Leadership and Marketing Update from H. LEINER & CO.
Of course you’re doing your job, but are you doing other people’s jobs too?
Your employees come to you many times throughout the day and share with you a problem they are experiencing. Then they wait for you to offer some sort of solution. You respond either with an answer that will help them or you just decide to take care of the issue yourself.
It seems like you’re being a really nice person by helping out everyone in your organization.
THE PROBLEM: The more you take care of other people’s work, the more they become dependent on you. Then you become overwhelmed and stressed out about all the work you need to do. And it’s not even your own work. It’s everyone else’s work. You haven’t even started doing your own work, because you’re too busy doing everyone else’s work.
THE SOLUTION: Learn how to say no. Don’t take on more problems than the ones you already have. Instead, have a conversation with the person to help offer solutions. Then you should assign the issue to be handled by the person who came to with the problem. Remember that unless it is your problem, you do not have to work on the solution.
By saying no to dealing with other people’s issues, you will become less overwhelmed. You will only have your own work to do, instead of everyone else’s work, too.
(Kenneth Blanchard, The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey)
