Overcoming Overwork
A tool for managers
A fast-paced environment
The pace of today’s corporate world can be relentless. Working in a fast-paced corporate environment means that companies and jobs are characterised by a rapid pace, with high, intense and frequent change. However, I think this is a simplified and overstated description. A more accurate way of describing this type of corporate environment is to say it is VUCA. VUCA is an acronym for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. This is not a new phrase, it was first used in 1987 by the US Army War College.
Organisations operating within VUCA environments may feel the need to increase the performance and delivery expectations of their staff as a side effect of the shifting, changing and adaption of new tech, standards and client expectations required to remain competitive.
These shifts are often the source of a chain reaction of (physical and psychological) dual-sided VUCA moments on their employees as they navigate a relentless cycle of change. A VUCA moment, such as a pandemic which forced remote work to the masses splits the road, providing new job opportunities and at the same time causing job insecurities, spurring the increase in innovation and adaptability yet depreciating existing ways of working, enabling the adoption of new team dynamics and skills, promoting the development of emotional resilience, yet increasing the feeling of being overworked.
Who feels it?
Looking closer at a typical service-based organisation, you will find that middle managers serve as indispensable connectors, forming a vital link between top-tier executives (who set the direction and win the business ) and the frontline workforce (who deliver the valuable service and delight the customer). Consider them the beating heart of a company’s personnel, occupying the central segment of the workforce distribution much like the belly of a Gaussian curve.
While specific responsibilities and expectations vary depending on the industry, company size, and organisational structure, there are several key responsibilities and expectations that are generally applicable to middle managers across industries. If I said these responsibilities included team leadership, internal and external communication and reporting, decision-making, resource, risk, time and performance management, problem-solving, planning and conflict resolution, little would disagree with me.
Due to this range of responsibilities, coupled with the impacts of working in a VUCA environment, Managers often find themselves in a perpetual state of busyness and feeling ‘overworked’. This can not only affect the manager's well-being but can also have a detrimental impact on the overall productivity and success of the organisation.
A 2023 article in Visier stated that “More than half (53%) of employees in the UK feel overworked”.[1]
There are plenty of things we as managers and employees can do to address the challenges of ‘overwork’. In this article, I will suggest just one, an efficacious tool with a few approaches that can mitigate the feeling of overwork, and reduce the detrimental impacts on the company's bottom lines.
The Eisenhower Matrix: A Tool for Prioritisation
I think the Eisenhower Matrix is a simple yet powerful tool for time management and decision-making. Named after US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, this matrix categorises tasks to be done into four quadrants based on their urgency and importance:
- Urgent and Important (Do): These are tasks that require immediate attention. For any tasks in this quadrant, Managers should prioritise to avoid crises and meet critical deadlines.
- Important, but Not Urgent (Schedule): These tasks are important but can be scheduled for a later time. Deciding when to tackle them strategically is crucial for long-term planning and goal achievement.
- Urgent, but Not Important (Delegate): These tasks may seem pressing due to the urgency but they don’t contribute significantly to your core responsibilities or add high value. The manager should consider delegating these tasks as a method of freeing up valuable time.
- Not Urgent and Not Important (Delete): Tasks in this quadrant are mostly distractions to managers and should be minimised or eliminated to focus on higher-priority activities.
How do you use it?
To get started with the Eisenhower matrix is simple, plot the typical or current tasks you do into the appropriate quadrant. This provides a good visual representation of the importance and urgency of the tasks ahead of you. If you are like me, you may be amazed at the amount of things that we get involved with daily, that actually do not add value or move you (your team, department or company) towards your end goal.
Approach 1: Quieten the noise
Assuming tasks have been plotted on the matrix, we can look at the first approach. The items that have been identified as not important, and not urgent really should be deleted, this is noise. If you don’t have the stomach to delete them, try ignoring them for a while, or increase their importance so they can be delegated.
These noisy items are like a bed of quicksand which managers sleepwalk into. Some of us believe that we must handle every task personally, which quickly leads to a long list of obligations and then overwork. and what is the cost of this? Well, time for strategic thinking and higher-value responsibilities are then reduced and well-being is compromised.
There really is not much more to this approach, but it is where a good portion of a manager's task lies, and simply quietening the noise can be instrumental in mitigating that feeling of overwork.
Approach 2: Prioritisation and Delegation
This approach encourages the manager to focus on the items of low importance and high urgency, the “Not Urgent” quadrant. This approach recommends that managers embrace the art of delegation.
Delegation entails entrusting tasks to capable team members who possess (or who can acquire) the necessary skills to handle them. I really think delegation is an underrated and under-utilised approach which has several upsides including:
- Workload Management: Delegating tasks lightens the manager’s workload, allowing them to concentrate on more critical activities that require their expertise and attention.
- Skill Development: Delegation provides team members with opportunities to learn and grow. It fosters skill development, empowering team members to take on more responsibilities in the future.
- Team Collaboration: Delegating tasks promotes collaboration within the team. It encourages open communication, knowledge sharing, and a sense of shared responsibility, ultimately enhancing team dynamics.
- Time Efficiency: Managers can use their time more efficiently by focusing on tasks that align with their roles and expertise, while team members handle tasks suitable for their skills.
In my experience of collaborating with managers over the years, I’ve seen three key reasons that often prevent managers from delegating as frequently or as effectively as they could:
- A lack of trust in the potential delegate. The manager feels the delegate is too junior, doesn’t have the skill or lacks experience to perform the task to the required level.
- The manager has an underlying fear of relinquishing control.
- A perception that it will be quicker to do it themselves than to explain the task.
Addressing delegation blockers
While there is some understandable validity for the reasons managers are not delegating when they can, the fact remains they impede productivity and provide a false economy for the manager and business. All is not lost because there are some things you can do to address these blockers.
- Lack of trust can be reduced and trust developed with some self-reflection; try to understand why you feel this way. Engage in open communications with the potential delegate and set clear and understandable expectations. Where possible provide training (doesn’t have to be a formal course) and resources. Lastly, schedule regular check-ins.
- A fear of relinquishing control may stem from the experience of the manager, the culture of the organisation and past events. I’d suggest the managers start small with what they delegate, set clear expectations, focus on the big picture and reflect on how this fear affects their own performance as a manager.
- I encourage managers to reframe their perception of the cost of time spent explaining, into an investment which will produce positive returns in the future.
Approach 3: Strategic Time Blocking
Another observation I have is that at times managers (including myself) get themselves caught in a cycle of reacting to urgent matters as if they were flying off a conveyor belt, aka firefighting. When we get in firefighting mode, we spend less time on strategic planning, long-term goal setting or higher-value tasks. It can be a vicious circle if not broken because the reasons for the urgent matters never really get fixed at a systems level, workarounds are applied and therefore it's not long before they repeat.
The strategic time-blocking approach advocates examination of the tasks in the top left quadrant, “SIGNIFICANT”. Tasks in the “SIGNIFICANT” quadrant are important but not necessarily urgent. This approach may require a little more self-discipline from the manager to implement, as it requires them to periodically set aside specific time slots for these significant tasks. But once a habit of setting aside this time is formed, the benefits of this approach are soon realised.
Using this approach can also help to categorise the tasks in this quadrant further into batches for execution, which also reduces inefficiency caused by context switching. Typical batch categories include administrative tasks, strategic planning, meetings, email management, and personal development.
The advantages of this approach are :
- Proactive Decision-Making: Strategic time blocking allows managers to be proactive rather than reactive. This can be a huge factor in reducing the feeling of overwork. Managers are able to make informed decisions, set goals, and plan for the future without being constantly distracted by urgent matters.
- Preventing Burnout: Constantly dealing with urgent tasks can lead to another organisational illness, burnout. Strategic time blocking provides a buffer, reducing stress and enabling managers to maintain a healthier work-life balance.
- Enhanced Effectiveness: When managers dedicate time to strategic planning and goal setting, they can align their team’s efforts with the organisation’s long-term objectives. This increases overall effectiveness and ensures that the team is working towards meaningful goals.
- Skill Development: Strategic time blocks can also be used for skill development and training, both for the manager and their team members. This investment in skill-building pays off in the long run by enhancing the team’s capabilities.
Strategic time blocking has other uses too. Many managers now use it to secure their lunch times which can be seen as a luxury in some busy organisations, so it is well worth trying it.
A couple of tips.
The criteria used to place tasks in each quadrant will be largely subjective. When doing so, I find it can help the user (manager) to think about the tasks from two perspectives, 1) their employer, department or team and 2) themselves. Doing so will often throw out some differences.
Using different colours to plot these perspectives on the same matrix can add another dimension to the exercise.
Have you used the Eisenhower matrix for time management and mitigating overwork? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
[1] — Visier — Overworked and Under-appreciated — https://www.visier.com/company/news/overworked-under-appreciated/