Sometimes Life Happens
Discover more from How to Lead Everybody (with their permission)
So, I had a full morning of work planned. But then I realized that we had a significant leak under the kitchen sink, so I got to deal with that, instead.
When stuff like this happens, we need to re-order our priorities on the fly. It’s easier to do this when we have capable, competent, and motivated people on our team. It’s easier to do this when we are not so fully scheduled that an unplanned, emergent issue derails multiple deadlines. It’s easier to do this when we have what we need to use on-hand (in this case, water-catching pans and the right kind of wrench stored in the right place in the toolbox).
Set yourself up to have what you need when problems arise with a client (e.g., suddenly needing to change a deadline), with staff (e.g., two people suddenly needing to stay home after a Covid exposure), with our physical space (e.g., have you checked the smoke detectors and fire extinguishers recently? Do you know where the water shut-off is? The fuse box?), and with our ability to call in experienced professionals when there is a problem (note: keep the IT and electrical repair people’s contact info in PRINTED form, NOT on the machine you’d call about if it was not working).
Good luck dealing with the unanticipated issues in your life this week. In the meantime, I’m going to go check on how the drying process is progressing.
(Photo by Steve Adams on Unsplash)