Transformation with Stef A.

On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. You can see and hear transformation in action. I look forward to helping YOU learn the skill of organization, too!

In this episode, I introduce you to Stefanie Ardoin. She has been part of our Organize 365® Dream Team since 2021 and one of our Certified Organizers since 2018. We are talking about Stef’s transition from empty nester to multigenerational living. We are also talking about her previous roles which transitioned her into her roles inside of the Organize 365® Dream Team - one of those being the administrator of a medical & surgical practice. Once she moved from Louisiana to South Carolina though, we renegotiated Stef’s role within Organize 365® because I definitely wanted to keep her!. Stef and her husband Adam moved next door to her daughter and son in law for two years in South Carolina. Stef wanted to do things a little different with her grandchildren than she had done with her children and this move provided that opportunity. Being neighbors gave them confidence that they could cohabitate. So the two families bought a house together! Stef, her husband, and her daughter’s family (which includes 6 grandchildren) all live together now.

Listen in as we discuss the necessity of planning and creating routines. As we talk, you can hear how the process of using the Friday Workbox® is something that productive people naturally lean into. Once Stef was acclimated to Organize 365®, it dawned on her she’d been doing her own form of the Friday Workbox® in the medical practice. Productive people have this natural cadence to reflect on their week, see what’s left to do with pressing deadlines, what can wait, and then plan their next week. Stef shared how she used similar systems in her previous position as an administrator of a medical & surgical practice and how using the Friday Workbox® and Planning Days really helped her to move into the next level of productivity.

Once she was on the employee side of things instead of the administrator side, she realized the slash pockets flow in a different order. When you are the business owner and visionary, the slash pockets go pink → purple → blue → green. However when you are the employee, they flow more like green → blue → purple → pink. She was no longer the one coming up or implementing the pink stuff, so it put a different spin on the slash pockets for her. Stef shared how and why there was that shift with her use of the workbox. Stef really took over the Friday Workbox® Club and ran with it!

This got us talking about the business owner/administrator’s day, and all the work that is completed before the rest of the employees show up. The keeper of ideas and how those get implemented. The relationship with the employees. It’s important to know them, but not spend so much time getting to know them that you lose chunks of time to work on the business. Offer the element of caring about them, but not that you talk everyday. If they want more time with the CEO, let them learn while you earn. They can always help you at an event or sit in on a presentation. This way you aren't taking away from your valuable time and they are still getting the benefit. Business owners have hard numbers they need to hit to keep the business running, after all. We talked about what that CEO day looks like and the thoughts that are guiding their days. 

We then discussed meetings. At Organize 365®, how we have a kind of digital workbox for in between meetings. Everyone can see everything that is going on and what the meeting will cover. We use Google Docs and team members can add to it in between meetings to cut down on texts, Voxer messages, and instant messaging. I discovered the other benefit to this system…ideas aren’t being sprung on employees at the meetings. Everyone has time to process and think. This leads to productive and actionable meetings. And that’s why we started  to share our meeting structures and agendas inside the Meeting Mastermind, to help other businesses accomplish productive meetings. The idea is that your team should be effectively using the Friday Workbox® and Planning Days, now you need effective meetings to make that action take place. Your teams will also be able to look back at the projects you have previously discussed. Projects maybe you started and then halted, only to realize now may be a better time to try again. 

You all know I love to spend time in pink work and being the visionary for Organize 365®. I also love to hand things off once I have hatched the idea. The digital systems we have in place allow me to do that and keep ideating on what I was uniquely created to do. After 4 years, this little dream team we have in place allows each team member to step up in their zones of strength and almost be me. This has created more time for me, the business owner, time I am using to get my PhD. What would you do with the extra time? 

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Friday Workbox®
• Meeting Mastermind
• Certified Organizer Directory
• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter 

I am grateful that you are reaching out to share your stories and progress with me and with the Organize 365® community. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday.

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