Twittering their productivity away?
As more and more social networking, blogs, twitters and other ways to "connect" are pushed onto the market, I'm hearing many complaints from management teams about falling team productivity. Really, just how much "connection" can any one person have and still be productive?
I've run into people subscribing to 50 or more blogs they follow in a daily feed, and trying to write every day to maintain several blogs of their own (while still holding a full-time job). There are those that have such need for connection to others that they follow the meanderings of multiple friends on twitter , a website that lets you to send 100 character messages that will burst out to all those who subscribe to your "twitter". Reviewing the tool I saw people with 100 or more friends they are following there - Imagine, if each one sends but 1 twitter a day, that's a lot of distraction for anyone. And while I've found IM to be a great way to stay in touch with team members, I can't help but notice how many personal IMs are going on at the job.
OK, here I am writing a blog too, but I hope I'm keeping to the topic of helping you run a better business. I don't write every day because I find it hard to believe you really want to know every little hair-brained thought that goes into my head (which is how most blogs read to me.)
Clearly our society has reached the pinnacle of self-absorption that a product like twitter has become so popular, but the reality is that employees are now bombarded with so many distractions from these tools that it could really impair even the best of them from getting their work done. If you find this happening in your company, you can get upset about the time-wasting, or set "no-twitter at work" rules (I know managers who have attempted this). Or you can face the fact that it's your fault this is happening, not theirs. Here's what you can do:
In order to create trust in an environment with such fractured attention, ensure that every one on your team has regular goals that are 1) highly measurable, 2) trackable, and 3) time-bound - Not just for their 6-month or annual reviews, but daily, weekly or monthly as the employee level dictates. This means they should provide you, for each to-do item, their estimate of how long they expect the project will take.
I review the status of goals in one-on-one meetings each week (even when the goals are monthly), so we can discuss priorities, new project additions, and adjust expectations as necessary. It also provides a great opportunity to improve my understanding of how they interpret what I've asked for. If an employee is so productive as to meet all the goals we've mutually established, I'll make sure they know how great I think they're doing and see if they're interested in more advanced projects to help them with their career goals rather than twittering their time away. I continue to be surprised by how few managers make one-on-one meetings a high priority - no wonder they feel these distractions are having such an impact.
By the way, I expect to be treated the same from the CEO that I report to, so they know how I'm using my time and what I think my priorities are. I find it actually creates trust rather than distrust, because our communication is greatly enhanced and they can feel comfortable the business is in good hands.
I've run into people subscribing to 50 or more blogs they follow in a daily feed, and trying to write every day to maintain several blogs of their own (while still holding a full-time job). There are those that have such need for connection to others that they follow the meanderings of multiple friends on twitter , a website that lets you to send 100 character messages that will burst out to all those who subscribe to your "twitter". Reviewing the tool I saw people with 100 or more friends they are following there - Imagine, if each one sends but 1 twitter a day, that's a lot of distraction for anyone. And while I've found IM to be a great way to stay in touch with team members, I can't help but notice how many personal IMs are going on at the job.
OK, here I am writing a blog too, but I hope I'm keeping to the topic of helping you run a better business. I don't write every day because I find it hard to believe you really want to know every little hair-brained thought that goes into my head (which is how most blogs read to me.)
Clearly our society has reached the pinnacle of self-absorption that a product like twitter has become so popular, but the reality is that employees are now bombarded with so many distractions from these tools that it could really impair even the best of them from getting their work done. If you find this happening in your company, you can get upset about the time-wasting, or set "no-twitter at work" rules (I know managers who have attempted this). Or you can face the fact that it's your fault this is happening, not theirs. Here's what you can do:
In order to create trust in an environment with such fractured attention, ensure that every one on your team has regular goals that are 1) highly measurable, 2) trackable, and 3) time-bound - Not just for their 6-month or annual reviews, but daily, weekly or monthly as the employee level dictates. This means they should provide you, for each to-do item, their estimate of how long they expect the project will take.
I review the status of goals in one-on-one meetings each week (even when the goals are monthly), so we can discuss priorities, new project additions, and adjust expectations as necessary. It also provides a great opportunity to improve my understanding of how they interpret what I've asked for. If an employee is so productive as to meet all the goals we've mutually established, I'll make sure they know how great I think they're doing and see if they're interested in more advanced projects to help them with their career goals rather than twittering their time away. I continue to be surprised by how few managers make one-on-one meetings a high priority - no wonder they feel these distractions are having such an impact.
By the way, I expect to be treated the same from the CEO that I report to, so they know how I'm using my time and what I think my priorities are. I find it actually creates trust rather than distrust, because our communication is greatly enhanced and they can feel comfortable the business is in good hands.
The trend I see in the corporate world (start-ups as well as established publicly traded) is managers at the Director or even VP level are placed in a lose-lose situation with respect to meeting goals. This is mainly because they are not given the authority to allocate resources to align with their goals. In companies with 1,000 employees there can be as little as 3 people who can truly manage resources but they chose to stay out of the fray and leave the middle and upper managers twisting in the wind. I have my own company now; I will NEVER go back to this culture which I believe is pervasive. There are exceptions of course and those are great companies to be in; I have never worked in one.
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Very interesting blog. I work in a very free and "twitter present" environment. I've found that those who get caught up in how "cool" it is to have freedom in the office tend to struggle with that trust you speak of. Others, like myself, come to realize eventually what's really important and that's the product we produce for our customers. Once you come to that realization, I've found that being rewarded and approached with new opportunities comes as a result.
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