Summary
How do leaders avoid overcommitting themselves and drowning in extra work? Here are two tips to help.
Introduction
As a leader, it is good to be committed to your work and your workplace. Because of the skills and abilities that brought them to a position of leadership, many leaders are the “go to” person in their organisation. They can become indispensable and a valued asset to those around them.
Unfortunately, this can easily lead to a leader saying “yes” to everything, and then finding themselves overcommitted and drowning in extra work. How can this be avoided?
Evaluate Opportunities Objectively to Avoid Overcommitting
Rather than simply saying “yes” to every opportunity for extra work that comes along, properly evaluate whether the opportunity aligns with your other responsibilities and would easily fit in your current repertoire. Jobs or tasks that are an opportunity to stretch yourself are often time-consuming, as you have to learn new skills to be successful in them. This will add strain to your current workload, and so must be evaluated carefully to avoid overcommitting.
Avoid Overcommitting by not Multitasking
Many leaders are guilty of multitasking. Some even think it is an essential skill of leadership. But if you are busy, and at risk of drowning in work, then multitasking only makes matters worse. When you are fully committed, you need focus to complete your work. You need a good length of time to be able to focus on one task in hand, without interruption. Deal with multiple small tasks – like answering emails or returning phone calls – in chunks of your day. For example, I deal with emails and phone calls twice a day – once around an hour into my working day, and then again around 30 minutes before leaving the office or my desk. Everyone works differently, and you will need to find the best ways of working to help you focus. But focusing on a single task is a surefire way to ensure you don’t become overcommitted and drowning in work.
Conclusion
If you follow these two tips, you can continue to be an indispensable leader to your organisation and avoid being overcommitted and drowning in work.
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