Discipline of Waiting

When something good or bad happens, or we have an idea, we want to share it. When we have a question, we want to ask it. When frustrated, we want to vent.

Sharing our news, ideas, questions and frustrations whenever the urge strikes, consumes an incalculable amount of time and human energy, and that matters because many of us say we don’t have enough time to accomplish everything we want to accomplish.

Undisciplined communication leads to countless interruptions – leaders interrupting their teams, teams interrupting their leaders and teammates interrupting each other – making it hard for anyone to stay focused and get things done. With current technology, we can call, email and text our way into pure chaos.

The simple solution is to establish a Meeting Pulse™ that will instill the discipline of waiting to communicate. The idea is to set regular times when the right people can be present to focus on what needs to be communicated. In a structured meeting, your team can then work efficiently to achieve clarity, with everyone on the same page and appropriate actions defined. The frequency and length of your meetings will depend on the amount of communication to be processed. For most teams, we recommend meeting for 30 to 90 minutes weekly.

This one discipline will keep your team more focused and save you hundreds of unproductive man-hours each quarter. What will that do for your bottom line?