Break Up with Taking on Projects Alone
On a night out with a friend celebrating their milestone work anniversary, I heard hilarious and humble stories about her journey as a Project Manager. “Oh, what I didn’t know year one,” she said, shaking her head. “I thought I’d put my best Six Sigma thinking to work, and that would be that. These days, I’ve completely changed my approach. People get projects done, not templates!”
I thought back to her insight when I heard about the “3–3–3” perk, a policy by Verkada encouraging their employees to socialize. The rules of the road are simple: $30 per person maximum, a 3-person minimum, and a requirement to post a photo in the company’s 3–3–3 Slack channel when you’re done. Verkada will pay for the outing if you check all the boxes.
The 3–3–3 initiative may sound a little ridiculous, but there’s method and data behind the madness. CEO Filip Kaliszan noticed a trend during the pandemic where engineers were fighting and “writing essays to each other” via text arguments. The Verkada leadership team knew there had to be a better way, and that’s how the 3–3–3 project was born.
You might be thinking, What’s the catch, especially to my employer? But Kaliszan insists the upside is real. He commented, “The idea is it’s the afternoon, and three people go out and hang out together — chances are you’ll talk about something that’s relevant or work-related, and ultimately that will benefit us.”
Pair Up for Optimum Productivity
You may not be ready to spend every afternoon with your co-workers, and that’s okay. However, the object lesson is the same thing I learned from my Project Manager friend. People are the building blocks of productivity. And it’s impossible to develop relationships if your only focus is individual accomplishments.
The alternative is recognizing that creating excellent outcomes happen after a meeting of the minds. Common ground doesn’t happen from isolating, busy work, and endless sync meetings. What’s more, sometimes the best productivity can spring from doing the unthinkable, and that is taking a break. It’s amazing what can get done by going for a short walk, hitting the pickleball court for a friendly game, or celebrating milestones (even if you’re clapping for yourself after getting through a tough week).
So, if you want optimum productivity, start by breaking up with going it alone.
Productivity Break-Ups Recap
In the March series, Productivity Break-Ups, we’ve discussed how to retire three behaviors hindering your success. The old way of bossing up was to push yourself — and perhaps everyone else — as hard as possible. But if you’ve ever worked for a boss or a cross-group project lead who acted that way, you’ll instantly remember how you didn’t feel motivated, encouraged, or at your best. Instead, you probably just felt pushed.
Quality results are the output of right thinking. Excellence happens when you’re in the flow, not when you’re exhausted. So, let’s recap three practices that are worth leaving behind as you spring clean your skill set:
Having a stellar reputation when you GSD takes sophistication and nuance. It relies on critical qualities such as taking a flexible approach, making shrewd choices about what matters or should no longer be a priority, and treating your schedule with the same respect and kindness you extend to others. So, instead of being a steamroller, act like the creative, wise CEO of your life — a Soul Boss — and use people skills to cultivate optimum productivity.
Have you enjoyed this series? Keep the goodness going by discovering a new approach to skilling up. Check out my new book, Soft Skills Basics in a Flash.
