How to get people to work the way you want to work

If you are like most people I work with, you have a crowded calendar and more things than you can accomplish.  In many cases you have to work with other people who may be down the hall or across the world, and depend on them for their insights and efforts to complete tasks.  However, because everyone is so busy, it has become commonplace for work to fall by the wayside, or not to get done at all, because the other person can claim to be too busy, or behind schedule due to other conflicts, or his or her previous meeting ran over.  Here are some ways to get people to do for you what you want, when you want it.

1.  Schedule meetings - virtual or in person - as early as possible in the day.  If people will allow their other meetings to run over and push back meetings later in the day, then meet with them as early as possible.  For the most part, people are more alert and more attentive earlier in the day anyway.  Try to schedule as many 8am meetings as possible.

2.  Start your meetings promptly - be known as a tyrant on this topic.  Close the meeting room door promptly and get started.  Make it known that an 8am meeting starts at 8am, and lack of attendance does not mean that tasks won't be assigned.

3.  Alert everyone that silence is acceptance.  Too often you'll send out materials in advance that people won't read or review.  In your meeting prep, simply note that you don't plan to review the materials in the meeting, only to review very specific issues or questions about the material.  If people can't take the time to read it in advance, then they forfeit the right to edit or change it.

4.  Deadlines are there for a reason.  If you have an agreed deadline on a task or project, then the work should be delivered in that timeframe.  Note the word "agreed" - the team member needs to negotiate that deadline with you, but once that has been agreed there needs to be very specific circumstances for which a deliverable is not presented on time.  Again, being a stickler about deadlines is completely acceptable - what should be unacceptable is the lack of delivery to an agreed deadline.

5.  Be clear about your expectations.  I have been in meetings where firms talk about an individual who is working on (HP, IBM, TI, fill in the blank) time - always 15 to 20 minutes late.  Why should one individual hold up a deliverable or a team?  Start on time, end on time and make your meetings and projects the most important ones.

6.  Share the data.  Too many organizations have barriers in place to share data effectively.  As a consultant, I've used Basecamp and free Wikis to share information with my clients, since I can't get on their networks and they can't access mine.  I was recently working in a large organization that can't always share files and calendars with people in the same firm in different offices.  As a leader and project manager, you've got to find ways to reduce the barriers to information sharing.  Probably one of the most important things to share is a calendar, so you don't spend half your life just trying to arrange meetings.  Next, shared folders and workspace and shared documents.

Finally, if you demonstrate that your approach gets things done (personally or in a group setting) people will want to work with and for you, since so much time and effort in many organizations is wasted.  Rather than accept the status quo and a far less than efficient process, establish your own.  You'll struggle at first, since you will be bucking the corporate culture, but eventually you'll be identified as a real leader.

Comments

[Math]

These are great suggestions which, as always, re-enforce why I love this blog. Keep up the good work.

The list you have assumes some traits in the organization's culture. For example, silence is acceptance makes sense if there's a culture of open feedback. If folks are afraid of voicing their opinions, forcing acceptance won't be healthy.

Love to hear your thoughts on these cultural requirements. And how to put them into place.

[James Peckham]

How's all of that "command and control" working out for you?

Anyhow, i agree with the commentor, there's definitely a cultural prerequisite to dealing with people the way you're talking about.

I personally sortof like the idea of silence is agreement (or at the basic minimum a lack of disagreement). However, i've found that getting everyone convinced to participate is better and timeboxing so things don't get out of control...

Also, I've seen groups that have a hard time being 'open' with eachother because they're afraid they'll have to own the 'problem' or 'opportunity' that they're being open about, so i'd love to shake things up and assign it to the quietest person in the group who never brings up anything. (someone who purposefully isn't bringing up stuff because they don't want to own anything)

[Mothertobe]

This is great for meetings. But my problem is how to get individuals to respond to my requests. I have people in my company that I e-mail, call, make meetings with, talk to face to face and I still can’t get a simple thing like where can I find a file for X on the intranet or can you e-mail me a document or any number of simple tasks that would take them five minutes or less to complete.
It’s just disrespectful and frustrating, and it ruins my schedule and pushes back my delivery. Am I just not popular enough at work? Does my breath stink? I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but I’m not getting any help. I hate to have to run to my manager every time when I run into road blocks like this. And I know she doesn’t want a cc on every e-mail I send.