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Dec 08 2022

Today’s Business Equivalent to a Country’s ‘No Fly Zone’ … Employee No Contact Zone is Happening.

What seems like a l-o-n-g eight years ago I wrote a blog post entitled “From Germany … a Gift or a Wrench in the Machinery?”  It referred to an article that definitely caught my attention … “Germany Examines Ban on Employees Checking Work Emails at Home!”  I remember receiving reactions from readers in business who laughed and conveyed thoughts like … ‘can you even imagine?’ or ‘this can’t be serious!’.  And serious it was as there were a few countries that passed laws around this.

no phone 2 2

 

These laws forbid leaders within organizations to email or call their reports on weekends or i.e., between the hours of 7pm and 7am the following morning during the work week. The results of such moves were seen as positive.  Production was up.  Turnover was down and overall satisfaction within the organizations making these moves was stronger.

employee need list

That was then.  And now … we soon enter 2023 and settle into new work environments created by needed adaptations to COVID.  And whereas some countries introduced their ‘no contact time zones’ several years ago, the time has come for this to be considered and embraced within the U.S. Since 2020 there has been a shift to remote work in total or in part. This is the way that so many businesses have had to operate. It has also served to shine the spotlight on the needs and expectations of workers.

Employees were forced to work remotely from home.  Initially this proved to be very disruptive to them, family members and roommates. Added to that was the tremendous sense of isolation that was created. However, with time, employees began realizing the benefits of having no commutes and could use this time to personally benefit themselves or their families. Being in a relaxed atmosphere was enjoyed by many.  As such they have come to see that remote work in some form has and will continue to deliver benefits that they want to maintain.  

remote home area 2

Employers had to devise ways to create a meeting and communication method that would further the connection and drive success. This required significant investment in technology and programs that would allow workers to function from their residences as if they were in the office. In many cases purchasing the likes of desks, chairs and even computers added to the organization’s costs of doing business. Those who run companies were initially very anxious to see a COVID go away to enable the old ‘normal’ to return.  Now, today they see and accept (perhaps reluctantly) a ‘new’ normal to which they must adapt to move forward successfully.

Here are the issues that exist today that have given potential life to the reality of having a legal ‘no contact zone’ in the U.S.

  • Some company leaders have blurred the line between work hours and personal time. Emails and calls are made at arbitrary times of evenings and weekends.  As employees have come to realize the benefit of at least some portion of remote work, they have also come to resent the imposition of ongoing communication from the ‘boss’.

    increased empl demands 2

  • Mental health has become the focus of many employees which, in part, is blamed on the lack of respect for the juggling and adapting that this ‘normal’ has imposed. Having employers presume they had unlimited access to staff members contributed to the added stress with which they are left to contend.
  • Whereas the workforce has experienced a significant reduction in the past year, this has created the need and expectation that all the necessary work will be done by fewer. So be it, however, it is the ‘fewer’ that has had the effect of lengthening the workday and the expectation that employees will meet that need.  Not so fast as this has given birth to quiet quitting or doing only what I know my job is and nothing beyond

The Philippines, Italy, Slovakia, Northern Ireland Portugal, France and most recently, Ontario, have also enacted “right to disconnect” laws and regulations to separate the blurred line between work and home. Is creating a law that legally defines the boundaries and circumstances related to being allowed to communicate with employees the solution? And to the extent that this is done, how realistic is it that it would ever effectively work?  Personally, I don’t see this route as workable or desirable.

compromise2 2

Firstly, the structure of our government makes taking such a legal approach somewhat of a dream. Rather, I believe and see a more realistic approach by just considering the potential of such action. Over many months the challenges on both sides began to arrive at places of comparative calm.  Routines were created and established. Any business is aware of the need for discussion and compromise.  This applies to dealing with our external customers and, as well, to the employees or the internal customers. Understanding and respecting the needs and desires of both sides of this challenge offers the strong potential of leading to a healthy and workable and solution and a win for all.
Mike Dorman

Written by Mike · Categorized: Changing Business, Managing Change, Organizational Effectiveness

Oct 23 2019

Phone Addiction and Its’ Impact on the Business Environment

I can’t say for sure however I suspect that with the development of the ‘smart’ phone the intent was to provide us as users with the ability to have access to the world of information in a fast and efficient manner. I also suspect that

phone computer

it was to provide easier and faster avenues to interface with others in our respective worlds … both the business and personal parts of them.  I’m pretty confident that some form of addiction was any part of the game plan past, present or future. However what we are seeing and even personally experiencing is the unintended consequence of just that. Our inability to function without easy and ongoing access to every beep, buzz or musical notice that something is going on around us that we must attend to NOW!

kids fone addiction

This is not a new awareness or concern that has just come to the forefront of our consciousness.  However, it has done nothing but escalate and that is opening the door to more and greater problems.  This week I read an attention getting article in the on-line CNN website  that is entitled:

/smartphone-addiction-camp-intl-hnk-scli/index.html”>The teenagers so addicted to cellphones they’re going to detox centers”

.  I found this a fascinating and at the same time concerning read and suggest that you might want to read it as well.

Certainly it’s a concern for your children through their teen years however the real and growing concern is that it is this age group that has begun infiltrating the business world and with them comes the addiction that they have developed along the way.

Think about it.  Next time you’re in the office and working at your desk notice others around you.  Simon Sinek has produced a video that clearly identifies how the growing addiction impacts our professional and personal lives.  Here are some the key points he makes:

  • The proximity of the phones to us at all times
    Today it’s common to see most everyone with their phone located relatively close to them. The older co-worker may have theirs on the desk however it will most often be to the side of their computer screen. The younger person, sitting at the similar desk with a similar computer often has their phone placed just below thewoman on 3 phoneskeyboard. If you observe this person their eyes are constantly shifting between the computer screen and their phone screen when they get a notice that something new has arrived. And beyond just noticing, often times they jump to the phone to respond. Finally it’s back to focus on the computer screen … that is until the next interruption to which they feel compelled to respond now.
  • Diminishing the importance of another person with our phone in hand
    Envision yourself approaching a co-worker with a question or a desire to discuss something you deem as important. They stop to listen with the phone in-hand and within eye shot with the message being I want to hear and help you however you’re of secondary importance. At least, we get this sense anything that might come to the phone of the person with whom we want to speak will become priority #1. Clearly it diminishes the value placed on interactions and that impacts the work and what we strive to achieve.
  • We are engaged in a business related meal with our phone beside us on the table
    As important as the meeting may be in terms of what we want to discuss and decide upon, when we having the phone beside us simply gives the clear message that what we might be discussing is important … however … not as important as the text or email I may receive. So again … you are important however not the most important thing going on.
  • We are in a discussion and our ever-present phone indicates an incoming call
    Of course we see and often hear it and, after looking to see the caller ID, we magnanimously announce that we are not taking the call. The person or people with whom we’re meeting might well feel very lucky however there is no way they feel as your most important focus. Is this our intention? Most likely not.
  • We’re waiting for a meeting to begin and while doing so use our phone rather than using the time to have actual conversation with others also waiting. Do we really have nothing to say to others with whom we work?disrupting meeting on foneHave we forgotten how to verbally communicate with others or do we see this as unimportant and a waste of time? It’s during such moments of down time that relationships are developed and built and this is still considered a foundation of success.

In my coaching related meetings with various business clients I encounter some of these things often. When I lose the focus of the other person because they notice the blip emanating from their phone and immediately look to see who/what it is, I often ask if that’s something to which they need to respond immediately. Most of the time it does not requires immediate attention and yet it is a distraction to whatever we have been and need to discuss. In some cases I have actually asked another to turn off their phone while we are meeting simply because they are missing out on the full value of what they have chosen to do … in this case coach.

I find little if any argument for the fact that our smart phones have actually impacted our ability to think using our brains. They have impacted our memories because we don’t have to remember a phone number or how to drive from point A to B. They have shortened our attention span just by their active presence in our daily lives. They have enhanced our ability to feel connected and yet we also come to realize we are actually less connected in a meaningful way.

viewing world thru fone

Please don’t get me wrong. Our phones are phenomenal in terms of what they can and do provide to us as the user. Expanded resources … speed … vast amounts of information easily accessible … conveniences as never before. Yet at the same time, they have introduced a form of addiction to so many that is unsettling while it impacts the very relationships on which so much of our individual and collective success depends. Something to think about? I know for me it is.
Mike Dorman

Written by Mike · Categorized: Organizational Effectiveness

Mar 02 2016

Your 2016 Business Plan ~ A Flavor of the Month or A Lasting Success?

Welcome to March … the third month of the year … the last month of the quarter. By this time you’re well on the way to achieving your plan for the year. The things you’ve committed to do have been in motion and you are totally working your plan … or are you? Invest 3 minutes and read on for your personal plan’s litmus test.

In speaking to coaching prospects we are challenged with the likes of … “I’m not looking forIce Cream Flavorsr a flavor of the month. I’ve tasted them all and will only consider something that is lasting and sustainable”. I get it and whether you’re working with a coach or forging ahead on your own, you all know that the scoop of ice cream simply doesn’t last. It doesn’t remain solid and the taste is short lived.

Interesting enough, it’s in this third month of the year that we encounter melting business plans. Let’s presume you made it through early January when so many abandon their resolves and, although you can breathe that sigh of relief, there are many pitfalls that loom on the path to your success.  The trick is to get around and beyond them and in that sense we can’t a low ourselves to become too relaxed.

Mitch Evans authored an article for Printing News addressing business plan failure. I prefer to interpret it as what succeeding in the execution and achievement of your plan requires. Our experience over many years of business coaching sees his points as right on!

Success in staying the course requires:
1. A Clear Purpose
What is the underlying driver and purpose for the plan you have created? Is it the resulting dollars? Expanding your business into a new market or product? What’s your main thing?
2. A Road Map
What is your plan to get where you want to go? And what other people or person need(s) to understand your Business Planintended goal and your plan to get there? Keeping this a secret is a path to abandonment on your part.
3. Prioritizing Your Priorities
So many things to do … always … and yet, without being selective and committed to what has to happen first … staying that course … the chance of accomplishing the plan is diminished.
4. Follow-through
Check-ins on your own progress as well as those on whom you depend to do aspects of your plan is a way to determine that you as well as other relied upon people are remaining on track.
5. An Accountability Commitment
Working on a year-long plan is greatly facilitated by our willingness to hold ourselves accountable to remaining focused and doing our ‘next steps’ as we move down our chosen path. In fact, without this element, our chance of success is highly questionable.
6. Celebration
To some this seems like a waste of time. “I’ll celebrate at the end of the year when I achieve my goal”. Why? The challenge to stay the path, to be willingly accountable and to achieve the intermediary goals along the way isn’t easy. Pats on the back or ‘celebrations’ fuel the fire to forge ahead.
7. Communication!
You simply cannot do this enough. Where are you in the plan? Who else has a stake in achieving the planMelting Ice Cream that should or needs to know. Every time you communicate you are also reinforcing your commitment to working it.

You didn’t develop your plan for 2016 with any intention other than to achieve it. Our bet is, however, that you have experienced some form of meltdown in the past that has resulted in less than hitting your intended mark. The flavor of the month does go away as intended. Your plan doesn’t have to!

Mike Dorman

Written by Mike · Categorized: Business Planning, Organizational Effectiveness

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