Always On

I am a big fan of technology and the promise it has to improve life. Since the beginning of my career I have been excited about the possibility of technology giving people the freedom to work from anywhere. Covid has allowed us to finally leverage this possibility and I personally love it. But, there is also a serious shadow side - we are 'always on' and this is something new to manage and talk about. 

My LinkedIn feed is filled with articles about burn-out. It seems that everyone is writing about it and many are feeling it. I myself have been struggling with work invading much of my waking hours with back to back zoom calls with no time to pee. This is crazy, why are we allowing this?

As I think about this, I find my mind in conflict - whose responsibilty is it to manage boundaries in this 'always on' world? 

I believe in personal accountability. I believe in the power of choice and that individuals have the ability to manage their time in way that delivers work results and life enjoyment. But for many, we just aren't doing this. Why?

So as a leader, my mind goes to, is it my responsibility to manage my team's boundaries? It will be different for everyone. Who am I to create arbitrary rules that tell people how to live their life? This flies in the face of the empowering leadership that I wish to be known for. Do I really need to do this?

Where I've landed is that this is a very both/and situation. Yes, individuals AND managers have a responsibility to create boundaries that work for people. This is a brave new world for all of us. One that requires reflection and real conversation and to me, this is the stuff of true leadership. 

Leaders, what actions are you taking in support of your team having boundaries? Are you setting boundaries? This is the time where leading from example matters the most. This is a time where the action you take is what will have real impact, not what you say. Are you sending emails after hours and on weekends? You may be thinking, 'yes, but Jodi, that is when I get my 'work' done - just because I send them doesn't mean they need to respond'. And you are right, but they will think that because you have authority. A simple thing like saving your emails in drafts and sending them during work hours can make a huge difference. 

Are you each talking with your managers about boundaries? Saying no to meetings so that you can get work done? If not, why not? Notice what comes up for you when you consider this question and understand these may be some of the same thoughts that come up for your team. What if you had a conversation about that? 

This takes courage, but it needs to happen. The downside of 'always on' is not the fault of technology, it is the fault of people not managing the technology and it starts with leaders paving the way. 

Leaders, Lead!

In the 27th year of my corporate career, some things are becoming crystal clear and I simply need to speak up. There is a leadership crisis that is burning people out. There are a lot of things written to address this, but the straight up answer I see is that leaders simply need to step up and lead. 

To me, this boils down to 3 critical actions; 

• Agreed Prioritization
• Effective Resourcing 
• Innovation

Agreed Prioritization

Leaders, it is our job to know the key results that our teams must accomplish and identify the critical initiatives that will drive those results. It is then our job to communicate those to our stakeholders and get agreement. Agreement to the key indicators and a measurement approach. With this, we can lead our teams to produce the right results.

Here's the critical piece; this is not a one time effort, this requires continuous focus. These indicators and results need to be communicated and reviewed with all stakeholders consistently, regularly, frequently, faithfully, routinely, systematically. When the business changes, there will be new priorities - fine. But there needs to be dialogue. Assess, reprioritize, adjust, agree. 

This will always bring up the real conversation that must be had around what gives; what has to go, to make space for this. In having the prioritization conversation, leaders need to understand and convey impact and resourcing needs. If you don't have that in a real-time dialogue, take the time that you need to assess and come back to the prioritization discussion. Far too many times I have seen where leaders agree to work without properly understanding the impact, shoving more on their teams and themselves. This is a leadership failure.

Effective Resourcing

Leaders must honestly communicate the resources needed to enable the agreed results. And the approving leaders need to trust and empower that. If there is not resourcing to the agreed priorities, then it is imperative to go back to the first step, reassess and agree. Additionally, senior leaders if you don't trust your leadership team, you do not have the right people and that is your leadership failure.

I have seen so many cycles of wasted energy where leaders work endlessly to prove their resourcing needs often after committing to priorities which means they are already set up for failure. Let's be clear, if a company doesn't trust and empower their leaders to do what they need to do, then they are not fostering leadership. Conversely, leaders, if we are not clearly and powerfully conveying to our leadership what we need and the impact to priorities then we are not leading. 

When leaders have not effectively resourced their teams do accomplish results, I have frequently seen the leaders default to doing the work themselves - I have made this mistake myself. If we are doing the work, we are not leading which will catch up with us and that is nobody's fault but our own.  

Innovation

As leaders, we must constantly work with our teams to understand efficiency and effectiveness. Identifying and implementing opportunities for improvement. More work doesn't always need to translate into more people. We need to empower our teams to look for ways to be better and better, truly hear their recommendations and let them take action. Our people are depending on us for this as much as our leaders are.

Focusing on these 3 actions continuously is the work of a leader and it is full-time work. When we also try to do the tactical execution, make no mistake, the more important work will give way and we will not be leading anymore. Senior leaders need to pay attention - if your leaders are doing the work, this is a critical risk factor to results and you are not leading.

Thanks for listening. Although I can see this all clearly and feel passionate about it, I know it's not easy. I have to revisit these steps and part of leading well for me is to spend time reflecting on my leadership.  I have committed to a bi-weekly coaching journey to continuously improve my leadership capacity and my focus on the above quests. This is the best investment I have ever made and I strongly encourage anyone seriously committed to your leadership journey to make this investment. My coach is Aileen Gibb and she can be reached at aileen@aileengibb.com.