By Michelle Cubas, Enterprise Business Coach, Positive Potentials LLC

Multi-tasking is plate spinning. It is not the same as sequencing and planning the next step. It is an attempt to conduct several tasks simultaneously without focusing on a desired outcome from any one task. It is a selfish, greedy approach to get blood from a stone. It is used to intimidate people. It speaks of a lack of respect denoting that anyone can do the job. It’s a morale buster, reeking of the unspoken, “If-you-don’t-someone-else-will-attitude.”

Multi-tasking can be a distraction from issues and real challenges within the company.
No one wants to admit the emperor is naked.

• It undermines completion and analysis.
• It promotes interruptions.
• It ruins accuracy and, oops, causes rework.
• It corrodes budgets.

Consider the image of the plate twirlers from the carnival. The twirler begins with one plate, sets it in motion then starts up another one. By the end of the act, several plates are spinning. BUT, one must ask, “To what end?” The spinning plates don’t create a manageable outcome. They come crashing to the ground unless each one is approached and stopped individually. In my business coaching practice, I ask, “So what?” and “For what?” of my clients’ work. All

Insert the plate-spinning scenario into a work group or small business. Consider the chaos that is created in attempting to keep the plates spinning without understanding why. Another example is the small business leader, often an entrepreneur, who attempts to do every task solo thinking money is saved in so doing.

(Buzzer sounds!) Wrong answer. The learning curve is often steeper than any savings benefit minus the expert factor of someone trained and experienced to perform that task like a bookkeeper.

Larger companies chase this same cost-saving myth. After laying off a third of the work force, the remaining souls have to assume their own positions, plus at least one to two other jobs. Unfortunately, they were not hired to do the other jobs. The fallacy in this quandary is that if anyone complains, they, too, get the ax. There is no room to negotiate how to spread the work load around. The only balanced distribution is that everyone is suffering the same fate.

I experienced this double-edged sword, which created intense daily stress for me attempting to keep the plates spinning. Here’s the recipe for chaos that led to my voluntary resignation to start my own company (to be sung to 12 days of Christmas!): two trade shows, one sales meeting event, channel marketing materials, video production, package design, copywriting, print and outside vendor management, two product launches (and all associated materials, sales sheets), constant sabotage from the manager and director, lack of communication (need-to-know basis only) and cross training with the other team members led to total exhaustion and the excising of my gall bladder from the stress!

Companies Must Promote Focus
There is hope for civility and prosperity to return to the workplace from the shop floor to the senior management floor.

Everyone benefits when people can focus:
• Avoid burnout
• Attain greater job satisfaction
• Achieve an actual outcome; not just another loose end to follow up
• No false rush-to-wait situation.
• No super person is required because there is a reasonable pace and expectations.
• Avoids fire stomping as a management style.

Successful teams blossom in environments that nurture quality and personal pride for a job well:
1. Time for what matters
2. Realistic planning
3. Sequential thinking and analysis
4. Defined priorities
5. Time and space for managers to manage.

Don’t despair. All is not lost in multi-tasking land.
Here are five strategies for successful work environments:
1. Provide clear objectives and expectations to everyone involved with your project.
2. Define the originators of the project and learn their agenda for why this project is being done.
3. Who is going to look good at the finish? What are their roles in the project? How can you reach them?
4. Provide tools and resources within a realistic time frame to accomplish the goals.
5. Evaluate the outcome for future learning within the organization.

Michelle Cubas shares this thought in her seminars, “A for-the-good-of-the-house-attitude fuels persistence and courage to ask the hard questions. It generates pride and belonging to something larger than oneself. I herald the call to untie the workers’ hands, and be delighted to move your company, business or organization from mediocre to a masterpiece.”

© 2006 Michelle Cubas, Positive Potentials LLC, All Rights Reserved.

Do you believe in synchrodestiny—where actions, words and people “magically” connect at the same time?

It happened to me this evening when I attended a local networking event. The speaker was an 85-year old man who was George Burns incarnate with Henny Youngman’s humor (one-liners for you youngsters.)

The speaker DID say something profound; something we all know; something a bit jarring considering the financial services audience. He said, “It’s time to respect everyone the same.” He even felt compelled to explain himself and related it to his method of networking.

Why do I mention this?
The idea relates to how people treat each other in the work place. Today’s contemporary business settings often show “respect” for titles and status as the currency of the day. In fact, I don’t think it is respect at all. I think it is misplaced deference like we offer the Queen of England!

Consider the latest fan event you attended. O.K., someone has physical talent. I respect that. Now ask yourself, how closely do respect and compensation go together?

I say it’s a tale of our times; this formula says what we hold in high esteem. How do we measure compensation for a teacher who influences a lifetime of a student. How do we measure the skill and finesse of a nurse, doctor, clergy person who can hold a life in their hands? What new scale can we use that says a CEO is 6000+ times more important than the lowest rung on the ladder?

The problem is not the heirarchy of risk and decisions. It is that because someone gets (not necessarily earns) more money, that somehow their “life and times” are worth more. My challenge to you is to revisit the meaning of worth.

So what is respect anyway? In my universe (and a concept I deliver with my coaching clients) is that respect is acknowledgement. It is related to honor, recognizing wisdom, extending courtesy. It is a friendly nod, a silent or loud “thank you” for doing your part in my world. For me, it is being considerate of others’ time and resources. (Not like sitting for two hours in a waiting room.)

To a gang member, being feared is respect. That’s different; that’s being feared. Even parents fall into this trap. For sure, many managers own this definition.
This angle is more about control and wanting to micro-manage than about respect in my universe.

Listened to a condescending voice mail message lately? Who cares that the person you call is on the phone with someone else? That’s a silly thing to say to someone who is already frustrated that you didn’t answer your phone!

Or, consider, “The Multiple Choice Question”—I’m either on the phone, out of the office, with other people, bathing my dog, cleaning the hamster cage . . . you get it. How does that improve anyone’s day to know someone else has the attention of the caller?

Heard of Road Rage? That’s Phone Rage for me.

My personal favorite insulting voice mail is, “The Apology—Sorry I can’t answer the phone . . . ” Why be sorry? Let people know HOW they CAN reach you or when you’ll call them back—and do so. Give information, like you’re on sabbatical and calls are being taken by . . ., you’ve left the planet so just leave an email, your choice. Watch your credibility soar when you respect your callers.

This concept relates to service and why many people and companies don’t “get it” or “give it.” You know the ones that DO get it.

DO Try This At Home—
My “ideal” realm or business environment is taken from Richard Scarry’s children’s book, Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. One scene is at the airport where the busy people are scurrying about their jobs. The child doesn’t say this one is more important. The child recognizes that different roles are at work, and they work best when they work together.

Well, isn’t that special (thank you, Dana Carvey)? Maybe it’s time for me to jump into my time machine and visit a time when we said good morning to the bus driver or the garbage man, men took their hats off inside buildings except church, Sir Walter Raleigh placed his cloak across a puddle, oh, I digress. We don’t have to go that far back. Let’s just lighten up and appreciate each other a bit.

What’s your experience? I’d enjoy hearing from you personally as part of a book I’m researching due for completion, late fall 2006.

Coach Cubas says: “Smile, breathe, and have people wonder what you’re on!”

Entertainment is the late 20th-early 21st century’s religious experience. We are starving for connection, not information. So, we’ve accepted “stars” as manna from heaven.

Why is it any surprise that Oprah would stand apart as a spiritual leader when that is what she is known for—lifting people’s spirits!

Oprah lives her creed, she is generous, kind, loving and forgiving. She is the essence of what people can become. She is the pinnacle for no excuses, move ahead, never look back.
I love Oprah, and all she stands for.

Let’s not deify her; we need HUMAN role models!
The danger is that we turn her into a “Golden Calf” in our attempt to revere her. That would only demean her message and life’s path.

Better for us to serve as she does. She is the personification of the divine spark within us all. Don’t worship her; respect, admire and emulate her. Then, we can make our own contribution and bathe in the divine spark we crave.

Thank you, Oprah, for leading us on a path of light, wisdom and love.

Coach Cubas wants us to appreciate our divine spark. mc