Summer is wrapping up. Well, at least the rhythm and schedules are; temperatures are still blazing hot!

The business world revolves around the school year more than I would expect. Summer break seems to creep its way into the office, and people adjust schedules to accommodate what needs to be done with trips, camps, tournaments, etc. It’s a good reminder that our professional lives are not isolated from our personal lives (or faith for that matter). We live one life that encompasses all aspects of who we are and what we do.

I shared that reminder with an intern the other day. She was practicing her end-of-summer presentation and asked if she should have fewer personal details or, the opposite, add a few pictures. The feedback from our team was unanimous: include pictures. We recognize that it’s not just about the work project. Her summer experience includes who she is, not just the work she completed.

Let your personal and professional worlds collide a bit - you’ll be glad you did.

The heat of summer also has me reviewing and correcting systems that I rarely think about. I often use the example of lawn sprinklers when I work with or give a talk on systems in business. Here’s a summary:

But fully automating doesn’t mean you never have to touch them again. During the past two weeks, I’ve dug holes, replaced pipes and valves, and finally replaced a broken sprinkler head.

I’m not sure how long the sprinkler head had been broken. As the heat endured, I started noticing a part of our yard was very brown while the other sections looked appropriately green.

Since our sprinklers run overnight, I hadn’t seen any problems but knew that something wasn’t right based on the outcomes. So I turned the system on manual, where I could walk around and check the area in question to see it operating in the moment. Sure enough, a sprinkler head was completely busted. A few minutes to replace it, and now we are back in regular operating mode.

Even your automated systems need maintenance, review, and sometimes changes.

Your business should never be set it and forget it. Review what’s happening and watch for signs that things aren’t operating normally before it’s too late. Is there a patch of your metaphorical grass that’s starting to turn from green to brown?

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the last blast of summer,

Phil

405 Leadership Advisors LLC

We help leaders define strategy and implement with ​confidence and clarity.