The permissions that we give
I read an article in Inc. Magazine by Jeff Haden on 11 ways to de-clutter your day. In that article he talked about "eliminating permissions."
"The premise of eliminating permissions is that the actions we take every day are communicated to others as 'permissions that we give'.
Think about it:
Arrive at meetings late and you are giving permission to others to do the same
Read your emails during meetings and you are giving permission to others to do the same
Miss deadlines or targets and you are giving permission to others to do the same
Deflect ownership of bad results and you are giving permission to others to do the same
Allow yourself to be interrupted at the drop of a hat and you are giving permission to others to do it to you
Return every call or email with the same urgency and you are giving permission for people to expect an immediate response on everything (I found this one really insightful for me - I believe passionately in being extremely responsive, whether it is returning a phonecall or an email. I realized that by treating all incoming calls equally, I run the risk of giving permission for others to expect that all the time, regardless of urgency.)
Just like the words we say as leaders have a megaphone effect on our employees who hear them, so do our actions and habits show how we give permission to be treated.
in other words, Jeff Haden tells us that everything you do "trains" the people around you how to treat you and how to act. In short, while some of our actions give the permissions we want to give, some of your actions give other people permission to keep you from working the way you work best.
What permissions are you giving that are counter to how you want to work?
"The premise of eliminating permissions is that the actions we take every day are communicated to others as 'permissions that we give'.
Think about it:
Arrive at meetings late and you are giving permission to others to do the same
Read your emails during meetings and you are giving permission to others to do the same
Miss deadlines or targets and you are giving permission to others to do the same
Deflect ownership of bad results and you are giving permission to others to do the same
Allow yourself to be interrupted at the drop of a hat and you are giving permission to others to do it to you
Return every call or email with the same urgency and you are giving permission for people to expect an immediate response on everything (I found this one really insightful for me - I believe passionately in being extremely responsive, whether it is returning a phonecall or an email. I realized that by treating all incoming calls equally, I run the risk of giving permission for others to expect that all the time, regardless of urgency.)
Just like the words we say as leaders have a megaphone effect on our employees who hear them, so do our actions and habits show how we give permission to be treated.
in other words, Jeff Haden tells us that everything you do "trains" the people around you how to treat you and how to act. In short, while some of our actions give the permissions we want to give, some of your actions give other people permission to keep you from working the way you work best.
What permissions are you giving that are counter to how you want to work?
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