A number of years ago, before my children started school, I was juggling part-time work with trying to be a great mum and do the lions share of the domestic chores. The kids went to nursery 3 days a week so I could work. On the two days they didn’t go, we went to Jo Jingles, Tumble-tots, swimming and generally kept ourselves busy. I never seemed to have enough time to keep on top of the cleaning.
I considered putting my children into nursery for an extra half day so that I could get it done.
What was I thinking???
Luckily, my husband asked a few great questions:
- How much will that cost? – Around £40
- Do you WANT to do the cleaning? – No not really, but it needs to be done (he already did some, in particular the ironing and most of the gardening around his very demanding job and I didn’t think he should do more)
- Would you rather spend a half a day having fun with the kids or doing housework? – Duh?? Being with my kids of course!
- How much would a cleaner cost? – Errr – around £25.
And so the decision was made to engage a cleaner for 2.5 hours a week.
You see, ANYONE could clean my house. No-one could look after my kids as well as I could. Also, bringing up my kids would more pleasurable than cleaning (most of the time) and it was definitely a more valuable way to spend my time.
I was short on time and energy and couldn’t do it all. Getting someone in to do the routine stuff made total sense.
Worth thinking about it you are a busy L&D Manager. Do you want to spend all your time doing the routine boring stuff that no-one notices and ultimately, isn’t valued? Or would you rather spend your time doing something amazing and making a difference? If so, think about what you can outsource…
Admin is an obvious one, but you can also outsource your time-consuming training design WITHOUT giving up control. Get in touch in 2018 if I can be the equivalent of your cleaner.
I no longer have a cleaner – my kids are older, circumstances have changed but the cleaner filled a need for a while. Getting help with your L&D doesn’t have to be forever. It doesn’t mean you can’t do it, it simply means that you add more value by focussing your time on other things.
So don’t undervalue yourself in 2018. Unleash your brilliance by letting go of the stuff that bogs you down. Be awesome, and help the rest of your organisation be awesome too by creating brilliant development for them.