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.
I am the founder/CEO of the Weaving Influence team, the author of Reach: Creating the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause, and the host of the Book Marketing Action Podcast. I’m a wife and mom of three kids, and I enjoy running, reading, writing, coffee, and dark chocolate.
Becky, I think the best kind of mentor relationship is when both people are learning together. Having the support and encouragement of a mentor who is on the journey with you is invaluable. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Notice how she can’t forget “the night of her last Coke.” Poor thing.
It’s true! I can’t.
On the administrative side of things, chaos is reduced by reducing the reliance on email! If there are inter-departmental processes that aren’t defined, I get people together to do a quick improvement, and use the appropriate technology to manage the process (shared task list or SharePoint workflow, for example)