Surface Ripples

“We Can’t Afford to Lose…”

Do you have one of those “amazing people” who just seems to know everything, do it all, work long hours, never say no to anything, is vital to the business?

If so, how much falls on their shoulders?

How “vital” are they to the organisation in terms of their institutional knowledge, their customer knowledge, the trust that organisation leaders place in them, being a “backbone” of their function or the organisation?

If you can name someone like this in your organisation, you have a potential leadership issue coming up.  This doesn’t mean there’s competition for the top slot (far from it!) The problem is that this person may be rapidly burning out and will leave at the worst possible time simply because they can’t “take any more”.

Laurie DeSalvo suggests several remedies in LinkedIn to make sure that:

The organisation retains that person and their knowledge/abilities.

Reduce the number of hours they work. 

Build relief into the team.

Give that person space to lead instead of always “firefighting”.

Reduce risk.

Improve decision-making.

If leaders are “drowning”, they don’t need extra “coaching” or to be told to “prioritise better”, let alone “push more for just a little longer”. DeSalvo points out that the descriptions given above are not about performance, they’re about capacity.  To quote the famous line from the film Avatar, “It is hard to fill a cup which is already full.”

As leaders, it’s our job to spot these “critical people” and to ensure they have the real support that they need.  Yes, there’s a cost in hiring an additional person to support them.  The question to ask, however, is, “if we don’t do this now and pay the price, what will the cost be to us if this person leaves?”

Different people have different limits; as leaders, we need to be able to spot them.

I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. 

Labels: Leadership, Productivity, Teamwork

posted by William Martin @ 11:15