June 2010
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| Learn the purpose behind the chart and the Blackberry. |
Ah-Ha! Moment – June already had a rough start and I knew I would be out of town the last week of the month. Anxiety gripped me, killing my productivity. Finally, I faced down my panic by taking an action I had never done before – I listed all my tasks for the month, estimated their time requirements, determined which I could delegate or defer, and figured out prerequisites and dependencies. When I was done nearly 4 hours later, I stared at 53 tasks totaling 154.5 hours needing my attention. "Great," I groused to myself, "I've got 14 days in the office, translating into 11 hours per day – on top of things already on my calendar." Nonetheless, I took the final step and placed these 53 tasks on my calendar.
In thinking about this now, I realize my early June experience was a "trapeze moment" – the term Susan Battley gives to that scary act of letting go of old, unproductive behaviors and working to develop new, improved behaviors. In her book Coached to Lead: How To Achieve Extraordinary Results with an Executive Coach (see: In Praise of Unlearning! – THA e-Update April 2010), Susan lists this final tip to deal with trapeze moments - "Tell your coach if you're feeling seriously deskilled or are worried about a transient performance dip." Well, my coach is the one who assigned this exercise, so I submitted my calendar to her by the agreed-upon date and time, with these comments – "I feel better about getting things done in June. There is, however, very little wiggle room in all this." She was glad to hear I had done my assignment, asked only a few clarifying questions, and complimented me on developing a new behavior!
Throughout the rest of the month, tasks shifted to and fro as conditions changed. Some tasks I had planned were no longer needed, some new tasks were required, and I juggled things to respond appropriately.
The end result? Everything got done by the time I left to chaperone a high school youth mission trip. The payoff? I was able to feel good about being out of the office for a week. I also learned the value of planning my entire month at one time – and my coach has now made this an ongoing assignment for me. And the "Adding Value To The People" lesson this month? Sometimes, I am the "people" needing the work – and usually, the work is uncomfortable at first.
