My office believes in “need-to-know” information. As in, everybody needs to know everything. Here’s how we do it.
Set a group distribution list and use it for everything. When staff partners and PAO friends fail to CC your group e-mail, politely correct them. When one of us takes the initiative to read through a long report or article, we’ll highlight the main points and forward it to the team. Yep, our inboxes get filled up. We manage them like professionals and don’t talk about it.
One calendar to rule them all. In an office of 12 people, our calendar is sometimes crowded but the shared understanding is important. Each entry begins with the attendees’ initials in brackets: [DC], etc. Other members add their initials to meetings they’d like to jump in on. Our calendar includes meetings with other staff sections, reminders to make phone calls, workouts, and time blocked off to focus on big projects.
Sync daily. We do this at 9:30 a.m. and it takes 10-15 minutes. We pull up the office calendar on the TV in our office, go through it as a group—we also hit the highlights for the next two days, for clarity. Then we go down name-by-name so everyone has an chance to give their top priorities, opportunities for collaboration, barriers they need knocked down, and bridges they need built.
Take your phone calls on speaker phone. Out of courtesy, make sure the person on the other end of the call is aware.
Who else needs to know? Make it a habit to call or forward, and summarize, relevant information for your friends and partners across your organization and the Public Affairs enterprise.
NOTE: The clear exceptions apply to classified information, and the things you’ve been told in confidence. Have a bias for sharing, but I expect you to use your brain.
