Observations and Judgement
The one thing I have learned in my time here on earth is that people’s brains work differently. I am not discussing intelligence. Often we as a culture like we like to boil down people through judgments we make in work and life situations. We make an easy assessment like “smart” / “dumb” or “idiot” / “genius”. The truth is people have different intelligence quotients but day to day most of what we observe is not intelligence or lack thereof but differences in the way people’s brains process and work.
Brain Power
Some people can think quickly on their feet while some people require time to process. The processor does not possess less intelligence but their brain is examining many details and data points that need more time to process. I mention this because of how often we make a snap judgment about someone’s ability when we do not have enough data to make a judgment. These days our attention spans are so short, are we really gathering enough data to make an accurate assessment?
Process Improvement
I just mentioned we are busy, we have too many things on our plates and we have examined a situation or process that clearly needs automation and streamlining to result in the improvement of efficiencies. That part is easy, the actual time and work that is required is always the hard part. Our vision of the perfect solution may take 25 steps and require a lot of time, work, and maybe expense.
Smaller Bites
There is another solution perhaps, one that is still messy may still have manual elements and doesn’t fully automate. It costs less but takes more time daily and may require a hands-off approach to the process. It may mean giving the day-to-day work to another team member.
Fish or Cut Bait?
The problem is when you are the one who sees the whole board. You can see the 12 moves ahead and it is hard to hand off to another player who may only see the very next move. But, ultimately if they have time to manage the process you have to be ok with letting them fish.
Strategic Planning
I face situations like this personally and professionally every day. It’s hard but due to our limited bandwidth, crazy distractions, and just the craziness of life in general we will always be behind. The best we can do is prioritize projects strategically, empower and grow other team members, and save your bandwidth for the most important projects.
Your Best is Enough
Do your best, it’s the best you can do. It’s good enough.