Nature versus Nuture?
The degree to which you interact with colleagues may be driven by your natural interest to interact with others (nature) or the culture of your organization (nurture). Each of these situations alone can significantly increase or reduce the degree to which you...
What Are the Benefits of Interacting with Others?
As you work to expand your interactions beyond networking, you should consider the benefits of increasing the degree in which you interact with others. By interacting with colleagues at your organization, you - increase your knowledge of what is occurring at your...
What is an Office Hermit?
What is an office hermit? These are the colleagues who, hidden within the confines of their offices or workstations, click away on their computer keyboards, mumble their way through conference calls behind closed doors, and slip in and out of their offices and...
Beating Responsiveness Hurdle #3
What is the responsiveness hurdle #3? I do not feel I have time to get back to everyone. What can you do? - Schedule some daily time on your calendar dedicated to returning phone calls and email. - Ask your colleagues by when they needs an answer. Often times, it...
Beating Responsiveness Hurdle #2
What is the responsiveness hurdle #2? I do not provide colleagues an update when my efforts to respond to them is taking longer than expected. What can you do? - Call your colleagues as soon as possible to discuss a new deadline. - Leave your colleagues a message...
Beating Responsiveness Hurdle #1
What is the responsiveness hurdle #1? I do not respond quickly to colleagues who outreach to me for help. What can you do? - Create a "first in, first out" log to ensure you get back to your colleagues faster and in the order of their outreaches to you. - Respond...
The Responsiveness Volume Fallacy
Not all who are unresponsive can blame the overwhelming amount of incoming emails and phone calls as the cause of their behavior. Many of us tend to assume that other people’s low responsiveness is due to workload when, in reality, they may not possess a natural...
Be More Responsive – Step #4 – Respond Appropriately
At some point, you will either have the answer your colleagues need or realize that you do not. If you have the answer they need – great! However, once you know that you are unable to help, let your colleagues know as soon as possible so they can go elsewhere....
Be More Responsive – Step #3 – Update
Once you have set expectations and quickly acknowledged your colleagues outreach, you need to keep your colleagues updated on the status of their outreach. You may not have started working on it yet, or you just started working on it and you aren't ready to...
Be More Responsive – Step #2 – Acknowledge
There is a big difference between acknowledging an outreach and providing an answer to the outreach. You may not have the answer or you may not have the time to provide the answer at that moment. Regardless of the situation and in order to help your colleagues make...