INSIDE LETTING-GO MENTORING

Cut Interruptions With Clear Team Rules

Search-First Communication Rules are a one-page rule set Ivanka Menken builds with you inside Letting-Go Mentoring, the 6-month 1:1 program at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. If your team brings you every small problem, you have no shared rule for what counts as urgent. You write three lanes: what interrupts you now, what waits for the next email check, and what goes to a scheduled conversation. Before anyone asks, the team searches first, then asks a coworker, then escalates to you.

Email your interruption listSee Letting-Go Mentoring →

AN EXAMPLE WEEK

Three requests, three places to go

  • 09:12“Can you check this before I send it?”NEXT EMAIL CHECK
  • 11:40“Do we use the usual supplier for this one?”SEARCH FIRST
  • 15:05“Does this discount apply to me?”SCHEDULED CALL

The rule set gives each request a lane, so it does not all arrive at your desk.

SOUND FAMILIAR?

Three signs the rule is missing

The first session starts with the log, not the rule. You write down who asked what, when, and which request could have waited.

Until each line has a lane, it is a complaint about the team. A lane turns it into a rule the team can follow.

#The line in the logLane written?
  1. 01Your team brings you every small problem.Not yet
  2. 02You cannot get through a day without interruptions.Not yet
  3. 03You have no clear rule for what counts as urgent.Not yet

Three empty boxes are the whole diagnosis. The program fills them in, one page, in the founder's own words.

Search-First Communication Rules

A gate before your desk, and three lanes after it

Search-First Communication Rules put a gate in front of every request: search, ask a coworker, then escalate, and every request that still reaches you lands in one of three written lanes.

Search-First Communication RulesA request arrives and passes three steps before it reaches the founder: search first for the window the founder sets, ask a coworker, then escalate. Whatever still reaches the founder lands in one of three written lanes: interrupt now, the next email check, or a scheduled conversation. The window and the lanes are the founder's, not a benchmark.ONE PAGE · YOUR WINDOW, YOUR LANESA REQUEST ARRIVESWho asked, what they asked,and what could have waited.BEFORE IT REACHES YOU1Search firstTry to answer it yourself, for thewindow you set.2Ask a coworkerA named person on the team, not thefounder.Escalate to youOnly after the first two steps, withthe answers attached.WHEN IT DOES, ONE LANENOWInterrupt nowSafety, a live outage, money lost bytomorrow.NEXT CHECKEmail by your checkA time you set, so it waits in one place.SCHEDULEDBook a conversationA named slot, so the question has a time.The window and the lanes are yours.

Tap a step or a lane. The search window and the lanes are yours to write.

Search-First Communication Rules · a framework by Ivanka Menken

THE RULE SET

How Search-First Communication Rules are built

Search-First Communication Rules turn the requests that reach you into three written lanes and one step the team tries before asking.

01Start with the interruption log: who asks what, when, and what could have waited
02Sort every request into three lanes: interrupt you now, wait for the next email check, or book a scheduled conversation
03Write the search-first step: try to answer it, ask a coworker, then escalate to you
04Rehearse the rule on last week's real requests, and name what you will stop answering

THE FORTNIGHT

One fortnight, one rule installed

The rule set is built in a mentoring session and tested for a fortnight, so the team sees the founder hold the line.

  1. 1

    The interruption log

    You bring the last week of requests: who asked, when, and what could have waited.

  2. 2

    The three lanes

    Each request is sorted into interrupt now, email by the next check, or a scheduled conversation.

  3. 3

    The search-first step

    You write where the team searches first, how long they try, who they ask next, and when it reaches you.

  4. 4

    The written commitment

    One page, in plain language, rehearsed on real examples, and the founder names what they will stop answering.

WHAT YOU LEAVE WITH

A one-page communication rule set the team can use without the founder in every loop.

One page. Plain language. The three lanes, the search-first step, and the founder's own answer to what counts as an emergency.

THE REVIEW

At the next session Ivanka Menken reads the interruption log with you, checks which lane each request used, and commitments kept on the monthly scorecard shows whether the team held the rule without you in every loop.

Personable, but straight to the point. Every session is a combination of strategy, execution and mindset.

Business owner

THE INVESTMENT

AUD $1,500

per month ex GST

6 months · inside Letting-Go Mentoring

The rule set is built inside the program, not sold separately. It uses the same twelve fortnightly sessions, the monthly scorecard and the reviews at month 3 and month 6.

See Letting-Go MentoringBook a 20-minute conversation

Or email ivanka@ivankamenken.com.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

Questions about the rule set

What counts as an emergency?

An emergency is the short list you write with Ivanka Menken inside Letting-Go Mentoring. It is usually a safety issue, a live client outage, a payment that cannot wait until the next check, or a decision that loses money by tomorrow. Everything else waits for the next email check or a scheduled conversation. The list is one page in plain language, reviewed across the 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

How do we get the team to search first?

You write the step into the rule set and rehearse it on real requests. In Letting-Go Mentoring, Ivanka Menken has you name where the team searches, how long they try before asking a coworker, and who they escalate to after that. You choose the search window; Ivanka does not set it for you. The rule is reviewed each fortnight across the 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

What if a client request does not fit the rules?

Then it becomes an exception you review, not a reason to abandon the rule set. Ivanka Menken asks you to log it in Letting-Go Mentoring: what the client asked, which lane you used, and whether the rule needs another line. A repeated exception is a missing rule, so you rewrite it in the next session across the 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

How long before interruptions drop?

There is no promised number. In Letting-Go Mentoring you keep the interruption log from the first week, so you can see the count and what changed instead of guessing. Ivanka Menken reviews it with you each fortnight, and commitments kept on the monthly scorecard shows whether the team held the rule. The program runs 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

Email ivanka@ivankamenken.com with the interruptions you want to stop.

See Letting-Go Mentoring →Fire yourself from one role this fortnight →More about 1:1 Mentoring →