Dear Leaders, Happy Monday, I trust you are doing well and getting enough rest towards the busy end of Q4.
During my career, I have worked in house, agency side and had my own consultancy and a few unsuccessful side hustles.
When you work agency side, it was (and mostly still is) as someone senior you have to be visible and has to be perceived someone whos committed - basically be there late or last.
In the majority of startups, you are expected to work more than the core hours and be available, do what is necessary and deliver for the company, you will hear in interviews to this day, this is startup life - expect to work hard and work long hours.
FYI: The best and most successful startups are proactively addressing this mentality and building management teams who understand intentional work vs scattergun always on work.
When you become senior within organisations there is an unspoken and unwritten rule you should almost always be available.
Late-night email exchanges, weekend phone calls, long slack threads and important decision making made late at night.
Is any of this effective?
Is this efficient?
Is this right?
» NO!
I have spoken previously on the internal dilemmas work ethic can have and how I used to think my ability to outwork colleagues was a superpower, it isn’t as it is not scaleable.
The best companies I have worked in or worked with enable people to thrive by working smartly, rewarding working hard and celebrating others around them. Long hours, being seen working late and always being available does not create long term success and a company people will crave to work with or in.
Great company culture should guide values and behaviours, reward behaviours and never ever reward bad behaviours.
So why do so many businesses reward people looking like they work late versus working effectively? Conditioning and fear…
Can you scale and grow as a business with fear around ineffective working schedules and hours?
And are you breeding the right environment for those to thrive?
Make Positive Change! Rethink how you may be rewarding the old way of thinking, reconsider how you might embrace scheduling emails, not sending that non-urgent late-night instant message or how you may be suggesting there is a dominant office or timezone for calls and video conferences.
Please Remember:
Scaling and maturing businesses do not win by appearing to be working more hours, it is working in an environment that promotes great work, great collaboration and great problem-solving.
This week consider how you develop your business out and move away from old ways of thinking.
Danny Denhard
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