This year started off with my mother learning that her breast cancer was back. Over the past six months, there have been many ups and downs as we navigated this journey with her. Last Tuesday, as my three sisters and I quickly prepared to return home for what we anticipated would be our final visit with mom, we got the call…mom had passed. This week, we were joined by family and friends from near and far to celebrate and honor her life. It’s been a week I will never forget.
I always say when life strikes, the last thing you want to think about is work. But depending upon the situation and the timing of things, sometimes you have to do both – sometimes for extended periods of time as you juggle the personal with the professional.
Since January, my sisters and I have made multiple trips to and from Iowa to support and care for both of our parents. In addition, I’ve had several speaking engagements requiring a lot more time and travel than usual. I’m always sharing how valuable procedures and systems are to keeping the office running smoothly, but I’m a living testament this year to how they keep the entire business running smoothly. I’d be in severe trouble without the procedures and systems we have in place to guide my team while I’ve been absent or unavailable for extended stretches of time these past few months.
And this ties in perfectly with this week’s theme of cultivating a collaborative workplace also.
While the situation has been difficult, I haven’t worried about whether All Things Admin would continue running smoothly. I knew it would because of the collaborative environment I’ve cultivated with my team.
We have procedures in place to keep things running smoothly when something goes wrong or one of us is out of the office. And everyone is willing to step up and do what needs to be done. So, instead of worrying about my business – especially this past week, I’ve been able to focus on my family. Are we going to have gaps to fill in when I get back? Yes, but they will help us keep improving our procedures and fixing the holes for future instances.
This collaborative environment isn’t something that happened overnight – it’s taken time and hard work. But it’s been well worth it, and it’s something I’m very grateful for, especially this week. And I highly encourage you to try and create this kind of collaborative dynamic in your own workplace.
This week’s feature article explains how collaboration can improve productivity in your office, and you can find additional tips and insight on creating a collaborative environment on our Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages.
Supporting your administrative success,
Julie
