Clean-Up to Mess Ratio
Clean-Up to Mess Ratio
The key to quickly rising up the ladder
👋 Hey Friends,
For this post, I want you to recall when you were new in your profession.
Now, keep the following 2 terms in mind:
Mess = Problem at work.
Cleanup = Problem resolution
Fact: For entry-level roles, you are “expected” to solve any problems your own mistakes have created.
Examples of such problems:
Ineffective Sprint Planning
Misunderstanding of roles
Mismanaging Team Dynamics
Stakeholder Miscommunication etc.
No one else will resolve these problems for you.
So when you are an “Individual Contributor” (IC), your cleanup-to-mess ratio is 1:1.
Cleanup : Mess = 1:1
That means you and only you are responsible for resolving these issues.
Here’s the twist.
As you start to climb the corporate ladder, the dynamics of this ratio begin to shift.
You frequently find yourself in situations where you are addressing issues you didn't even cause.
And so the magnitude of this ratio increases accordingly.
For instance, a VP could be looking at a 2:1 cleanup-to-mess ratio. Meanwhile, a CFO could be navigating a 4:1 cleanup-to-mess ratio.
But this is not what I want you to know. You probably already know this.
What I want you to know is that the “reverse” is also true.
And that’s the underlying learning.
If you want to advance your career “faster” than the average, here’s the strategy you should consider:
Embrace a “higher” cleanup-to-mess ratio voluntarily than your role demands.
When you take the initiative to fix problems that extend “beyond the ones” you created, something interesting happens.
Almost habitually, executives start to “rely” on you.
However, if you have a mindset of:
"that's not my mistake," or
"that's not my job,”
you miss out on this golden opportunity.
When you consistently solve problems that come your way, you find that there is an endless supply of problems that need solutions.
This supply comes from the “Senior Management.”
I know there is a concept of “knowing how to say no,” which is quite popular. And it’s 100% valid.
It is crucial that you know “how” to say “no”.
But, you must also know “whom” to say “no” to.
You don’t say “no” to people who can elevate your career.
I have been saying “yes” to things since my first job as an IBM programmer, not because I was mentored or knew about this approach, but because I didn’t know how to say no.
And I must say, it served me well.
Eventually, I did learn how to say no to some people, but for the rest, I tried to solve every problem that they put in front of me, whether I created it or not.
The more problems I made go away, the more people up the ladder saw me as a problem solver.
In every promotion I ever received, I was already doing a fair amount of the new work before the formal title and compensation changed.
And the key was to willingly embrace a cleanup-to-mess ratio that was greater than 1:1.
This doesn’t just have the power to promote you.
It has the power to promote you faster and before others.
- Vibhor ✌️
Quote of the Week
“Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase. Reactive people, on the other hand, focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern. They focus on the weakness of other people, the problems in the environment, and circumstances over which they have no control. Their focus results in blaming and accusing attitudes, reactive language, and increased feelings of victimization. The negative energy generated by that focus, combined with neglect in areas they could do something about, causes their Circle of Influence to shrink.”
― Stephen R. Covey
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Here, I try to give you Career, Progress, and Self-Development insights as I learn them myself.
Wish you a successful career journey ahead.
Until next week 👋
“I share things I wish I knew in the starting years of my career in the corporate world."
Vibhor Chandel