“I thought it would be faster if I just did it myself.”

It was three weeks before the Christmas holidays.

The Development Officer decided that a great stewardship touchpoint would be to mail out branded chocolates to select donors.

A delicious sentiment.

Hours were spent packaging chocolates with the holiday card.

When the development officer arrived at the post office to mail the card with the chocolates, the postal clerk took one look at the envelope and let them know it was too thick. They would have to be repackaged in an oversized envelope.

The Development Officer returned to the office with the envelopes.

They decided it would be faster and cheaper if the chocolates were sent through FedEx.

The Development Officer packaged them up, only to discover they used the wrong packaging. So, they repackaged the chocolates. Again.

Everything was finally ready to ship via FedEx.

At this point, overnight shipping was the only option if the chocolates were to arrive before offices shut down for the holidays.

Except the cost of overnight shipping was prohibitive. Shipping would cost significantly more than the chocolates themselves.

The chocolates didn't get sent out.  

Two weeks and many, many, hours of work. Despite all the effort, the stewardship touchpoint wasn’t completed.

What happened? You would think sending out chocolates would be easy.

 “I thought it would be faster if I just did it myself.”

How many times have you simply done something yourself instead of asking for help or delegating to the appropriate person?

With the sending out of the chocolates, going it alone was not faster. Or efficient. And certainly not productive or effective.

 The #tinygain: Ask for help.  

• Help can be in the form of advice.

• It can be an extra pair of hands to complete a task.

• Help can be permission to decline a meeting.

• Or simply asking for a cup of coffee and a moment of silence.

 It’s not efficient or productive to go it alone. Team work makes the dream work.