Play To Your Strengths – Part 3

When one is in the “pioneering” and “lean years” phases, you have little choice but to do everything that is needed, whether it is your strength or weakness, or whether you enjoy it, or not. However, as soon as it is possible, it really helps to start to play to your strengths, and to bring in others who enjoy areas that are your weaknesses or that drain you.

In starting JHB, I had to start up a sales branch, which involved cold calling potential clients, and going to see them to try to sell our products. I really hated everything about it, and found it extremely draining, but it had to be done. This was an area where my mentor, Eleanor played a big role, not only in giving good sales technique advice (she had years of sales director experience) but also in encouraging me, and keeping me going. After a few months, she helped me with what I still view as some of the best advice I received, and that was to look at what one thing I could delegate from what really drained me. For me it was the cold calling to set up the sales appointments. We discussed it, and worked out that it probably could be done by a student 2 mornings a week, which was affordable.  This one decision freed up my time to see more people, and to get all the rest of my management work done. It allowed for greater growth for the organisation, and most importantly it took away something that drained me, and that was causing me immense stress, which is a huge factor leading to burn out.

Part of creating a sustainable organisation, is to bring in others to help lead, share the burden.