Five Ways for Leaders to Lighten the Load

Leaders can find their way to a lighter workload but it takes making a decision to think more long-term and reprioritise the development and engagement of their people. Here are a few ideas on how.

Push up and back

I remember certain directors coming down with an urgent project that needed to be done by me - like now. These directors tended not to be detailed focused and when I would seek to get an understanding of the context and expectations, there would be a bit of a ... lack. We would end up guessing what their boss meant, and that frequently led to taking the wrong tack, looking like an idiot and ultimately reworking everything.

One way the load could have been lightened was by a deeper discussion and clarification about requirements. The right person could be assigned the work and done more effectively. But often, there was a reluctance to push up and back, where deeper enquiry would help lessen or eliminate the need for some work.

Prioritise courageously

Underpinning this requires being a bit courageous about what you take on. Saying "Not Right now" can be difficult. But what else is difficult is the consequences of burning yourself and your team out and delivering poor work.

As many of you will know, I am a fan of focusing on what matters and, where possible, ONE THING that matters. That doesn't mean everyone works like a robot on an assembly line on ONE THING, but that you create a compelling narrative that focuses on your strategy. Anything that isn't aligned or goes beyond that is "Not Right Now".

Coach for autonomy

In my experience, one-on-ones with your team can be about a lot of things. A sharing of some interesting but unrelated new idea my manager has had and, whoops, we are out of time. Or enlightening me about more things for me to do and no interest in what I am already doing, issues I'm having or how I am feeling.

But great one-on-ones occur regularly, are not bumped for other meetings or deadlines under anything but the direst circumstance, and are used to coach team members, build their autonomy, and excel at their work.

"Oh, but coaching takes up so much time and I'm not very good at it." But this short-term thinking overlooks the benefits of growing (and keeping) your people working at the top of their role and achieving. It saves time in the not-to-long run.

Stretch your people

As you coach, find ways to grow your people by giving them new tasks that stretch and connect them in the business. Ask them to go to a meeting on behalf of the team and report back.?Lead a presentation.?Have them draft a report and then work with them on honing it. Prepare them for greater challenges and free yourself to spend time developing them.

Work on-the-work not just in-the-work

Leaders and teams can become more effective by examining how they work. A lot of team meetings do?"Let's go around the room", which?focuses on what each team member is working on. But using some of the time creating experiments that test out new ways of working together and discovering hacks for efficiency can save you time. Small, thoughtful tweaks that you work on together build connection, trust and a more effective and happier team.

Make the decision to be less reactive and more focused on the value you add as a great people leader. It will give you back some time and be more rewarding as you see your teams thrive.

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