Sorry for being a stressed out boss
This month has been the biggest month in Marketing Eye's history. Our sales have exceeded our forecasts by over 40%. As a professional services firm, this is great, but not as easy to manage as one might think.
Marketing Eye is at the end of the day a consulting firm with billable hours, not too dissimilar to a law firm or accounting firm. When there has been a huge surge in sales, it means that there needs to be enough people to fulfill the work that the agency has been employed to do.
Instead of working "on" the business, I am working "in" the business doing client work. This is hard, as I am a perfectionist and everything that I do has to be "perfect". As we all know, perfection does not exist, so the pressure I place on myself is enormous.
Marketing Eye is at the end of the day a consulting firm with billable hours, not too dissimilar to a law firm or accounting firm. When there has been a huge surge in sales, it means that there needs to be enough people to fulfill the work that the agency has been employed to do.
Instead of working "on" the business, I am working "in" the business doing client work. This is hard, as I am a perfectionist and everything that I do has to be "perfect". As we all know, perfection does not exist, so the pressure I place on myself is enormous.
Without realising it, I have been stressed out and when I communicate with my team, it shows. For two days, everything seems to be a problem waiting to happen. Yet, nothing has fallen over and everyone is doing their jobs and working over and above to cover for the extra workload.
I have snapped, over explained things that need not be explained and in my mind placed blame for deadlines on company work being moved. All of which has been out of line.
I am a very honest, open and self-aware person. If I have done something wrong, I will always apologise and mean it. I see two sides to every story and I never hold a grudge for too long.
We are all human and we all make mistakes. I make more than most, or at least it feels that way sometimes. For two days, I haven't been myself and for that I have apologised to my very talented and tolerant team. They have been amazing in every way and without hesitation have rolled up their sleeves to get the job done.
I may have given them flowers, but they deserve Ferrari's. They not only accepted my apology, but gave me ideas on how we can work together to minimise stress when we have too much work. Here is my open letter to my team:
To my team,
Each of you have been hand selected by either other members of the team, or myself. By us choosing to have you on the team, it means that we believe in you in every way; your talent, your skills and quite simply you.
We work with the best clients on the planet. They are exciting companies that are looking for high growth - and want for us to be part of that. Our skills are at the top of the game, and we deliver to our clients game-changing marketing solutions. Without you, we could not do this.
As a boss, I am still learning. While I may buy you small gifts and take you to lunch, it's not the good times that really defines my skills in this area. It's the bad times. When things get out of hand, or a problem comes our way. Sometimes I will handle this well and other times, I may not. If I don't, I really want for you to bring it to my attention so that I can constantly improve the way I manage people and lead our company into the next stage of the business cycle.
Thank you so much for the work you do and your friendships. It means the world to me and to our clients.
Let's build this business together and make it the best SMB in the world... just like we know we can.
Mellissah xx
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comment ( 1 )
Marylin
09 Oct 2015You've a fantastic website here! Do you want to make some invite articles on my website?
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