Distracted by Injury

I spent over 5 hours in the emergency room and several hours prior between the doctor's office and the radiology office yesterday. My son suffered from a displaced fracture in his hand. This distracted me from work most of yesterday and much of today as I follow-up to contact insurance, arrange an appointment with the specialist, calm my nerves, and help him address him pain.

When family emergencies strike we are pulled from our work to address the situation promptly. I accomplished only the absolutely necessary to prepare for a workshop I am presenting tomorrow, (ironically it's on "Stress Management") and respond to a few inquiries.

When disaster strikes, emergencies occur, or the like it is important to focus where it's most important and communicate clearly to others about your need to concentrate elsewhere. Having a strong support network was and always has been very helpful in any crises.

On top of everything already occuring, I had tried most of the day yesterday to contact another mom from my Monday carpool for dance beings it was my week to pick up my daughter and 2 other girls from school, pick up a pizza for dinner, and drop them at dance class. Unfortunately, I was not able to connect with the another mom from the carpool. As it got later and it was clear that I couldn't get from the Radiologist to the school on time, I realized that I needed another plan. I called a different mom from the dance school, explained my situation and requested her help. She was not able to pick up the girls either but she called up one of the dance teachers and got her to help us out. The dance teacher connected with one of the moms I had tried unsuccessfully to get all day and explained the situation. Once the girls were taken care of, I released a huge sigh of relief and was able to fully focus on my son again.

Sometimes we are challenged by multiple conflicting priorities and emotions. During these times, it helps to know what is most important to you, what your options are and who is available to help. Always have a few phone numbers on hand so that you have a variety of people to call! Don't be afraid to ask for help!

Exemplary Leading During Tough Times

In times of economic slowdown and crises, leadership skills are more important than ever!! According to Ronald Heifetz, director of the Leadership Education Project at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, "...the strongest leaders take the courage to face reality, the humility to admit when they don't have all the answers, and the commitment to make changes. The new role is to help people face reality and to mobilize them to make changes."

Many companies are already enduring a global economic downturn and an uncertain future. Markets are shifting their priorities causing some delay in purchasing decisions or cancelation of orders. Productivity is suffering mostly due to waning focus and motivation of the workforce. And, busines leaders are faced with similar emotions and anxieties that everyone else has.

Here are a few suggested strategies to help you navigate as a strong and successful leader during these troubled times:

1. Stay focused
Being alert and attentive is important. Leaders need to be a role model that helps employees align with the company's vision, mission and values. Leaders need to help keep everyone be engaged and ease their tension and anxieties by providing direction, vision, stability and support.

2. Communicate often
Employees need to feel connected to their leaders. Honest, straight-forward, consistent and frequent communication is important and helps diminish the rumors that fly in the face of fear and uncertainty. Leaders must provide the workforce with progress reports and keep them informed.

3. Motivate your workforce
Although it may be difficult during extreme and intense times, leaders must keep the workforce motivated, energized and committed. Help your employees take personal responsibility and accountability for helping the company succeed.

4. Prepare for the future
Prepare for a healthy and prosperous future. Re-position customer service and commitment to quality. Serve your customers well. Help keep the company in a healthy position to survive troubled times. Continue investing in on-going learning that can be applied to making things better now and in the future. Provide coaching, training and mentoring to help develop your employees.

6. Benchmark against the best
It's hard to say which companies will do best in the future. Many companies are faltering. Mergers and acquisitions are commonplace. Be aware of what your competitors are doing and how they are performing. Learn from their mistakes. Savor in the opportunities to learn from the best and capatalize on their experiences. Proactively look for areas that can be improved in your organization.

Don't take a wait-and-see attitude but instead pursue long-term prosperity and growth and control what you can!

When Technology doesn't work

I have spent the majority of my day, nearly 5 hours being focused so that I can get my BLOG listed at some directories and post an article. This was my main priority today and I planned on 1-2 hours to complete this task.

Has this ever happened to you??? You plan on something being less complicated than it becomes. It expends so much of your time and energy. You become so determined to get it done because this is what you have committed to do (I even declared it to a couple of people to help minimize interruptions!).

Personally, I find this so frustrating and a waste of time! Please share your tips for me and others to overcome this problem!

Fighting Fires isn't Sexy

For those of you with more on your to-do list than you have time to do, it could be quite difficult to decide which projects get your time and attention. Getting focused is the top challenge most super busy managers struggle with. I have learned so much about this problem first-hand dealing with it as I balance my roles as mother, wife, friend, daughter, sister, and more with that of being an entrepreneur. I have now created and delivered a highly effective workshop "There's Too Much on my Plate" to help others manage their work more effectively rather than constantly fighting fires by handling the crises that come there way on a regular basis.

Some highly recommended and very effective techniques I teach about include:

1. Choose the RIGHT priorities

Here I refer to the 80:20 rule and apply it to managing your workload. Don't be so busy doing lots of the things that will detract you from doing the things that matter most. 80% is trivial but 20% is vital. Focus on your 20% with 80% of your time and energy. Work smarter! Focus the majority of your time and energy on activities that advance your overall goals and purpose. Anything else on your to-do list is likely a distraction!

2. Ask Yourself the RIGHT questions

Rather than asking about how you'll be able to get everything done, ask what steps will help you achieve your goals, how the activity or project ties into the bigger picture, when critical hand-offs need to occur and other such questions that more closely align with your goals and objectives.

3. Be in Control

Manage your day rather than reacting to other's needs and priorities and putting your own priorities on the back burner. Don't be fooled to believe that you'll be able to get to your stuff once you've gotten through everyone else's because that rarely, if ever really happens. Learn to negotiate and ask better questions, to push back, and to set clear boundaries.

Fighting someone else's fires places your time and energy with them. When someone needs your help and tries to make their priority your priority, remember that by reacting you are giving up your power. Instead, if reasonable, politely let them know that you will gladly help them out later once you've finished your own work. Focus on your priorities first!

Email Overload

Business people are plagued with numerous distractions at work. We deal with email, the internet, phone calls, unexpected meetings, unorganized and cluttered work spaces, changing priorities, annoying cell phones, pagers, PDAs, and constant interruptions. Senior executives and managers report that the biggest distractions are the crisis of the moment and e-mail.

To better manage all of these crazy distractions at work, people are arriving at work earlier, staying later, closing their doors more often, and setting clear boundaries. However, email continues to be a growing problem for just about everyone. The email overload can come from both inside and outside the organization, including customers, colleagues, superiors, family members, lists, and spam. There has been an explosion of e-mail in offices across the country, and not all of it is spam. Answering 50 or 100 e-mails a day -- or just wading through them -- can disrupt workflow and cost money. Get some real useful tips for managing your email better from Marilyn Paul, Business expert and author of "It's Hard to Make a Difference when you can't Find your Keys".

The real issue is the perception and beliefs that people have. Why do people believe that they "have to" be available 24 hours a day? Why do they "have to" be involved in all the details of every project? Why do we "have to" attend so many meetings?




Reassess the "have to's" and "should's" and you may make different decisions!