What's Wrong with Work?

What did you do today?

OK, it's only 11.45 on a Monday morning and I am already asking you what you've done. 

But there are only 6 or 7 hours left of the day and then one-fifth of your working week is gone. What will you have to show for it? 

A really tidy Inbox? A shorter to do list? Fewer people waiting for stuff from you?

Or will you have made a real contribution to the success of your organisation?

It is entirely possible to get to the end of a day, or a week, and feel that you have not really accomplished much, even though you have been frantically busy constantly. Rule 8 for Taming Tigers is very deliberately worded -

Understand AND control your time (we talked about this last time) - Do you know where your time goes and do you control it, or it is controlled by other people's demands and therefore by your Tiger?

To create change - You aren't just understanding and controlling your time so you can stay on top of your to do list. You are understanding and controlling time to Create Change. Do you know what change you want/need to create this week? 

If your CEO was watching, what change would he/she expect you to be part of this week? 

If you were looking back on this week with the benefit of hindsight, what story would you like to have been part of? 

You still have 6 or 7 hours to make an impact on the day, to write the story. Shake up Monday and create some change. 

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Who is in charge - you or the clock?

Sometimes it can seem as though you are not in charge of your own life. 

What with your manager's expectations, demands coming from other people with their own agendas and deadlines and an ever increasing to do list of your own, the time just seems to disappear. 

Rule 8 for Taming Tigers is "Understand and control time to create change". Under circumstances like these though it is hard to know where to start. 

The clue is in the Rule. Step 1 is to Understand. 

If you could only spend time on activity which added value to your organisation, based on the specific role you have in the business, what would fill your diary?

Now cross reference that with what it actually there. Our diary is a reflection of our priorities. You may think that strategic thinking is a high priority for you but if it isn't in your diary then you are kidding yourself. You don't prioritise it because you believe, in the moment, that something else is a high priority. 

By stepping back and considering what should be in the diary and comparing it with what actually is, you can at least understand where the time is going. 

That's the easy bit. The hard bit is making changes to the way your diary looks to that is reflects how you really add value to the organisation. 

But don't get overwhelmed by that now. Do the first step first. 

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Be Prepared?

Leading a team is a bit like being a boy/girl scout. It can feel as though you are expected to adapt effortlessly and seamlessly to the different needs, moods and challenges your team present you with without demonstrating any kind of emotional response at all. 

Cool, calm, collected and prepared for anything. 

Of course, the reality is that you are human. Which means you are often taken by surprise or operating on a set of assumptions which are totally false or having an emotional reaction at a particularly inconvenient moment. 

And, at the same, time, you are trying to cover all of that up because you can't let your team see your flaws. 

Which only goes to perpetuate their belief that you are always prepared and therefore means you have to continue to hide the fact that you aren't always, which means that you are always operating with this slight sense that you could, at any moment, be found out...which adds a great deal of stress which no one, but yourself, has put on you. 

Rule 4 for Taming Tigers - It's All in the Mind

You may have strong views about what kind of leader you want to be and what kind of leader your team needs to you be. But are those "rules" consciously chosen by you or are you operating by a set of beliefs and assumptions which you have never examined closely?

What if your team did realise you weren't always prepared?

What if they did see emotion from you?

What if they were aware of your fears, insecurities and foibles?

When we interviewed James Le Brocq of O2 for our website he shared that he tells new hires some quite personal details about himself. It's a way to build bonds from the start (check it out by logging in at www.tamingtigers.com).

This might not be the approach you decide to take but it is certainly worth examining what's going on in your mind and consciously choosing the rules you operate by. Otherwise you might find yourself getting tied up in knots about a modus operandi you haven't even realised you have.  

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Know-it-all

If you are the boss it can feel like you have to know it all. 

Of course, you've recruited or promoted people who are experts in their field. But perhaps you still feel that you should know a little more about everything than they do. Otherwise, what is your job? 

If you can't add value by dropping in that "I thought of that earlier" or "Yes, I've heard of that" or "Well I just downloaded the updated version of that" then why do they need you? 

Well, clearly this is all nonsense. You aren't the boss because you know more about everything. I can't tell you why you are the boss (only you know how you got there!) but I can tell you why you aren't there. 

You aren't there to have all the answers.

You aren't there to be the smartest person in the room. 

You aren't there to get it right more than anyone else. 

The way I think of it is that you hold all the strings. Everyone else has a defined role but without a hub at the centre which ties everything together, everyone is just working in isolation. 

In a sense it isn't very rewarding. But, as we put it at Taming Tigers - "The tools for Taming Tigers are all around you" and, if you don't mind me saying, you are the biggest tool in the team. 

Today, let others be right, be clever, be the subject matter expert. All you need to do is hold the strings. 

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