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Lee E. Meadows, PhD.
Professor of Management –
Authored: Silent Conspiracy &
Silent Suspicion
No easy task: Decisions, decisions,
decisions
A decision to not do something can
be just as important as a decision to do something. Judging by the amount of
work that quickly finds its way into the cube of those who survived the last
round of layoffs, it appears that ‘activity’ decisions are harder to make than
‘people’ decisions. As a number of professionals have shared with me in recent
weeks, their work activities expand threefold with every one departure.
“There are days when I feel like
Larry, Moe and Curly. I’m doing the work of three people, but it’s crazy,”
stated a Supply Chain Manager with a local Tier 1 company. “If I have to
prioritize one more ‘hot item’, my desk is going to go up in flames,” was a
comment made to me by a Manager with a local IT firm. Scaling down the
organization to reach its competitive point represents an interesting exercise
in decision making.
The end result for ‘survivors’ of
this scaling down process is a momentary chance to exhale, wipe your brow and
feel relieved at having made it through that round. However, the once balanced
work life now teeters on the brink of dysfunctional task management and the
evaluation of one’s internal career mobility is more than just delegating
assignments. Managers are supposed to manage people and the tasks they perform.
It has become far too common a reality for supervisors, managers and directors
to spend their time doing ‘things’ and managing ‘people’.
The imbalance is not that the
assigned tasks for completion that support organizational projects have grown
in numbers, but the number of people who could complete these tasks have
declined considerably. Consequently, there is a ‘bloated belly’ of tasks
growing on each manager’s tray. Though it gives the appearance of being full,
what’s inside lacks any real substance.
So, the real trick is in knowing
how to pull back the layers of a task to see if there’s anything really there.
How many times have you looked at a task and asked yourself, “What is this all
about?” “Who needs this done?” “Why am I doing this?” Often times, those are
questions asked not because there is an answer pending, but to ease the ascent
into burnout.
The truth of the matter is that as
important as these questions might be, the ever looming larger question is one
that, despite its perceived complexity, may have one simple answer. Careful
examination of the increasing number of tasks should lead one to ask, “What
would happen if this task remained undone?”
Here are some possible answers:
- Someone
would ask for it: More than likely out of habit than necessity.
So, by asking that person why they need that task done, it clarifies, at
least in your mind, its level of importance.
- It
falls farther down on the priority list: Much
like that orange and red striped bean bag chair, there is a reluctance to
get rid of anything that has been a part of the organizational landscape for
several centuries. As it slips further from view, it becomes more of a
sentimental task that only arouses the emotion in someone when it is about
to be done in.
- Nothing
happens: The sad reality is that there are any number of tasks
that have no longer have any importance to the organization. Their
ultimate demise can be done without any fanfare or flair. You make a
decision to stop doing the task unless you hear otherwise.
Sometimes the best career move you
can make is to stop doing things that the organization no longer needs and put
more focused time and energy in the things that it does need.