Overwhelmed Managers Must Decrease the Pressure

If you are feeling overwhelmed as a manager, you have probably already diagnosed yourself; the diagnosis isn't kind. The one-on-ones keep getting moved. Someone on your team has been struggling for three weeks, you've known the whole time, and, if you're honest, you've already lost track of which person it is. It's easy to conclude you're just not very good at this leadership thing.

You probably are. The problem is arithmetic.

When Gallup analyzed data from more than 16,000 U.S. managers, they found that 97 percent are still carrying individual-contributor work on top of leading people. The median manager spends 40 percent of the week on it. That's the code, the deck, the client call, the thing you were good at before you got promoted. Do the math on a five-day week and a typical manager is leading their team in about three days, then wondering why three days doesn't feel like enough.

Please select this link to read the complete blog post from David Burkus.