I need other people accross the organization for either information to achieve tasks to advance my process improvement project. Often, I only need 15-30 minutes of their time.
Is it OK to pop in their work space to get the task achieved or information?
or
Should I forgo the immediate gratification of task achievement/information and schedule a meeting with the person?:
I am torn on this one. I feel it is more respectful to go through someone's calander and schedule the half hour meeting. However, it delays the advancement of the project and therefore I am less effective.
Should I tailor the strategy based on the person whom I need? For example, schedule meetings with those who are managers and outrank me vs pop-ins for people who are equal or below me in rank?
Please note, I have the traditional action tracker/due date spreadsheets and often remind people via personal emails to get the tasks done on time. However, the in-person meetings are much more effective and build the relationship long-term.
I have struggled with this as well
and found that I was much more effective with the "drive-by" approach. My emails will go unread, or not acted upon, where a quick face-to-face conversation often gets me exactly what I need to move the project forward.
There are a couple of things I have to pay attention to if this method is going to work.
I started doing this specifically to help build relationships with people in other departments. As a high "D" that had been a problem in the past. I've found this technique helps build the relationship by making the personal contact and showing respect for their time and their expertise.
Steve I
DiSC 7114
visual and person to person contact
I asked a friend of mine who is a orchestra director how he could in less then a week prepare an orchestra he had never seen before (when he is an invited director) to perform the way he wanted. He answered me that he uses signs and face expressions to pass the message he wants for each member in a way he doesn't need to interrupt the practice.
Some good project managers I have seen in action also use that. They walk around and communicate with their people, and send messages to them just by the way they move their eye browns or make some hand gestures that says you own me something or I got your report on time well done. Not everybody can do this and still be graceful, but those that can can accomplish a lot with very little.
You definitely need to walk around and get verbal commitment from the people, email reminder is not enough. Steve's advice above is very good. I wouldn't make a differentiation between managers and non-managers but I guess that varies from company to company. In my company we have an open door policy. Sometimes just by seeing someone I own something to pass in front of my room is enough to remind me and make me feel accountable to that person. Observe the people you will interumpt before you interumpt them. Usually if I am very concentrated I don't look up to greet the person I see is walking in front of my door, to me you wouldn't be very effective if you interumpt me then. But if I do look up and stop what I am doing, it is a good time not to ask for the meeting but to ask directly for the answer. I think that probably applies to most people and regardless of their rank. Once one is interrupted studies show it will take them 15-20 minutes to get back to where they were before, if the answer to your question takes 15-20 minutes, you might as well go straight to the point and get the answer you need rather than asking for a specific appointment.
Remember also you should have scheduled weekly o3 with people that report to you on a project even if they are not your directs. There are podcasts on that. That should decrease your unscheduled pop-ins.
Nara
DISC 7721