Train your Peeps

So what does THAT mean?

Well, it means to train the people (peeps) around you to repsond to you the way you like.
It's true that you can't train people around you to behave the way you'd like to any great degree but what you can do is sort of condition them to respond to you in ways that are more in line with how you like to do things.

The inspiration for this great idea actually comes from two people I know that have almost certainly, unintentionally conditioned me on how to respond to them. However I propose you take this idea and apply it intentionally.

As an example, one of the two people I'm referring to is sort of my unofficial IT man. I consult him before I buy anything tech related. I also have him walk me through any major computer challenges. He also runs the server that serves my domain. The thing is it's nearly impossible to get a hold of him, . . unless you know how he operates. Reaching him on the phone is nearly impossible. Reaching him on his cellphone is more probable, but reaching him and having him answer are two different things.

What I have learned is that he always (ALWAYS) has iChat up. Now here's the kicker. He's not always in front of his computer but he has iChat set up to forward messages to his cell. When they come in it's a text file so he just texts me back, . . always.

The other guy I refer to is a client of mine that I work with a lot. I typically have to ask him quick questions. This guy is usually very busy and frequently screens his calls and often doesn't answer the phone. I have found the quickest way to get a reply from him (if I need a quick reply) is to email him.

One last point of interest. These two guys? They're brothers. Interesting but is it important? I think so. Both these guys are very laid back. They both do an incredible amount of work on any given day but it's usually on their terms. This is probably more to do with their genetic make up than anything else. However, even if you're not born with a predisposition to filtering all your primary input, you can do it anyway, . . Intentionally.

The net effect is that people will begin to respond to you in the ways they figure out will get them the most desirable results. Your job is to figure out how you'd like to be contacted and responded to and then adopt that as your primary mode of responding to people and over time (and it won't be a lot of time) people will start to adapt to that on their end.

Why bother with this at all?

Because one of the largest time wasters in any environment is interruptions. There's the time used up in the interruption itself and then there's the down time of getting your head back into whatever mode it was in before the interruption. By filtering your primary venues of communication to where you can deal with the bulk of your communication on your own terms, you can disregard all transactions that you don't need or want to respond to, have much more control over your time and be better prepared when you do respond. Hey, it's your Time.