Comfortable Chaos. Carolyn Harvey & Beth Herrild

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СКАЧАТЬ one of the weekly meetings, a discussion occurred about the need for a selection process and succession plan for the second-level managers. This topic had come up in the past but Carolyn had always held it off since the group was barely able to get through the processes for first-level managers. Carolyn had also worked on executive succession planning and found it frustrating due to personality challenges and lack of control.

      This particular Friday she relented and did what all good skill team support people did — offered to draft a process. “We’ll need that right away so that we will be prepared for upcoming promotions,” came a familiar and annoying voice from the back of the room. “I’ll call a special meeting to review it next week,” Carolyn committed. This was late afternoon on a Friday, and she was swamped with other work and priorities so she resigned herself to working on the weekend.

      She researched and she drafted and she fine-tuned an elaborate process. She worked on other projects as well and ended up having to come in on Sunday to finish the second-level management plan. The draft process was finally sent to the skill team members and a meeting scheduled for Monday afternoon. Leaving the office Sunday afternoon, Carolyn felt tired but had some satisfaction in having completed an unpleasant task.

      On Monday morning she arrived at her tidied desk and diminished to-do pile but didn’t feel energized for the week. Instead, she felt cheated of her weekend and sick of the four walls that surrounded her. Oh well, she told herself, at least the skill team members will be grateful.

      At the meeting that afternoon, Carolyn expected a relatively uneventful review of the process with some minor revisions. She was totally shocked and instantly defensive when the meeting took a different turn. One manager commented that he thought the process was more detailed and bureaucratic than needed. Another added that he really didn’t see the need for a process at this time — there were other priorities. And other managers failed to even show up for the meeting after insisting it had to be scheduled right away!

      As the meeting deteriorated and Carolyn’s anger grew, she managed to remain mostly professional, although her demeanor was much more abrupt than usual. She ended the meeting, walked back to her office, and threw all of her materials on her desk. Without even thinking, she grabbed her purse and headed for the car. By this point she was outraged and on the verge of tears. She left without telling anyone and once in the car, started cursing and crying and ended up driving home.

      Looking back, Carolyn knows that her extreme reaction was directly related to her physical and emotional condition when she entered that meeting. She was tired, but more significantly, she was mentally and emotionally depleted. She vowed to never over-sacrifice again.

      Controlling the Corporate Beast

      You are about to be introduced to a metaphor we will use throughout this chapter. It may appear that we are picking on companies by using the terms “corporate” and “beast” together. We chose the word “corporate” because we view corporations, and many other organizations, as very powerful forces in our country, our economy, and our personal lives. Whether you work for a corporation or are a stay-at-home parent, the analogy works equally well because it is a way to put a name to that economic and social force that drives so much of how we spend our time. So think of the “corporate” in “corporate beast” as a powerful force that sometimes pushes against your efforts for a sane and meaningful life. Sometimes it takes a gritty metaphor to help drive home a point.

      For those of you working in a traditional employer-employee relationship, think of your company as a wild and consuming animal. If you’re the visual type, choose a particularly ferocious animal and imagine it with your corporate logo on its chest. It’s a rather primitive analogy but bear with us (no pun intended). The beast’s constant hunger is fed by the time and work of employees and its appetite is never satiated. The more it consumes, the more it desires. And the beast is not picky about the quality of its meal. It doesn’t matter if you slaved and produced a quality product or were asked to stay late for meaningless busy-work. The beast likes gorging on steak as much as junk food. The beast also quickly forgets you when you are gone — it simply seeks its next victim.

      If you are a stay-at-home parent or are self-employed, you will need to envision your corporate beast a little differently. The corporate beast of the stay-at-home parent is the media-driven image of the super parent who maintains a spotless and inviting home while raising incredible children and serving as a leader in their schools and the community. This corporate beast can seem to come at you from all angles. It could be those telephone calls you receive asking for your volunteer time. Or it could be your own high standards for everything from housekeeping to

      Halloween costumes. Just when you think you have mastered some aspect of the stay-at-home role, the beast tempts you with a new expectation and raises the bar.

      For the self-employed person working from home or an office, the corporate beast is the pressure to succeed and grow. Even if you started your company as a means to better balance work and family, the endless possibilities of the marketplace beckon. There are the professional associations that want more than your membership — they want you to chair a committee. And there are the vendors and suppliers that urge you to use their marketing, web, or computing services with the subtle suggestion that what you have isn’t good enough. The American dream itself can even be a companion of the corporate beast.

      Whatever your situation, know that you can’t tame the beast. You can only control how much it takes from you. If you are not constantly on alert, you will find the beast sucking your energy, your time, and, in the end, your life. Naturally you will need some defense strategies: the Comfortable Chaos warrior’s version of a sword and a shield. You must have a plan for those times when you are presented with some new task that will give more of you to the beast and leave less of you for yourself and family. You also need strategies that will help you put up barriers and defenses against the beast. We’ll cover this a little later in the chapter but first we need to get over a common stumbling block: fear of the economy.

      Worrying about the Beast, Not the Economy

      In our society, there is an incredible focus on the state of the economy. We are collectively addicted to checking the fluctuations of the stock market, the business section of the newspaper, and the plumpness of our portfolios. It’s not wrong to care, but it is a mistake to completely relinquish the quality of your life to the fate of the economy.

      The fact is that the beast thrives in a boom economy as well as in a bust economy. Think back to the boom years of 1999 and 2000 when the dot.com phenomenon was at its peak. The corporate beast was ravenously hungry during this time. People were working up to 100 hours per week in the hopes of riding a star and striking it rich in stock options. They completely sacrificed their personal lives and practically lived in their offices. Companies responded with onsite dry-cleaning, meals, and concierge services, and were touted for making their employees’ lives easier.

      Ha! Instead, most people gave thousands of hours to the beast and have nothing to show for it. Only a small percentage got rich and converted their paper money into hard assets before the economy started to slow and then nose-dived. Many others were victims of mergers and “re-orgs” that eliminated their jobs despite their hard work and dedication. And let’s not forget the stay-at-home spouses who essentially ran the household and raised their children single handedly!

      Now flip the coin and consider the typical situation during a recession — employees get nervous about the potential of layoffs. Rightfully so, since the corporate world has become a slave to quarterly earning reports and quickly dumps people as a way to boost its stock value. Sadly, few companies recognize that real growth occurs through the long-term development of its people.

      But СКАЧАТЬ