"I don't have time." ~Various leaders desperate for resources when asked to support interviews.
I once worked on a project with a specialized team that seemed to be constantly in flux. I didn't work directly with that team but every time I heard about them it was because they were short staffed due to someone leaving. Eventually a new hire would come on and the team would be "whole" for a few months until the next person turned in their notice.
After about a year or so, team members kept leaving and the backfills were further and fewer between, until the team slowly dwindled to the point that the lead was the only person left. Several months after the team had been decimated, I was part of group conversation that included the lead. They started complaining about how their manager was pressuring them to hire some people for the team. Then they went on to tell the group that they were so buried in work that they didn't have time to look at resumes and support interviews. I pointed out that if they didn't make time to hire folks for the team, they'd never get help. My comment was met with a glare that said, "you don't understand how buried I am right now." I understood quite well. This person was stuck in hero mode, trying to save the day single-handedly and burning themselves out in the process.
Unsurprisingly, the lead left the company several months later, leaving the project with nobody to provide the required specialized knowledge.
Every leader is eventually faced with the challenge of having to operate while short-staffed. This is where we earn our leadership stripes, in my opinion. It's "easy" to lead a fully staffed, well-performing team. Our job really starts when things aren't going smoothly. How we respond in these situations set the tone for how the team will respond. People move on for a growth opportunity. People go on leave for extended periods of time, sometimes planned and other times unexpectedly. It's not always about people movement, sometimes work scope expands
I often hear leaders say they don't have time - don't have onboard a new team member, don't have time to train someone to fill in, don't have time to participate in hiring activities. At any given time, there are precious few things are more important than protecting your team from burnout. As a leader, it's crucial that you make the time to rectify the shortfall to keep the team and yourself healthy and operating optimally.
Making time to take care of the critical steps to alleviate the issue is the only way through. Putting this off just prolongs the pain and increases the risk of burnout - for you, your team or both. And burnout just compounds the problem.
Time-making efforts that I've found effective include:
- Check the team's bandwidth - While folks are generally busy, I find that in a pinch most people have the bandwidth to take on a little more. People often pace their work to align with the available time so if the timeline shrinks a bit or the workload increases slightly, there's room for them to work more efficiently to get everything accomplished.
- Evaluate Tasking - I often find that crunch time provides a valuable opportunity to look at the task list with extra scrutiny. Asking what tasks are truly necessary, what tasks are truly urgent and what tasks can be deferred yields valuable information. Often when things are running smoothly, we keep moving forward without asking ourselves those questions. Inevitably the answers provide options for freeing up a bit of time.
- Delegate - Using your re-evaluated task list, review it to see what you can take off your plate and hand off to someone else. This has the added bonus of giving someone on the team the opportunity to stretch their skills, learn something new and broaden their horizons. Win-Win.
- Identify opportunities for cross-training - In midst of the crunch, take a few moments to notice where the team is well set up to cover for each other and where there are gaps. Once the crisis has passed, leverage or create opportunities for cross-training to close those gaps.
Workload management is a dynamic puzzle that needs careful and continuous attention. If left unattended, the situation can go from "running smoothly" to "the edge of burnout" fairly quickly. When the workload exceeds the resources, team members are usually willing to step up to fill in the gap in the short term. I've seen many leaders fall into the trap of thinking that with the extra effort from the team, no fix is needed. Not only does this prolong the problem, it is a big hit to morale. People are generally willing to surge for a while, particularly if they see their leader(s) making an effort to get more help. A good leader leverages this characteristic without taking advantage.
What techniques do you use to make time to address critical needs? How tuned in are you to your team's workload? What opportunities exist for cross-training?
I'd love to hear from you. Please comment below or send me a note via the Connect section of the home page.
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