BLOG 245: The Deep End

“Just because others are going off at the deep end – doesn't mean you have to join them there.” Louis-Ferdinand Céline   [Trifles for a Massacre 1937]

When it comes to the world of work it has come to my attention that those of us lucky enough to be employed during this beastly recession, have exactly the same problem. We are all time poor.

We’re all time poor because we DON’T work smarter. And by smarter I mean that we have no idea how to get the best out of each other and waste precious business time causing bad feeling in the work place.

But then we are all in a hurry… so who has the time to invest in fluffy people stuff eh? Okay short shrift may sting a little but hey... it's not like that can have any REAL effect on a business... surely?

Well.... um... YEAH....It does.

According to the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) -  an average of 31 business hours per month is wasted on the rows, debates, meetings and discussions that follow someone totally demotivating a colleague or subordinate.

Oh and if you want to know what that is in money… here is the formula:

Number of persons in the meeting x Monthly average salary x Time = £wasted

I find it extraordinary that as adults in the workplace we have no idea how to impart information to each other contextually. I mean we MUST know how to do this our parents taught us this drill reading us a story before we slept nightly –  we KNOW that the imparting of information has a beginning a middle and an end.

Guess we’re not children any more… so we don’t need stories with beginning middle and ends. After all we work for your salary, bonuses and other financial gain…. Who needs all that psychobabble about treating people well… we all know what was meant. No offence taken… it’s not personal.... it’s business!

It’s quicker to just dive in at the deep end and just say what you want them to do.

For example: This week I've been working for a movie publication.  I’d previously done a piece on the standardisation of film projection speed (fps) and how it was the sound era that brought this about, so I was commissioned to do a follow up on how silent movies were shot on variable fps and how this effects restoration and viewing.

Gosh that makes me sound smart… but it’s not really all that. It’s a movie lover/writers dream to be able to combine passions and get paid… and I loved doing all the research for the previous article so threw myself into the new one with gusto. ANYWAY…..

The point is there were obviously some tweaks to be made. Okay writers are precious at editing time anyway, so you would imagine a publication would kind of know this... but I doubt anyone could come out of a dialogue feeling more under appreciated and actually ...really offended.

It appears the person speaking to me assumed that I knew by osmosis that she appreciates my work to date and would know she was simply asking if I could accommodate a tweak or two.

In fact what she ACTUALLY did was give a litany of “shits I hate”.

You see, if she employed the whole beginning middle and end theory… it might have gone like this:

Start at the beginning – set the scene: That article you submitted on restoring silent movies so that they run at the correct fps and don't appear unnaturally fast or slow...I think depending on if this one goes down as well as the previous one that we may do more in this thread…

Shift to the middle -  explain your position: but there are a few tweaks I’d like you to consider

Close at the end – state your case: You mentioned C4 were a great supporter of this concept mention of the support they gave to restoration in the 80s and 90s and organised screenings at large venues around the country could you add that they also ran the restored films in prime time on their own channel and look into if that series is available on youtube/dvd etc ?

Call me old fashioned but does that invite a better response than:

“Your article has a ruddy big hole in it – you don’t even mention the fact that C4 had prime time series showing restored silent movies…. Thing is when people read this they are gonna think that you haven’t a CLUE what you are talking about… you are gonna have to change it cause leaving that out makes the whole publication look BAD!!!!”

Yup – she went off at the deep end.

Apparently this is standard business practice – not just at that publication but across the business world. Apparently it takes time to put together a decent proposition, so it’s quicker to just dive in.

WHY???

It’s ridiculous …. All that happens a row.

Do you know how long it takes to say things properly – to talk to people in a positive way to engage a positive result? TWO MINUTES.

Do you know the cost to your business of the results of that two minute investment?  NO COST

In fact your business GAINS… not only will people do as you ask (according to BCC statistics 98.7% of employees when approached in this manor will acquiesces to requests made of them)… they actually work harder.

Well I don’t get it why this isn’t standard business practice. Not just at that publication but across the business world.

Sure, it’s up to the individual business to set its own culture but two minutes versus however long it takes to get someone back into work mode… I know what I’d choose.

I often heard it said that in business… TIME is money.

Then clearly if you want to save yourself 31 business hours per month: It may be an idea about the result you want before you open your mouth

... in fact as a general rule in life just:

THINK before you speak?

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