Do you work 11, 12, or 14 hour days and never get ahead?

Do you believe that the more tasks you physically do yourself, the greater your chances are you can inspire your staff to do more?

And then, do you ask yourself over and over why no one seems to be working as hard or caring as much as you? One reason for your frustration might just be your own behavior.

If you are running around like a chicken with its head cut off, scurrying from task to task, often shifting direction with no notice and retracting decisions made just hours before, your “too busy being busy” behavior is sending a off-putting message to others. The message is that you are in Crisis Mode. Most people will recognize it right away—and they will stay away.

Employees distance themselves from an out-of-control manager by not becoming too involved:

• Why should they dedicate a great deal of their time and effort to a project when the manager might retract or shift gears with no notice? If they have had one of their projects scrapped before because of a lack of planning, they do not want to go through it again.
• They (physically and emotionally) stay disconnected from the manager and the work. It’s an act of self-defense on their part. They avoid getting burned again by not committing their effort, time, and emotion to a project that just might be zapped.

From the manager’s perspective, she sees employees disengaged and uncaring. The more she throws projects at them hoping one of them will connect with somebody (anybody), the more the employees disengage. So, she believes she has to do the work herself in order to get the work done. The employees see her getting involved in everything, taking over, shifting direction, and on and on. It is a vicious cycle—like a thrill ride at an amusement park, it keeps going and going, up and down, and around and around. How can it be stopped?

Take a good hard look at yourself. As the manager, are you so busy being busy, that you are not focusing on leading your employees? Are you so immersed in the daily tasks, that you are not taking time out to look at what projects are truly the right projects for your organization to pursue for its long-term benefit? If you spend every hour of every day just doing stuff, who is planning for the future? Who’s setting the tone for a focused future? Who’s showing the employees that there is a reason for each project, and that each project supports their future and the organization’s?

If you don’t back out of physically and personally doing and start focusing on leading, your vicious cycle will never end. You will end up really dizzy.

Copyright MMII – Liz Weber, CMC, CSP – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890

Liz supports clients with strategic and succession planning, as well as leadership training and executive coaching.