Slower
by Ruth Ann Harnisch on 01/14/10 at 7:24 pm
Day 14
Yes, I know, it’s almost the end of Day 14. I’m not responding to artificial deadlines this year.
When TED Community Director Tom Rielly invited The Harnisch Foundation to be a founding sponsor of the TED Fellows program, we signed on immediately. The TED Fellows are some of the most extraordinary people in the world. As a group, they become a palpable force, like a life form. As individuals, one story is more jaw-dropping than the next, each personality magnetic and memorable.
My longtime personal coach, Renee Freedman , is also a TEDster. She and I decided to create a pro bono program to offer TED Fellows ten sessions with a world-class professional coach whose skills match their needs.
One of my sabbatical activities: first responder when a TED Fellow expresses interest in coaching.
I’ve been writing the TED Fellows immediately when they contact us. I was imposing this pressure on myself, and it didn’t feel in keeping with the spirit of sabbatical. I want to respect my sabbatical boundaries and eliminate as many work obligations and pressures as possible. Renee told me she doesn’t promise or intend to respond immediately – her window is 48 hours. “I travel a great deal and I have a very full calendar,” she said. “I don’t want anyone to expect that I will be able to respond any sooner than 48 hours. If I can, I do, but my promise is 48 hours.”
Further, I was creating a cycle of expectation that could only create disappointment if I don’t respond instantly in the future, or if anyone else connected with SupporTED doesn’t answer within minutes. Renee’s right: it is not reasonable for a volunteer-run organization to respond immediately to the email of dozens of fellows and coaches around the world. ”We will get back to people within 48 hours,” she said. “That’s a reasonable expectation which we can meet. ”
Wow! How freeing! That was so easy. Set up reasonable response times. Maybe you, too, push yourself too hard to respond too quickly, setting up unreasonable expectations for future performance.
S0, attention TED Fellows: we strive to respond within 48 hours of your email. Everybody else: no promises.
One Comment
PMLaw
Jan 28th, 2010
Good evening,
Several years ago, I was invited to attend the TED conference, I was thrilled- just to be able to be in the same room as these brilliant people, to hear them in person. Unfortunately, when it came down to the banausic realities of it, I was unable to make the trip.
I make due with the videos on the site and dream that someday, I may be again be invited and be able to be part of the solar system of TED- even if only as one tiny bit of the Oort cloud circling far out in space but still within the heliosphere.
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