Slowing Down to Save Time
When I was a leader in the international development and the humanitarian sector, I had many reasons to rush.
There is always a deadline - whether a proposal, a project need or a government request.
And yet there are consequences for being in a hurry and just trying to get things done.
In this episode I share the importance of slowing down to understand and listen, and my own experience with what happens when we do not.
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Episode 283: Slowing Down to Save Time
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, my aid worker, friends. I hope you're having a great week.
I wanted to start today with a podcast testimonial, which was sent by one of my valued listeners. Her name is Ayana. And thank you, Ayana, for sending this in.. I wanted to read this to you all because I feel like it might be inspirational for you. It's always nice to hear when others have taken ideas and implemented them in different ways, or actually take action because that's really a lot of the point of a podcast like this.
If you're not taking action and trying out some of the things that I am introducing or that others are introducing, then you know, what's the point? So Ayana is a contracting and agreement officer in Asia.
And this is what she wrote:
“I cannot tell you how helpful your podcast has been to me over the last several months. You're consistent messaging about how we spend our time and specifically prioritizing my time around big rocks and values. I must say that I've often met that advice with skepticism about my ability to gain more control over my schedule. Over the past two weeks however, I tested the practice of letting my priorities drive how I spent my time and I feel amazing. I made significant progress on some major initiatives that are very important to me. I also feel less stressed at the end of the day. For the first time in maybe two years, I told someone I am thriving in response to how are you doing? The one thing that remains as I practice this approach for me is how to let go of the guilt for having a lot of unread emails.”
So, thank you Ayana first of all, for writing that in and sharing that with us. I do hope that this is inspirational for others to try the same thing. You know, a lot of times we feel that we don't have control over our time. But that is just a belief. And the more you can take ownership over your time and really spend it on your priorities, on your values, on the things you really care about the more, you will like Ayana, find that you will thrive. And just to address this issue of guilt around unread emails.
I understand. You all get a lot of emails and it's definitely. It can be seen as you're not being respectful for other people's requests and so on. However at the same time. I think a leader like Ayana is setting this example by using her time in a way where she can focus on her priorities, the things that give her joy and motivation to do other things. She is also leading by example.
And this is something that I feel like we don't have enough in the humanitarian and development space. And the more that we show others that it's okay to focus on these things that we know will make a difference and that we are really, excited and motivated about, that it's okay to take time on weekends for yourself, that it's okay to not answer all the emails.
The more we set that example as leaders the more others around us will feel like they can do the same. And I don't think leaders realize the power that they really have when it comes to this. I attended a wellbeing meeting last week. And I was giving an example of how when I worked in a certain country, the country representative would come to the office every weekend and spend the entire time at his desk.
And so everyone, or a lot of the staff, assumed that he was working. And so they would also go to the office and they would work on the weekends. But what I found out after a few months of being there was that actually, he really liked the internet quality at the office. And so the reason that he was there was actually to listen to jazz music.
It was not to get things done, but because that had not been communicated the impression that he was making was that he was working on weekends, which set this precedent that others around him felt like they had to follow along. Remember as a leader and especially when you have more authority or you're more toward the top people are watching you and you know, you need to communicate if you don't intentionally mean for them to follow your example.
And even that I would say, you know, the more you can lead by actually doing by example, I think the better over just talking because yes, we can say, , don't do what I do, which is, send emails late at night or in the morning or, spend time on weekends working on proposals or whatever. But the actual setting, by example, leading by example, showing the type of culture you want to create, I think is the most powerful.
Thank you, Ayana for that review. And if you'd like to leave one, I will also be happy to read it and give my thoughts just as I did with Ayana's.
So today we're going to talk about slowing down to save time. And I know that sounds counterintuitive, but actually I have several examples of how much impact this can really have for you.
What I've found and what I've observed with other leaders is the more we slow down and ask more questions and just listen and try to understand, rather than just rushing through the motions of getting something done, like in a meeting or, a conversation we're having with someone or, you know, whatever it is. Moreover, we will end up saving time in the long run.
And I think a lot of people, when they think of something like a coaching conversation or a coach approach leadership style, like I teach in my course, they think initially that it will take more time. And maybe it might take more time than a normal, rushed conversation. But at the end of the day, it will save more time because you'll have a better understanding of what the true problem is and what you really need to focus on, or the way you need to spend time and resources. So here's some examples from my own experience.
Now I know that, in the humanitarian and development world we can think that timelines are very important, there are deadlines, we need to get that proposal out. We need to get the seeds ordered. We need to help the community because they're suffering, whatever it is. But unfortunately this rush rush, rush.
If we don't counterbalance it by slowing down and being more mindful, being more aware of when we don't need to rush, rush, rush we can create a lot of time wasted. When I got to South Sudan, I inherited a proposal that someone had written in about two days. And because it was just thrown together, this proposal and what the project was saying it would accomplish and what it would get done was very unrealistic. And at the time I was working with savings groups and I remember like the numbers and the proposals didn't make any sense. And then also we had to get these seeds out to some very rural areas, which was very difficult to do at that time. And even the type of seeds requested weren't necessarily well fit for the community.
It was just an example of one of these things that was done, just to be able to say that we have funding. And I've seen this not only in this particular example, but many times over. That the emphasis on rush and growth outweighs the emphasis on quality and making sure that this is actually needed and that it is realistic. And what happened was that it was a year or two year project and it was so painful. Because renegotiating everything with the donor and all the time spent, the resources spent, the money spent on seeds that weren't even planted or arrived late. And, you know, the savings groups that had to be renegotiated because the numbers didn't make any sense.
That two days of rushing created so much waste that it probably would have been better off if we had just ended it early on. I spent so much time and energy and stress negotiating, renegotiating and just cleaning up this mess for two years, that it was created in two days.
I understand sometimes, donors have deadlines and whatever, but I think if we had stepped back a minute and maybe negotiated with a donor in advance, what happened was we had to negotiate with a donor over two years, rather than just, one or two days. And just say, Hey, we're going to give you an outline of what we think will be appropriate, but we want to refine what's realistic once we get the funding or whatever. And just negotiate that and ask more questions, to be able to really understand what does the community really need and what are the savings groups, what is really needed? That would have saved so much time and resources. Once again, an example of just rushing, rushing, rushing, just to tick a box, just to get some funding. And then, we end up with two years of just pain and.
Pain and suffering. We did accomplish a few things with that project, but it was just very, very challenging. And it didn't need to be that way. When I was in Timor and something that I really had to be aware of, especially when you first arrive and you first become a supervisor it's tempting to want to make a lot of changes and to just see things that are going on and want to fix them. Basically to want to fix all these things that you see that are inefficiencies or whatever. And the way your team is running things, things that you see as could be done a lot better in another way? However, what I've found is. That is exactly why people are wary of new leaders that come in and they want to change things and they don't even understand why those things are the way they are to begin with. And so I always, you know, when I'm coaching new leaders, new positions, I always tell them this first six months that you are in this position, you should use it just to understand, just to listen, just to ask questions, just to be patient and really slow down. And understand why things are the way they are, because otherwise you come in, you fix things that maybe don't need to be fixed, or maybe could be fixed in a different way. You might end up creating even more of a mess than you started with.
And the other thing is, when I got to Timor, I had so many ideas, so many ideas, the things that I wanted to do. And I had to really slow myself down because to be a leader, you need to have followers. And if I was just going to start making decisions and start new initiatives without bringing my team along with me, without having their buy-in without, you know, having their perspective and, and, and having their ownership over the things that I was, wanting to do then it would have just completely, been counterproductive. People, even though they'll do what you say, if you're at a certain power level, because you are the, you know, the supervisor, the person at the top, the country representative, the head of office, the project manager. But. You will be doing it at a cost.
And that is your team's trust, the relationships. If they don't fully understand, or are on board with what you're doing. Then they probably will resist the change. And also as soon as you leave, things will go back to the way they were before. So if you really want to make sustainable change and really, truly have a following, you need to slow down and ask more questions and understand and get your team to come along with you before you make change.
These are just two examples that I experienced where I felt like slowing down was very beneficial. And there are many, many others, whether it's when we work with the community, understanding what they need, taking the time to really understand our implementing partners and why they might not be taking action, and understanding the government and their perspectives. All these things, the more we try to slow down and understand and listen, we not only strengthen our relationships and our trust but we also have a better understanding from which to make decisions and to waste less time and resources in the future.
I want you to try and catch yourself this week when you find yourself wanting to rush through something, just to check a box or just to get it done. And ask yourself how might slowing down right now save me more time later?
And also, if you want to learn how to have a conversation where you use curiosity, listening skills, and quality questions in order to really understand your team or those around you, then please check out the coach approach leadership style. The doors are open right now until April 5th, you can go to the website www.Aidforaidworkers.com and click on the coach approach course and find out more how to register there. ( https://www.aidforaidworkers.com/coaching-course )
All right, everyone. So until next week, keep broadening your impact. Bye for now.