0:00

Hi, Richie Freeman and I'm your Modern

0:02

Manners Guy. In under 20 minutes a week,

0:04

I can teach you how to avoid awkward

0:06

Zoom call rock the holiday

0:09

office party, and navigate the ever-changing

0:11

workplace with grace and charm.

0:14

See, manners are more than just

0:16

soup spoons, dinner parties, and white

0:18

glove hoity-toity events. It's

0:20

about having meaningful connections with people,

0:23

feeling confident, and most importantly, not

0:25

being a jerk. to Modern Manners

0:27

Guy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or

0:29

wherever you get your podcasts.

0:50

Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your Modern Mentor.

0:53

I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, a firm

0:55

specializing in helping teams and organizations

0:58

optimize their working experience.

1:00

And one thing that doesn't help a workplace experience

1:03

is rampant overwhelm or worse,

1:05

burnout. The

1:07

uncertainty of the economy has left many

1:09

of us afraid to say no to anything.

1:12

So we all just keep piling more onto

1:14

our plates. But as I learned the

1:17

hard way, the first time my parents unleashed

1:19

me at a dessert buffet when I was five.

1:22

Your body will inevitably let know

1:24

when you've piled it on too high. My

1:27

delight at the buffet ended in a cleanup

1:29

on aisle six kind of disaster, but in

1:31

the workplace, the overpiling on our

1:33

plates, less repulsively, but just

1:36

as terribly, leads to anxiety and

1:38

overwhelm and disengagement. And these

1:40

consequences are real. My

1:43

delight at the buffet ended in a cleanup

1:45

on aisle six kind of disaster, but in

1:48

the workplace, the overpiling on our

1:50

plates leads less repulsively,

1:52

but just as terribly to anxiety

1:55

and overwhelm and disengagement. And

1:57

these consequences are real.

1:59

So. If your boss or a client or a

2:01

colleague is continuing to ask for more

2:04

and you're just afraid to say no, what

2:06

can you do?

2:07

Well, you can refine.

2:10

One of my most popular workshops these days is

2:12

called Achieve More with Purpose, Clarity,

2:15

and Alignment. It's designed

2:17

to help a team clarify its most

2:19

essential impact, determine which priorities,

2:21

like which meetings and projects, ladder

2:24

up to that impact,

2:25

and then to make more effective decisions around

2:28

what to take on and and what not to.

2:30

And as part of this workshop, I teach a framework

2:32

called the SRA, which stands

2:35

for stop, refine and add.

2:37

And here's how we use it. I start by

2:39

asking teams to complete what's called a purpose

2:41

canvas. It's a quick exercise to

2:43

help them articulate the unique value that they

2:45

deliver, to whom and why. Then

2:48

with that purpose in hand, I ask them

2:50

to review their calendars and ask themselves

2:53

this question. If I need to

2:55

achieve this purpose or impact, What

2:57

are the things I need to stop doing? And

2:59

yes, there is always something.

3:01

What are the things I need to add or start

3:03

doing? And what are the things I need

3:06

to keep doing, but can maybe do more

3:08

efficiently, effectively, or even more

3:10

joyfully?

3:12

And this last bucket is where we refine.

3:15

If you're wondering what it looks like to refine something

3:17

you're already doing, and I hope that you're

3:19

wondering,

3:20

then let's talk about some of the strategies

3:22

I share in this program.

3:24

Candidly, I have so many beloved

3:26

ones that I'll be sharing some this week and some

3:29

more next week. All of these

3:31

require you to pause and consider some

3:33

options before you automatically say yes

3:35

and run. It does take practice, but

3:38

here are some options to consider. The

3:41

first is advise. Sometimes

3:43

we are asked to do something not because we're

3:45

needed for the doing, but for the

3:47

knowing of something relevant or important.

3:50

Like take my client Jay. He

3:52

works in marketing and he is an analytics

3:55

wizard, which means he is always in

3:57

high demand and his plate is always spilling

3:59

over.

4:00

When we held up his Purpose Canvas next to his

4:02

plate,

4:03

we realized that a lot of what was piling up on

4:05

his plate was simply because the person who should

4:07

have been owning the task or project was

4:09

lacking the analytic confidence or capability.

4:12

And we agreed together that by taking on

4:14

an advisory role,

4:16

Jay could offer a unique value to the work without

4:19

actually owning the work.

4:21

We started with one project that was about to kick

4:23

off. It was a detailed analysis of the past 12

4:26

months of campaigns that had been sent.

4:28

Jay, of course, had been tasked with doing

4:30

the work, but

4:31

instead he approached his boss and said

4:33

something like this, I've got a lot on

4:35

my plate right now and if I take this on, I'm

4:38

worried another ball will fall.

4:40

What if instead, Kayla takes it on

4:42

and I spend a few hours with her up front setting

4:44

up the analytics and I agree to meet with her

4:46

weekly to talk through progress and advise

4:48

on the conclusions they're drawing?

4:50

His boss said yes, and he has since

4:53

negotiated similar arrangements in

4:55

three other projects.

4:56

And this is a win for everybody.

4:58

It means more projects are given the advantage

5:00

of Jay's expertise, while Jay

5:03

maintains the capacity to get his own work done

5:05

without burning himself out.

5:07

Your area of expertise may be less specific

5:09

or technical.

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But can you find just one thing on your plate

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that needs your brain more than your hands?

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6:14

Next, collaborate. Whatever

6:16

the thing you need to deliver, a report, a

6:19

presentation, a process, a product, a

6:21

safety plan, before you begin,

6:23

stop and ask yourself, who else

6:25

in my world might be working on something similar?

6:28

It may be a colleague in your company.

6:30

It may be someone you met at a conference or on

6:32

LinkedIn who does similar work. As

6:35

long as trade secrets are kept confidential,

6:37

who can you partner with? This

6:40

approach adds value through a few lenses. It

6:42

can drive efficiency if you and your collaborator

6:44

opt to divide and conquer. It

6:47

can deliver a more creative outcome because two

6:49

minds generate more ideas than one.

6:51

And finally, it can make doing the work

6:54

just a bit more pleasurable.

6:55

And this helps preserve your energy and engagement

6:58

which totally counts in the world of keeping

7:00

your impact high. I personally

7:03

use this one all the time.

7:05

I get more joy out of the work and my clients

7:07

get richer solutions. Everyone's winning.

7:09

And finally,

7:11

repurpose. Now this option requires

7:14

a little release of our egos because

7:16

we do love creating something from scratch.

7:19

There's this great story around the advent

7:21

of the Betty Crocker cake mix in a box.

7:24

In short, the original version of the cake

7:26

mix launched in the 1950s

7:29

required only the addition of water to the mix

7:31

before baking. And

7:32

in its earliest days, sales

7:34

were horrible.

7:36

So the company did some market research and discovered

7:38

that their target customers, in this case

7:41

being the 1950s and all, it was women

7:43

who managed the home.

7:44

They weren't buying it because it felt like cheating.

7:47

It was simply too easy. And

7:49

the women didn't feel a sense of ownership

7:51

of the cake they would would ultimately put on the table. So

7:54

General Mills changed the recipe so the baker

7:56

now needed to add eggs to the batter and

7:59

suddenly it was flying.

7:59

off the shelves.

8:01

The lesson here is that when we're attaching our name

8:03

to something, we want to feel a sense of ownership

8:06

in it, like we played a strong hand in

8:08

making it.

8:09

And there's no shame in that. But also,

8:12

sometimes the impact is in the efficiency.

8:14

So before you set out

8:16

with a blank page to go build the thing, just

8:19

pause and ask yourself, does something

8:21

similar already exist? Something

8:23

that gets me 90 or even 5% of

8:26

the way there?

8:27

Something I can use as a springboard, but

8:29

also evolve to make my own.

8:31

Okay, I hope you found some value

8:33

in these strategies. Choose one,

8:36

give it a try, and join me next week

8:38

for more.

8:39

Until then, visit my website at leadabovenoise.com

8:43

if your organization is looking to dial up its

8:45

employee experience or deliver some leadership

8:47

development that activates change.

8:49

You can follow Modern Mentor on Apple Podcasts,

8:52

Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

8:55

Find and follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks so much

8:57

for listening and have a successful week.

9:00

Modern Mentor is a quick and dirty tips podcast.

9:02

It's audio engineered by Dan Firebend with script

9:05

editing by Adam Cecil.

9:06

Our podcast and advertising operations specialist

9:09

is Morgan Christensen. Our digital

9:11

operations specialist is Holly Hutchings. Our

9:13

marketing and publicity associate is Davina

9:15

Tomlin and our intern is Cameron Lacy.

9:24

T-Mobile's award-winning 5G coverage

9:26

is bigger than AT&T and Verizon's combined.

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Not only does T-Mobile have a great network, but their plans

9:31

are packed full of incredible extras. Customers

9:33

can get a value of over $225 in

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benefits every single month on their Max family

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plans. Benefits like your favorite streaming services,

9:40

all included. Who says you can't have

9:42

it all? With T-Mobile, you don't have to choose between

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a great network or great value. Find out more

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at tmobile.com slash CY.