Slow Down To Speed Up: Take Time To Savor The Coffee, Solopreneur.

I finally found a time to get coffee with a good friend who'd been hard to nail down recently.

We realized it had been waaay too long since we'd met up, as we'd managed to miss Pumpkin Spice Latté season and were already drinking Peppermint Mochas with holiday sprinkles. (Heaven forbid we don't see each other 'til Strawberry Frappuccino season)!

[Side note: by “coffee” I mean frou-frou-coffee-concoctions, as that's a particular tradition with this one friend. Don't judge me.]

He confided that he's been so busy because work has gotten “a little crazy with the new boss."

The more we talked, the more it became clear that his manager was so reactive, short-term focused, and boundary-less, that he was gumming up the works.

Any minor problem led to “Drop everything! We need to have a team phone call first thing this morning!” [reactivity, lack of boundaries].

The lack of thorough training on new software [short-term thinking] had led to significant errors in calculating sales, leading to a time-consuming correction process.

The ensuing pressure to “get the numbers up!” included hints that numbers should be fudged. [Wrong in every way, and a ticket to long-term failure].

The most annoying part of this, my friend confided, is that his boss thought that this frenetic approach was working, not realizing that harried activity only seems productive. Employee morale was low, and they were getting less done.

With my Coach-hat on, I said, “If I could talk to him, I'd tell him to learn the phrase 'Slow is Smooth, and Smooth is Fast.'"

I took a thoughtful sip of my coffee (well, really a snarf of whipped cream) as my friend mulled over this concept.

As he did, I glanced over at the team of baristas, churning out a slew of complicated brews to a drive-thru and a line of customers simultaneously. Their actions were precise and quick; they had learned this dance slowly, but now they were performing a veritable caffeine-ballet.

"Slow is Smooth, and Smooth is Fast" is a saying in the Navy Seals that applies to so many other areas--including small business.

• Slow down to assess situations with objectivity and curiosity, so you don't get reactive and make sloppy decisions.

• Slow down to set clear boundaries and standards, so you don't harm others and burn yourself out.

• Slow down to put solid systems in place, to practice them deliberately, and to get “muscle memory” for them, and gradually speed up and have a smooth flow going (while faster) later.

Where are you feeling urgency in your business? I know it's counterintuitive, but can you slow down to get your systems on track… to run smoothly (and eventually faster)?

Go buy yourself a Gingerbread Chestnut Caramel Latté (extra whip) and think it over for a while…

-Jane