11.25Talk Time With Teri – Pilates for Business: The Importance of Staying Flexible
It’s holiday time, and with holidays come family events. Since both my husband’s parents and my parents live in town, Thanksgiving is a busy time with way too much food involved. Balancing two sets of family can get tricky, especially since my side of the family, “The Kapteins”, have what my husband would describe as “a difficult time” planning events. Basically, we are completely unable to plan and execute any type of event without a lot of phone calls and even more hassle. This inability to plan is an interesting thing too, because there are only six of us in our little family. However, even before my brother and I each got married, and it was just Mom, Dad, Scott, and I, we still struggled as a family unit with organizational planning. Seriously, there are corporations with millions of employees that function more efficiently than the six of us do.
So yesterday morning I called my mom to double check what I was supposed to bring for Thanksgiving dinner. I had on my shopping list all the ingredients for pumpkin pie, a yummy strawberry Jello dessert, and ham, as had been assigned to me during our last Family Thanksgiving planning meeting. At this point it is helpful to explain that prior to yesterday’s conversation there had been four different Thanksgiving plans, and probably two dozen phone calls between family members sorting out and weighing in on the various options. Again, with only six of us involved, planning Thanksgiving should not have been hard, but for some reason, my family really does struggle with agreeing on details and putting a plan in place, so four different Thanksgiving plans led me to yesterday’s conversation.
The phone call went a little something like this:
Mom: “I know we already have a plan in place, but your uncle just called and he would really love to have all of us over for Thanksgiving because his girls are going to be there this year and it would be fun to have the cousins together.”
Teri: “So are you thinking we would go over there instead of having Thanksgiving at your house?”
Mom: “Well, do you think Scott would agree to it?”
Teri: “Well I better talk to my husband. If we do change the plan, what do I need to bring? I’m headed to the store today.”
Mom: “I don’t know. I’ll call you back.”
And thus began executive planning for Thanksgiving Plan #5. As I write this (an entire day later and two days before Thanksgiving), I still am not sure where we are spending Thanksgiving, or what I’m bringing. But although I am a person who really likes a concrete plan with well-defined details, I am working at not being bothered by the randomness of this Thanksgiving. The reason for my Zen-like state? The willingness to be flexible.
Although it does not come naturally to me, I am learning that flexibility is an important key to success in both my personal life and my work life. Flexibility enables me to quickly shift from one role to another, and also allow “my plans” to shift and morph as needed to accommodate the situation. Presently, as our nation faces enormous changes in economics and business, flexibility gives me strength to walk without fear, knowing that if my current career path hits a dead end due to the economy, I will be able to adjust, seek out new opportunities, and move on.
Most of you reading this article will have not only many different jobs during your lifetime, but also several different careers. You are almost certain to experience an unexpected shift in the “plan” of your career at some point. Like the Kaptein Thanksgiving plan, you may find yourself re-defining your career path four, five, or even six times as you work around the unknown variables that are bound to pop up unexpectedly. You will find that your career decisions become a mix of action and reaction, and that the ability to be flexible may become your most important asset as you navigate the waters of the business world.
Sometimes, being flexible may even mean letting go of a job or situation that you have invested a lot of time and energy in. One author puts it this way: “When you have done everything humanly possible – with a project, with a business, with a relationship – then the only thing left to do is to let it go.” (Jones, 157). Flexibility allows you to do just that – let go and move on when a plan isn’t working and change is needed.
So brush up on your business Pilates and take stock of whether you are really allowing yourself to be flexible in both your immediate work situation and your long-term career plan. You may find that “letting go” makes a huge difference in how you approach your life…and Thanksgiving!
Teri Whilden
Jones, L.B. (1995). Jesus, CEO. Hyperion: New York.