If you’re a leader, you may find yourself running short of productive time because you’re doing the equivalent of cutting your employee’s food. It’s a common trap.
Go into any restaurant and you’ll likely see a young family getting their meals. As soon a child’s plate hits the table, a parent will start cutting the food into bite sized pieces. It’s a loving action and a good way to make sure that the boy or girl does not choke on a big piece of food. Unlike an airplane’s emergency oxygen mask, the parent should take care of the child’s needs before their own.
The action becomes almost like an automatic reflex. It’s just done without much thought.
After a certain amount of time and practice with silverware, many children will announce that they are ready to take on this task. But not all do. Surprisingly, the parents of these kids will keep doing the job. If they’re not told to stop, they might continue doing it until their son or daughter leaves for college.
In your workplace, it’s good to support your team when they are new to your organization, learning a process, or becoming comfortable with a promotion. But at some time, you need to let them “cut their own food.” When you keep doing things for them you:
- Keep them from growing and developing important skills
- Open the door to letting them take advantage of your kindness
- Limit your productivity.
This transition doesn’t have to happen overnight and, as with a child, some assistance may be required from time to time.
The change does need to be made because I’m guessing that you probably have a lot of important things on your plate. Your superiors want to see you clean your plate and not walk out of the office with a doggie bag every day.
In my book, Stuck on Yellow: Stop Stalling, Get Serious, and Unleash Your Productivity, I talk about some other problems that can eat up your productive time. You might enjoy Chapter E: The Endless Pit of Needs.
