How to Save Time When Working with an Editor

My coaching client, Sue, was at it again. Complaining about a co-worker. "If only he did this, then everything would be OK." "He takes up too much of my time." "I have tried to talk with him again and again, but it only ends in a big argument. I'm fed up listening to him."

I finally asked "What's your contribution to the situation?" She looked at me as if I was from Mars. "My contribution? I've been trying to work with him for months. It's not about me. It's all about him."

"Every situation is created by at least two people with different perspectives. You could both see the exact same event and have different stories about what you saw. So somehow, you helped create this situation. Subconsciously or conciously. It doesn't matter. But the fact is that you contributed to the situation."

Sue sighed after a long silence. "Well, maybe I could have handled it differently in the beginning. I wanted him to like me. To think that I was a collaborative colleague and a good listener. But maybe I started things on the wrong foot and set a precedent for him coming to my office any time he wanted."

It wouldn't be an easy road to repair, but Sue was on the right track. Thinking about her contribution to the problem and how she can change it. She was ready to start moving ahead, instead of getting trapped in the quicksand every time this colleague came to her office.

Funnily enough, this week provided a similar lesson...for me. From my editor, of all people. My book, "A Manager's Guide to Coaching: Simple and Effective Ways to Get the Best out of Your Employees" will be published by the American Management Association in March '08. My co-author, Brian Emerson, and I turned in our manuscript. Our editor then sent us her edits for the book. We were dismayed when we saw her comments and changes. Not that she had done anything wrong. On the contrary...she had edited our manuscript perfectly regarding the grammar and syntax. But it wasn't our book anymore. it didn't sound like us..it didn't feel like us. So poor Brian had to read all 200 pages of the edited manuscript again, to see how she had changed the grammar. It took him hours and delayed other work. He then sent it to AMACOM to be approved, which it was.

When we discussed the situation at lunch, I asked "What was our contribution to the situation?" It was clear. We hadn't talked to the editor beforehand, outlining the tone of the book. The book was intentionally written in a conversational style...hip and trendy. Easy for a manager to pick up and read. Yet the editor thought our grammar and slang was a mistake...not intentional. So she wasted time editing it and we wasted time re-editing it.

Lesson learned: Watch your contributions..they can come back to haunt you!