Happy Tuesday!

Take a deep breath.

Deep breathing is always a good piece of advice.

Especially as you prepare to read – because the beginning of the first article might make you anxious or upset. (So, take a deep breath, and it will be fine, I promise).

My second article talks about the power of the pause, so a deep breath is appropriate there too.

And there have been some deep breaths here as we finished the launch of Flexible Leadership: Navigate Uncertainty and Lead with Confidence.

Thank you if you have already purchased your copy(ies). If not, there is no time like the present to take a deep breath and start consciously working on being a more effective, intentional and flexible leader.

Enjoy this week’s issue and…

Make it a great Tuesday and remember…

You are Remarkable!

Kevin 😊

Bingeing at Work

This Linkedin News post is interesting, but maybe not for the reasons it highlights. The article title is Gen Z admits to TV Bingeing at Work. The upshot is that 84% of younger remote workers engage in the habit, and 48% admit lying to their bosses about it.

I was intrigued and wanted to know more so I dipped into the source material. The article references an Axios news story which summarizes a Tubi Streaming survey. I went to the sources hoping to learn more about the demographics studied and if there were differences across generations.

But I was disappointed that while the methodology of the survey, done by The Harris Poll (on behalf of Tubi), included “2,502 18+ adults that stream video at least 1 hour per week”, the results shown were only for Gen Z.

Perhaps Tubi wanted to learn about that age segment, which is their prerogative – it is their money that funded the survey.

My problem is with the conclusions.

My Problems

• Problem 1 – is it age? So, 84% of Gen Z remote workers say they streamed during work. But what about people of other ages? Before you use this data to judge people of one age, do you think the Gen Z’s are alone? I doubt it.

• Problem 2 – Axios’s conclusion. They conclude that “Gen Z workers are serious about work-life balance.” I suppose that is a conclusion you could draw, but along with the age-based bias (and other generations aren’t?), it implies that watching instead of working (because we know multitasking is a myth) is somehow ok or justified?

My Observations

Yes, my problems are observations, but my bigger observations go beyond these worrisome points.

• Misconstruing productivity. As a business owner, I’m not sure I love the idea of people (regardless of their age) watching TV when they are on the clock. However, if people are delivering quality work, on time and are meeting all my expectations, why should I care?

• Productivity is about accomplishment, not activity. Could people stream a bit and still get everything done well? If so, again, why should I care? If I do care, I need to look in the mirror. If people aren’t fully engaged (or are proficient and clever enough to complete their work in less time, I should know that). And if I do know that I could raise the expectations or the workload, but that starts with me, not my team member.

• People voting with their remote. I know you might be saying “But Kevin, they should tell me they need more work, if they are done…” Guess what? If they are engaged in their work, they will. If they see the benefit and meaning in their work, they will. And if they know you care about them and their work, chances are they will. But if they aren’t engaged, they might hit the remote, instead of asking, “what else do we need to accomplish?”

• Judgment abounds. In the end, telling me some people are streaming while working doesn’t surprise me. This data doesn’t tell us a group, or people in general are necessarily slackers. It also doesn’t justify work life balance.

• This data challenges us. This study urges us as leaders to consider our beliefs, expectations, and connection to our teams. It doesn’t (automatically) justify a more powerful RTO policy, it urges us to lead better and more individually. When we do that, we will find out where our challenges might be with team members and what we can do to overcome those challenges.

The Leadership Power of the Pause

Leaders have a lot on their plate – and a lot on other minds. They have responsibilities galore and likely a full inbox. They are expected to be on point, on-the-ball, and on top of everything. Many wear busy as a badge of honor. Despite all this, and perhaps even because of it, the best leaders realize the power of the pause.

The most effective and confident leaders know that even when it seems they shouldn’t (or don’t think they have time), they need to take a deep breath...

And pause.

Thanks for reading. Please reply at any time with questions or feedback for our team.

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