CNN ran a spot highlighting that ABC news and their employers reached a settlement to be reimbursed for non-work hours blackberry time. The clip is below. I would like to take it a step further and ask how you manage your time while having such a device. I find it that the more responsive I am, the more folks assume I will always be as responsive. If I am not quick to respond, then many clients, coworkers, friends, and family tend to take it personal.
So the question is… is creating an expectation of responsiveness a good thing?
What about that family time? Or the date time?
How do you manage?
6 comments ↓
Perhaps it’s not that you are so fantastically responsive (which you are), it’s just that we all constantly see you on your blackberry. So if you don’t respond immediately, we KNOW it’s personal. :)
Step away from the crackberry. It is not your friend. We are!!
That is my point :)
I have created a culture that folks KNOW I am responsive. How do I back away from the crackberry without offending… yet be very responsive to fanfrickingtastic bloggers like yourself? How do I balance the impression of connectivity with the need to unplug at times.
Put.your.blackberry.down.
You create the expectation not others. :)
Try it.
One of my favorite expressions is “failure to prepare on your part, does not create an emergency on my part.”
Also applicable here, “just because you can doesn’t mean you should or have to.”
fanfrickingtastic is right - you created the expectation by being 100% geeked out at all times. fanfrickingtastic is also right about putting the crackberry down. People’s expectations will adjust over time if you (or any SLA) adjust over time. Setting the right expectations is key to implementing significant change, as is consistent follow through and communication.
I *heart* quick responses to my pings. That’s how I balance - by refusing to acknowledge unwelcome & inappropriately timed pings. **cough cough** such as ignoring 2AM call from a coworker in a different time zone and not picking up when my business partner calls while I’m on a date with an uber hottie.
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