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Presenteeism Part 2: Is Your Team Working Overtime?

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Is your team working when they should rest?

I read a study a while back that said “presenteeism” is a much bigger problem in the US than absenteeism. And I don’t think any of us need a study to know that’s true!

Last week I talked about the effect of presenteeism on our projects when WE show up even though we’re sick or burned out. Our minds don’t work as fast. We can’t process all the information coming in and start to make poor decisions.

Taking a break would benefit our team and project as much as ourselves.

But we’re not the only ones who show up and stay there when they should rest.

Your team does it, too.

They may not be “running the show” but they also have deadlines, more work than reasonable, and several work streams going on at the same time.

Instead of calling in sick, they show up because they don’t want to disappoint their teammates (or you). They have a a mountain of work and don’t want to do it on the weekend. Or they’re just about done with an activity and don’t want to lose momentum.

Every project has periods of intense work and long hours. But it shouldn’t be the norm.

When someone is sick and physically in the office, it has the added risk of passing the germs around. These days we’re all hyper-aware of illness so it’s an easier task to convince our team members to stay home.

But as I write this, most corporate employees are still working remote.

So when someone is not feeling their best…they can still turn on their computer and log on!

They still show up for meetings, still try to hit their deadlines and attempt to be productive.

When we have 24 hour access, it’s hard to separate work from home. Boundaries blur. It’s incredibly tempting to “hop on for just a little while” and end up being on-line for hours.

Presenteeism in our teams can cause mistakes that filter through each department so everyone is affected. Or a small issue with data isn’t caught until a month later when it’s a mess to untangle and fix.

And just like when we’re not 100%, it’s tough for them to process information, they become less tolerant of everyday issues, and it takes longer to recover.

So, while we need to make sure we’re not over-working ourselves, we also pay attention to our teams.

Here are a few watch-points:

  • How many hours are they putting in on a daily basis?
  • What times are they sending email?
  • Is there a change in their demeanor – are they less patient or tolerant?
  • Are they mentioning something new in their environment (i.e. kids home or caring for an elderly parent)
  • Do they look/sound different?
  • How are they acting in meetings – or is there a change in their show up rate or time?

This is not an exhaustive list. But any of these can indicate some presenteeism is going on. Then we need to take the next step and speak with the team member.

But be prepared for denial and pushback. It’s hard to stop the work-train once it gets going.

Presenteeism is cultural within the organization and the team.

Project Managers have a big influence on our project’s culture. We set the tone from the very first meeting and our teams will watch what we do throughout the project.

They will notice when we’re asking them to hit impossible deadlines or encouraging late night work. They will note when we come to work sick or skip vacation.

How we set the standards and stick to them over time is critical.

We all want to be present with a positive attitude, energy, and a clear mind. Making sure our team is not over-working or showing up sick goes a long way to maintaining a project that is not just efficient, but more enjoyable for everyone.

And the project outcomes will reflect it!

By the way, if you missed last week’s article, here’s the link: Presenteeism Part 1

“Dude, you’re already there!”

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I’m sitting outside on my deck on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, writing this post to you. I can hear birds chirping and an airplane in the distant sky. All around me I see nature – grass, trees, and the occasional cat strolling across the yard. 🙂

Life is pretty good!

It makes me wonder: how often are we so busy striving to reach our goals that we don’t realize we’ve already achieved them?

Or, do we get most of the way there and become sidetracked when we see something better…or different?

How stressed are we in our lives that we can’t even notice the beauty around us right now?

Today, instead of taking this post from Life to Project Leadership, I’d like to switch it around and ask you to think about applying your Leadership skills to Life.

As Project Managers, we’re used to mapping out the steps to a goal. And freezing requirements. And bringing the team back on track when they go down a rabbit hole during a meeting.

We keep an eye on the future, but don’t let anyone get caught up in the vision. We keep everyone focused on completing “one thing at a time.”

We make sure to tell our people how much they’ve done, how far they’ve come, and how much we appreciate them. We celebrate each milestone before moving onto the next.

It’s hard to go home and take a good look in the mirror.

I know I’m guilty of driving too hard, adding goals, and putting even more pressure on myself to achieve everything in the same timeframe. I don’t stop, pick up my head, and take a good look around. I don’t exhale and relax.

I would never do that to my team – why do I do it to myself?

As I sit here enjoying the fresh air and writing on my laptop, I am intentionally taking a moment to reflect on the milestones I’ve achieved over the years. Big and small. And soaking in the “here and now”.

Our kids are hitting big milestones these next few weeks: our eldest daughter graduates college. Our youngest turns 18 and graduates high school. I am truly grateful for the time I spent with them over the years – they’ve turned into wonderful young adults.

My goals back when they were young were different than today. But I achieved them.

I’ve also realized the goal of running my own business and working out of my house rather than an office, which supports another goal of mine: writing Leadership Notes each week!

And what’s next? Reaching 10,000 people with my posts and spending the winters somewhere WARM. 🙂

So now that you know my goals, past and present, what are yours? Can you look around and say, “wow, I’m actually doing what I want” or “I already have my dream job”? What are your current goals – have you written them down, at least?

I will offer this to you: if you want someone to help you clarify or align your goals, book some time on my calendar and I’ll be happy to ask all those PM questions it’s so tough to ask ourselves. To make it easy, here’s a link to my calendar: 45 Minute Goal Clarity

Stay Safe and Lead On, everyone!

PS – Maybe you don’t have a place to rent for the winter, but I’d really appreciate if you can share this Leadership Notes blog with all your friends! Here’s the link for them to sign up: Leadership Notes – Subscribe

What Sets Your Virtual Meetings Apart?

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My PM mentoring program ran a virtual panel discussion recently. The topic was Lessons Learned…or Retrospectives, if you’re Agile-minded.

9 a.m. on a Saturday morning and 16 people took time out of their short weekend to hop on a call and talk project management!

You’d think the conversation would be, well, sleepy, at least. But it was an amazingly quick hour and we could have easily talked for another.

I was reflecting on what made it such a great meeting.

Yes, the panelists were knowledgeable and gave us practical advice. And yes, there was a feeling of camaraderie amongst the attendees. And, certainly, there was A LOT to talk about!

At the end of the meeting, one of the participants made a special mention of how great our Moderator, Helen, was.

This called to mind a conversation I had a few days ago with my father. He has been on a ton of Zoom calls lately. Like all of us, he’s getting a little “Zoomed out”. 

He told me in many of his meetings it’s hard to follow the flow of conversation or to know when to jump in with a comment or question. It takes extra effort to be focused and active in the discussion.

I asked him why.

He said that when you’re in person, you pick up on cues from other people’s body language. 

If you need to be heard, you can let the manager know with a simple action like raising you hand or catching their eye. And it’s easier for them to control the flow of conversation, too.

But when everyone’s virtual, it’s tougher to pick up on those cues. You need to rely more on the facilitator to guide the discussion. You can’t use eye contact to capture the manager’s attention well. And there’s no guarantee they’ll see a hand being raised on screen.

I get it!

If you don’t have someone skilled leading the meeting, it makes for a long hour.

What set apart the Lessons Learned discussion was the pacing and flow. Helen gave enough time for each panelist to answer a question and then moved people along, noting who hadn’t had a chance to participate and including them in the discussion.

She set the tempo and everyone followed. This allowed our panelists to share their advice and insight – and for all of us to take it in before we moved onto the next topic.

Whether it’s a Lessons Learned, a Team Meeting, Kick-Off Call, or any other interaction, the person in charge needs to, well, take charge. To lead.

The goal of a meeting is to make sure the objectives are met.  (Why else would you be holding the meeting, anyway?) Our role as Project Manager is to help the team achieve them.

At our best, we shift the spotlight away from us and concentrate on the needs of our team. Are they actively involved, focused, and moving together towards the goal?

We moderate. We facilitate.

We work hard to make it look easy.

Why is that important? 

Because we want the team to concentrate on reaching the objective, not worrying about how they’re going to make their point, or trying to follow everyone’s frantic grab for airtime.

The next time you’re a participant in a virtual meeting, observe how it’s facilitated. Is everyone sharing? How is the pacing? Is anyone allowed to drone on? Does it all feel rushed – or slow?

Then, during your own meeting, pay close attention to the cues your team is sending. Make adjustments if you need to. 

Remember that you have a big part in the success of the meeting, just by setting the pace and flow.

Can I Get A Word In Edgewise?

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Remember the days of being in the same room as your team?

Most of the world has been remote for a long time. But I’ve heard rumblings that some people are heading back to the office…and some aren’t.

While I don’t bring this up to comment on the state of the world in the coming months, I do want to talk about the difficulties managing a team that’s only partially remote.

One particular time sticks in my head. I was on a conference call with my Core Team. Usually, I was in the room and could keep the meeting on track. But this time I was one of the team members who dialed in, while others were in the office.

WOW. That was one tough meeting.

I felt like I was “on mute” the whole time – I couldn’t get a word in without someone talking over me! It was as if the people in the room felt like they were the only people involved in the project – those on the phone were on the outside looking in.

As the leader, I struggled to communicate with the folks in the room. It was a really big reminder of how my remote team members feel whenever I held a meeting from the main office.

The reality moving forward may be a partially remote team. That’s so much more difficult than everyone remote!

So what’s the solution? How can we make sure everyone feels involved?

One way is what I call “All On or All In”.

That means, if everyone isn’t in the room, everyone dials in from their desk. I realize that “all on” can be challenging, as some people work next door to each other in the office.

But there are ways to handle that. The most obvious is to use headphones so you don’t hear audio from the cubicle next door.

What it does not mean is “cheating” and having 3 people in a conference room looking at 1 person’s projection on the wall.

Make it a level playing ground. If no one can have a sidebar conversation, the whole team feels included. And that makes team bonding a whole lot easier.

Stay safe, stay healthy – and lead on!

Sticky Note or Video On?

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Be honest – how many of you have a sticky note covering the camera on your laptop?

Even if you don’t, I’ll bet half your team does…or wishes they could!

My husband is one of those “sticky note” people. I got used to being “video on” during meetings. It’s 2nd nature to our kids!

So what’s going on? Why do some of us prefer video on, and some can’t stand it?

Some of it is personality based. But part of the difference is generational.

If you’re not familiar with generational preferences, let me explain what I’m talking about.

I attended a project management presentation a few years ago on communication between the generations. I always knew that people in different age groups sometimes struggle to communicate with each other…I just didn’t know why.

This speaker taught us that not only is it the technology that shapes each generation’s communication style and preference, but the social norms, political environment, and economic realities during our formative years.

A really high level overview of the impact on generational attitudes toward work and career:

  • Baby Boomers grew up in the post-war era that supported both economic and population growth. They expect, and were rewarded for, hard work, loyalty, and following the direction of management
  • GenX was the first to have widespread 2-income households, plus economic unrest, so they tend to overwork and worry about job security
  • Millennials were shaped by 9/11 and value freedom and family over job security. They don’t expect loyalty from their employer
  • Gen Z grew up with absolute access to technology and doesn’t know what life was like before 9/11 – they live on-line and accept the security risks (and mitigations) as part of life

When you are leading your project, you’ll likely have people representing all 4 generations. And each reacts to your leadership in different ways.

For example, if you’re a new PM working with folks who have been with the same company for their entire career, it might be a struggle for them to take direction from someone who may be the youngest team member.

On the other hand, if you are a seasoned PM and your team has a lot of brand new college graduates, they may view your role as too dictatorial.

How do we work together?

The next time you have a meeting, consider not just what your message is, but how you are conveying it. If you find it difficult to reach a particular stakeholder, maybe it’s a simple generational-mismatch.

Once you know this, you can learn how to adapt. Because clear communication leads to success for both your project – and you!

…and remember that not everyone is comfortable being on camera, no matter how easy it is these days.

Pivot

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The world is demanding that we change the way we live, work, and communicate. We?re in crisis mode right now, and people are feeling everything from ?mildly unsettled? to ?completely panicked?.

When a crisis happens on your project…because the SteerCo chopped your timeline, the company decided to reorg, or you lose a key resource:

  • How does your team react?
  • Who do they turn to?
  • How do you settle them down?
  • How do you get your project running smoothly again?

I bet you can answer these questions without having to think about them very long.

You are a Project Manager. You are used to shifting and flexing based on changes in the environment. It?s what you do and who you are.
And what your team relies on you for.

So my question for you is: what is the difference between a crisis due to an internal factor and an external one? 

The fact is, people will panic when something happens! 

  • Not everyone on your team is going to be comfortable ? or able to ? work from home
  • Some extended team members may not be available right now
  • IT may be backed up

So what do you do when the world shakes everything up? The exact same things you do when the reason is internal.

Need more convincing? Let’s see what your new challenges could look like in the old world (aka 3 weeks ago):

New World: You are being held to the SAME timeline, but your team isn?t as efficient
Old World: Your timeline got chopped

New World: you can?t reach your Sponsor because they are in crisis-management meetings every day. Or one of your Leads suddenly gets pulled for additional responsibilities in the plant because the usual supervisor is considered high risk and must stay home
Old World: The company reorganized

New World: A key resource doesn’t have a laptop, or they need to home-school their kids during the day. Or all the IT folks have been re-purposed to supporting all the resources who suddenly need to work from home.
Old World: You lost a key resource

Same effect, different cause.

Trust yourself in this new world. You pivot. You adjust. You are the rudder for your team no matter where the storm is coming from. You’re the Project Manager and YOU’VE GOT THIS!