management | lead up

My counterintuitive, and perhaps unpopular, time savers

Let’s talk about time savers, but not in the way you might expect. If you’re here for color-coded calendars, Pomodoro hacks, or a list of “5 productivity tools that changed my life,” this post is probably not for you. I’m not anti-time management. I’m just not a fan of spending too much time managing time.

I’ve found that for me, trying to optimize every minute of the day can be exhausting, and ironically, a massive time suck. I’d rather make quick decisions (though, of course, that is not always feasible or advisable), knock out an unenjoyable task, act with intention, and trust that if we get something wrong, we can course-correct. It’s not about being reckless. It’s about being efficiently decisive.

A few of my favorite counterintuitive time savers:

Say yes to the 30-minute meeting (sometimes)

If a meeting has clear outcomes, I’d rather attend than spend 30 minutes crafting messages in an attempt to get out of it.. “Can we do this asynchronously in Slack?” Sure, sometimes. But if the meeting will unblock a project, move a decision forward, or allow for rapid alignment, let’s just get in and get it done.

Do the quick thing now

If something takes two minutes (or even ten), I’ll usually just knock it out. The mental energy of tracking it, rescheduling it, or “prioritizing it later” often takes more time than simply doing the task.

Good enough is sometimes perfect

Not everything needs to be optimized, reworked, or run through another round of revisions. Perfectionism masquerades as productivity, but it rarely delivers the same results. I’ll take ‘done’ over perfect most of the time.

Block off time, and then honor it

While I don’t spend hours planning my schedule, I do block off chunks of time for heads-down work. No meetings, no pings, just focused progress. It helps me protect my energy and avoid the context-switching tax that can eat up a day. Confession: this is still an area that I need to improve in.

Don’t overcomplicate the system

Fancy task apps, automated workflows, and time-blocking templates are great if they work for you. But if you’re spending more time tweaking the system than using it, it’s time to simplify. A plain old checklist and calendar might just do the trick

Know what actually matters

Time management shouldn’t be a full-time job. For me, it’s about clarity: What do I actually want to get done today? What’s the real priority? I’d rather spend five minutes answering that than fifty minutes rearranging my to-do list.

In the end, the best time savers aren’t about tricks or hacks. They’re about doing what works for you, and in my case, I’d rather use my time than manage it.

I’d love to hear your take. What time savers feel surprisingly right for you, even if they go against the usual advice?”

Making customer count a prime metric

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) has been a key indicator of business health in SaaS for a long time, and for good reasons. It tells you how well you’re expanding within your existing customer base. But while NRR is a highly valuable metric, it can also be misleading, because it may mask challenges, especially when it comes to acquiring new customers. That’s why you may consider shifting your focus to something more fundamental: the number of (good-fit) customers.

Don’t over-rely on NRR as the main indicator of success

A high NRR can make a company look successful on paper, but if customer acquisition is stagnant, focusing too much on NRR might make you ignore signs of trouble. In addition, relying too heavily on expansion revenue within an existing customer base creates a ceiling on growth. Eventually, there’s only so much revenue you can farm from our current customers, no matter how much value you add.

While retaining and expanding within your customer base remains important (Hannon Hill‘s retention rate in the last two years exceeded 97%!), sustainable long-term growth depends on consistently bringing in new customers. By prioritizing customer count as a key metric, you ensure that your business remains viable and competitive.

Why customer count helps paint a truer picture

Of course, it’s not all about customer count, and we all know that getting a new customer signed just for the count without considering if they fit into your ideal customer profile is a flawed approach. However, let’s look at some of the benefits of identifying the number of customers as a key metric.

Driving new business and competitiveness
Expanding your customer base means actively selling your product to new organizations. This not only generates new revenue streams but also reinforces the value and relevance of your offering in the market.
Building a more expansive customer community
More customers mean a broader range of success stories, testimonials, and case studies. A thriving customer community adds credibility, strengthens brand advocacy, and enhances your ability to attract even more customers.
Enabling better product decisions with diverse feedback
A growing customer base provides a more diverse set of perspectives, use cases, and challenges. This variety helps you make more informed product decisions, ensuring your platform evolves in a way that benefits a wide range of users.
Ensuring long-term sustainability
A business that prioritizes new customer acquisition (again, only if the customer is a fit – don’t pursue bad fits, as this is a lose-lose scenario) is better positioned for long-term success. Over-relying on upsells and expansions can create an illusion of growth, but without a steady influx of new customers, churn and market saturation will eventually limit progress.

Of course, retention still matters – a lot

This shift in focus doesn’t mean retention no longer matters. Keeping existing customers happy is still critical. However, retention should support, rather than overshadow, the primary goal of increasing your customer count. A balanced approach ensures that you continue to provide value to your current customers while also expanding your reach.

At the end of the day…

Ultimately, long-term success in SaaS isn’t just about getting more revenue from your existing base by providing more value, but it’s about continuously bringing new organizations into your ecosystem. By making customer count a core metric, you may better position yourself for sustainable, scalable growth.

What are your thoughts?

Is it time to normalize “unmuted”?

Is there ever a virtual meeting where the sentence “You’re on mute” isn’t uttered at least once? This is then typically followed by a joke (“Every single time!”, “What, you can’t read my lips?”) or an apology. Does that completely derail the conversation? No. But it’s an unnecessary disruption. Being on “mute” has become the default for many people, but should it be?

By defaulting to the “mute” button, we create an unintentional barrier to natural interaction. If you were in an in-person meeting with a group, you wouldn’t tape your mouth shut. Embracing open audio channels can foster more authentic conversations, where participants feel connected and engaged, almost as if they’re in the same room. It encourages active listening, quicker responses, and a more fluid exchange of ideas, making meetings feel collaborative rather than isolated. It also makes the immediate feedback loop tighter and more authentic. Whether it’s a laugh, a “wow”, or even a gasp or other expressive sound, the feedback is valuable. You simply don’t get this when everyone is muted and meetings feel more like webinars.

What about background noise, you may ask? Yes, there may be an occasion where an unexpected loud noise would be a distraction. For example, if the landscapers blow leaves right in front of your window. In those cases, if you can’t relocate to another room, by all means, hit the mute button. But minor imperfections, such as a cough or a sneeze are part of human life, and you would certainly hear them in an in-person meeting. Why not bring a little humanity back to our virtual workspaces. Now, if uncontrollable noise constantly interferes, that’s a broader issue to address.

Similarly, keep your camera on if the other participants have theirs turned on. You wouldn’t hide under the table in an in-person meeting, right? Show your co-workers, partners, or customers that they have your undivided attention. And give them your undivided attention. It’s easy to tell when someone is clearly working on other things, and it can often feel disrespectful or even demoralizing when someone is engaged in something else. I realize that there are different opinions on this particular subject, but personally I am not a fan of exercising, driving (please don’t!), cooking, playing the piano or doing other things while in a meeting.

Let’s prioritize genuine communication over pristine silence. The next time you hop on a call, consider leaving that mute button off (and turning the camera on).

What about you? Are you muted or unmuted?

Venting: The not-so-silent culture killer

We’ve all been there. We experience frustration with a certain situation, or we simply disagree with a decision. Oh, how tempting it is to find a sympathetic ear and vent “to get it out”! Naturally, as we vent, our stories become colored with assumptions and are less focused on problem-solving. But that is just one of the many downsides of venting, which don’t just negatively affect you, but often your team and the company culture. Let’s take a deeper look at why we vent, why it’s bad for us, and how we can transition to a better approach.

Why we vent and let others vent

Venting makes you feel closer to the person that you’re venting to, says Ethan Cross in his article in EdWeek. When we are frustrated with something or someone, we look for allies and seek validation of our righteous indignation. In a post-pandemic world, a rather strange economic and quite divisive social climate, we crave a sense of support. Bonding over a perceived shared grievance seems to be an easy solution. We vent or we indulge someone else’s venting. For example, a new manager who wants to ingratiate themselves with their direct reports might not just listen to them complain, but actually fan the flames because it creates a sense of bonding. A team member who has been feeling disconnected might engage in venting with a colleague to feel a sense of camaraderie.

Venting causes energy-levels to go up. A disengaged employee will feel energized, albeit in a negative and counter-productive way when complaining to a team member about a perceived injustice, unwanted behavior or decision. After all, the spurt of energy feels better than indifference or disengagement.

Another reason why we vent is rooted in the misconception that it will make you feel better, which has been perpetuated for decades. It is often our go-to strategy. Even if we don’t vent in the workplace, we may go home and unleash our frustrations and the stories we’ve told ourselves on our spouses and partners, who may or may not be equipped to redirect the conversation into something more productive.

Why venting is bad for us

Contrary to popular belief, venting does not have the healing effects that we often attribute to it. Jill Suttie outlines the dark sides of venting in her article on Greater Good Magazine. “emotional venting likely doesn’t soothe anger as much as augment it. That’s because encouraging people to act out their anger makes them relive it in their bodies, strengthening the neural pathways for anger and making it easier to get angry the next time around”. So as we are venting, we don’t release our frustrations and grievances, but we’re making ourselves go through them again, often augmenting them, thus releasing higher cortisol levels into our bodies, which can result in a higher heart rate and even higher blood pressure, the long-term effects of which can’t be underestimated.

Anna Maravelas’ book “Creating a Drama-Free Workplace” dedicates an entire section to the perils of venting. She points out the adverse impact on our health as well as the effects on our professional standing and credibility, and our company culture. When we’re in a venting mindset, she says, we’re “flooded”, which greatly impairs our ability to problem-solve. She also points out that venting can damage your relationships with your colleagues, who might know that if you speak ill of someone else, you likely speak ill of them as well. We could also be considered hypocritical. For example, if Bob unloads on John a litany of why Jane is unqualified, lazy, and just doesn’t care about the team and then acts delighted when interacting with Jane, John might consider Bob a hypocrite and assume that Bob will have no qualms talking poorly about him. This clearly does not foster a culture of trust. Instead, Bob does what Maravelas calls “bankrolling drama at the expense of seeking solutions.” It can even have a bigger ripple effect. If the venting revolves around the assumption that key players or leadership just “don’t care” why would team members feel that they are part of something great? Why would they continue to be engaged?

The “feel-good” sensation that we experience when venting can be compared to scratching a mosquito bite or rubbing our itchy eyes. It might feel good at the moment, but it doesn’t help. In fact, you irritate your body even more and crave more scratching. Now think about what you’re doing to the person that you’re venting to: you’re essentially scratching them or rubbing their eyes. Does that seem like a good idea?

How to stop it

The good news is that we are capable of change. We just have to learn better techniques once we recognize the negative impact of venting.

In preparation for one of our company meetings, we asked everyone to watch Cy Wakeman’s clip entitled “Why venting is unhealthy and wrong”. The discussion that ensued was wonderful. Many of us acknowledged that we had always thought that venting had a positive effect by getting frustration out of our system. We also admitted that we all vented at times. Looking at it from a new perspective was eye-opening. Awareness is the first step to improvement.

Following Wakeman’s philosophy of reality-based leadership provides a great framework for establishing a culture of accountability and support. Before you go down a downward spiral, ask yourself “What do you know for sure?” For example, you may think that a team member doesn’t care about your department’s success because they missed a deadline. What do you know for sure? They missed a deadline. That’s it. Everything else is an assumption. If we follow the guideline of “the only acceptable assumption is to assume good intentions”, then we could stop our negative thoughts and start determining how we can help the situation and the team member. Similarly, we can help others by redirecting the conversation accordingly. Instead of fanning the flames of Mary’s indignation about Jack’s attitude/lack of respect/know-it-allism, you can make simple suggestions about how Mary can help Jack. This may be frustrating to Mary at first, but in the long term, you are increasing your chances of a better relationship between the two and an elevated company culture. Instead of getting a high from venting, help Mary get a “helper’s high,” as Maravelis calls it.

You may also stress the importance of locus of control, which could be part of your company values. The team members who are most appreciated and most successful focus on things that they can control, not on external factors. They don’t play the blame game, they don’t form alliances against others, but they solve problems. Consider making locus of control part of your check-ins.

Another technique involves talking about your own feelings and the impact on your own solution-finding abilities. How about showing vulnerability by saying “Steven, I want us to have a productive conversation that will be a win-win situation, but the way you’re communicating right now is not allowing me to problem-solve. Could we reconvene later today and focus on facts and how we all can help contribute to a solution?”

Hold yourself and your team members accountable. Stop yourself when you have the itch to vent. Find things to be grateful for, suggests Dr. Firdaus S. Dhabhar, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. He also recommends channeling your energy into productive, healthy activities like exercise, spending time in nature, working on your hobbies, listening to music, meditating, or sleeping. Most importantly, “spend time with people you have meaningful connections with and focus on positive things.”

As there is overwhelming evidence about the negative effects of venting, let’s help each other develop healthier and more productive ways to handle frustrations. We’ll be better off as individuals and as a team.

What about you? What are your ideas for eliminating venting and fostering a more cohesive, healthy, and positive company culture?

Developing resilience in the face of adversity

Adaptability to ever-changing circumstances and the ability to recover quickly from adversity are two characteristics that define resilience, which happens to be one of the most transferable and desirable skills you can foster. As a leader, helping your team members develop resilience doesn’t just increase your chances of success, it can also play an impactful part in their personal and professional development. But of course, we have to start with ourselves and continue to train our resilience muscle, because there’ll always be adversity and unexpected challenges that we need to be able to handle in a much more productive way. Here are some ideas:

Focus on your locus of control

When faced with adversity, our knee-jerk reaction might be to freeze, vent, or capitulate, even though we know perfectly well that none of these behaviors are going to improve the situation. Cy Wakeman, in her reality-based leadership lessons and her No Ego podcast, frequently reminds us “Don’t outsource your happiness and well-being to external circumstances”. It’s a great framework on which to build resilience. Start with separating what happened from you as a human being, as difficult as it may be. Next, try not to go down a rabbit hole of speculating about other people’s intentions (“They only did this to me because they don’t respect me”). Then, focus on what’s in your control. What can you do to work within the parameters of the changed reality? What can you do to take on this challenge and mold it into new opportunities for yourself or your team?

Keep a log of lessons learned

One of the positives of adversity is that it might teach you valuable lessons. As Winston Churchill once stated, “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. How about keeping a log of your lessons learned from situations big and small? What has the adverse situation taught you about your industry, your company, your profession, and about yourself? Were there signs that you ignored? Was the situation avoidable? If so, what are you going to do differently? If not, what are the best strategies for embracing the change? Are your team members struggling with the adverse situation? How can you help them? Whose behavior is worth emulating?

Build a supportive network

Depending on the nature and severity of the adversity you’re facing, you need to pick the size and make-up of your support network. Be sure to surround yourself with people who can lift you up and help you figure out a game plan. Consider keeping a safe distance from anyone who seems to offer a sympathetic ear, but actually stokes negativity. Your network may consist of colleagues, peers in your professional circle, your family, friends, mentors, or even experts in the area in which your adversity occurred. Just don’t isolate yourself.

Practice gratitude

Adversity might cause you to hit the snooze button in the morning and/or to say out loud that you’re “just not feeling it”. We’ve all been there, and we all know that this approach rarely works. How about making yourself start your day by thinking about (and writing down) something that you’re looking forward to and that you’re thankful for? Maybe schedule something that you’d be looking forward to, whether it’s a massage, date night, or a hike. Keeping a gratitude journal and a lessons learned journal can also get you out of a slump when you read it back to yourself.

Train yourself in adaptability

As creatures of habit, change is hard, even if it’s a positive one. Facing adversity, it’s even more challenging. As we’re building up our ability to adapt quickly, even little experiments in breaking our attachment to routines can be useful, such as taking a different route to work or parking in a different spot. In fact, attachment to tangible and intangible things and our vision of the future often impairs our ability to be as resilient as we could be.

There’s no such thing as being “too resilient”. It’s a quality and a skill that can greatly reduce suffering, make you more successful, and even enable you to help others be more resilient in the face of adversity.

What about you? What are your thoughts on developing resilience?