By John R. Nocero & Jennifer L. Kennedy
JenniferKennedy@barberinstitute.org
Congrats to Jenn. She has taken on new responsibilities at her institution, becoming the Privacy Officer, in addition to the Administrator of Governance, Risk Management and Compliance. A dual-role can be challenging, especially in today’s ever-changing regulatory environment, but it is nothing she cannot handle. It also doesn’t mean that she will work even harder. She’ll work smarter. We’ve talked before about working on the weekends. But now we are focused now on being more introspective about our bigger issues. According to Bradberry (2015), we could be on to something.
As Bradberry (2015) points out, successful people know the importance of shifting gears on the weekend to relaxing and rejuvenating activities to create a better week ahead, either through disconnecting from mobile devices, minimizing chores (which is my favorite strategy so my wife can do everything around the house while I dance & frolic), or contemplate the larger forces that are shaping your industry, your organization, and your job as we plan the work week. A 2015 Stanford study found that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that there’s no point in working anymore. That’s right, people who work as much as 70 hours (or more) per week actually get the same amount done as people who work 55 hours.
This really helps us see things in a whole new light.
Let us start with this: if your only motivation is to gather up titles, stop right now. There’s no room for a style over substance, razzle dazzle leader who’s not willing to put in the work (and gets overwhelmed with the added responsibility). The title only gets respect when the hard work is done.
For Jenn, a dual role is a natural progression. As GRC Administrator, her role supports all aspects of her agency. Her group doesn’t just work with some people; they work with all of the people. And if there are ways in which the team can be an ongoing support for certain areas of the business that need our expertise, we’re willing to do it. Knowing compliance and regulations is great, but it doesn’t mean much if you don’t understand both the inner-workings and motivations of the business as a whole. For her, taking on the responsibilities of Privacy Officer was a natural progression years in the making. Not because she was gunning for another title, but because she has a skill set that was valuable to the Privacy Office.
So this dual role, does it change everything about who she is and the work she does? Not really. It just means that she’s earned these new responsibilities and obligations. Does it mean she works twice as much? Nope. She has a life outside the office and it’s a busy one. Does it mean she’s found the perfect work/life balance? Nope – doesn’t exist. What it does mean is that she’s taken the time to see the changes in her path. It means that she continues to develop her staff and herself to bring the most value to the business every day. It also means taking a look back to see the methods that worked to get her here and how she can use those going forward.
Many of you are just like Jenn. Right now, her career is too important to settle for anything less than wow. She can either settle for good enough or press toward wow (Hyatt, 2017). She’s not settling for anything less than wow. She has no fear – no fear of losing her job or her influence, or what others will say behind her back. She’s fearlessly courageous. As Hyatt (2017) notes, if we are going to create wow experiences, we must become courageous. Both Jenn and I are courageous. We would love to tell you how to do it, but we have a connection who can do it far better than we can, don’t we Jenn?
Professional courage, coming soon…….
[clickToTweet tweet=”Nothing Less Than Wow…but How?” quote=”Nothing Less Than Wow…but How?” theme=”style3″]
References
Bradberry, T. (2015). “How Successful People Work Less and Get More Done.” Retrieved April 26, 2017 from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-things-successful-people-do-weekend-dr-travis-bradberry?utm_content=bufferdd280&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Hyatt, M. (2017). “The One Thing You Need to Create Wow Experiences.” Retrieved April 26, 2017 from https://michaelhyatt.com/the-one-thing-you-need-to-create-wow-experiences.html