Edition 366 – Red Bull vs. Comomile
“There’s so much to do” remarked my clients at the very start of our meeting. “We’re struggling to fit it all in” they continued, as we continued our pleasantries over the takeaway coffees they’d brought along to our regular quarterly meeting.
It’s been a huge few months for them. Selling one house. Buying another. Interstate travel for a family wedding. Children back to school. Staff off sick, leaving the business running below capacity at a peak time of year. You could feel the sense of being inside a pressure cooker as they talked about the frenetic pace underway and the sheer volume of what has to be done, in such a short period of time.
As I’m wont to do, I let my clients vent. As a trusted advisor to family businesses, one of the key parts of the role is listening. You know the old saying “you have two ears and one mouth and you should use them in that proportion”. This was a classic case of sitting back and letting them get it all off their chest.
Something interesting happens when you shut your mouth and let people speak whatever is on their mind. People tend to say the most honest things when you allow them an uninterrupted opportunity to vent.
As the steam was let off, some new elements came up in the conversation. Stuff that had to be attended to in the business, right here, right now (apparently), before an upcoming trip. Before long, we went from venting to a laundry list of what has to happen around this place. It was like this husband and wife team had downed a couple of cans of Red Bull rather than coffee, all before 9.30am.
As they started to calm down a little (which is what people tend to do when you shut up and let them talk), I threw some questions back at them?
- Why do you have to make those changes now?
- Can that project wait until after Easter?
- Is there someone else that can do that for you?
- Why do you have your foot so hard on the accelerator when you have no fuel left in the tank?
The Red Bull effect had worn off. They were exhausted from talking about being exhausted. It was evident in their faces, in their body language and in their words. Words may be the loudest, but it’s the look that people exhibit that often tells the full story.
As I posed those questions, I was reminded of something I read somewhere once about how to cope with everything we have to deal with, daily in our businesses. With apologies to whomever put this great list together, essentially I recommended they triage their issues by asking themselves to consider everything in terms of one of the four categories:
- What can they deal with now?
- What can they delegate?
- What can they defer?
- What can be deleted?
The power rests in the final three categories. Delegation, deferral and deletion are all strategically important in terms of managing energy and resource levels when there is so much to do.
As we continued the conversation, the tempo slowed right down. It was like they’d gone from downing Red Bull to sipping on a Camomile tea. I’m sure an audible sigh of relief emanated from one of the two others in the room.
As we continued the conversation, the tempo slowed right down. It was like they’d gone from downing Red Bull to sipping on a Camomile tea. I’m sure an audible sigh of relief emanated from one of the two others in the room.
This Week’s Tip
Too much pressure comes from worrying about what we want to get done, not what needs to get done