Even When You Feel Overworked As A Leader, You Can Still Grow Your Team.
The comment from a leader at a Fortune 100 company in a training session last week echoed what I hear so often: “I know a stronger team would help with some of my current challenges, but I simply don’t have the time to invest in them. I’ve got too much on my plate already.”
To their defense, talent development does take a meaningful investment of time, something that is severely scarce in a leader’s world these days. However, if you fail to grow your team, or rely on only a few members, you create resentment and a lack of trust. Why should team members aspire to build skills and help the team succeed if they believe (albeit wrongly) that your greatest concern is your own well-being?
The key is to closely correlate any time invested in team members with where you are sensing the greatest pressure to achieve results. Using this mindset, you not only improve the quality of your team, but also get some much needed help with your own workload.
If you’re an overworked leader, start with these 4 steps to get some relief AND better utilize the strengths of your team members:
Reexamine Your Approach To Leading. In her fantastic book, Multipliers: How The Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, Liz Wiseman writes about the difference between those who diminish the talent on their team (diminishers) and those who care less about flaunting their own abilities and focus more on building the intelligence of their team (multipliers).
Do you more frequently look to your own expertise in solving a problem or look to members of your team for help? When do you last recall taking guidance or advice from a team member? More importantly, when was the last time you asked for it?
Get More Comfortable With Not Having All The Answers. Face it. You are juggling multiple priorities and making sure your team is working on the right things. Today’s leaders, especially in the area of innovation, aren’t strongly confident they have the best answers. You should be the caster of vision, but it’s not up to you to always figure out the best course of action to accomplish the vision. There are people on your team whose fresh (and sometimes more objective) perspective that may be just what is needed to find a breakthrough or solution. Even if you have what you think is the best answer, don’t readily reveal it to the team. If they believe your mind is already made up, they may see little value in contributing to the discussion or finding an alternative solution.
Be Transparent And Maybe Even A Little Vulnerable. Do you really think your team doesn’t see you struggling to get it all done? Why not acknowledge now what they have been seeing for quite some time? Doing so invites them to offer solutions and/or moral support. It also sets a strong example for them when they face uncertainty about what to do.
Make It About You So You Can Make It About Them. Ask yourself this question: “How can I help someone else develop a skill so they can help me?” Unless you are a self-absorbed dictatorial-type leader, any assistance a team member can provide to you helps you focus on leading at a higher level, and equips the team member with a new skill they (and the team) needs now or in the future.
A lack of resources and time are the two most stressful demands placed on leaders. Ironically, your greatest resource as a leader is the talent and skills of those who you are leading. If you’re not using the opportunity to grow them as a means to also help with all you’re trying to accomplish as a leader, you are creating more work for yourself than you can possibly imagine.
Where are you feeling overworked or overwhelmed as a leader?
