Distracted by Capitol Peak – A Leadership and Life Lesson

Hiking and backpacking has taught me a lot of lessons about leadership and life. For example, my first backpacking trip was in the Snowmass Wilderness in the Rocky Mountains. A true backpacking rookie, I overpacked and carried far too much for a 5-day backpacking trip. That extra weight in my backpack took its toll on me.

In addition, on day two, I decided to go off the path leading to Snowmass Mountain and, instead, I trekked towards Capitol Peak. I said to myself, “You don’t plan to climb Snowmass for a couple of days, why not explore?” So, I did.

Here is a photo taken of my distraction. Climbing through granite fields and up the side of the waterfall in this picture through rambling alder bushes underfoot and lightning/thunderstorms overhead was an experience I’ll never forget.

Two lessons learned:

1. I carried too much in my backpack.
2. I got distracted from the end goal (i.e., climbing Snowmass Mountain).

The consequences or impact of my choices? I didn’t summit Snowmass because I had worn myself out on my distraction trek to Capitol Peak with too much weight in my backpack.

How does this relate to leadership?

There are two behaviors that leaders need to reconsider:

? A workload that is too heavy can be counterproductive.

? Assigning tasks that distract from the primary goal is also counterproductive.

Your team most likely already has a full workload. When you consistently add additional tasks to that workload, you may be sending them the message that you don’t think they are already working hard and what they are working on isn’t a priority anymore. And you are wearing them out.

I’ll never forget a response from a direct report when I added an urgent task to her already full plate of work. She responded,

“What task on my ‘to-do list’ should I set aside to accomplish this urgent task?”.

What a smart question.

I now approach requests of my direct reports differently. Instead of throwing more work at them, usually in an email, I ask them, in a face-to-face meeting, to describe their work by asking:

“What feels like the most urgent task you have right now?”

“Are you feeling balanced in your days right now and able to leave work knowing you have advanced or completed tasks that contribute to the business?”

“Do you have interest in working on this urgent task that just came up?”

After describing the project, “I think you would add great value in these ways (list unique values), but I recognize that you already have full days and weeks. If you would like to be involved in this new project, let’s look at what you can set aside.”

It is important to listen and evaluate the capacity availability.

Team members appreciate having control over their workloads.

I have a lot of lessons that I’ve learned from hiking and backpacking that have made me a better leader. If you would like to hear more of these stories, please:

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