August 2011
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| Learn the purpose behind the chart and the Blackberry. |
Ah-Ha! Moment – As the president of my firm, I have always faced a conundrum common to all professional service firms – the need to appropriately divide my time between "Business Development" and "Client Service," or between the "Future" and the "Now." Early in the firm's life, this was easy – the "firm" was only me, and I could spend most of my time in the "Now" serving clients and fit in business development – the "Future" – as needed. That quickly changed, however, once I had even a couple staff members working for me – I had to meet payroll because, funny thing, people don't like to work for free. Over the years, I found – through trial-and-error – a formula which worked reasonably well. Until recently.
For the past nine months, I have spent a lot of time meeting the needs of one large client as we collaboratively developed a new service line. And while I don't want to whine, this has been tough! Not only has the balance of "Future" and "Now" shifted too much to the "Now," I have deliberately had to go out-of-balance to service the "Now" without sacrificing the "Future." These two factors have taken their toll, challenging me to stay motivated and engaged, so that I could continue to keep my folks motivated and engaged, too.
The lesson learned? While a leader has to be primarily focused on the "Future," the leader sometimes has to significantly step up his or her game to help others, and the firm, get through the "Now."
