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performance

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Conference Calls Kill

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How many conference rooms do you pass by and see bunches of people looking bored out of their minds, drifting off in to other worlds, obsessively focused on that small box in the center of the conference table?

It kills me to think how many people are wasting away through the conference call dynamic.

Meeting disciplines seem to go out of the window and time allotted is used to its full extent rather than questioned. Slated an hour - let's use an hour.

While on the subject of conference calls, one thing I've never understood is how the box in the middle of the table becomes the focus of attention. Why does that happen? This picture below for me paints an ironic picture from a conference call equipment manufacturer. Not the bullshit about all the people in dynamic poses and excited to be in a meeting but the fact that they are focused in on the speakerphone.

Business-conference-call

I get it that if you want to do a meeting with the client, you can avoid lots of flights, hotel nights, etc, but what about doing Skype and keeping the numbers small? What about making sure that key decision makers are on Skype and they are obliged to bring one person with them - a note taker who can share the meeting notes with a wider audience. What about plenty of quick Skype calls rather than a few lengthy conference calls?

I guess I'm just not a fan. For me, conference calls are killing our ability to share ideas and create new ones. They just don't allow for it.

That's my rant for today.

Filed under  //  Thought leadership   performance   work  
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I Love Yard Work

Yardwork

In the North East, this was the weekend when all the family got out in to the yard and started preparing for Spring.

Images of picket fences and happy families were everywhere. The excitement of Spring was palpable.

When asking people this morning about their weekend, I heard the familiar excitement of - I did yard work this weekend.

What's interesting to me is how many people in advertising love yard work for the simple fact that it gives them the feeling of accomplishment. You take on a challenge and see the results of doing stuff. "I just love doing stuff" was one person's response to me this morning. I remember a former boss of mine in the UK who used to say, 'I insist on doing the vacuuming in the home because that's the only thing that I can say I achieved each week'.

Our industry is filled with meetings, conference calls, thinking, conversations, pontifications and it seems little to no doing stuff.

Surely we should be finding ways to get that sense of accomplishment found in the garden and bring it in to our daily work.
It seems like our psyche's need it and clients keep demanding it.

Try to head home today with the excitement of having done something - or clean your desk, so at least you feel you've done something.

Filed under  //  Psychology   performance   work  
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Touch Improves Performance

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Two interesting articles came out this week related to sport. 

The first is this one that comes from the NYTimes, which covers all aspects of touch but focuses in this week's news that a couple of researchers at Berkeley were studying basketball teams and concluded that the ones that touched the most were the Boston Celtics and LA Lakers. Two teams at the top of their game right now. 

More research needs to take place but you can pretty much guarantee that there's going to be a lot more touching going on in all team sports based on this analysis.

Here's an extract from the NYTimes for those who don't have the time to read the whole article:

"To see whether a rich vocabulary of supportive touch is in fact related to performance, scientists at Berkeley recently analyzed interactions in one of the most physically expressive arenas on earth: professional basketball. Michael W. Kraus led a research team that coded every bump, hug and high five in a single game played by each team in the National Basketball Association early last season.

"In a paper due out this year in the journal Emotion, Mr. Kraus and his co-authors, Cassy Huang and Dr. Keltner, report that with a few exceptions, good teams tended to be touchier than bad ones. The most touch-bonded teams were the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, currently two of the league’s top teams; at the bottom were the mediocre Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Bobcats.

"The same was true, more or less, for players. The touchiest player was Kevin Garnett, the Celtics’ star big man, followed by star forwards Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors and Carlos Boozer of the Utah Jazz. “Within 600 milliseconds of shooting a free throw, Garnett has reached out and touched four guys,” Dr. Keltner said."

Full article can be found here http://nyti.ms/dwPFRi

When I first came to the States, I was shocked at how touch was non-existent in the work place. Political correctness or a cultural aspect of the US has created a non-touch environment in work. This is not the same in other places I've worked like the obvious ones - Spain and France - and the less obvious one I'm sure to many - the UK. Britain was big on touch in the office environment when I left over 10 years ago. I hope it hasn't lost that surprising side of its character. I strongly believe in what the research has shown.

Bottom line is that touch is what we all seek and need unless of course if you are Glenn Gould. There are of course limits but let's experiment this side of the limits rather than at the other extreme.

Filed under  //  Psychology   performance   sports  
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