When is the last time you reviewed the work that you are doing?
I have spent time with a few different people this week on the work that they are doing in their groups and exploring if they could accomplish it in a new way. The conversation usually starts with a few questions like, “where are you overloaded or what are you or your team saying yes to instead of saying no?” They can usually come up with a list of things that are taking their time and pulling their focus from more important areas.
When you are doing these activities every day, it can be hard to recognize that some of those things aren’t the best use of your time and talent. These may be things that you have always done, that your team needs your help on, or that your boss asked you to do, but that doesn’t mean you should automatically just say yes to doing more. People pleasers and those who don’t hold their boundaries well will take on the work for fear of disappointing the other person and then working till all hours to get their own work done. There are ways to hold your boundaries to ensure you are protecting your time.
When you are asked to take on more work, you need to ask yourself the following:
- Is this an activity that I can add value to or is someone else better suited for this work?
- Is this something I know really well and should be teaching or delegating to someone else now?
- If I agree to do this work, what am I not doing that needs my attention?
- Is this urgent? Do I need to re-prioritize my current work or set expectations that I won’t be able to complete this until a future date?
- Is this an opportunity to change a process or have others do more of the work before it comes to me?
It is easy to simply say yes to someone’s request, but then you pay the price by working more hours to accomplish your own work. Slowing down to ask these questions gives you the time to think about the work, before immediately committing to do it. It also allows you to think about how others could do the work instead of you.
These are opportunities for you to enable others on your team to have visibility and for you to talk about how you are developing your team to play bigger too.
If you need my support to help you navigate the overwhelm and get you focused on the right things, just reach out. Sometimes it just takes a single conversation to help you see what you may be missing and get you on the right track!