Sometimes we have to be willing to tell the truth, even when it’s difficult.

For that reason, I am grateful to two valued friends (team members) who recently told me that our business tends towards chaos.

In doing that, they each became mentors to me in those moments: sharing insight for the purpose of helping me see myself and the business more clearly, myself more clearly.

And I’ll tell them — and you — that I am absolutely the one responsible for the chaos.

In fact, if I am really honest in return, I might tell them — and you — that I rather like feeling pushed to the limit. I like last minute requests and feeling like a hero when I meet them.

An example: last year on my birthday, a client’s website crashed. When I returned from dinner with my family (the night of my last Coke!), I spent the rest of my birthday evening troubleshooting her website, on the phone with name.com.

I “think” I thrive in an environment where I am pushed to the limit. I choose to push myself to the limit. Usually, I enjoy it.

Not so my team.

Thanks to their mentoring, I am considering ways I can improve our systems and processes to reduce/eliminate chaos and create a more organized and predictable working environment. And while I realize that while we may always have last minute requests to contend with, we can choose our responses.

We’re celebrating the value of mentoring this week as we support the launch of Managers as Mentors by Chip Bell and Marshall Goldsmith. I’m pleased to invite you to join me for a webinar with Chip and Marshall on June 20, 2013 at 9 am ET. Sign up here. 

Tell me something! How do you reduce/eliminate chaos in your organization? How have you been mentored by people on your team?

Thanks to Karen Martin for the use of this graphic — from her book The Outstanding Organization