Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It: A Results-Only Guide to Taking Control of Work, Not People

Chapter 4

24/7 Kicks 9–5’s Ass

If you’re going to have a team that functions well together, everyone has to communicate effectively. It’s a word that we throw around a lot, right? Communicate is defined as “to express oneself in such a way that one is readily and clearly understood.” And these days, we have a plethora of tools that enable us to communicate anytime and from anywhere. But despite all the wonderful things this lets us do, it’s this “always-on” mentality that can cause people to feel overwhelmed and never able to “unplug.” The people in organizations with which we work express this need to unplug as one of their biggest challenges. Many aren’t sure how to manage the flow of communication bombarding them while still maintaining some semblance of a life.

We’ll tackle that very challenge in this chapter.

Keeping traditional office hours is one method people use to manage the flow of information. This approach says that you can stop working when you leave the office. You have an acceptable reason for leaving those pesky e-mails and voice mails until the next business day. Even if an emergency was to present itself, you could tap into the golden nugget of excuses: “I always unplug after hours. I cherish this time with my family.” Okay. That’s understandable.

However, this widely held belief that work has—and should have—a certain beginning and end point not only bogs down the flow of communication but causes us to do things we wouldn’t normally do to keep the wolves (the ...