Time Tips - 5 Guidelines for What to Say When Coworkers Argue Over Time

Finding time is challenging under any circumstance! It's especially difficult when you work with someone who relates to time quite differently than you. You may find little common ground between how the two of you view punctuality, planning, and procrastination.

However, you can learn how to utilize this to everyone's mutual benefit. Welcoming conflicting outlooks as invitations to expand options can improve communication and productivity in surprising ways. Furthermore, you can carry these skills into every area of your life. Cultivating these skills will improve communication and open up fresh options with friends, family and anyone else you need to coordinate schedules with.

How can you benefit by making the most of conflicting time styles?

Opportunity #1: Clarify what's of prime importance to you. Pare it down and negotiate for it. Every strength you develop increases your resilience and decisiveness.

Opportunity #2: Attune yourself to others' varying approaches to time use. Genuinely accepting individual differences in time styles will benefit you in four ways:

First, accepting that you cannot control others' behavior redirects your energy into more productive channels.

Second, as others notice you are not attempting to change them, they relax and become more receptive.

Third, when your colleagues feel respected, they are increasingly likely to negotiate successfully with you.

Fourth, effective compromising increases flexibility and clarifies lines of power and responsibility. Different time styles often reflect different priorities. Explore how this can work to your mutual advantage. For example, one of you might accept added responsibility if you can make your own hours. The other might hold down the fort 9:00 - 5:00 if it means they needn't take work home.

Opportunity #3: Commit to creativity. Thinking outside the box carries negotiations beyond rigid power struggles. For every problem, there is a resolution that honors the integrity and needs of each person.

Opportunity #4: Present the challenge in terms of shared goals. Keep the focus on the rewards you and your colleagues will enjoy. This stimulates cooperation.

Opportunity #5: Invite others to contribute ideas. The more invested everyone is in the problem-solving process, the more dedicated they will be to making it work.

Negotiating different approaches to time use will challenge each of you to grow. Instead of presenting necessary changes as sacrifices, identify the benefits and address the baseline needs of everyone involved. You will develop vitality and confidence to encounter challenging conditions in ways that improve morale, promote effectiveness and save you time.

What is your next step to find more time?

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