By Chris Swistro
These days, pressure to perform is at an
all-time high. And mobile technologies - the
cell phone, the ubiquitous PDA - enable us to
be "on call" at all times of the night and
day. At the same time, business has become
globalized, introducing cultural, geographic
and language complexities to an already
complex and competitive business world. Many
top-performing executives struggle to stay on
top of their game in the face of relentless
demands for their time and brainpower.
Paradoxically, as the intensity increases,
leaders may find it challenging to seek
relief from the pressure. Why? Because
finding relief requires adopting new ways of
doing the work. These necessary changes may
feel counterintuitive and seem risky given
the constant pressure to perform.
For the
busy executive, the key to getting started is
inviting trusted team members to help design
a solution to the overload problem. The idea
is to re-think functions, roles and processes
in a manner that preserves quality goals but
engages the capacity of the organization in
more efficient ways. Swistro Advisors works
with clients to examine opportunities for
delegation and better load-balancing, means
of cross-training key functions to eliminate
key-person risk, and ways of setting
expectations with bosses, clients and
colleagues that reflect re-designed
functions. This process usually invigorates
team members, and as team members on the
field step up their game, senior executives
find themselves more ready to hand them the
ball.
What can you do as an
executive?
"Spend" your value
wisely. Executives that have succeeded in
staying on top of their game know they are
the boss for a reason. Their experience,
expertise and track record of success led
them to where they are today. But they've
come to realize they can't do their job the
same way they did it before their
responsibilities increased several fold.
These executives consider the smart
application of their valuable but limited
time to be their most pressing
responsibility.
Take a leap of faith.
Almost all executives find the process of
getting ready and then sharing the load
daunting because it's likely that no one will
perform exactly the way they might. But with
careful planning, training and communicating,
many realize that their team members find
success in their own way. It takes practice,
but challenging others to be leaders will be
rewarded with increased organizational
capacity for doing great work and, yes,
relief from the pressure to perform!