Time in a Bottle

Every manager seems to struggle with time issues. In most instances, there is the feeling that there is never enough time to get everything done – even by coming in early, staying late, and answering emails at all hours of the day. Many wind up feeling chained to the office, which often times translates into serious challenges with work/life balance.

Part of the problem is that managers often fail to develop the capacity of their employees. If this is the case, when they have to (or choose to) solve every problem or be involved in every decision or issue, they inevitably become a bottleneck in the team’s performance. Unfortunately, the amount of stress this places on managers is enormous.

Here is a portion of an email I received recently from one of the participants in a client training class:

“It has been a learning process since I became a manager, but I know that sometimes
I concentrate more in trying to fix every issue out there rather than taking the time to
develop my people. I know they’re capable – it’s just lack of training.”

This is fairly typical of most managers, not just new ones. Managers are routinely hired because of their technical capabilities or performance history, so, in the absence of training or a good role model, they tend to view management as solving problems, making decisions, and telling people what needs to be done. As a result, they often fail to comprehend the value of working to develop the performance capacity of their employees. However, if they don’t figure it out in a hurry, they wind up stressed out of their mind and complaining about the lack of time to get anything done.

On the other hand, when employees are trained well, and effectively empowered to solve many of the problems and issues that were previously left to the manager to handle, the “bottleneck” problem lessens dramatically. As a result, the manager discovers they have much more of what they need the most – time.