It’s a frantic season in a frantic year. I know almost no one whose plate isn’t overflowing. So if overwhelm is the only option, how can we make the best of it?
Are you spinning all the plates and have too many things going at once? You may wish you weren't, but if juggling truly is your only option, let’s talk about ways you might navigate that in a way that will leave you unbruised for the holidays.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Hey, it’s Rachel Cooke, your Modern Mentor. I’m the founder of Lead Above Noise—a firm specializing in helping leaders and organizations fully activate their teams – driving both engagement and performance.
If you’ve listened to me before, then you know I prioritize priorities. Because as the saying goes, when everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority.
But also if you’ve listened to me before, then you’ll know I live in the real world. And I understand that sometimes even the best advice feels a little out of reach in certain seasons. Like maybe the end of a very chaotic year.
So many people around me are super overwhelmed right now. Trying to get a million and four things done before this year closes out. And saying things like “I know. I know I need to prioritize. And I will. But first I have to power through this season. And then I’ll be ready.”
So I say, OK. I wish you weren’t juggling so many things at once. But if juggling truly is your only option. Then let’s talk about ways you might navigate that in a way that will leave you unbruised for the holidays.
OK. Lotta balls in the air. And we’re hoping not a single one drops.
But – as a safety measure – start by assessing them all. And determine if one just had to drop, which would cause the least damage.
The other day, I was carrying too much. This is not a metaphor, friends. I just literally had too many things I was trying to move from my office into my bag. I was carrying 4 books, a journal, my wallet, and my laptop.
Go ahead. Guess what happened. I dropped everything – including my laptop. Now, thank goodness for insurance. But here’s the point.
What I should have done is looked at everything, and determined that the laptop was the one thing in there I couldn't drop. And as dexterous as I am (which I am not), I should have made a separate trip for that one. The stakes were too high. Some things are too valuable to let slip, and knowing ahead of time lets you treat them as such.
OK, now your turn. I know – everything you’re carrying is important. But do you know which are most breakable and which can withstand a fall?
Which of your projects has the highest stakes? Which will impact a customer versus just have an internal impact?
Which of your projects has collaborators you might lean on as needed, versus the ones which require all of you?
Which have an impact on dollars and cents versus those that are more subjective in their impacts?
I know you want to be a hero. But even Superman knows who to save first from the burning building just in case he’s slower than expected that day.
Multitasking has gotten a bad name. It implies distraction - less than complete focus.
But parallel pathing? It’s a more strategic version. It’s not literally doing two things at once (ahem, sitting in a meeting while responding to email). But rather, it’s taking two things that should happen in sequence, and not letting one hold up the other.
OK – here’s an example. I always do some Discovery work with a client before I build a leadership development program or workshop. This way, I’m fully informed about what they need, where they’re starting, and what outcomes are most critical for them to achieve.
With the outcomes of Discovery in hand, I begin to build the program. This, of course, is ideal.
Now, the entire process of designing a customer leadership program can easily take 6-8 weeks. So when a client calls and needs it done in 4? Yikes. But I can make it happen. It just requires some parallel pathing.
In these cases, I begin my Discovery, and as individual insights begin to emerge, I also start to build the program. Rather than wait until all the background Discovery is done to move on to program building, the two actions run concurrently. I’m not multitasking (i.e., I’m not literally designing the program during a Discovery call). But I’m not letting one hold up the other.
As you look at the priorities flying overhead, is there anything you can parallel path to gain some efficiency?
Maybe you’re on the hook to redesign a key process to better serve your customers and you’ve sent out a customer feedback survey which customers have 4 weeks to complete. Rather than waiting for the survey to close, can you start pulling out insights as they eek in?
The magic of parallel pathing is that we’re always able to maintain progress. Because sometimes when we wait too long, it’s the inertia that causes the ball to drop. So take small steps each day on anything that really matters and keep things in action.
Know the worst feeling of all? Jumping through hoops to keep a ball in the air, only to learn the ball changed. Or is no longer important. Ugh!
Don’t rely on your weekly one-hour team meeting to know the current status of things. Because priorities are constantly changing these days.
Can you do a quick email with your boss at the end of each day, just to confirm you’re still juggling the right balls?
Can you have an open Slack with your teammates so as soon as one of you catches wind of a shift, you can instantly share that with each other?
Can you set up a Google alert to keep you posted of happenings in the market that might impact the importance – or direction – of all the things you’ve got in the air?
I was meeting a friend for dinner the other night. She’s a copywriter – and she had delayed our meeting time by an hour as she absolutely had to finish writing copy for this product launch.
We finally met and she was frazzled, but proud she got it done.
She texted me the next morning to say the launch had been postponed. Her deadline was no longer relevant. It would have taken someone 10 seconds to update her. But…
Ugh.
Checking in with others may not be one of the balls in your circus act explicitly, but by doing so, you could be saving yourself time, effort and stress to maintain the ones that are.
So these are some of the strategies I use when juggling is the only option. Do you have others that work for you? Shoot me a note and let me know. I’m always up for expanding my collection of wisdom!
Join me next week for another great episode. Until then, visit my website at leadabovenoise.com if your organization is looking to dial up its Employee Experience or deliver some leadership development that activates change. You can follow Modern Mentor on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Find and follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks so much for listening and have a successful week.