In life and even more so in business, we are tasked to deal with our own set of problems. Sometimes, it can be challenging to be asked to face other people’s problems on top of ours. Ken gets honest and stops everything. He talks about learning to respect people’s time, acknowledging how it takes them so much effort to build momentum to work on their tasks only to get disturbed. Ken imparts this vital lesson and advice us on how to call for help appropriately.
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Let Me STOP Everything
As a 30-year growth consultant, 3,100 clients, 150 employees, $50 million company, five-time Inc. 5000 company, I caught myself doing something that made me feel twelve years old. I literally stare at a plaque everyday and I’ve podcasted about this a couple of times. It reads, “Let me drop everything and work on your problem.” I teach people so many different ways of avoiding calling your superior, your boss, your mentor, your coach and pressing on them your current issue, especially when you know with one sentence that they can fix your problem. The reality is we have to respect that the people above and around you have got things to do too. We teach, find a way to fix it yourself or if you do have to call for help, offer a solution also that you can bounce off them.
If you do have to call for help, offer a solution also. Click To Tweet
I was told by my mentor that I’ve been doing for the last 60 days like there’s no tomorrow. I have been calling the five people closest to me and asking them with no notice, drop everything they’re doing and work on a new idea. I’m asking it because I’m all excited, I’m jacked and I’m on to something. I know it’ll prove great results and it does, but I have to remember that Brian Tracy says, “One minute of preparation is equal to 10 to 100 minutes of execution and they’re directly correlated.” Every single time I call someone and I say, “Stop what you’re doing. Pull out ten people off what they’re doing and get them on this project. This is now the most important,” I have to realize just how much prep time I destroyed, how much current execution I halted and how many different people are going to have to start up and build momentum on something again.
I want to read this plaque again, “Let me drop everything and work on your problem.” It is so disrespectful when people call me and ask me to do that, yet it’s ten times more disrespectful because of my managerial influence to do what I’ve been doing to my team. I am thoroughly embarrassed and I’m going to ask that my team hear this episode so they can accept this as my incredibly warm and sincere apology. I am making a mandate to self, stop asking people to drop everything and work on my problem, situation, exciting idea and etc. Everything can wait a day or two to be properly managed. To those reading, I apologize. To the rest of the world reading, please take my painful lesson as your mission to go forth and institute this in your company. I hope this helps. Take care.
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