better business blog

Tips and stories to add value to you and your organisation

Stepping In

29 November 2020

It’s easy to step back.

We can congratulate ourselves that business is humming along nicely, clients are happy and all systems are running smoothly.

But are they?

Just because people look busy doesn’t mean they are. Carrying a clipboard is a great way to look efficient, when the reality can be it’s just a mask for poor organisation and much time wasting.

A client of mine has had several people leave her business and she was worried about the workload this would leave her with. (They left for many reasons, and things can happen like this of course).*

When we dug into the workload it was obvious that some of it was over-work, where people were producing too many reports and not focusing enough on the essential items.

There were also inefficiencies due to the natural pace of people and how they disrupted eachother.

Some of the workload could be re-prioritised and a few items delegated to key managers.

The client realised that if she stepped in, took the reins back and held them tighter, she could halve the lost capacity.

Suddenly, what felt daunting now felt achievable.

I’ve experienced this myself. A colleague was doing 6 hours of work and when they left I found I could do it in 2. That 2 hours was available because I didn’t need to spend time checking his work. Made me realise that I probably should have stepped in sooner. We are human and not infallible.

And of course, when we are busy things can get ragged. We don’t notice the clipboard carriers, who although have good intentions, can distract us from what is actually happening.

It’s never easy when people leave, for any reason, and yet it doesn’t have to be the end of the world.

We can step in, take a fresh look at what needs to be done and lead our business onwards.

There is a place and time to step back and survey our world. There is also a time when we need to step in and take action.

When you look around your business this week, where do you need to step in?

Keep well!

* This example has been anonymised. If you think you know the client, you really don’t!