YOUR BUSINESS RESCUE COACH ASKS YOU:
When was the last time you took a time out?
Do you have meetings or work through lunch?
Are your Best Business Strategies working for you already OR are you performing less than you would like? Last week we spoke about becoming more effective by doing something counter-intuitive: taking a break!
This week we are going to dive into a bad habit people practice: working lunch meetings, as well as how The Law of Diminishing Returns supports your need to take a break. Question: When was the last time you went to a lunch meeting and it was truly imperative for it to occur at lunch, and only during lunch? Unless you work for the Red Cross or the Oval Office, I don’t believe there is a true need for this to occur.
Yes, it’s a bold statement and I will say it to anyone. Lunch meetings don’t need to be the norm – it’s simply a bad habit we are practicing! This poor habit is supported by what one professor said to us in each class, “X is the outcome of lazy and sloppy management”. Each class at least for one topic we heard this… and when he said it, he always repeated it three times! He cared and witnessed the many poor or bad habits we inflict upon each other in our workplaces.
Now, I’m not oblivious to the fact that some management may respond to all this with, “Well, we care about you and thought it would be nice to bring in lunch for you” (keep in mind there is no such thing as a free lunch), or “we really want to get to know you better” (your response, “excellent, let’s go to lunch and have a social conversation to accomplish this”). The truth of the matter is that over time they’ve become avid practitioners of a bad performance habit too and want others to join them … watch out, this is an easy trap to fall into!
The importance to why we need to take a lunch break seemed to strike a chord with many of you who I have spoke with this past week. Now, the questions is: what are you going to do to change a culture who has accepted and expected a bad habit to survive?
Business Strategy: No more lunch meetings!
Empowering yourself to take back YOUR Lunchtime
- Start by not scheduling your lunch for any work activities – guard this time!
- Respectfully talk with your boss and discuss why you (and others, if you want to champion the cause) need a break and the importance of this to your overall performance. Sharing the clarity and greater productivity a break offers (by reading the above linked posts for validation).
- Ask you boss if they, too, would like to have a break during lunch to come back to work all fresh and rejuvenated to slay another round of their dragons? (They do – even if they won’t admit it to you, but plant the seed any way!)
It only take one person’s respectful thoughts and actions to change an organization… start with yourself and see where you can take this…. who knows, you may be everyone’s super hero and everyone’s performance AND attitude will significantly improve!
It can be all different this year…
if you plan to deliver different results in 2013!
If you or your business needs rescuing on this particular topic
or any other Business Strategies we have been discussing,
please reach out to Maggie (262) 716.7750 FYI: I’m in the Central Time Zone
Blessings of Success to YOU ~
The Business Rescue Coach, Maggie Mongan
Brilliant Breakthroughs, Inc.
