I am super excited to introduce you to a new member of the Eli Sharp Consulting Team in this month’s newsletter! Meet Dr. David W. Eaker, our Senior Director of QA/RA Compliance:
David will be our resident expert in the areas of preclinical sciences, RA/QA compliance, R&D and product development processes. He comes to us with many years of experience and a track record of creating great strategy, teams and processes within the MedTech industry.
See our website for David’s full bio.
Adding new people to the business is very exciting but it has also been difficult, as I will explain!
My thoughts
When I first started Eli Sharp Consulting, LLC in 2013, I never imagined the company being more than just myself as a sole proprietor, but over these past twelve years it has grown and changed quite a bit. This has also involved some serious growth on my part – especially in the past year.
As a successful consultant and having first trained as a Mechanical Engineer, I have leveraged my laser focus and meticulous nature (well OK – just a tad OCD as well) to great effect. I have specific ways I like to see things done and know I can do them very well. The thought of turning over these responsibilities to somebody else – particularly client-facing responsibilities, has been very challenging. I have had to change the way I think about myself, and my business.
Letting go is not easy!! But it is essential to serving our clients in the best way possible. It has certainly been humbling to admit to myself that I am not the ONLY one who knows how to do what we do – nor are our clients paying for my charm and charisma. What our clients want is to leverage the very best expertise and experience to help them solve their specific problems. And having a team of amazing people is most certainly the best way to do this.
How to
This is what I had to learn and do to change my ways of thinking:
- Breathe! Know that the feeling of panic is normal, and it will pass.
- Repeat step 1 (quite a few times throughout the whole process)
- Talk to others who have already done what you are trying to do. This worked really well both from a practical standpoint (use this agency for hiring this kind of talent) and also to talk though the mental roadblocks from step 1.
- Keep a detailed diary (log every 15 minutes) of what you spend your time on every day and do this for a few weeks.
- Analyze what tasks you are spending the most time on, what value you deliver and where somebody else could be doing those tasks – perhaps even better than you.
- Read this book: Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell.
- Decide what your ultimate goal is, given your reality. This was difficult for me because I had to admit to myself some harsh truths: I cannot deliver any more work without help, and I do not do everything better than everyone else.
- Delegate slowly. First, repeat step 1, then figure out what specific things you could use a second pair of eyes on. Then, figure out how to explain your own processes (not only how you do something – but how you think about it). Then, let the person you are delegating to take a stab at the task. Figure out how to let them fail safely, give them feedback, wash rinse and repeat.
- Build trust – not just your trust in them, but their trust in you.
Call to action!
So many of our clients suffer from the same symptoms: being overloaded, being chronic perfectionists, and needing to be in control of absolutely everything. It is not sustainable, nor good for anyone’s health. How can you switch up your ways of thinking and let go more?
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