S3 E108 – Protect Productive Times

S3 E108: Protecting Productive Times 

In this episode of the For Love of Team podcast, host Winston Faircloth discusses Chapter 6 'Protect Protective Times' from his new book, 'Team Love: 28 Ways to Demonstrate Caring at Work.' Winston emphasizes the importance of recognizing and protecting individual productive times within teams to enhance work efficiency. He explains that, as leaders, understanding when team members are most creative, alert, and energized is crucial for balancing productivity with necessary collaboration. Leaders are encouraged to review meeting patterns and adjust schedules to protect these productive periods, empowering both early birds and night owls. Winston offers practical advice on piloting this approach to foster a happy, productive team. Listeners are invited to share their feedback on the podcast's blog. 

00:00 A Bold Writing Experiment Continues 

00:24 Chapter 6: Protect Protective Times 

00:51 Understanding Team Productivity 

02:15 Balancing Productivity and Collaboration 

03:01 Action Steps for Leaders 

04:09 Conclusion and Feedback

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Transcript

Chapter 6 - Protect Productive Times 

Judith: Welcome to season three of the For Love of Team podcast. 

This season, we are taking you behind the curtain as Winston Faircloth writes his new book, Team Love, 28 Ways to Demonstrate Caring at Work. Each week, we will share excerpts from a new chapter, including key concepts and takeaways to help you support your team as a visionary leader. 

In this episode, host Winston Faircloth introduces Chapter Six: Protect Productive Times. Now here is your host, Winston Faircloth.  

Winston Faircloth: Chapter 6, Protect Productive Times. We recruit our teams for their differences, unique contributions, experiences, and backgrounds. And our true strength as an organization comes from blending these together. And yet, sometimes we miss the mark as leaders by treating everyone the same. First, a personal question: when you look back over your last full day of work, when were you most productive? Was it first thing in the morning before the rest of the team began pinging you? Perhaps it was midday after your lunchtime walk or workout. Or perhaps your creative juices were at their peak in the late afternoon or early evening. 

And while our circumstances and our calendars often dictate the answer to this question, deep down you have an intuitive sense of when you're at your best. Some of our team members are the early birds, up way before dawn, full of energy, excitement of what's unfolding. Others are night owls. When the sun is heading down, you're revving up with maximum creativity and follow through. 

Both kinds of team members are in your organization right now. And not only do we as leaders, especially visionary leaders, ignore this fact, sometimes we're also the ones responsible for booking countless meetings right during our team members most productive times of day. As leaders pursuing big visions, important organizational goals, we often miss this simple productivity hack. 

Every member of your team also has an answer to when they're most creative, alert, and energized. And yet, we're also balancing how important it is to have collaboration, sharing, and problem-solving time as a group. Is there a way to find a strong balance between productivity and collaboration? Well, being aware of and committed to protecting productive times is the first step. 

In our experience, protecting the beginning and end of the workday for productive, deep work gifts both early birds and night owls the perfect opportunity to stay in their zone.  

So for further action, look back over your internal meeting schedule over the past three months. Notice patterns in the number, timing, and duration of these meetings. 

In thinking about yourself in your direct reports, assuming that you had complete autonomy over your daily work schedule, are you more productive first thing, midday, or last part of a normal workday? And what hours would you want to protect for deep creative work? Map these out for yourself first and your direct reports. 

Compare these blocks to your regular meeting schedules. Do you need to adjust your schedule and the team's meeting schedule to protect your most productive times?  

Try this out for a limited pilot project and measure the results. Protecting your productive time pays off big dividends in the long term in creating a happy, productive team. 

Judith: Thanks, Winston!  

We invite you to share your feedback and biggest takeaways on our website at ForLoveOfTeam.com/blog and look for today’s chapter episode. 

Thanks for listening.  

Remember that by loving our people who love our customers, your visionary leadership comes to life.  

We hope to see you next time on the For Love of Team podcast.