I have to admit that I have never seen explosive growth up close and personal before, growth on a scale and percentage that defies what passes for business logic these days. It's amazing to behold, and one heck of a lot of fun. For me, the best part is the learning process that we are going through, discovering how to use old talents and skills in new and better ways. See, at my age (over 35, let's leave it at that), you don't really expect revolutionary personal growth. You think those days are long since past, but that is really a choice you make. You can remain stagnant, or you can grow. Growing is a lot more fun.
However, when you are engaged in a cooperative effort, there are going to be times when you think time is best spent doing one thing, but others think the group should do something else. If there is time to do both, well, that's not such a big deal. But if the people involved are busy, and you are asking them to give up free time to join in the effort, then the effort must repay their expenditure of time. And there's the rub, isn't it? What is the best use of time? Genuine and honest disagreements over such an issue could lead to problems, but that is absolutely no solution whatsoever; the good of the group comes first.
Every group must have a leader to be effective, and you should never disagree with the leader because that hurts the entire group, especially if ego is involved, you are disagreeing because you want to be leader. (And, personally, that's not my cup of tea. An assistant or helper to the leader? Sure, you bet. But the top dog? Not unless I have earned it through my own efforts. Never, ever through other means.)
However, what you can do is provide alternative uses of time, offer something different for those who believe that best suits their needs. This diversification of subject material helps everyone, especially for those who wish to go back and forth between the topics and meetings. Additionally, whatever the topics are for your meetings should be duplicatable; that is, those who come later should be able to easily take your materials and use them for their own needs, perhaps with minor changes to suit the changing marketplace or differing personalities.
Doesn't that all sound every exciting? Almost as scintillating as reading the newest Michael Connelly novel.
Well, okay, maybe not so exciting, but I have to admit that I get excited about using time as efficiently as possible. I am NOT a workaholic, so when I do work I want it to count, I want to be as effective as possible. So from now on, I am going to offer the fruits of my labors and whatever talents I have to provide something a little different, a different perspective on familiar material, for anyone who might be interested.
After all, for five years I did this for a living and I won a national award from a major corporation for this very thing. That's not to brag, I was surprised by the award and frankly wasn't sure that I deserved it; I had some very talented colleagues who were just as deserving. However, it does indicate some level of competency in compiling and presenting material in an entertaining and efficient manner, and I actually enjoyed doing it, so what the heck, let's do it some more!
And so this, too, is part of your growth, this decision making process of how you should or should not spend your time. As for me, I'm going to make mistakes so I will also have to remember how to learn from them so they won't be repeated. But dang, all this learning makes me feel like I'm back in school again. And now that I think about it, I guess that I am: the school of life.
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