We have a 7-year-old boxer, “Canton” (named after the neighborhood in Baltimore we used to live in, not the football hall of fame…but I digress). Canton is our “firstborn,” if you will, and our first shot at being responsible for another living thing. Feeding, housebreaking, middle of the night wake-ups, getting home in time from work to let her out. I’ve had a variety of management and leadership roles in my life, but Canton was our first 24-hour/day responsibility. We paid for training, weekend “emergency” vet bills, dog walkers, and the list goes on. 7 years later, Canton is going strong but instead of being our new pup and only priority, she is 4th in line behind our three kids. And this fall with work schedules and school schedules, remote learning, and soccer practices, on more than one occasion Natalie and I have looked at each other and said “Did we feed the dog?”
Don’t judge, you know you’ve been there.
As chaotic as our family of 5 (plus Canton) can be, our professional lives can sometimes feel equally chaotic, especially when it’s growing. Adding kids and commitments to our family is just like adding clients and employees to the MCFA family. Excitement & exuberance turns to sleepless nights and chaos, and eventually, we stabilize and grow again (in the Kraemer house we are still taking on commitments but I think we are done with more kids).
So, how we do make sure Canton gets fed? We are working on the Delegate & Elevate Tool (at home and in MCFA) from our friend Mark O’Donnell at EOS. The concept of delegation sounds so easy, right? Wrong! But more on Delegation next week. For now, fill out this tool…really. Right now. And next week I will talk about where to go next.
Whether CEO or soldier, project manager or proposal writer, as Stephen Covey says, “We accomplish all that we do through delegation – either to time or to other people.” One way or another we have to pay for it through our time or our team. More on this next week.
BJ Kraemer, President