We don’t mean to sound irreverent, but when was the last time you asked: “Do I need to be here?” Go/NoGo Questions are invaluable in helping us examine the bigger picture of how we use precious resources at work. Almost all of us feel like we have too many urgent things to do, too many meetings to attend, and too many channels of communication to monitor. So, we need to be asking ourselves and our colleagues more often: Do I need to be here? And do you?
It is easy to work in a reactive mode, letting our inbox and calendar dictate our focus from moment to moment. We know that this passive approach can trap us, because the urgent is the enemy of the important. We can allow ourselves to be distracted by instant messages, texts, and pop-ups, but we end up trading complex and meaningful work for simple tasks that offer instant gratification. Another trap we create for ourselves is that we feel like we are working all the time, but we aren’t making any progress. Instead of falling into these traps, we need to question our participation as an intentional and smart strategy for doing our best work.
ASKING GO/NOGO PARTICIPATION QUESTIONS OF OURSELVES
Go/NoGo Questions in Precision Q+A are defined as questions that allow us to manage time, energy, focus, and effort in the moment. They are questions that we use to guide our work, and they are implicit in the minute-to-minute choices we make about our focus, how to spend our time, what to talk about, and who to involve in the discussion. That’s why we are well served to build a habit of asking ourselves precise Go/NoGo Questions on a regular basis – they keep us out of the traps of trading off the important for the urgent, going for the simple distraction, or sacrificing the meaningful work for the to-do list.
Participation questions are a sub-category of the Go/NoGo Question, emphasizing the meetings, discussions, and tasks we choose to participate in at a given moment, such as:
- Is participating in this task the best use of my time?
- Is participating in this activity focused on my short-term needs or long-term goals?
- What am I not participating in right now, in favor of doing this task instead?
- Are there other people who would be more appropriate for this meeting or discussion than I am?
ASKING GO/NOGO PARTICIPATION QUESTIONS WITH A MANAGER
Many of us report to someone or collaborate with someone who directly influences how we spend our time and energy. Usually, when we think about interacting with a manager, we think about making a good impression and looking like we have everything done. A project lead once summed up why he didn’t use Go/NoGo Questions: “If I ask these kinds of questions, it might sound to my manager like I’m trying to get out of doing the work.” While we may not think of using Go/NoGo Questions as a way to interact with a manager, it can actually be a smart strategy when we do it correctly. We may have to summon up some courage to ask participation questions, and use our social intelligence to frame them appropriately.
When we find ways to phrase Go/NoGo Questions that include a brief explanation of the reasoning behind the question, we reveal that we are being thoughtful about our time and energy:
- “I am happy to attend the cross-group meeting, but given her expertise with that technology, perhaps Rita is the better representative from our group?”
- “In our last one-on-one we moved the Westix project down on my list of priorities. Would you still like me to participate in tomorrow’s conference call?”
- “It is likely that if I attend the CloudSys meetings I will not finish the testing for ProductCloud by Friday. Would it be appropriate for me to review the meeting notes instead?”
ASKING GO/NOGO PARTICIPATION QUESTIONS WITH A TEAM
Ok, so maybe we can use Go/NoGo Questions with ourselves, and maybe even in a one-on-one meeting, but here’s the really hard part – how do we ask our teammates whether we really need to be in a meeting, when everyone else is toughing it out? We often worry that we will look uncommitted or that we might miss important information, so we skip the Go/NoGo participation questions in favor of sitting quietly through an irrelevant agenda.
We recently worked with a team whose unproductive meetings were producing tension. They did not think carefully about who should attend each meeting. They usually didn’t plan an agenda in advance. Their solution was to invite everyone to every meeting, and to share the agenda as the meeting started. Since participants arrived unsure of their role, they would bring laptops and smartphones and check email or do other work until the discussion applied to them. To the participants who were engaged in the topic, however, this looked rude.
Someone needed to break out of this norm and be the first one to ask Go/NoGo Questions about participation. As soon as one member took this risk, others were right there with additional questions and ideas for structuring their participation more effectively! Again, we have to summon up a bit of courage, and find a socially intelligent way to ask what is on everyone’s mind:
- “I know we haven’t talked about this in a while, but just to make sure we’re getting the best insights possible, can we make sure we have everybody we need in this meeting?”
- “I realize this may sound a little disrespectful, but I mean it in the opposite way: Out of respect for everyone’s time, does everyone here need to stay for the entire meeting?”
- “I apologize if you’ve already discussed this, but couldn’t we break this meeting into several shorter discussions that only involve a few of us?”
THE POWER OF PARTICIPATION QUESTIONS
A 2011 study by the American Psychological Association found that a third of employees feel a high degree of stress at work, and 20% of employees rate their stress as 8 or above on a 10 point scale. In the midst of too much to do and too many meetings to attend, we need to find compassion for ourselves and others. While participation questions like “Do I need to be here?” may seem irreverent, asking socially smart questions about how we use our time and effort can build engagement rather than undermine it. Participation questions help us honor ourselves and others by using their time and effort on the things that matter most.
THIS MONTH’S PRACTICE
So many people feel stressed out at work and pulled in a thousand different directions. While “Do I need to be here?” sounds like an impractical question, it’s actually a moment of compassion at work. Recognizing our own and others’ distress with competing priorities and long to-do lists, participation questions help us honor ourselves and others by using our time and energy wisely.
PRACTICE 1
Look at your calendar for the next two weeks, and identify any meetings where you should question whether or not your attendance is the best use of your time. For each one that you identify, craft a careful, polite, and precise Go/NoGo Question about your participation. Before you hit send, double check your questions using your intuition and social intelligence. Ensure that you are asking in a way that honors everyone’s time and effort and makes your motivation clear. One technique is to include a brief explanation of your reasoning along with your question. Showing why you are asking reveals that you are being thoughtful about everyone’s time, energy, and effort – not simply trying to “get out” of the work.
PRACTICE 2
Whether or not we ask participation questions to others, we really benefit from asking ourselves how we are spending our time and energy. Let’s become more intentional about our work. To build the habit of asking yourself Go/NoGo participation questions, set a timer to alert you every 30 minutes. When the timer goes off, ask yourself precise participation questions about your activities, like these:
- Should I be participating in this meeting or discussion right now?
- Is participating in this activity the best use of my time?
- Is participating in this activity focused on my short-term needs or long-term goals?
- What am I not participating in right now, in favor if doing this task instead? Should I switch focus?
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