Bruce Lee didn’t need a paddle to play table tennis

Good Morning. For the next 5 minutes, your career is the most important thing.

In today’s email:

• Buddy coaching for fun and profit

• Open body language to welcome conversation

• Bruce Lee didn’t need a paddle to play table tennis

• Having a best friend at work to be happier

• Paul Graham’s maker schedule v manager schedule

ON YOUR CAREER

Buddy coaching for fun and profit

Buddy coaching, or peer coaching, is where two or more people catch-up to discuss their work goals. We implement buddy coaching programs with organizations across the globe. It works well. The following principles help people get the most from their buddy coaching:

• Protect your buddy’s confidentiality forever

• Be goal-oriented

• Meet regularly - perhaps every 2 to 4 weeks for 10 to 60 minutes

• Think about what you want to discuss before you meet

• Face-to-face, video, and phone sessions work

• Listen without interruptions

• Challenge your buddy if useful but be supportive

• Have action plans and hold each other accountable

COMMUNICATION

Open body language to welcome conversation

Choose your body language to deliver your intended message.

Open body language invites conversation and debate. Closed body language, such as crossing your arms or having a blank face, can present as a lack of interest or defensiveness.

Around a meeting table, sit at the table. Lean in to convey interest.

PRODUCTIVITY

Bruce Lee didn’t need a paddle

In a previous newsletter, we discussed the virtue of eliminating tasks that are both unimportant and non-urgent. There is virtue in eliminating the inessential. Do you have products or subscriptions that are no longer fit for purpose? Do you persist with a spreadsheet of customer details when your CRM is superior to use? Some of our work relationships can also lose relevance. Consultants may become redundant. Mentors may no longer help us grow. Review your work tools and resources and shed what you no longer need.

1 MINUTE TO INCREASE HAPPINESS

Having a best friend at work

Gallup has studied more than 3 million workers about how engaged they are in their jobs. The data show having a best friend at work is strongly linked to worker engagement, performance, and retention.

Sometimes we get lucky and have one or more colleagues with whom we naturally form a close bond. Work is then fun and supportive. Sometimes we need to put more effort into forming work friendships. We can initiate these. Being warm, open, and trustworthy encourages others to befriend us. Common goals and shared experiences also help bond colleagues and teams.

Is there anyone in your workplace with whom you would like to develop a friendship?

GET SMARTER

Paul Graham’s maker schedule v manager schedule

Dr Paul Graham is a tech entrepreneur and founder of Y Combinator, which has funded 5,000 start-ups with a market value of USD 600 billion. Graham has written on worker productivity. He describes a ‘manager schedule’ as applying to bosses, who typically apportion their day in one hour blocks. This often involves switching between multiple meetings and different types of tasks. Graham argues this schedule is not useful in creative jobs such as coding or writing. More appropriate for these roles is a ‘maker schedule’, where there are large blocks of uninterrupted time to get in the zone and create.

‘Maker time’, however, is applicable to nearly all of us in the workplace. There are many tasks that require deep thinking , and are assisted by scheduling a long block of time to focus. This may be to write a report, research competitor products, or devise a plan. Sometimes we can find a quiet space at home or in the office. Other times, noise cancelling ear buds will help us to create.

Do you have a project that would benefit from you blocking several hours of uninterrupted time?

If you have specific feedback or anything interesting you’d like to share, please let us know by replying to this email.

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