99 small things to improve your business - episode 8

All right. It's the fourth week running I've worn these clothes.

Yeah. What's going on?

Just like 'em. Just really like them.

I just really like these too.

Yeah. Really just can't get enough of these clothes. Um, and this is the fourth week of our, um, 99 things to make your business better. Matthew. Come on. Just take the thing.

You're gonna have to beep yourself out there now, Chris. Ah. 19. Do what we are doing right now. Sit together.

Sit together.

I think so. So if you're a market manager, you must you've probably got a little team of people or you've got some, um, maybe you've got like other agencies that come and sit in and work with you, sit together where you can. Not all the time, but it's important because those micro conversations you have, those micro engagements can be like one of the most important things. If you're not hearing the things that are going on or seeing the things that are happening, that can be really challenging. And one of the things I think I really struggled with during the, uh, the covid lockdown period and we were having to do everything remotely was missing those, those small micro engagements with everybody and getting a, you get a feeling and understanding of stuff that you just can't get via everything else. It's, it's hard. to know some of these, some of the small details that are going on everywhere. If you don't kind of have that. What do you think about sitting together, Chris?

I think it's nice.

Yeah.

I, I, I agree with everything you say. I think it's, it's all about making, making those connections deeper and just understanding what everyone else is going through and picking up on the nuances of, of work and how you help each other. Yeah. I think it's, it's good. Sit together.

Yeah. Learn about each other.

Right. There's loads here, right. Number 54. Keep people out of silos.

Oh yeah. I love this one.

Which is, I sort of linked to that one, but yeah.

Uh, I don't, I mean, we all work in different sectors, I guess. Mm-hmm. And we all rely on certain levels of expertise, people to be good at a thing. If somebody is particularly good at a thing, they may end up mostly always doing that thing and therein some danger lies because no matter where you are, even if it's like in a retail environment or, um, you know, a warehouse environment, if one person holds some arcane knowledge of how a thing works and you lose them or they move on, or, or that can be, that can be a challenge. Picking up, picking up that skillset, making sure that stuff's covered and looked after. And also sometimes it can be a fairly unrewarding place because you end up being the guy doing all the repetitive stuff. Um, saw, I saw a good funny video by, I can't remember the name of them. Uh, and they do computer game, uh, piss takes, I guess.

Oh, okay.

I can't remember what they're called. Viva La Dirt League, those guys, you, you'll find them.

Mm-hmm.

And, uh, it, it, the title was something like, uh, when you accidentally become an NPC and it talked about gaming and it's this person and they crafted an item for another player and then loads of other players came, said, oh, can you do that for me? And then before they realized that they were acting like a, an NPC, it's a little bit like that. This one person had all of this skill and then they became so diminished in, in their role in this game that they became almost devalued. There you go. There's a nice metaphor.

And it's just, um, if someone is in the silo, you, you don't really know what's happening there cuz they're blocked off on their own and as a part of their mental health, it might not be very good. You, they might leave one day and you go, well I never understood that you felt so bad about what you're actually doing because there was no communication there.

And this can, this may apply to you personally as well. Maybe you are stuck in a silo. It's good to recognize when you maybe hold too much, I don't know, uh, knowledge or, uh, responsibility. Sharing some of that out is, uh, key to being slightly happier.

Well, that's good. There you go. Next.

Number 88. Run meetings to time. I'm not gonna talk about this one.

Yeah.

I'm gonna hide. I think you can talk about this one, Chris.

I did. Um, Uh, in my, in my TV work, there's, uh, one company who run Zoom meetings so efficiently. It's amazing. And they go, right, okay. If there's something that's that's not involving everyone, we'll take it offline. And they just run everything to time, they've run a meeting for half an hour and it takes less than half an hour each time and everyone comes out refreshed. But we've all been in meetings where it's gone, yeah, this is a two hour meeting, it just drags on and on and goes over and people just talk forever. And someone says a says a crazy story, which isn't quite relevant, just sandbox it and go, right, this is the time that we've got. And if it's not finished by then...

Leave.

Yeah, just go. I think it's really good.

I love it. I love it. I love it so much, this particular one. I, I'm gonna have to put my hands up though. I'm just really bad at it. I'm going to try and do better. Here's, here's me being open and honest. Yeah. I try and do it, but I fail sometimes. So one of the tricks I've been learning is to try and set that at the start. I'm gonna be here for half an hour.

Yeah.

And then, I have to go and do something else. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

Yeah. And it's, it's also tiring. So if you do go over, people just like crawl or curl up. Yeah.

You lose, the expectations aren't met, are they, I guess.

No.

So do your best.

Exactly. Keep it to time, keep it short and snappy like this. Number 46, meditate in your own way. I think it's just finding some head space. And that can be, that can be in a sort of, um, hippie-ish world where you, you have an office and you've got a sort of zen room and people go and play whale music and sit on the floor or cross-legged, or it could just be going outside for a walk for 10 minutes or, um, just making, um, standing up and making a cup of coffee, just getting out out of your desk and having some head space rather than just sat there plodding away all day is really good.

And by that do we mean having time to feel present? Is that what we're trying to focus on? I, I heard a podcast recently and they talked about if you spend too much time focusing on the past, it's a Japanese philosopher or something, I'm really bad at citing references aren't I? I am like Peter Kay. Uh, if you spend too much time in the past, then that can make you feel depressed. If you spend too much time projecting in the future, that can make you feel anxiety. So spending time on the here and now and appreciating everything that's around you, my friend Chris, his lovely shirt. This beautiful box, all of you wonderful people. If I focus on that for a short amount of time, that can make you feel more grounded. That's what I've learned about meditation.

Wow.

But I'm not great at it.

That's quite, that's quite zen. I, I think I, I came to it from a point of sometimes you can just be beating your head against a brick wall and fighting to get through something, but if you take a step back and go, go away for a walk or go away for a day and don't think, don't even think about it, suddenly the answer will be like, ding. And it's much easier than if you are really like waiting through the treacle.

What about going away and having a massive joint?

Well, I don't condone that Matthew cuz it's...

A bifta.

A bifta? A bifta? Is that a thing?

I dunno.

That sounds like, um, a secondary school teacher is trying to be cool.

Maybe.

A bifta.

I think it is. Look it up. Somebody Google it and send me what that means. I'm too lazy. I'm too busy to Google.

matt@rustymonkey.com.

Do it. I don't mind.

Uh, how many have we got? We've got one more.

Oh, is this one mine?

Yep.

Okay. Last one everybody. Drum roll.

There'll be one there. Probably. Probably, if I can be bothered.

Buy personalized mugs. From us. We sell them.

We don't. I think it's just nice. So people have their own, their own space in your world. So hot desking is a bit rubbish. So have their own desk and they have their own mug. So everyone knows that the, the Skeletor mug is Sylvia's.

Mm-hmm.

You know, it's quite nice.

I didn't know that until quite recently, but now I know that the Skeletor mug is Sylvia's.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That wasn't a very good day in the office, was it?

No, it was brutal .

But yeah, it's a good thing.

Um, do you draw a chart so everyone knows who's mug is who?

Um, I suppose you could.

Yeah.

I saw a thing on Fesshole, the, uh, Twitter account where someone knew who they were making coffee for by ordering the mugs left to right in their political, uh, sort of persuasions. So someone left wing, very left wing would have the left-hand mug. That's a different way of remembering.

That's very neat. You can also buy those mugs that have your, um, tea preference on can't you.

Oh yeah. That'd be good. Yeah. Strong tea. That's what you need.

Mm-hmm.

None of this weak, milky stuff.

Strong ground coffee, please. Oh, that's it.

Amazing.

Ah, I can't help but have a little rummage in the box at the end.

He's always got his...

Eager!

He's always got his hand in his box at the end.

I'm gonna have a sneak preview.

Oh yeah.

And next time we will be doing number... You can overdub that.

With what? You saying peanuts or something? I don't know.

I don't know. You do it. You're the video editor.

I would've edited that.

Go on, get off. Go edit this stuff. Come on. It won't edit itself, will it? Final tip, always be mean to Chris.