Let’s Talk

When you work with someone long enough, and work very collaboratively and effectively with each other, it gets a l’il spooky…

Today I was in the middle of a lunch time meeting with a coupla therapists and in the middle of it I suddenly realized I was booked to be in class on Friday afternoon from 1-3 teaching an exam review while simultaneously seeing clients all afternoon at my office.

OOPS!!

I hate making mistakes in general (I’m working on not beating myself up excessively on that)…but I especially hate mistakes where it impacts clients.  Not.  good.

So…I texted Melanie on the other side of the door with an “EEEK”!

Turns out a few minutes before my panic, she noticed how the schedule book had me in class and at the office Friday afternoon.

We both missed it.

So…when I got out of my meeting, I looked at the schedule book to see:

I’ve seen this little piece of cardstock sticking out of the book before…when there is a question or concern or potential problem in the schedule book, Melanie puts this piece of paper in the book on the page in question.  It reminds her to have a conversation with someone about what’s on that paper.

It’s like this calm but clear message…no panic, no anger, no confusion, no dither…just a calm “Let’s talk”.

We did.

We figured it out.

We got it organized with alternate solutions that everyone could live with.

I love working at our office with the great team we have…and today was one small reminder why…Melanie’s gentle but clear cue to prompt us to work on something that needed work.

We work closely together…spend more hours together than many couples spend with each other…and so the potential for fireworks to fly is there.  We budget together, figure out projects, heck…we’ve even moved together…and it works…because of little things like the “Let’s talk” bookmark

I’m deeply grateful that we’ve got these gentle practical little strategies in place that help us to authentically work on the stuff that needs talking about…we’ve got ways to talk about tough stuff…not avoiding it, but facing stuff head on in ways that build relationship.

Thanx team, for the working environment you give me.  I’m profoundly appreciative.