Today I’m going to talk about an issue that affects a lot of women in business, and that’s procrastination or postponing things until later.
Things that could have helped you to a less stressed situation, that you feel you don’t have the time for and you say “I’ll put that on my list and I will do it tomorrow, or next week or next month”. And after some time the good idea is forgotten and you are stuck in the same place going around and around in circles on the spot.
Sounds familiar I bet! I’ve been there so many times myself and so I’d like to talk to you about how it can help you massively if you actually do it right away. You know like Nike says “Just do it”.
You see I found out, and so many others before me have found out, that taking the time to do the changes you need will actually give you the time back in the long run.
It will cost you extra time for the moment when you do it, but once you are in the news spot where you have your new habits it will be so much better. Don’t you agree?
It’s all about making that extra effort for a short time. And it would pay off tremendously.
Meet my client Diane; Her days were so full and she had no time for changes. It was easier to stay in the same place and on the same track and any big changes she wanted to make with her team at work was always postponed.
They would say things like – next month when this project is over we’ll put something new in place, but then came the next project and the next project and time just passed by without any of the improvement or changes they so desperately needed.
So when I asked her what she actually wanted to do she said; “Well we’ve been given more and more to do over the last year. It’s kind of just adding up and now it’s about 15% more work for my team and it’s taking it’s really wearing us down.”
“It’s the same old stuff but it’s just very much more. So we have been talking about making changes to our routines but we never find the right time.”
“We work with accounting and we’ll just all work a little bit harder every day to make sure we get things done and let’s face it no one has died from a working a little bit harder. Right?”
“I know it’s not the best, in the long run, to think like that. But what can I do?” She said.
And here is what we actually did and you can do this too with your work team. In a way it’s very simple:
We set a date for a meeting two weeks ahead and everyone in Diane’s group was ordered to come. It was not voluntary.
You had to be there and they were of course informed of the purpose to find new working routines for the team. They were asked to gather their thoughts on how they would change things for the better and not only come up with suggestions for their own work and but for the work of others too.
At that two hour meeting, Diane explained the goal was to be more effective in the structure of the work to make the burden less on everyone. It was for everyone to win.
Most of them did bring thoughts to the table and they presented them to the group before they were divided into smaller groups appropriate to their work tasks.
They discussed for half an hour the things that were presented and then afterwards each small group presented their solution to everyone. After a final discussion, Diane gathered all the information that was given and she started to make a new plan for her team.
They’d worked out that their workload as a team was 20% higher than capacity but with the new schedule that was not a problem. By everyone working together they had found a solution where all the work could get done without anyone being overworked.
Roll on four weeks later after implementation and you could see that not only did they save time but they also started to co-work a lot more. They were helping each other and they were doing things together and it was not only making it faster it was also so much more fun.
I know someone some of you will ask “Why is it necessary to take everyone in the group to this discussion when these decisions could or should by the leader herself, or maybe just a few of the more experienced staff could have been consulted because the cost for a full team meeting would be a lot of man-hours.”
Of course, it did cost a lot of time whilst the improvements were worked out, prepared and implemented, but the reason that I like everyone to be involved if possible is that later on, everything will be so much smoother.
Everyone will feel included in the decisions and so they will accept and implement it so much faster. People will accept that the changes are for the big picture and the benefit of the team and should stop a lot of negativity.
Group brainstorming about their own work days and making improvements to their work lifestyle will pull a team together, make their days more enjoyable and strengthen your position as a leader.
It’s a win, win for everyone!
If you’re like Diane and can’t find a way out of your cycle of procrastination and stress at work, reach out to me for a free consultation where we can take the first step together to lifting the pressure from your shoulders. Just click here!
