enough sleep, can lead to: weight gain, hypertension, increased hostility towards others and lack of self control.

While (Xie et al., 2013) discovered “hidden caves” inside the brain, which open up during sleep, allowing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to flush out potential neurotoxins, like β-amyloid, which has been associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Good sleep is also associated with an improved memory, cell repair, healing and improved relationships. The research base also consistently shows that the vast majority of adults need 7-8 hours sleep to ensure good health.

Good sleep hygiene, as most people know, involves: going to bed at the same time every night, avoiding caffeine late in the day and allowing time to mentally wind-down before bedtime, making sure that the bedroom is dark and cool.

Diet – You are what you eat

The knowledge about how to eat well and the health gains from doing so are so widely reported that I hesitate to repeat the key messages, but for the sake of completeness, feeling good and being healthy means…

Not Smoking

Drinking in moderation

Minimising the intake of (appealing but damaging) high salt, high sugar, high fat foods such as: biscuits, cookies, cakes, white bread, crisps, chips, pizzas, burgers, processed meat like ham and bacon, ready made meals, fruit juices, soft drinks (a can of coke has nine spoonfuls of sugar in it) most breakfast cereals (many contain the same volume of salt as sea water) etc.

Prioritising eating fresh fruit and vegetables, salads, wholemeal bread, fish, chicken, unprocessed red meat and meals you cook yourself from fresh ingredients.

Friendship – A problem shared is a problem halved

Human beings are ‘pack animals’. We are programmed to use survival strategies that are based on cooperation and teamwork. So we ‘need’ strong relationships for physical and psychological health in the same way that we need food. In fact, research shows that negative relationship experiences create stress reactions, such as raised blood pressure, that produce excess wear and tear on the body (Hauser et al., 1993.) So from a Time Management perspective it makes sense to make the extra effort to stay in regular contact with family and friends. This can involve phone calls, texts, emails and (of course) actually seeing people face to face! There is no reason, of course, why ‘Friendship Activities’ can’t be combined with other activities e.g. playing tennis or going to Yoga with a friend; meeting someone and enjoying a (healthy) meal.

Meditation – Wherever You Go, There You Are

Research suggests that practicing meditation may reduce blood pressure, symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety and depression, insomnia, and the incidence, duration, and severity of acute respiratory illnesses.

Probably the most famous book (in the West) on the subject is: Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life by Jon Kabat-Zinn, so that’s a good place to start if you are interested in learning how to meditate. However the level of interest in meditation and mindfulness and its impact on ‘leadership’ has mushroomed in recent years, so there are plenty of texts and courses to choose from.

There are many types of meditation, but most have four elements in common: a quiet location with as few distractions as possible; a comfortable, relaxed posture; a focus of attention (usually a key word, or the sensations of the breath); and an open attitude (letting distractions come and go naturally without judging them.)

Whatever method is used it’s best to meditate at the same time every day, so that it becomes part of your normal routine. The usual recommendation is to build up to meditating for twenty minutes, twice a day, but even five minutes practice will bring benefits.

Prioritise Positivity

Prioritising Positivity is a key theme when making ‘healthy’ life choices. It simply involves organising everyday life around activities that bring pleasure. People who Prioritise Positivity are not just happier than those who don’t, but they also have better relationships, more resilience and are more mindful. This happens because they have more frequent experiences of positive emotions, because they consistently schedule ‘fun things’ into their routine. (Journal of Emotion – Catalino et al, 2014.)

Of course, Prioritising Positivity will mean different things to different people. It may mean seeking out activities that are ‘meditative’ in nature i.e. they create a sense of peace, or it may involve seeking out ‘exercise’ to experience excitement and challenge. For example, for some it might mean reserving Saturday afternoons for going to the park with the family (‘friendship’) or going for a run (‘exercise’) etc.

Reinforcement strategies – the classic responses

Procrastination, lack of motivation, the weight of deeply ingrained negative habits or competing priorities, can overwhelm any goal or objective and when it comes to healthy choices most of us have a reasonable knowledge about what we should/shouldn’t be doing – but we still don’t. That’s primarily down to will power and our ability to resist what we want/don’t want and do what we should instead. Sometimes we steel ourselves to overcome the inertia of inactivity then reward ourselves afterwards to such an extent that it cancels out our effort. So the question is how do we create good habits and how do we maintain them against all temptations?

Creating good habits means that some kind of reinforcement strategy needs to be in place to maintain the momentum to a successful achievement of improved exercise, sleep, diet, relationships or meditation. The most common methods for this are:

  • Breaking tasks into small chunks and just doing one bit at a time e.g. I won’t plan to mow all the grass, I will just do the small lawn at the front of the house. The key point here is that you don’t always have to be in just the right mood before you do something; you can just choose to use your will power and do the task, whether you feel like it or not!
  • Having a fixed time to work on the task e.g. going straight to the gym on the way home from work, or doing your yoga as soon as you get up in the morning.
  • Allowing yourself a ‘reward’ for achieving certain milestones e.g. buying a new shirt or blouse if (when?) you reach a set weight.
  • Telling lots of people about your goal so the embarrassment of a public failure motivates you to keep going e.g. announcing you will run a half marathon and signing up to a charity website so people can sponsor you.
  • Making it a team effort by joining a group who all have the same objective and can provide mutual encouragement e.g. weight watchers, a running club, reading group etc.
  • Fujita et al. (2006) suggest that self-control can be increased by ‘looking at long term goals’ rather than focusing on the here and now. So, someone trying to eat more fruit and vegetables should focus on the ultimate goal and how each individual decision about what to eat contributes (or detracts) from their goal to eat well.

So what’s next?

Reflect on how much of your week is spent on Prioritising Productivity – can you, maybe with just some small adjustments, engineer more joy into your life?

Review your physical activity levels. How much are you moving? Are you active enough, or is it time to commit to more structured, regular exercise, be that going to Circuit Training, taking up Pilates, getting on a Spin Bike, or starting swimming regularly?

Video

Watch Jon Kabat- Zinn talking about the power of Letting Go
(4 minute clip)

Workshop

If you think that you or your work team could benefit from our help then take a look at our half-day, in-house Practical Time Management workshop.

Coaching

Or maybe our ‘one to one’ executive coaching services.

And to end with a quote from Hippocrates…

“Let food be thy medicine
and medicine be thy food.”