Exploring Professionalism and Productivity in GIS

1. Exploring Professionalism and Productivity in GIS Ohio GIS Conference September 23, 2019 Kelly Wright, MS, GISP

2. Professionalism • Definition and Context • Attire • Behavior • Attitude • Communication • “Persona” • Pitfalls and Cultural Implications • Implications for GIS Professionals Image Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

3. Productivity • Defining Productivity • Multitasking Myth • Minimize Distractions • Tools for Success • Implications for GIS Professionals Image Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

4. Professionalism What is it that make someone a “Professional?”

5. Definition I know it when I see it The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines professionalism as "the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person"; and it defines a profession as "a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation.“ TL; DR – Professionalism is what makes people take you seriously.

6. Context The way we identify professionalism changes based on situational context Professionalism as Authority Professionalism as Expertise • The context of the profession defines what professionalism means then and there • Lab Coat versus Three-Piece Suit • Dress versus Scrubs • Work Boots versus Oxfords • The context of a situation (interview, meeting, daily work) also changes what we view as “acceptable professionalism” Professionalism as Identity • Who do you look to for leadership?

7. Professional Attire

8. Professional Attire Wear What Makes You Powerful • Recent Phenomenon • “A Neat Appearance” • Be Clean • Clothes Should Fit • No Ripped Anything • Avoid Workout Clothes • Dress Appropriately for the Environment • Dress for the Role you Want, Not the Role you Have

9. Professional Behavior

10. Professional Behavior Show Up! Do • Arrive on time and ready to work • Organize materials and information before meetings • Take notes and keep a calendar (up to date!) • Seek Mentorship and provide mentorship to others • Remove negativity from you vocabulary Don’t • Complain about assignments • Gossip about co-workers • Talk negatively about the boss • Disrespect the work schedule

11. Professional Attitude

12. Professional Attitude Walk the Talk • Be honest, reliable, a hard worker and positive DAY IN AND DAY OUT. • Respects the valuable time of others • Follows supervisors’ instructions and supports the business’ goals • Respects private, public, and intellectual property • Observant – sees what needs to be done, and then does what needs to be done • Maintains a safe, civilized workplace • Perceived as a representative of the organization and acts in a manner that reflects favorably on the organization. • Asks questions rather than risks making a mistake • Receives constructive criticism well

13. Professional Communication

14. Professional Communication Talk the Talk • Communication should be calm and assertive • Be an Active Listener • Be cognizant of differing abilities • CC Selectively • Find the Right Time and Place • Keep it Short • Don’t attribute intent or “read into” situations • Don’t Reply to emails right away • Rein in your Ego

15. Professional “Persona”

16. Professional “Persona” Bring it all together in one package • Combine behavior, attitude, communication, attire and service into one package that you “put on” every morning before work • The Persona is the person that you present yourself as in your work environment • Imagine you are getting into your superhero costume!

17. Professional Pitfalls and Cultural Implications

18. Professional Pitfalls Don’t damage your reputation unintentionally • Social Media • Friendships and Romantic Relationships at work • Gossip, Office Politics, and Real Politics • Religion, Beliefs, Opinions • Insensitivity to illness or disability – especially invisible illnesses • Being loud or rude • Use all 5 senses to make sure you are respecting others’ space and environment • Know your leadership by sight • Always check, re-check, and re-read emails

19. Cultural Implications We live in a wide-open world now—be sensitive to others • Unconscious Bias • Gender Bias • Racial Bias • Age Bias • Code Switching • Dis/Abilities and Invisible Illnesses • Socioeconomic differences and difference of opportunity • Issues unique to women and women of color • Style choices affect your available productive time

20. Implications for GIS Professionals Professionalism

21. Implications for GIS Professionals A wide diversity of GIS jobs makes it hard to apply rules • Does attire matter in your workplace? • Do you work on your own? • Do you work with the public? • How do you communicate your professionalism? • Share with us!

22. Productivity a.k.a. squeezing blood out of a turnip

23. Productivity Do More With Less? Possible Definitions • Measure of efficiency in completing a task. • Getting more things done each day. • Getting important things done consistently. Results in Satisfaction and a feeling of “Done (Enough)”

24. The Myth of Multitasking

25. The Myth of Multitasking You probably think you’re good at it What is multitasking, anyway? • Performing more than one task at the same time. • Splitting your attention between multiple tasks at once. • Switching back and forth from one thing to another. • Performing a number of tasks in rapid succession. Overall • Getting more done in the same amount of time.

26. The Myth of Multitasking You still probably think you’re good at it BUT • Is this really feasible? Might this affect the quality of your work? • Are we disserving ourselves when we try to multitask? • Is “multitasking” just another way of saying “constantly distracted?” • Even among famous composers like Bach, Chopin and Beethoven, only Mozart worked on more than one composition at a time. You are not the exception!

27. The Myth of Multitasking a.k.a. getting interrupted a lot What really happens when we multitask? • Context Switching • Cognitive Process Impairment • Insufficient Attention • Increased risk of error or omission • Slowed response time Some researchers suggest that multitasking can actually reduce productivity by as much as 40 percent!

28. Minimize Distractions

29. Minimizing Distractions Understanding the costs How we process Distraction • It takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to your task. • If you get distracted three times a day, you are losing an HOUR of time just recovering your attention. • Attention distraction can lead to higher stress, a bad mood, and lower productivity. Image Credits: IDoneThis

30. Internal versus External Distractions None of us are immune Internal or Self-Inflicted External Phone ringing, Email arriving Co-worker walking over to talk (even if to talk about work, this is still a distraction) Fulfilling a request from supervisor Fire drill, spilling a drink, dog peeing on floor • “I’ll just check into Facebook for a minute – I deserve a break!” • “30 seconds to check Twitter” (isn’t just 30 seconds) • “It’ll only take a minute to answer this email” • “Of course I can listen to this webinar and answer emails at the same time”

31. An Ounce of Prevention… Set yourself up for success Eliminate Digital Pressure • Turn off/limit smartphone notifications • Log out of social media accounts • Keep email closed • Don’t answer the phone • Set status to ‘Do Not Disturb’ Take Frequent Breaks • Stand up and walk at least once an hour • Give yourself time away from work • Physical exercise/motion spurs creative thought

32. What to Do? Eliminate distractions and set yourself up to succeed Set aside uninterrupted blocks of time to focus on one task at a time • Don’t answer emails or phone calls during this time • It can wait. Would you have answered if you were on the toilet? • Share your strategy with co-workers for better buy-in Set aside time to answer emails and respond to phone calls • For example, set aside one hour at 9:00 a.m. and one hour at 1:00 p.m. • Provides an opportunity to reflect and mentally prepare your responses • “Batch” email responses when possible • Schedule these times on a calendar and send yourself reminders Keep an interruption log to identify common distractions Image Credits: gusto.com

33. What to Do? Eliminate distractions and set yourself up to succeed Do First What You Dread Most • Put the most unpleasant task first. When it's done, the rest of the list feels easier. Use Headphones • Music choice can play a huge part in productivity and emotional state. Practice Saying No • We are eager to help out, but help yourself out first! • Saying “Yes” is important, but not to the detriment of work that must be completed. • No can be better than Maybe • Be polite, but be firm Image Credits: Harvard Business Review

34. Distractions from Co-Workers Sometimes you gotta fake a bathroom emergency… Work-related distractions • Create calendar appointments for uninterrupted work time. • In Outlook, you can mark an appointment as “Private” or mark yourself as “Busy” or “Working Offsite” • Use (large) headphones to indicate you are unavailable • Even if you are listening to nothing, it gets the message • Set your Skype status to Do Not Disturb • Create a real (funny) sign If a co-worker parks at your desk • Stand up as though you are leaving • Politely let them know you have deadlines to meet and offer to have lunch with them later to talk about their new house/kid/dog/car/significant other • If all else fails, fake a bathroom emergency Image Credit: imgur.com/VampirezKing

35. Minimize Distraction Using Geography If you aren’t at your desk you can’t get trapped there… If Possible: • Work from home for uninterrupted time • Work in an empty conference room • Work in a library or Starbucks • Close the door to your office (if you have the luxury of a door) • Work before or after normal business hours • Work through lunch (save money, too!) Take Care of Yourself First • Take a break! Walk away from your desk. • Go outdoors for a quick walk around the building. • Make sure you are eating and drinking enough water.

36. Tools for Success

37. Tools For Success Strategize your work time Pomodoro Method There are six steps in the original technique: • Decide on the task to be done. • Set the pomodoro timer (traditionally to 25 minutes).[2] • Work on the task. • End work when the timer rings and put a checkmark on a piece of paper.[6] • If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 2. • After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1. Source: Wikipedia

38. Tools For Success Determine Task Priority Eisenhower Matrix • Helps you to decide “Where to Start” • Break through Analysis Paralysis • Data-Driven Decision-Making • Forces you to literally evaluate each task: • Important/Urgent quadrant are done immediately and personally (e.g. crises, deadlines, problems) • Important/Not Urgent quadrant get an end date and are done personally (e.g. relationships, planning, recreation) • Unimportant/Urgent quadrant are delegated (e.g. interruptions, meetings, activities) • Unimportant/Not Urgent quadrant are dropped (e.g. time wasters, pleasant activities, trivia) Source: Wikipedia and Jamesclear.com Image Credit: Jamesclear.com

39. Tools For Success Free your mind for the important stuff Getting Things Done by David Allen • Move planned tasks and projects out of the mind by recording them externally and then break them into actionable work items. • Allows attention to be focused on taking action on tasks, instead of recalling them • Capture your ideas ‘on paper’ • Clarify into actionable steps • Organize by category and priority • Reflect on your to-do list • Engage and get to work • Weekly Review Source: lifehacker.com and fastertomaster.com Source: whywhathow.xyz

40. Tools For Success Arm yourself with options Google Keep • Share to-do lists, websites, text, audio • Color code items • Similar to sticky notes • Syncs across all devices • Compatible with Google Docs and other Google Suite apps Notes App on iOS • Supports handwritten notes on tablets Microsoft OneNote • Kelly’s Favorite Source: zapier.com

41. Tools For Success Arm yourself with options Trello • Boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize projects • Good for team collaboration and project management • Tons of add-ins Source: trello.com

42. What Tools Do You Use?

43. Implications for GIS Professionals Productivity

44. Implications for GIS Professionals The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry… Reactive versus Proactive work • How can you plan for the fires that inevitably pop up? • Whose priority is your priority? • What tasks MUST be completed? Sometimes Done is Enough • You can always improve on something, but is the result of the improvement worth the time invested? • Who is the audience? • How long will the audience engage with the result? • Will it make a difference to the end user if you don’t perfect the result? • Your standards may be too high for the level of effort required to meet them

45. Implications for GIS Professionals The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry… ‘Schedule’ Time for Fires and Catastrophes • Ask yourself what the worst case could be, and then plan how to put out that fire. • Set aside time in your day for the inevitable GIS fire. You won’t end up with ‘extra’ time but you’ll be aware that you shouldn’t fill your entire schedule. Automate Repetitive Workflows • ModelBuilder • Python scripts • Geoprocesses • Ask for help! You don’t know what you don’t know. Schedule Time For Training

46. References • http://www.eeescience.utoledo.edu/faculty/stierman/fall2005/4610/pa.htm • https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-professionalism-does-mean-you-daniel-w-porcupile/ • https://careertrend.com/facts-5387877-characteristics-professionalism.html • https://www.wikihow.com/Be-Professional-at-Work • https://www.themuse.com/advice/this-is-nuts-it-takes-nearly-30-minutes-to-refocus-after-you-get-distracted • http://blog.idonethis.com/distractions-at-work/ • https://blog.trello.com/eisenhower-matrix-productivity-tool-trello-board • https://hbr.org/2018/01/the-art-of-strategy-is-about-knowing-when-to-say-no • https://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-getting-things-done-1551880955 • https://fastertomaster.com/getting-things-done-david-allen/ • https://zapier.com/blog/google-keep-vs-evernote/

47. Discussion and Questions

48. Thank You Kelly Wright, MS, GISP (937) 259-5172 kwright@ljbinc.com https://www.ljbinc.com/