The Uncomfortable Truth for Busy Managers — It’s an Issue of Skill, Sacrifice, and Courage

0:09 This is basically an impossible situation and it happens to many people. So it's a valid question. It's a valid situation. It's also an impossible situation in the sense that there is no here's one weird trick that you never heard of that is all of a sudden going to address your problem. Right? So whatever the solution might be for your situation, you know the solution. The question to ask perhaps two questions to ask is how much of this do I secretly actually want to hold on to? Meaning how much of this kind of busyiness and this kind of being in this managing coordination and execution efficiency with cross functional partners. How much of this do I actually want to continue deep down? Okay, because you'll find that a very large percentage of people are in, you know, kind of managerial roles, a middle manager, senior manager, that kind of thing. A lot of middle senior managers, they kind of want to hold on. The very thing that they say they hate, they actually want to hold on to it. The most common example of this is can you believe I'm wallto-wall in meetings for the next 3 weeks. The only open slot in my calendar is three and a half weeks from now and on top of that I have to actually do work. I have to also do some strategy stuff this that and another thing. Deep down this person loves the fact that they're wallto-all booked for the next three three and a half weeks. So the question is, do you recognize that? Again, it's for you to decide. But if you don't recognize that, it's going to continue obviously because you're going to continue doing what you actually deep down love.

2:03 Even if you say you hate it, deep down you love it, right? You love it. And so that is a question you need to ask yourself like how much do you actually love this stuff and that's why you're doing it. So like easily 80 to 90% of people who have this situation of like just being so busy and you know all that stuff they won't pass the first bar they won't clear it.

2:33 So then what solution can we expect? Now for the remaining 10 20% that may clear this first bar. Okay then the point being that okay I really want to do it. I truly truly truly want to do it. Well, okay, cool. If you truly want to do it, it has to come at a sacrifice, right? Because yeah, you've literally signed up for I want among the highest compensations available across my company. I want big scope. I want big responsibilities. I want a lot of accountability, etc., etc. So, if you've signed up for that, obviously there's going to be a very high degree of workload, right? Like, is it a surprise?

3:12 Why are we resisting it? Of course, there's going to be a high degree of workload. So now the question is what sacrifices are you going to make and what that sacrifice means is you will have to drop something and dropping that something is going to be a major sacrifice. So what executive staff meetings where you basically waste your time but you show up to get facetime with your CEO, which ones of those do you want to drop? sacrifice, right? No, no, no. I can't drop that cuz my next promotion is Okay, cool. Fine. Okay, next. Which off sites are you just going to decline cuz they are basically a waste of time? Oh, no. No. I can't do that because Okay, cool. All right.

3:58 Which of these crossf functional partner execution, efficiency, managing, coordination things do you want to delegate to someone on your team? And to what degree are you willing to sign up to coach them on doing a good job on that? Well, I can't do that because then my cross functional partners will be like, why isn't my peer showing up? Or I can't do that because then, you know, I won't get credit for the work that gets done or I can't do that because I can't have that conversation with my boss to explain to him or her why I'm not showing up for some of these execution meetings. Okay, fine. Your choice, right?

4:38 So delegation is a choice that you have. Okay. And associated with that there is a skill that needs to be developed both what to delegate and how to delegate it which is a communication skill at its core. So if delegation is not working for you well it's a communication problem with you. Now do you want to solve it? Again that's up to you right? Do you want to accept it? Do you want to solve it? It's up to you. Abstinence from these stupid corporate rituals, not all of them but some of them, many of them is a choice but also a sacrifice.

5:14 highly opinionated prioritization that you're only going to focus your time on these three product priorities or these two product priorities or this one product priority or these four product priorities and you're willing to stand behind that and talk to the CEO, talk to your boss, whoever about why you're focused on just those things is a sacrifice, right? So these are things for that remaining 10 to 20% who actually want to improve things, who actually want to change things. These are the paths. Now is any of what I just said new to any of you? Of course not.

5:58 Which is why I said you already know what to do, right? It's about whether you are going to do it.