Earlier this week I was reminded how one person on a team often bears the load for the rest.

In this situation, the same person was the ‘go to’ for reviewing communication for the rest of the team even though this wasn’t her job.

This means she does a lot of extra work helping her colleagues succeed.

This is generous and team-spirited but raises questions.

Is this imbalance healthy?

If not, what can you do about it?

Here are three ways for leaders and individual contributors to rebalance your efforts to avoid unhealthy co-dependence.

If you are the ‘go to’ communication person, ask yourself:

• Is this ‘helping’ this is serving you? If so, are you clear about the return to you? Do you feel really good about that return, or do you feel a bit of resentment?
• Are you using this opportunity to create a dependence on your own skills, or to build your colleagues up? If the former, ask yourself why that is necessary and evaluate whether it is healthy.
• Whether you could offer suggestions rather than redoing your colleagues’ work for them?

If you are a team leader who is reworking your team’s communication, ask yourself:

• Could I change the dynamic by setting up the strategic context better, so they understood why a task was needed, rather than just asking them to complete it?
• Could I set higher standards by asking whether something is their best work before I am willing to review it?
• Could I get better at explaining why I am making key changes to their work rather than just taking over … so they learn from my edits?
• Could I ask the team to peer review their drafts before they come to me to reduce the amount I need to do myself?

If you are the team leader noticing this imbalance within your team, ask yourself:

• Is this imbalance temporary, or embedded? Does this pose risks for team morale and sustainability?
• Are those carrying the extra load rewarded for their extra effort? Is that reward commensurate with the extra load?
• Could those carrying the extra effort benefit from a bit of coaching on how to coach, so they can build the team’s skills rather than doing their colleagues’ work for them?

I hope you find that helpful.

Kind Regards

Davina

Elevate, the book – helps leaders set their teams up to set up a new dynamic across their team that will elevate everyone’s skills, helping the team get better, faster decisions.

Engage, the book – helps individual contributors prepare papers and presentations that leaders can approve without reworking.

Engage, the self-paced course  – supports both individuals and leaders prepare more insightful papers and presentations for senior leaders and boards.

Extreme Clarity, the 2-hour workshop – introduces techniques for structuring your messaging.

Board Paper Bootcamp, the 2-week program – helps you clarify and convey complex ideas to senior leaders and boards.

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