Case Study: Delegation for Senior Management
Periodically we choose one of our case studies from real-member issues in our CEO peer group meetings. The objective is to share a real-world CEO challenge with practical solutions and experiences so that if you know anyone facing something similar, you can help them with ideas. We will never reveal anything confidential or of sensitive nature.
Industry: All senior Executive LXCouncil Members
Category(s) of the COPI: Challenge, Opportunity, Problem, or Idea:
Time management/delegation
THE ISSUE: The members of the group are feeling overwhelmed and feel there are not enough hours in the day to get done what they need to do. Work/life balance is suffering. The question to their council was: What options do they have to get time back in the day to do the most critical things and not be so overwhelmed?
The Insights:
Delegate to others what they can do vs. you
Shave a little off your responsibilities each day to give to someone else. By doing a little at a time it won’t seem so daunting.
Metrics to dictate when you can hire someone else to relieve some of the stress points.
Make sure you work on the most critical and highest priority items first
What are the one or two things you absolutely must get done today?
Hold a daily huddle with your team so you can figure out who has room on their plate to take on more. This also helps unstick issues and lets everyone know what is mission-critical.
Make sure you have a date night with your spouse at least once a week.
Utilize two books. “Who moved my cheese”: and “The One-Minute Manager Meets the Monkey”.
Is your team well trained and able to take on some of your load?
Ask if something should be done and by whom?
Protect your calendar and your tasks to be done.
Share your schedule with the team each day so they can respect and honor it.
The Outcome:
This has been a topic brought up at each meeting for follow-up. Some members are more diligent about trying to tackle this issue than others. Those that have shared these ideas with their work teams and why they are doing them, have made significant progress in being able to handle their workloads and getting back some work/life balance back. The goal for the group is to hold each other accountable to make changes in their work-life to make it productive and efficient with being less overwhelmed and less stressed.
