Are you spinning too many plates?
I would have to hold my hand up and say “yes” to this myself, knowing that there are some low priority things which I may well be late in doing, yet I’m not willing to give them up (maybe because it’s those I’ve placed at a higher priority that I’d have to give up on!).
It recently started to occur to me other people are not quite as aware of their own load and wonder why their peers/boss find it frustrating that a response rate can be lower than expected!
It has always felt right to me to know (and being doing) a lot of things a little rather than be a narrow expert and I’ve always loved this quote:
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, con a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects”
I feel I’m doing pretty well in life according to Robert A. Heinlein , though I welcome offers to help me con a ship, will forget a couple of gruesome items, and I’m not quite ready to die yet!
When working on any one task, it’s good to be focused on it, for efficiency and success. When working with others on several tasks towards a goal, cooperation to deadlines starts to become important. Most of us have many tasks and cooperate with many different people, so the question is how to prioritise!
I once worked with someone who was fantastic at providing himself a buffer when giving status: saying he’d done X amount of work when actually he’d done X+Y. So, I endeavour to be clear about which task is my personal top priority at any one time and accept tight deadlines. As my personal priority decreases, there is an increase in buffering, and setting of others’ expectations, so my response rate lands in the right ball park!
If everyone else did this too, I’d want to work with those for whom my top priority is their top priority! Then who’d care about the number of spinning plates?
Shirley Thompson - The Desk Coach
Time Management and Motivation Specialist
Tel: 
01425 480631
August 21st, 2007 at 9:16 pm
I think I love your Robert A. Heinlein! Likewise I believe that variety is the spice of life.
As a retailer in a previous life I was asked why I didn’t become a trainer/coach as I was ’so good at it’! But at the time not only did I mentor, coach and direct branch managers and area managers but I also got to advise buyers and did product merchandising. I project managed store opening teams and arranged conferences. I developed business strategies, fed back financial information, and did competitor surveys. I wrote training programmes, delivered stock, arranged stocktakes, hired and fired staff at senior levels. I negotiated payment terms and payment deals, wrangled with the chairman, wheeled and dealed with creditors, and debtors. Engaged, enthused and entrenched staff - not all but most.
What I do now is light weight but I bring with it a lot of experience. Most of which I forget I have. Hey ho!
When you have to achieve so many KPIs you build an inherrent time management expertism. However, what works for me, (I am a monthly and annual programmer; not a detail planner) isn’t necessarily what will work for you or any others. I strongly believe that one should work with ones primary strengths and build on secondary strengths as there is less personal resistance to them.